REVIEWS: Mini Amp & Graphic Equalizer

Testing a Nobsound Tone mini amplifier with a new EQ and some old ball speakers. The good(ish) the bad and the ugly (not necessarily in that order).
If you want a Nobsound Tone Mini Amp here are some affiliated ebay links
UK ebay.to/2YhXmww
US ebay.to/2MrBYOb
CA ebay.to/2MtHzDV
DE ebay.to/2LS6Ho6
AU ebay.to/2MBN6bF
NL ebay.to/2YAoYrT
ES ebay.to/2KcHv8J
IE ebay.to/316uDHW
Amazon links below (eBay is cheaper)
UK amzn.to/2KloQYn
US amzn.to/2YHpLax
DE amzn.to/31biXDU
CA amzn.to/2YnYley
Thanks again to James Witham for sending over the speakers - they they served a useful purpose in demonstrating that not all speakers are suitable for reproducing music.
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[@twocvbloke]

That forged "Pioneer" logo on the equaliser really screams high quality, the sort of high quality that comes from a white van speaker scam in a tesco car park... :P

[@marcusdamberger]

Is the white van scam still going on? I know there is a form of it online certainly, but are there dudes still catching people in the parking lots and saying they gotta get rid of some equipment on the cheap or their "boss" is going to bust their balls if they show back up with it? Or someone screwed up and "ordered" too many of an item and they gotta sell them, again because if their "boss" finds out, he's going to get in trouble. I see on Craigslist all the time projectors and screens, or "home theater" kits going for silly money, inevitably one pic shows the "retail price" being something like $5000, and they are letting them go for an amazing $500. Some even have fake websites that hardly have any info on them about the product, just to make it look like there is a company behind the product.. (I guess so the guy can pull up a web site on their phone and quickly show the poor sod, "its legit") Does anyone fall for this cheap Chinese shit? Some You Tube videos of those projectors taken apart shows how badly they are made and what a fire hazards they can be, especially the older ones with quarts lights normally used for work lights.. Plastic lenses, low lumens, 640x480 low resolution LCD inside that has HDMI input that accepts 1080p, but converts to its low resolution, light leakage out every corner with obnoxious fan noise. Amazing thee things even project an image at all.. The stereos I've seen are made of MDF, hot glue and single cone speakers.

[@meetoo594]

@@marcusdamberger In the UK we have car boot sales where various ner-do-wells (usually asians with the odd delboy style conman) pretend they are just homeowners selling unwanted stuff from their garage clearout when in fact they have a vanload of stolen/faulty/fake goods to sell and bugger off before anyone finds out how shit the thing they just bought was. Never heard of anyone selling stuff in carparks apart from drugs though. I imagine places like Tescos are so cctv`ed up that security or the local plod would shut you down pretty quick if you tried flogging tellys in their carpark.

[@sionjones1675]

I like how the equaliser logo "Plardin" is meant to imitate Pioneer's logo!

[@gwishart]

The perfect accompaniment for my Sorny speakers and Pillips CD-player(!)

[@Grenade80]

Matches greatly with some * labidas * tracksuit and ARNAMI sunglasses :)

[@pgaven9396]

😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@ryanpascual9598]

That same brand sold DVD players in the Philippines!

[@Fluteboy]

Will go great with a Smasnug TV!

[@Melmelbaton]

I actually came close to buying one of those equalizers - something about it just rubbed me wrong though so I passed on it. Definitely not regretting that decision now, seeing how cheap it is. I love how it says "EQUALIZER" on the display, yknow in case you forget.

[@4x4CB]

a narrow escape! Jeez i'd be pissed if i'd paid £80 for that - which i wouldn't as i don't buy any new gear at all, but plenty will think its one thing when really it's another. China.... what are they like?

[@aussie8114]

Technics are totally awesome. $200 second hand, you will not regret it.

[@lazycalm41]

Sadly EQ like this pile of garbage are indicative of the majority of so called Hi Fi products now days. cheaply made shoddy pieces of junk. Come back the glory days of the 70's

[@aussie8114]

lazycalm41 There’s some very good stuff but you pay big dollars.

[@mgabrysSF]

Perhaps the word 'rub' should be avoided in the comments for any review involving nob and balls.

[@steviebboy69]

The Amp seemed pretty good for what it was, I saw a DAC on the tube the other day and it was from Schiit, funny name for a device. Imagine Nobsound amp, schiit DAC and old Ball speakers.

[@zeusapollo8688]

Nice schitt...supposed to be pretty good

[@Arbiter099]

I'm using a schiit amp for my headphones. Good product, wouldn't mind seeing Techmoan talk about them.

[@awdadwadwad1723]

I have a schiit DAC in bedroom setup, it is fully hardware balanced with quad Analog Devices DACs and is bitperfect. Paid about 1.2k

[@greenaum]

@@tarstarkusz It'll be PMPO watts aka Argos watts AKA we abandoned any relationship with reality at all decades ago and now we just make shit up based on how big the box looks watts. PMPO watts used to mean "4X the actual power" and was based partly on power delivered during the loudest microsecond, partly on just making shit up. Now it's purely the latter, plus Chinese Ebay. Imagine if in years to come, it turns out the Chinese weren't trying to rip anyone off at all, with 9,999-in-1 games consoles, and had actually just misunderstood our number system. Oh what a silly mistake!

[@greenaum]

@@awdadwadwad1723 I spent my money on getting pissed and taking drugs with my mates. My stereo didn't cost a hundred quid and is based on 70s separates gear people gave me, and a pair of Mission speakers I got cheap. I think I made a better choice. And I don't even know what "bitperfect" is supposed to mean, despite being a computer programmer with decent electronics knowledge.

[@wal]

Fun video! These mini amps fascinate me as well and I have bought a dozen or more to test out and found some are quite impressive. Many have 2.1 options with an extra channel for powering a small subwoofer. Also, the spectrum analyzer EQ's never get old. *Great video as always!*

[@LordHPLovecraft]

‘Unlike Me was these old balls” Famous last words

[@Shaun.Stephens]

Yeah. I mean what's he supposed to do? Get transplants?

[@luizftavares]

Excuse me sir but may you tell me the name of your cat?

[@DerekRNeumann]

Not that it really much matters, however i purchased one of the nobsound amps last summer. I was using it as a lower power bench mark to test all the rummage speakers i had been finding at local thrifts. I found the power supply to be less than 50w ×2 so i found a 24v 4a supply and not only did it give the amp more head room, it also breathed more life into the VU function. It's been a stable little amp for about a year now. Currently using it as a sound bar replacement in a bedroom TV setup running a pair of JBL 2500's. No treble and bass controls, it really made finding the best sounding full range speakers easier though cause when you found a pair of super efficient KLH floor standing three ways, the little amp really shines through. Admire this channel immensely, thanks for another audio video!

[@jablan3376]

One more nice thing about these class-D amps is that they are quite low power consumers. I haven't measured, but they stay completely cold, although I have them plugged in and powered 24/7.

[@ryancoke777]

You should combine the tiny amp with a tiny equalizer and a walkman or discman in a stacked formation to make the world's smallest hifi stack 🤣🤣

[@IVR02]

I kinda want to see someone do that now.

[@mauricequartermain485]

Use a minidisc player.

[@951258tike22]

i love this idea so much, have it sit on a tiny table between two of the largest speakers you can find hahaha

[@alexisaksen4406]

With a name like "Plardin", it's gotta be good.

[@YoleusBeats]

In the 'pioneer' font on less hahahaha

[@filanfyretracker]

reminds of an older Simpsons where they go to a not at all shady electronics store and homer comments they have the major brands like "Panaphonic and Magnetbox"

[@SlinkyStoney]

And says EQUALIZER on the display with flashy lights on the sliders

[@jayw654]

nah, its gotta go to the trash.

[@Stefan-]

@@filanfyretracker I remember from 20 years ago working at a repair shop as a tech when a co worker told me about someone that had come in with a Panasoanic cordless phone, we might have helped if it was a Panasonic phone, but not PanasoAnic, ha ha. Unfortunately they didnt exaggerate in The Simpsons at all, but it is of course funny :-)

[@NathanaelDuke]

Those wondering about the fuse, UK homes use a ring-main that doesn’t necessarily protect the individual sockets, so the fuse in plug helps ensure your individual pieces of equipment don’t catch fire.

[@jimbob036]

Exactly, it's dangerous without a fuse!

[@martinda7446]

The fuse is there to protect the cable or flex, nothing else.

[@VintageStuff]

I literally burst out laughing when you peeled off the protective film from the amp. The slo-mo + the music + being a repeat gag from an earlier video... I aspire to make videos as awesome as you do.

[@note5camera]

My girlfriend says you sounded like you were on your second glass of wine. ha ha. we love your videos. she bought a G-tech because of the video you made on it a few years back.

[@Phos9]

Some high quality landfill in this video.

[@marcusdamberger]

Yes, China is making stuff straight for the landfill. It's such a shame all the CO2s produced for such junk only to become waste that won't decay for several thousand years. Future generations are going to look back and wonder what on earth we were doing to the earth and for what benefit? So we can have "Commerce" just for the sake of having commerce that didn't really produce anything useful in the end?

[@keithbrown7685]

For me it was the wires. The wire-to-gadget ratio was too high in this case.

[@kevwang0712]

2:23 Hey that's odd, Nobsound is a Chinese brand and the amp is clearly made in China, but the label has text in Traditional Chinese instead of the Simplified Chinese used in China. Normally only larger Chinese companies (ex. Xiaomi, Huawei, Oppo, Lenovo…) bother to use Traditional Chinese text for stuff that's destined for sale in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau, most smaller companies simply don't bother with that

[@sparkydog1725]

It is so relaxing watching and listening to you, Mat. I love your "dry" sense of humor. I only wish you could produce videos a bit more often, but that's just me. Keep up the great work.

[@theladyfingers___]

You were having a great time narrating this. Love your work.

[@RandomRoger]

".... Unlike me with these old balls." I see what you did there! 😂😂

[@AttilaTheHun333333]

I would suggest to make a whole video about plugs. 😆

[@highpath4776]

Just send the whole lot to bigclivedotcom for destruction and reverse engineering testing

[@dashtesla]

First he needs to send that lead to John Ward i'm sure he would have a thing or two to say about it he absolutely loves when they cover the earth pin (even though in this case it doesn't really matter). What I find interesting is that he looks at the cord bundled with it and thinks 'oh this really looks dodgy' but power supply 'looks fine to me...' XD I certainly wouldn't trust that power supply who knows what wonders awaits inside, that one should go to bigclive.

[@jorgepais2876]

Technology Connections has already done that!

[@dereksmith6126]

I bought a Nobsound Yiniu B01 as a bluetooth receiver and DAC. RCA out straight to my JVC A-S5 integrated amp. Good build quality, all metal. It has two toggle switches on the front, one for power and one to swith between Bluetooth and Coaxial imput. Worked straight out of the box and also cost £80. Super bit of kit.

[@springbay1]

Loved the updated outro with the gorgeous red triple deck cassette player

[@CardboardSliver]

Thanks. I'm 8 years old again and giggling at nob and balls.

[@shamasis.bhattacharya]

I’m glad that you’re watching Techmoan. There’s a lot more interesting stuff to learn here and see how things are built (at least how they were used to be built.)

[@OtterlyInsane]

I love that the equaliser came with a faulty LED on the right

[@venturarodriguezvallejo1567]

Me too 😅

[@lorenzocervo]

I used one the smaller version of the nobsound amplifier to make my rear speaker wireless and It works pretty well. No delays and good sound.

[@ruskreeder2434]

Superb job of presentation and editing.

[@Nukle0n]

That AC adapter looks suspiciously like an old laptop power supply, with its 19v output.

[@SianaGearz]

18-20V also happens to be about the best voltage to run these TPA3116 chips, they can get pretty toasty if you push them higher (and this manufacturer isn't very good at cooling them), and you'll be wasting lots of power if you run them lower. So a replacement laptop PSU is just perfect.

[@jasejj]

Yeah the 3.42A is a very standard value for those things as well. It's likely a standard, poor quality laptop replacement supply you can pick up for a few pounds, with a replacement label.

[@fredyellowsnow7492]

It looks just like the horribly electrically noisy and hot-running pieces of crap that come with external drive housings, too. Best place for them is in the bin before they burn the house down.

[@mdamaged]

Plugs, balls and nobs, this video had everything!

[@ColinWBeatty]

I've been watching you for years, but this video made me laugh so hard I had to thank you. I absolutely lost it when you pulled that film off. Keep on keeping on!

[@Kiinell]

Brilliant video, as always. Informative and entertaining.

[@socialistether6788]

Different coloured leads, mixing batteries, you are sticking it to the man!

[@flightlesschicken7769]

"sticking it" FTFY

[@socialistether6788]

@@flightlesschicken7769 good catch

[@greenaum]

There's one bit where he uses a yellow plug to carry sound! YELLOW!!!!

[@flightlesschicken7769]

@@socialistether6788 You... Uh... Didn't edit your comment to fix it

[@socialistether6788]

@@flightlesschicken7769 wasn't going to, but you coerced me into it ;)

[@808GT]

Just a question about that amp: when you switch to Bluetooth, is there any other notification besides the led on the front? I'm asking because I bought one of those mini amps and evrytime you enable Bluetooth, there is an annoying female voice saying "waiting for pairing " through the speakers.

[@SteveMorton]

Thank you for the mini amp review, very few of these mini amps have a headphone output as well as speaker outputs. I use a pair of non-active speakers with my iMac so this amp might be better than the one I'm currently using!

[@ryanmalin]

I have a technics amplifier from the 90s and it's one of the best home receivers I've ever owned. Sounds great and makes a realistic 2x50w RMS

[@drewdane40]

I enjoyed your graphic nob and balls video. You KNOW some horrible person is going to have fun with this, don't you?

[@tentringer4065]

Why would anyone find Techmoan's shiny nob and low hanging balls funny?

[@Dan-TechAndMusic]

Also, appreciated the talk about all kinds of plugs.

[@FiXato]

@@tentringer4065 nah, Techmoan's balls are properly supported!

[@poble]

graphic nob and ball torture

[@drewdane40]

@@RWL2012 Right you are. I got the name wrong, but there's nothing saying Terrible Person can't also be a horrible person. 😂

[@koppadasao]

1:20 As long as they don't collect plugs, talking about plugs is ok… Yeah, I'm talking about you, Arthur. You're a nutter!

[@kissingfrogs]

I know its a thing, but I am always happy to see inside these things so if you ever feel tempted to take em apart ...

[@faraga1]

I was looking for a cheap amplifier to go with my computer. Just bought the Nobsound. Thanks!

[@Andrew_Sparrow]

That "UK" plug is dangerous to use, isn't fused and the earth pin is shielded! should be metal all the way (not that it matter too much with a two pin connector I guess🙄)

[@markwanklyn4195]

and given that plug, I wonder what the quality of the power supply is like?

[@venturarodriguezvallejo1567]

@@markwanklyn4195 Just look to the rest: garbage no worthing a penny.

[@LordWaldema]

Serious question: aren't there centralised fuse boxes in the UK and if there are, why are they considered unsafe without additional fuses in the plugs?

[@cncshrops]

The earth pin thing is a bit of a red herting since its a 2core cable. No fuse on the other hand means that the 6amp(?) cable will be potentially exposed to 32amps before a breaker trips

[@markwanklyn4195]

@@venturarodriguezvallejo1567 was being sarcastic about the psu :-) - seen enough garbage laptop chargers from eBay (that go bang or catch fire!) and that 'thing' looks like one of those

[@denimadept]

This is seriously tempting so I can use my old Cambridge Soundworks Ensemble III bookshelf speakers. It'd be even more tempting if I could FIND more than one of the five...

[@flandrble]

The chip in these buzz, ie there's a constant background noise, it's apparant on every TPA3116 amp that I know of. If you do get one, make sure to get the highest voltage DC brick you can for it, it sounds cleaner.

[@ChlorideCull]

flandrble My guess is that it doesn't have a filter on the DC input, so the power fluctuation from a switched power supply will be output as noise.

[@denimadept]

@@flandrble Would that be why they went with a 19V unit? I'm not an EE.

[@mal2ksc]

Tripath amps pretty much all sound the same, love them or hate them. I always have a few banging around, both in cases and not, for various purposes when "real equipment" flakes out. It will be as forgiving as your speakers, no more and no less. Hook it to studio monitors and it will be as harsh and unforgiving as anything.

[@CTRIX64]

I wouldn't run the Soundworks ES III's with this! Something like the SMSL AD18 is more pricey ($120 vs $60 here), but has multi inputs, proper tone controls, decent BT, and a large heavy PSU with oodles of overhead. I used a Nobsound with a set of Sony APM's and it sounded very bitey and the low end was totally lacking. The SMSL is pretty much on par with a Yamaha amp many times it's size. I can't comment on longevity as I've only had it a few months, but it'd be my pick of the litter for small profile / cheap amps at the mo; and I investigated a few with the assumption they all used similar parts. Otherwise, just hit the second hand market for a decent Denon / Yami / Sony / Rotel mini-system which will at least have tone controls on it. Although from memory, the Soundworks had a passive sub... so not sure how you'd power that.

[@thinlizzysupporter]

When I first got back into vinyl a few years ago I purchased a turntable but had no other hi-fi components as I had sold my previous set up many years ago. So I purchased a mini amp from Amazon for about £40 which had a headphone output and rca inputs on the rear to connect to the turntables built in pre-amp output. This served me very well for a year until I decided I needed a proper amp and speakers again.

[@hawyadoin1175]

I just finished watching your recordable paper video. It reminded me of the Sega Pico from the 90s even though it is completely different tech. It would be cool to see you do a video on that some day. Love the channel BTW.

[@johnm3152]

I only remove the protective plastic film if company is impending. Cheers

[@greenaum]

You should perhaps consider that the time to put it on.

[@AfferbeckBeats]

The EQ is very 'home brand car head unit from the local auto parts store'

[@boxsterpontus]

Those little nobsound amplifiers are actually pretty awesome. The sound quality is very good. Many models fails miserably on usability though, connectors at odd places, LEDs that light up an arena, max volume beeps when you connect BT, etc. But they sure sound good connected to a pair of good speakers.

[@Genecaster]

Dat Zeiss lens in the reflection on the amp. No wonder your videos always look so clear.

[@misterdaz1018]

Nobsound! I have seen their hifis and other products here in China.

[@jimmypan3242]

yes its made in China, but it makes cheap and bad products.

[@Fluteboy]

That amp was impressive. Certainly had a fair amount of nob in it.

[@llary]

I've seen a few nobs in China too

[@rucker69]

I hate novelty spectrum analyzers, especially ones that bother to mark out the different frequencies. Like, just make a real one you pillocks.

[@M4RC90]

But that would be expensive and most of the people buying one of those don't know the difference anyway :D

[@SianaGearz]

I wonder if they made this on purpose so people in a karaoke bar don't go adjusting too much. Or maybe they just found some leftover junk that nobody really needed. As far as i can see, the display itself only has a handful electrodes, 5 vertically stacked sections of somewhat jaggedy shapes. It is a pity, but try to get a new VFD of that size made today. You can have a gorgeous OLED 5.5" across but that's upwards of $50 alone, adding like $60-$70 to the cost of the device. Then again an array of LEDs simply on the PCB of the device would have been fine and not all too expensive. Still, would people pay $20+ more for a real equaliser rather than a fake one? I mean you, Techmoan and myself would likely would avoid a fake one at all cost, thus either buying a more expensive device or something without a display, but i doubt the world at large really cares.

[@RBSVader]

Some of them are not even a freq analyzer at all, lol...just random bars.

[@shawbros]

"especially ones that bother" So, you would prefer the ones that don't bother.

[@greenaum]

@@RBSVader This one isn't! Just the same circuit they put in disco lights to make them flash to the beat.

[@vgtheory]

Sounding like Techmoan had a lot of fun with this particular video. I love it.

[@yueibm]

You gotta try a Behringer Ultracurve 2496 if you want to play with a bunch of graphic and parametric equalizer adjustments, and auto room tuning. Thanks for another cool video!

[@leejamestheliar2085]

" warning: graphic balls and nob video ahead " Thx. The good old days ( or not)

[@jujoe82]

Coffee, toast and TECHMOAN beautiful start to the day :)

[@IDPhotoMan]

i was waiting for you to take them all apart!

[@Therandomness1235]

I'm glad to see that there's recognition for folks who enjoy peeling off film

[@elementbr]

That plug isn't UK compliant. Should not be sold in the UK.

[@alanroy]

Shielded earth pin

[@KomradeMikhail]

Needs more puppets.

[@RodBeauvex]

Really, of all the videos to not have a puppet stringer....

[@StephanS]

I got myself a small two channel tube amplifier from ebay to boost quiet signals when recording. This thing is a blast and it sounds awesome (although it doesnt "sound") - I really love those modern mini amplifiers

[@Katzenkotze85]

gREAT VID´S FROM YOUR SIDE!!! - :Di´d liked them indeed very much all so far! -as a young man who is interested in technics from older days; your videos are really great showing the value of "old-way-constructed"-technic!

[@mvevitsis]

N00bsound, by Dank Audio

[@Mankuwa]

Why am i laughing at this? Lol

[@Mankuwa]

@Martin M please don't make me laugh again lol

[@colinstu]

@Martin M 69-bit audio

[@PiotrMichniewski]

Dat peel tho

[@DejanTesic]

3:07

[@xeokym223]

*_WOW!! LOOK AT THOSE PLUGS!!_* I used to have a multi-disk double cassette compact stereo system from the late 90s (not a karaoke machine) that had more lights than a christmas tree. My favorite setting was "jet" where the LED equalizer played the graphics of an airplane taking off, soaring up through clouds, landing and taking off again. I thought that was the neatest thing and was probably the selling point for me 🤩 I had all my video game consoles plugged into the aux port with A/B switches, it was a blast.

[@tapestapes0]

The lenghts you go to please your audience is plausible but there is no need i think.Thanks for all the work you put on your videos i enjoy the all

[@stepheng8779]

I got an email the other day from geekbuying offering me some Spunky earbuds 😀 I wasn't tempted.

[@LRM12o8]

Kinda like Coca Cola's advertisement fail, when they tried to sell their Dasani bottled water in the UK: "It's full of spunk" "Bottled spunk" 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@greenaum]

@@LRM12o8 The "spunk" campaign was online, presumably done by the American side with no British input. Hubris, you are bloody hilarious. The reason Dasani failed just after launch here is because people found out it was bottled tapwater, and the media published that. It's just local tapwater wherever they sell it, but the Americans buy the stuff by the gallon. It's legal to sell bottled tapwater, and even to call it "spring water", maybe because it's so bouncy. "Natural mineral water" though has to be what it sounds like. But even then it's just bloody water. Doesn't make any difference to anything.

[@beetooex]

I looked into all the Douk audio products. None of them have a CE mark so they are illegal to sell in the EU. Who knows if they're safe?

[@Dedubya-]

The 3 pin plug certainly is not safe and would be illegal to sell by a UK retailer (Amazon seem exempt from this of course!) - no fuse, partially covered earth pin, undoubtably hair thin alluminium wire inside the cable. bs1363.fatallyflawed.org.uk/ is worth a look and pretty much sums these plugs up.

[@sionjones1675]

@@Dedubya- excellent link, thanks for sharing that

[@Heimbasteln]

@@Dedubya- And who knows if the power supply is safe? I would use another power supply if I were to give this amp to someone else.

[@mal2ksc]

How do you know the power supply is safe at any time? Just because you pay more, that doesn't mean you necessarily get a better power supply -- and now that the trick of "uprating" the amp by throwing more voltage at it is known, they can expect people to purchase the weakest power brick and replace it with one of their own choosing. I certainly would consider doing that. The reason for 19V is pretty clear -- that's a power brick designed for Chromebooks and other such thin and light laptops. I'd be more worried about blowing one of _those_ up with a bad power brick than blowing up a Tripath amp. They're quite hardy little beasts, so long as you give them enough cooling.

[@Heimbasteln]

@@mal2ksc I wouldnt expect the amp to fail, I would expect the power brick to shock you through the amp. No power brick is 100% safe but some are safer than others.

[@Dsdcain]

Had to leave a like just because of the film removal. Great information and entertainment on this channel. Thanks.

[@otefollert1]

Thanks, I was thinking about getting one of those EQ

[@venturarodriguezvallejo1567]

Now you have all the reasons for not doing so, my friend.

[@pinknoized9898]

that kind of equalizer is also available here in the philippines you can buy here in cheap electronics store products that came from china the performance of that is sucks. it is better to buy 2nd pioneer and japanese equalizer product it sounds professional

[@LakeNipissing]

Get a refund for that Equalizer... a 5 dollar second hand Radio Shack 7 band equalizer from the 1980s is 100 times better!!

[@bobblum5973]

I actually have one of those Radio Shack equalizers, still works fine. Even survived my brother-in-law running 8-ohm earphone audio from a small TV through it to drive a speaker directly, with NO AMPLIFIER! I'd loaned it to him for recording, "borrowed" it back when I saw that, tried to explain to him about power amps versus line-level signals, etc.

[@coastalsandwich]

I’ve got a NobSound mini Bluetooth amp, it’s performed excellently, recommend it to everyone. It’s far nicer looking than the model you’ve shown here though. One of my best amazon purchases of the last year.

[@erikthecat47]

Such a great delivery as always, your stand up debut can only be weeks away, your are ready, your public are ready, seize the.... Erm. .. Oh yeah, day. Keep up the great work Mr Moan, your youtube offerings are always so entertaining, thanks for sharing , you knob😁

[@AcornElectron]

Go on then, lets indulge in some Sunday morning techmoan. Edited to say that’s the worst graphic equaliser I’ve ever seen for the price.

[@venturarodriguezvallejo1567]

Most probably the worst equalizer ever made. Pure crap.

[@kareno8634]

hmmm ~ What'd you "edit" out?

[@AcornElectron]

Karen O the post was edited in its entirety to include reference to the graphic. Thanks for asking.

[@FindLiberty]

@@AcornElectron "...at any price!"

[@Nukle0n]

Using a new mic? Your audio quality seems a lot more scratchy and bassless.

[@leopoldbluesky]

Yeah, I noticed that too. I thought my ears had gone tinny until the sexy "unpeeling" music kicked in! 😜

[@twistedviewlabs]

Thanks for posting this! I've been looking for something powerful yet compact for my son. He's been bugging me to get him a proper setup instead of running his turntable thru the line in on his desktop computer. My daughter has been asking me for something similar and since they both have smaller rooms, that mini amp would be perfect for the both of them. I did find a few options on Amazon US as well that actually included a built-in preamp for under $50USD with free Prime shipping. They each had 2 RCA inputs so you could hookup a cassette deck as well and also with Bluetooth & USB. I steered away from things like mirrored front panels and flashing lights because the important part is that the audio sounds good.

[@FrankLangford]

I ordered one of these yesterday, and it arrived a few minutes ago. Mine is branded Douk Audio Tone. It has a fuse in the uk power plug, and the "vu" meters work at low volume ! . It was purchased to replace a very old Denon UD-M50 which was being used as a amp for my PC set up. It took up a lot of space and no bluetooth . Purchased from Amazon UK So , it works, its inexpensive, and takes up very little room on the desktop and has bluetooth.

[@aussie8114]

It’s funny how we all trust this cheap Chinese made stuff in our homes 🔥

[@aussie8114]

6581punk So long as it doesn’t set your house on fire 😨

[@6581punk]

Hotpoint and Beko appliances more likely to do that and not made in China. A powerbrick is sealed in a plastic box. I've had them blow before now, they just pop and make a smell.

[@Rentta]

Aka 90% of consumer electronics these days (at least internals)

[@MrSatyre1]

Shhhh! The Chinese are listening!

[@DeputatKaktus]

*Jeremy Clarkson has entered the chat* „Did somebody say Nobsound? Oh, I say! Those balls are glorious....no, wait. That is more of a James May thing. Oh, hello....“ *James May has entered the chat* „Clarksooooooon!“

[@jenky1044]

Great show. I almost spat my coffee out a couple of times from laughing...😂😂 Have a great day.

[@JohnnyX50]

I really wish I still had my Hi-Fi separates. They were all the rave back in the day and I got some of mine from the Littlewoods catalogue. Mainly a black graphic EQ that had at least 12 on each side but no visual display. It sounded great with no noise added to the processed sound, it may have been a Pioneer brand, I'm not sure now. I also got an Aiwa twin cassette deck with dolby B and C and it was the best thing I ever owned. Crystal clear sound, absolutely no noise added to tapes, lovely display, mechanical auto reverse (it span the heads around), and took several types of tape including metal. I swapped it some years later for a Sony MDS-JE 330 mini disk recorder to go with my computer at the time. I wish manufacturers would bring back the tried, tested and much loved audio equipment from yesteryear as I feel with modern touches they could last years and be an awesome addition to any home. I still have the mini disk but it's gathering dust and I am not sure if any of the disks I have still work. I only used it for the optical line in function that was line out fed to a mixer and then to a broken modern (Sony) hi fi ( CD player packed in, it had an f'ing i-pod dock where a tape would be and then later the amp chips started to feck up leaving the whole thing useless). It's in the attic now but I still use its great speakers on another device for the aux in to speakers lol So disappointed by todays moderately over charged, feature lacking, low quality builds.

[@Nick_1911]

That 50x2 High-Power looks kinda overrated :D

[@dj_paultuk7052]

No, its genuine. www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/tpa3116d2.pdf

[@mal2ksc]

It _is_ slightly overrated, but only slightly. If the power brick were 21V instead of 19V as shipped, 2x50W at 4Ω is the spec.

[@Yukatoshi]

Dat legendary Chinese build quality.

[@GaugePlays1980]

I lost it at plastic peel. :D Love the vid as always!

[@thecaveofthedead]

Thanks. This is timely. I'm literally that guy with some old bookshelf speakers from my old man (Bambi? from the late '60s or early '70s? Can't find anything about them online). So I ordered a nobsound from China with a simple metal case to power them and have built-in bluetooth 5.0 for a little secondary system I have in my workroom upstairs. So I'm just glad this model you tried didn't sound awful.

[@dergrunepunkt]

Is there anyone there who hates blue LED's as much as I do?, personally I found them tacky.

[@6581punk]

Bad for your eyes too apparently.

[@Santor-]

Always too much glare. Downgrade really.

[@niko1u426]

They somehow always look cheap

[@BertGrink]

In my opinion, blue LEDs should be banned as pilot lights.

[@alexatkin]

Yes, Red, Amber or Green is fine, but Blue is horrible especially if its something under your TV that is constantly causing glare in your eye. Some of them are insanely bright.

[@greenaum]

Wow, nice work China, on the fake spectrum analyser. Real shame the Nob and Balls hifi setup didn't work though.

[@Swenglish]

I've run into some digital amps that have latency. A non-issue when listening to music, but when using it for video or for performing or creating music, it becomes a problem. I've never seen anyone test latency when reviewing amps. One easy way to test latency is to use the amp in parallel with a pair of headphones or an analog amp of some sort (even an X-mini or something similar would do the job), connected to the same source, and see if there's noticeable voice doubling. I bought a well reviewed Psyc Monic bluetooth speaker and was disappointed to find that it had noticeable latency even on the analog input, which none of the reviews had mentioned, so I couldn't use it with my OP-1, and now I'm wary of all amps with any digital component. So that's maybe a segment to consider adding in future amp or portable speaker reviews.

[@rikshaw2233]

Thanks, I really appreciate that review.

[@gavincurtis]

Big beautiful VFD with permanent EQUALIZER phosphor and fake driver.. WHY china ...why....?

[@parkamark]

I've seen reviews of that type of plug on other channels like JW electrical - it will not be fused and it will not be manufactured to UK standards meaning ... it is dangerous to use, including the quality of cable in the lead, the quality of connectors moulded into the plastic plug and the fact you can slip your fingers under it and touch the pins whilst pulling it out of the socket. In short, don't use it: kzbin.info/www/bejne/b3ywo4qrpauEqpY

[@marcusdamberger]

I love how Techmoan mentions all these plug standards and to get off his back (or constant comments) about what the UK uses, and that other countries use other kinds of plugs, and to get over it. Especially the bit about it's size compared to other countries. It's size it partly because the built in fuse holder etc. Tom Scott did a great video about all the benefits of the UK plug standard kzbin.info/www/bejne/i3bJgWSFgLCtlbM I would say the Euro standard is also similarly beneficial and has a lot of the same features the UK BS 1363 plugs, though I think shutters on the sockets is a great standard to have that I believe the euro standard does not use.

[@JesseJames-rg7vg]

I dont know where u came from because i never noticed u or your videos before but i absolutely love all your videos ive seen so far.I was watching youtube on my tv suddenly i see your videos u show all kinds of awesome electronics either that ive never seen before or that i havent seen since a baby.The "pocket" record player,the "open cassette system" and 1 thing i remembered when i was little was the Show N Tell General Electric Phono Viewer.I subscribed to your channel and i also noticed u like my same type of music when i was nosing at your cassettes in 1 of your videos.Please keep the videos coming,u are awesome.

[@Otokichi786]

Those "ball speakers" remind me of a long-ago cartoon in the long-gone "Hi Fi and Stereo Review" magazine. Looking into a window to a house, we see a cat using wooden stereo speaker boxes/enclosures as "scratching posts." A fellow with a very determined look on his face is carrying two "ball speakers" on metal stands to solve his "domestic problem.";)

[@JaypiTechPHOfficial]

That freaking "Plardin" Equalizer is a trash. You know why? The sliders are hard to find. 🤦🏻‍♂️ And BTW, the Fluorescent display is not spectrum analyzer and it can peak it with a pickup mic inside.

[@mike_x48954]

You sound like you're rushing a bit.... slow it down please.

[@Graylord88]

Yeah I noticed that too.

[@giorgion9116]

balls wouldn't wait ))

[@mikedinunzio1]

your speaker efficiency is possibly the reason for not needing much amp volume. anything above 85-88 db is higher than most consumer grade speakers. the polks in your listening room would prob be good for a led a/u meter demo. love your A/Vvideos sooo much, thax very much for all the hard work and production quality of our content. always cheerful and open minded and i sure appreciate mate......Caio

[@GizmoFan1]

I'm gonna be moving into a smaller space for college at the end of September and was hoping to bring my turntable with me. That mini-amp looks perfect for it, it clears up a lot of space that my main amp would have used -- that mini one looks smaller than even the phono preamp I use.

[@venturarodriguezvallejo1567]

It is ashtonishing how much garbage is being sold nowadays as "entry level Hi-Fi"! Past in the seventies and the eighties no manufacturer had dare to launch such crap under the umbrella name "High Fidelity". Definitely, we're moving forward to the abyss of the worst.

[@ErebosGR]

Oh please... The TPA3116 that's inside of all the Nobsound DAC/amps has better measurements for THD+N than a lot of the mainstream crap sold in the '80s for 10 times more money.

[@venturarodriguezvallejo1567]

@@ErebosGR Maybe and maybe not. But let's assume it is so. The build quality, resistance to aging and, more important, the sound is far WORSE in this false "entry level to nowhere" devices than in any competent "entry level" to real Hi-Fi of the eighties, digital or analog. And mine isn't nostalgia or "audiophilia" snobbery. Be sure.

[@nrdesign1991]

The voiceover sounds extremely bad on this one. Heavily compressed and tinny.

[@marcusdamberger]

That's Nobsound for ya!

[@zer0b0t]

I made my own mini amplifier with an LM386 IC, just plugged it in to be able to say I'm using it right now 😁

[@DarkDennis1961]

Thanks for covering the plug info

[@mancavemusician]

I don't understand why anybody would thumbs down your reviews? I'm guessing it's the various manufacturers.

[@gwishart]

Probably lots of people who don't like British plugs and domestic electrical safety: ( "Whaddya mean there's no sockets in the bathroom?! Where am I gonna plug in my TV and toaster oven?")

[@RetroSteamTech]

Thanks for posting this, cracking video as always Mat. The graphic equaliser is obviously pants but if any of your viewers are interested in a decent one then look on ebay for a Technics SH-E60 or something similar circa 1990. Lovely bit of kit with VFD displays, I paid £15 for mine non-working but it was an easy fix. Nothing beats the cool glow of VFDs 👍🙂

[@danieldc8841]

You sound very hyper recording this one, loving the energy!

[@iandawkins2182]

As you like quirky HiFi have you looked at the Cannon S-35 wide imaging speakers ? Great sounding speaker with a unique design and look. They were $399 a pair in 2006, very expensive for the time.