Vacuum Tube Phono Preamp, MM Turntable Preamplifier for Record Player/Home Stereo Amplifier/Active Speaker with Gain Control [Douk Audio T3 PRO]

For the price this was being offered at I figured I’d take a chance on it. My current phono pre-amp (much more expensive than this) works fine but we all get the urge to change things up once in a while. Plugged this little unit in - and it is surprisingly small - with the supplied tubes and boy, the sound is great. Nice rich, warm sound, perfectly suited for some prog-rock I had lined up. I’ll try some Miles next, but I do recommend this unit, especially at under $100.

Sounds great for the price

I had used a PYLE pre-amp and was simply not enough gain to use my AUX input. (my receiver does NOT have a phono input) and had to turn volume way up and could hear all sorts of background noise and static.. This pre-amp has 3 gain settings that provide tuning to your phono output (magnetic coil ) and input of your receiver. now that I can adjust the gain to the correct input I can hear nuances on the record I have not heard before. I HIGHLY recommend this unit. IN fact although I purchased the matched tubes as well (have not arrived yet). I would be happy with the tubes that are included BUT if the new ones sound even better I will never play an MP3 again.

Stopped working after 3 weeks, Also I have Suca preamp and is work fine, try to replace with Suca but was not available on Amazon any more.

Could not hook up to my existing equipment as advertised

Trabaja adecuadamente sobre todo si está conectado a un buen equipo

ノイズもあまり気にならずデザイン共に、気に入りました。

First- This paired with the sound amazing. After reading the reviews, I ordered them at the same time. When I tried it with the tubes it came with it sounded like the EQ was maxed out and distorted. As soon as the new tubes went in it sounded amazing.The device itself is solid. The included tubes fit perfectly, the replacement tubes were a tight fit but completely worth it. There is no hum or extra noise. The blue LED was not as bright with the replacement tubes but this doesn't matter to me. It came with a short 3.5mm to RCA cable for the front AUX input. It did not come with a RCA to RCA cable or a ground cable. The ground connector is a push-type; I am using a spade type cable connector so only one side of it went in (I didn't think of trying to unscrew it until just now so I will check later but it works fine now). It was packed very well in plasticy foam.Long story-Normally I am using a Fluance RT82 turntable through the phono stage of a Yamaha R-N803 stereo receiver and Paradigm Reference Studio 80 speakers. That setup sounds great but since I have people temporarily living in the area where I am set up, I had to move to a new room.Now it is the RT82 through this preamp, to an AUX input on a Pioneer VSX-919AH receiver and then to either Jamo Magic 6 bookshelf speakers or Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro 80 ohm headphones.(I am not an audiophile or budget audiophile. All of my equipment are hand-me-downs, purchased used, or as a mfg refurb, with exception of the RT82 turntable and the DT770 headphones. I also have a constant high-pitch sound in my head that was gifted to me.)Before I got the R-N803 I used the Pioneer receiver with a Pyle P999 phono pre amp and then exchanged it for the ART DJPREII (returned) but the receiver just couldn't handle the Paradigm speakers. The Pyle was okay sounding, the DJ PREII was a little better but the R-N803 was the best combo. I don't use any built-in EQ or other sound presets.The Pioneer receiver did not like it when this pre amp was set to 45db as the input attenuator OVER light on the receiver's display came on several times with both the stock tubes and the new tubes. It sounded better at the 42db and 39db settings anyway. I would I really like to try out this pre amp with the R-N803 setup because with the Pioneer it is not too bassy and not ear bleeding. Just right. It's very smooth sounding.I have not tried the front AUX input so I have only played records. I played The La's, Suede (RSD verison), Inxs - Kick (45 1/2 speed), Beach Boys - Pet Sounds (mono) and Fleetwood Mac - Rumors (rmstr). They all sounded so good.Pros:Inexpensive, small, decent looking, no hum, came with 3.5mm to RCA for front AUX input, sounds great with better tubesCons:Sounds not great with included tubes, 45db is too high, did not come with RCA to RCA cableI have only used the Pyle and ART as external pre amps and I would recommend this one over both of them but only if you spend a little bit more for the better tubes.If any issues come up I will update my review.

I bought this on a whim to play with. I've always found that getting everything possible out of the signal path into and out of the tubes is always best if you can get away with it. So, for under $100, why not give this a try and see what it can do? I bought nice tubes for it, then dropped it into my system. What a surprise! The ceiling on this little piece is stunningly high for the price. I paired it with: Shure V15 VxMR, Well-Tempered Table (i.e., $12K table) and arm, VenHaus 02-free hyper-pure silver wire throughout (from the cartridge to the voice coils in the speakers [including inside the xformers]), Mullard Blackburn tubes, [redesigned Haffler phono stage], home-design PP power amp w/ EICO xformers, etc.The result: sure it is a step down from my usual phono stage, and I'd say the RIAA curve is maybe not quite precise, but this "toy" holds its own, and in my system still lets a fabulous sound come through from my mostly-original 50s and 60s LPs. If you have an otherwise nice system with a tube power amp, sell your expensive transistor preamp and use this instead. I predict you'll never go back. Maria Callas, Chet Atkins, Otto Klemperer, The Vegh Quartet, Alexander Gibson Sibelius, Miles Davis, Casals and Cortot, Albert King, SchwartzKopf, those terrific Schneider Quartet Haydn Society disks: YAY! Everyone shows up performing in the music room close enough to reach out and touch them. And, everyone else comes to listen.I'm trying to imagine the sound when I take it apart and simply replace some of the caps, resistors and wire with audiophile quality parts. What, maybe another $150?Hats off to the engineers and business people that pulled this off within all the price constraints. A beautiful example of doing more with less. Good job!

Bought this for a second turntable I had in the house and ended up using it for my main listening turntable as it exceeds the listening experience of a phono pre-amp I have that was four times the cost. The tubes handle some sound measuring I believe but are not the power source for the small amplification needed from your turntable. Overall it creates a nice sound without getting hot and I like the gain settings and it just looks cool too and that's part of the charm.Edit: Purchased a pair of 5654W tubes to replace the stock. I honestly can not hear any difference. Several reviews say the upgraded tubes will improve sound quality and I am going to say they do not. I think it's a placebo effect from reading that from others. They provide a lower profile which I like, but there is no discernable audible difference.Edit: Wanted to add that there is a review on here that says this works fine with moving coil cartridges. Be aware that if you are newer to this hobby, there is a major difference between high output and low output moving coil cartridges. This unit will absolutely NOT work with low output moving coil cartridges. You will want to be sure if you select a moving coil cartridge with this unit that it is high output with at least 2 mV output.