Inside PJ. MIAOLAI SA-1000 tube preamplifier.

[@chrisharford2610]

I came across the preamp like you. Purchased one, and wow, great value.

[@DrFlippin]

Thanks Normcore Greg for this review. I subscribed ☺ I don't know much about stereo audio equipment; can anyone answer this (rather simple) question?: I was given an older stereo Power Amplifier - ADCOM GFA-555II and a pair of PSB Stratus Gold tower speakers (from my friend, before he passed). Apparently, I need a stereo preamplifier to make this work. Until I can afford a good preamp, can I pair this PJ MIAOLAI SA-1000 with the ADCOM power amp, without causing an electrical catastrophe, or my house burning down? If not, then can you suggest some preamps that I should be looking at? Thanks in advance for your advice.

[@NormcoreGreg]

You've got yourself a great set of gear. The amp you have requires something to control volume and potentially connect multiple sources, i.e. a preamp. The Miaolai will work just fine. However, it doesn't have a remote control, which sometimes might be annoying ;-)

[@DrFlippin]

Thank you for taking the time and effort to reply@@NormcoreGreg. I will order one of these and try it out. My amp looks huge next to a preamp that is this small. I'll report back here about how it performs and sounds.

[@dungysphincter7974]

Very good video on this product. Here are some replacement tubes if you want to tube roll (GE 5670W, 6N3/6H3N/396A /2C51/5670. For best life, and lowest noise, I recommend the Soviet 6H3n-EB tube over the 6H3n-E tubes. I am not certain but, I bet these are low gain tubes as well which is better than to have too much gain. I think they offer a more smooth sound than up in your face, or so much gain you get additional noise.

[@NormcoreGreg]

Thanks for the tip! I will play with some other tubes for sure :)

[@eariamjh71]

"..professional chopstick of truth...." made me chuckle. Subscribed.

[@MarekM-my4jz]

Great movie! And interesting device content, I didn't expect the device to look so good.

[@NormcoreGreg]

Thanks for your kind comment Marek ;)

[@enricolisk1357]

@NormcoreGreg thanks for the suggestion, i ordered it yesterday. Lets see how it goes.

[@NormcoreGreg]

Hope you'll enjoy it!

[@enricolisk1357]

@NormcoreGreg It arrived in Beautiful Sri Lanka. Lights are a bit bright for my taste. Wiim Pro, SMSL SU-1, tubes, NAD C352, B&W 602S3. Pretty neat sound.

[@enricolisk1357]

@@NormcoreGreg is there a break-in time? Does the sound quality improve?

[@NormcoreGreg]

@enricolisk1357, I hope you’ll enjoy it. Agreed about the lights. Btw. I’ve never been to Sri Lanka but must visit it one day as I heard it is beautiful.

[@enricolisk1357]

@NormcoreGreg Do let me know. I do curated trip planning as a hobby for my friends. Can help u with reliable & courteous inland travel & hotel options. recommendations.

[@ivanlukic2360]

Greetings from Serbia. Very useful video.

[@NormcoreGreg]

Hello and thank you!

[@HEZIBASS1]

I have the same unit and use it with a Raisong 10 tuve amp and sounds fantastic!

[@johnpeterson99]

Can the tubes be replaced or changed without having to solder anything?

[@NormcoreGreg]

Yes, they can.

[@wrongIQ]

I've also bought the same preamp about a year ago and found out I don't like the way it sounds. Maybe if I change the default power supply and short the tone controls things may improve

[@NormcoreGreg]

What exactly don't you like? Maybe some of those vices can be remedied by different tubes?

[@wrongIQ]

@@NormcoreGreg it's hard to explain, the sound became unpleasant. I assume it sounded like the distortion on some frequencies (possibly upper midrange). I haven't experimented whith the preamp a lot, maybe someday I'll get back to it

[@deuswulf6193]

Tempted to pick one up, but I'm mostly someone who spends all day on a computer. I have a Sennheiser GSX 1000 DAC/AMP, but its not powerful enough to drive my current set of cans. SO i need something that adds a bit of juice to the chain. I'm guessing tubes over a static State pre-amp is a bad idea?

[@NormcoreGreg]

In my opinion the headphone amp in the preamp I reviewed is just a convenience addition. I will be reviewing two dedicated headphone amps from Fosi soon, one of which includes a tube section, so you might want to stick around ;-)

[@deuswulf6193]

@@NormcoreGreg Sounds good. I look forward to it.

[@dimmog]

On the tube it says "Перепроверен," meaning it has been rechecked or reverified.

[@NormcoreGreg]

Thanks for the information!

[@crazyprayingmantis5596]

It would be cool to compare it to the cheap dynavox tube pre amps that are available from similar places

[@NormcoreGreg]

I couldn’t find any on Aliexpress. Can you share a link to the dynavox preamps? I’ll see what I can do.

[@terrydavis5915]

could this help a vintage marantz 1030

[@NormcoreGreg]

Assuming your amp works fine, I don't really see how this could really helps. Being a tube amp, it changes the sonic characteristics a bit, but it wouldn't be something that fixes any issues your amp might have.

[@MykeHawke-r9r]

Ty

[@enricolisk1357]

Can we change the OpAmps?

[@NormcoreGreg]

It doesn’t look like those opamps are swappable. At least not easily. But you can roll tubes - that’s what they’re for besides the look ;)

[@enricolisk1357]

@NormcoreGreg i guess at this price point, rolling opamps is too much of an ask.

[@enricolisk1357]

@NormcoreGreg Yes, will check on tube rolling. Appreciate if you can provide some alternatives for the tubes in an upcoming video.

[@wrongIQ]

Why not? If opamps are soldered to the pcb, then desolder and solder proper sockets to make further exchange easier. I've done such thing several times.

[@NormcoreGreg]

@@enricolisk1357, @dungysphincter7974 mentioned several choices in his comment to this video: "Here are some replacement tubes if you want to tube roll (GE 5670W, 6N3/6H3N/396A /2C51/5670. For best life, and lowest noise, I recommend the Soviet 6H3n-EB tube over the 6H3n-E tubes."

[@Antonio-Montan]

Love your channel!

[@NormcoreGreg]

Thank you @@Antonio-Montan :)

[@bertroost1675]

I hate when they illuminate the tubes. Is there a way to deactivate it?

[@NormcoreGreg]

@@bertroost1675 I feel you Alan ;) I also prefer the natural glow of tubes. It’s like women with silicone… lips. You could probably unsolder the LEDs, but I’m not good at such things so I haven’t tried it. There’s no switch though.

[@wahid-lg1kk]

Russian tubes. Good stuff. The input for headphone out, is straight to the opamps, or going through the tubes first?

[@bertroost1675]

Why do you think Russian tubes are good stuff? Most are just so so.

[@wahid-lg1kk]

@@bertroost1675 My experience with Soviet tubes has been extremely good. Those are old Soviet tubes, might be new production, but Soviet tubes. Do you actually own this device? To you have any useful comment regarding my actual question? Or are you just talking out of your a**?

[@bertroost1675]

@@wahid-lg1kk Yes, I have experience with tubes from all over the world. I have several hundred tubes in my listening room. I am not down totally on Soviet tubes. I have had experiences with 6c33c tubes, 12ax7 and several others. I just find them so so, but the old 6P3S-E seem to be okay. I don't need to own this device to ask you the question that I did. I also didn't need to answer your question. I simply asked you my question. You seem to be full or anger so I'll just stop here. Have a good day.

[@wahid-lg1kk]

@@bertroost1675 Most people online are extremely negative, and have a lot to say about things they know nothing about, and statistically speaking, someone asking so bluntly 'why do you think these are good, I think they are only so so' comes across as an entre to some negative interaction, where I am wrong because my opinion is different. This is a sickness in our culture. I apologise if you were not coming from that place. I have found Russian tubes to be far better then the Chinese and other stuff I can get here in Indonesia. I really like them, and feel they last a long time and sound great when burned in, they are reliable, and when warmed up properly, very delicate, much nuance, which I don't get from Chinese stuff. Some American milspec stuff is better, but hard to get, and very pricey here.

[@stardust7248]

amazing thank you for the video ^w^

[@ahmedzaman-x8h]

I am from Bangladesh please sound test video

[@TheYaroslav77]

На самом деле лампы работают в очень плохом режиме. Рабочая точка 55в и 1мА это не их режим. Должно быть минимум 80-100в и 3-4мА. Благо вывести лампы в нормальный режим в этом предусилитель довольно просто с минимумом вмешательства.

[@istvanantal6848]

Привет! не могли бы вы дать мне конкретный совет по этому поводу? теперь хочу поменять в нем трубку и по возможности сделать еще лучше. на самом деле мне хватило бы половины усиления или даже меньше. выходной сигнал слишком велик

[@TheYaroslav77]

@@istvanantal6848 трубки на самом деле не плохие и менять их нет необходимости (да и большинство ламп серии 6нХп и аналоги отличаются по распиновка, а это уже глубокая модернизация). Дело в том, что надо поднимать напряжение и ток. Поднять напряжение можно установи в внутрь миниатюрную плату дс-дс преобразователя и заменив конденсатор на плате ламп (там стоит электролит до 160в), поднять ток можно подпаяв 4 резистора навесные монтажом параллельно родным катодным (но сначала поднять напряжение иначе на сетках будет положительное напряжение). Разделительные выходные конденсаторы (синие кубики около цоколей лламп) стоят до 100в - то есть можно не меняя их задирать напряжение до 85-90в на каждую лампу (они стоят последовательно и полное напряжение делится почти ровно пополам). Если интересно дайте как связаться дам больше информации.

[@TheYaroslav77]

​@@istvanantal6848 менять лампы нет необходимости, они тут и так неплохие. Можно, конечно, но совсем мало есть ламп с той же распиновкой. Есть 5670 от ge американские и всё по факту, у остальных другая распиновка. А вот что стоит делать, это перекусить ножку анодного питания между основной платой и платой ламп и поставить миниатюрный модуль дс-дс преобразователь. Так же требуется поменять на плате ламп электролит на большее напряжение, выходные конденсаторы можно оставить родные если не поднимать напряжение выше 80-90в на лампу (170-185 полное, лампы включены последовательно по питанию). Так же подпаять 4 рез стора в параллели к катодным для повышения тока через лампы, но только при большем анодном напряжении (иначе на сетках будет появляться положительное напряжение). В личку могу дать подробные инструкции со схемами и графиками. kzbin.info/www/bejne/fHKkpoN5qLiKa5Ysi=tkR-2Vcmy680i3Fp

[@istvanantal6848]

@@TheYaroslav77 спасибо за помощь! К сожалению, я не умею работать по чертежу. Паять и измерить не проблема. если бы вы могли написать список запчастей и указать, что заменить, это было бы легко. Как мне написать личное сообщение?

[@TheYaroslav77]

@@istvanantal6848 в ютубе личных нет. Есть телеграм или другой вариант?

[@crossoverchef]

yes the hair looks like the hulk, but the review is pretty good.

[@NormcoreGreg]

I treat this as a compliment :D

[@newardthelman6871]

hilarious

[@henrikcarlsen1881]

@@NormcoreGreg As long as you don't get angry and turn green! You get a small amount if we buy it ... isn't that compromising you a tiny bit? Moreover, you looked at the components and build quality and didn't cover the important part, how it sounds. The tubes come from Russia ... is that a potential export embargo violation?

[@NormcoreGreg]

@@henrikcarlsen1881 these are all valid questions, thanks! :) As for the sound of it, I talked about it in my original review of this unit, which you can find here - kzbin.info/www/bejne/rGeup3Wjdrh4j6c. Regarding the commission (that I'm yet to see) and how it might influence my opinions - I'm an amateur "youtuber" and I do it purely for fun; I purchase all the gear I talk about with my own money (except for three pieces I recently received for free as review units) and make some research before to make sure it's not total crap; having said that I admit that a potential financial reward, however small it might be, may, even on the subconscious level, affect my opinions. But no one's objective anyway and we should always take any information with a grain of salt. Your last question about tubes from Russia - as a Pole I wave a very strong opinion about Russia and how it should be dealt with, especially given the ongoing war with Ukraine. However, I'm not sure such tubes are of strategic importance. Also, I'm not sure if they come from Russia or from some other ex-soviet country, e.g. Ukraine. I appreciate your concerns in this matter though.

[@staceymangham]

​@@henrikcarlsen1881are you serious, there always has to be one

[@simonzinc-trumpetharris852]

Those blue led's will have to go.

[@johnbravo7542]

You are kidding yourself if you think those tubes are doing anything but being lit,they are there for decoration only.

[@ThatLoudF-150]

I was looking for this comment lol

[@wahid-lg1kk]

You are kidding yourself if you think your brain is doing anything but sitting there being wet.

[@johnbravo7542]

@@wahid-lg1kk You are kidding yourself if you think you have a brain.

[@xaviermontalban717]

They work. These tubes are legit and can be swapped out for different ones. It's a simple preamp, not a high powered amplifier

[@LeonBorchjes]

Hi, just want to confirm if you actually can hear a tube flavor to the sound ( I bought a tube pre amp from Aiyima, but can't hear any tube sound from it - not sure if the sound actually pass Tru them)