Aiyima Tube T6 Pro Amplifier Review / Tech Talk (Is it "audiophile"?)

In this tech. talk I discuss perceptions about "tube sound" and a headphone amp. I picked up off Amazon at a pretty competitive price. I welcome comments about your experience with tube amplification or your experience with sending audio over the USB port from a Windows PC.

[@cdhankerson7586]

I thoroughly enjoy listening to your thought process. Keep up the good work, and I’ll see you on your next video.

[@rhenry74]

Kind words, Thank you

[@markrichmond6860]

Thanks for an interesting review very interesting and informative. I recently brought a duo Mt 602 tube amp for about the same price very happy with the the sound quality. Just goes to show you don't have to spend a lot to get decent audio. Look forward to your next review

[@rhenry74]

Great to hear!

[@Panslapper]

Good stuff mate, the problem is with these so called bluetooth extras is that to really get a decent sound quality the signal should run through a seperate dac ship, something like the ESS 9018. If it doesn't and many of these cheap implementations don't sound that good regardless of whether its SBC, AAC, APT X and so on. The reason the iFi Zen Blue sounds so much better is because the signal gets processed through a good seperate dac chip. So in short buying one of these just for bluetooth because regardless of the codec it will sound a little compressed maybe dull and while it may not be a bother for everyday basics it is just something to keep in mind imo. I have ordered one of these T6 Pros to replace a Douk P1 which was a very good headphone amp but the preamp was actually making my Aiyima A04 sound worse in some ways. It was the soundstage that was the problem. Without the Douk P1 the A04 already sounds very good so I thought adding the preamp would be better but the Jan 5654 tubes reduced the overall soundstage and drew the sound back into my speakers. It still sounds very good but the sound was not as wide or filling the room so much. This is a known characteristic of the Jan 5654. So I returned the DoukP1 but will miss the headphone amp because that was outstanding the problem was I would have to also stick with the preamp if wanted the headphone amp too. Anyway I have ordered the T6 and some alternative branded tubes which are reputed to have a more dynamic fuller and wider sound than the Jans so I will see how that goes. The other thing I like about the T6 is the op amps can be swapped which I cannot do with the Douk p1, that's a major plus for changing the quality of sound, Aiyima wins hands down and its a shame Douk didn't leave that option open with the P1 because I would have kept it for that and just upgraded those Jans.

[@michaelochoa3628]

thanks rob. just ordered mine.

[@rhenry74]

I don't think you'll have any regrets. Let me know if you can hear the tube sound :-)

[@michaelochoa3628]

@@rhenry74 yes I got the GE 5654 tubes in and it rounds out the sound I think. the stock tubes did not change much.

[@RanTausi]

Thanks for the video !, I also want to check how the tubes sound so I bought from AMAZON Fosi p1 Tube pre amp with additional GE tubes set. The Fosi tube pre amp connected to my Beast ADCOM GFA 555MK2 Power amplifier. All I can say it is worth the many I paid for it 65$, The sound from it is warmth like you mentioned, and yes it is sound different, but does it better then my solid state ADCOM GFP 565 Preamp, it is tough question. sure I need to listen more and more hours which I don't have time for that these days.

[@rhenry74]

I've heard that adcom is good stuff, probably an unfair comparison. I guess we should be impressed that they are even in the same ballpark.

[@Curi0u50ne]

I use the pj. Miaolai M7, I opened it up and there's no op amps in this one, I also use GE tubes as well as Mullards both give a different sound both warm.

[@escorpion6570]

Sirve para conectar a un amplificador para mejorar la calidad de sonido de mis CD

[@Budgethifiamps]

This tube preamplifier can match the tap3255 amplifier to use ,very nice

[@rhenry74]

Everybody loves the A07

[@umidikim]

I would suggest you try Darkvoice headphone amplifier. I have one for a long time now and it will drive my Sennheiser hd 600 pretty good. But my favorite still Hd 6xx from Drop. I also so new model of this brand which actually intrigued me. I believe it's T8 model. Very promising unit.

[@rhenry74]

I'm not sure if I'm ready to put that kind of money into a headphone amp or tubes at this point. I have put some money into big wattage however ;-)

[@koentrommel]

Thank you for this review. Do you know if it Will receive music from a tv by HDMI to usb?

[@rhenry74]

Not without some sort of adapter that will convert the digital audio in the HDMI to USB. I'm not aware of an adapter that does that. The USB input is the old style connector... the one shaped like you would plug into a printer.

[@andrenunes278]

Thanks for the review! Can you tell if Schiit Vali 2 is much superior to this DAC?

[@rhenry74]

Sorry, I don't have any experience with any Schiit products but they do have a really good reputation. The DAC in this unit is sort of like "builder grade" but it does not sound bad so not being able to hear them side by side I couldn't say.

[@ianpearson8976]

Does this need to be powered by a power amp or can it power speakers itself.

[@rhenry74]

Enough power for headphones only.

[@alvaroogazn.5052]

Hello. I got one and I'm wondering wich DAC is it inside, do you know?

[@rhenry74]

No, I haven't taken mine apart yet. Let me know if you find out.

[@nadtz]

Was doing some looking into this and apparently the DAC is a CM6642. Some of the ali express listings for this DAC have what chips are used for what, how reliable that is is another matter.

[@ufarkingicehole]

Get the douk p1 instead! I have both. The Aimiya 07 amp is a gem. Not the pre though

[@AbsoluteFidelity]

Whats wrong with the pre?

[@ufarkingicehole]

@@AbsoluteFidelity it sounds like a $50 pre. The Douk p1 sounds sooooooo much better

[@trulyblessed5236]

@@ufarkingicehole douk is aiyima just rebranded to douk. Aiyima is the manufacturer of douk and fosi

[@ufarkingicehole]

@@trulyblessed5236 the products do not sound the same. The new Aiyima t8 and d03 sound fantastic.

[@matejbozic5860]

as a headphone amp even douk is quite underpowered .... only 160 mW @ 32 Ohm - like aiyima T6. Can't even immagine it driving a 300 Ohm headphone (which apparently is supported by their specs).

[@prestonbacchus4204]

So if a primary source is digital, like a CD, then what is the value of the tube amp? In that case already the sound is not analog and has been "cropped" for digital purposes so the real original analogue sound is not present in that signal. To get the sound that audiophile's crave don't you need everything analog?

[@rhenry74]

I think there's some validity in thinking that some audiofiles feel they only way to get "audiofile" sound is to keep everything analog. I don't think that line of thinking is shared by all though. Tubes are not the only form of analog amplification either, transistors and even class d amplification is still in the analog domain. Tubes are supposed to sound different than "silicone" (for a lack of a better word). That is what we are chasing here.

[@prestonbacchus4204]

@@rhenry74 Thank you for that response Rob. Some claim that the analog sound frequencies said to be above and below the auditory range, which are removed in the digital process, and including the hiss, actually contain important auditory information which adds depth and emotion to the music. I am not qualified to rule on that myself, but it does sound plausible.

[@JordanAdema]

Y'all need to read up on the Nyquist theorem. There's no cropping or jagged edges...

[@prestonbacchus4204]

@@JordanAdema Thank you that was cool.^

[@simonzinc-trumpetharris852]

Wrong. Not true at all.

[@matejbozic5860]

output as headphone amp is a bit low, on specs only 160mW @ 32 Ohm ... can't even immagine this one driving a 300 Ohm headphone.

[@johnpichcuskie5552]

If you never heard tube equipment before and you want to find out why people say tubes have a warmer sound and an audiophile-quality, why test such a budget integrated amplifier?

[@rhenry74]

I guess I figured this would be a way to dip my toe in the tube market without going 'all in' to see if I liked it. The tube market is expensive. If the signal does indeed pass through the tube in this unit (and I believe it does) one should be able to perceive a difference. I rolled GE tubes in and again I think I perceived a difference. I have used this as a pre-amp to solid state amps and again perceived a change to their sound. So I have no regrets with my purchase and I would continue to recommend this sort of low budget component to someone looking to dip a toe in the tube pond. However if you know you like the tube sound you might want to risk a whole... ah... foot? (that got kinda weird :-)

[@Bver69]

I have a similar mindset to​ @Rob Henry. Where I live there are no local stores that carry tube amps to try and most of the good entry level tube amps like the Little Dot and Dark Voice I have to order from out of country and either aren't returnable or I'd have to pay restocking and shipping fees to return it. Ordering a simple unit like this I can hopefully get a small sense of the "tube sound" and if I like it I can easily return it to Amazon and order a "real" tube amp like the Dot or Dark.

[@soongpark683]

비싸도 좀더 잘 만들어서 팔자

[@WisGuy4]

So what I’m getting from this video is that one of the following two things must be true: one, this DAC is no better than the DAC in a laptop, meaning it’s garbage, or two, this reviewer is not able to distinguish between a laptop DAC and the output from a quality DAC and lacks the frame of reference to make a worthwhile review. I agree that there is a lot of snakeoil and false braggadocio involved with some snooty audiofiles’ views that cables and wires can make thousands of dollars of difference in a system. But I don’t believe the same is true with regard to the DACs which have an actual impact upon the quality of the sound being introduced to one’s amplifier. This video review went too long and I am not one of the Gen Z or Millennial types with an 140 character attention span. It simply did not provide enough useful information given its length, and I would definitely have stopped at midway through had I not been in the middle of cooking dinner while I was listening to it. This is intended to be constructive commentary, not trolling.

[@rhenry74]

Maybe I have an above average DAC in this laptop. It's 48K 24bit Realtek HD I can tell a difference between this amp and my phone... amp sounds better.

[@useyourbrain69]

You speak so broken man what is your problem?

[@rhenry74]

Please subscribe and see if I improve 😉

[@Bver69]

@@rhenry74 Haha great response to this troll. Keep doing what you're doing.