Nobsound 6P1

I’m 70 years old and have had tube systems all my life. They sound so much better than solid state systems. (I dabbled with solid state for a short time back in the very early 70’s but quickly realized it wasn’t for me). I currently own three tube/analog systems but wanted to add a system to my bedroom. I didn’t want to spend a lot but did want something that had a little bit of “oomph” to it power wise. This Nobsound fills the bill. Don’t let the 6.8 wpc fool you. (Tube watts are different from solid state. These 6.8 would be the equivalent of 35 wpc solid state and since most people only listen to 1-3 max at normal listening levels, 6.8 wpc is more than enough). Connect it to very efficient speakers (in my case Bic America Formula FH-65B bookshelf’s rated at 96dB sensibility) and it will fill any listening space with exquisite music. I only have to turn the volume to the 9:00 position and it easily fills my entire upper floor. Tubes do need a break in period of 50-100 hours before they sound their best. My usual process with a new amp (or new tubes for one of my existing amps) is to play it at normal listening levels for 14-16 hours a day for a week. When I first turned on the Nobsound the bass was muddy, the mids were not all that clear, and the high were very bright and harsh. I then broke in the tubes and did my critical listening. The tubes came alive. The bass was deep but not boomy, the mids cleared up nicely, and the highs settled down to where they were not as harsh. If I wasn’t a “tube roller” I would be happy with the way it sounds. But I am a tube roller. I replaced the stock 5U4 rectifier tube with an Electro-Harmonix 5U4GB, the stock 6P1 tubes with Sovtek 6P1P-EB power tubes, and the stock 6H8 pre-amp tubes with Tung-Sol 6SN7-GTB pre-amp tubes, did my normal tube break-in process, and then critical listening. Man, oh man!!! What a difference!!! The sound stage opened up even more with even better stereo separation and “3D” effect. Yes, I was happy with the stock tubes after they were broken it. But that’s what’s nice about tubes. You can change the “flavor” of the music by simply swapping in different tubes. If you have toyed with the idea of dipping your toes into the world of tube amplification and discover the pleasures it will bring you over the sound of solid state, this is the one to start with. It is a well built, good quality, and great sounding amp that will not break the bank. It will open a whole new world of listening pleasure to your ears. And for the one member who likes to troll reviews like this and state Chinese amps are junk with poor quality control. All my amps are from China and I have never had any problems with them in all the years I have owned them. There will always be good and bad in any product line out there in the world today, no matter where it is manufactured. And I am still happy that you are happy with your Jolida. Please allow us to be happy with our Chinese “junk”!!! I would also like to add that even though I am an analog/vinyl lover, it is not possible to have an analog system at my part tine job. I have several of my favorite albums/artist downloaded on my Tidal account and stream them through my iPad pro while working. I use the built in iPad DAC and speakers. When I get home, I run my iPad through a Soundavo HP-DAC 1 (read mine and other peoples reviews on this great piece of equipment) that I have integrated into my Nobsound in my bedroom. The combination produces music that sounds exceptional. I read that stand alone DAC’s are so much better than built in DAC’s and that is so very true. I like to fall asleep at night listening to Classical or Jazz music. Lying there in bed I am hearing notes and instruments from favorite recordings I never picked up on before. The Soundavo makes the music seem like I am sitting in the audience at a live concert. The Soundavo combined with the warmth, depth, and clarity of the Nobound makes for a great inexpensive beginners foray into a truly wonderful listening experience.

I’ve only had this amp for a bit less than one month as I write this review, but that may be enough to capture some impressions for anyone else interested in this product. I considered this amp for quite a while against some other amps in this general category and above, particularly the Reisong A10. I had also bought some other Nobsound/Douk Audio products on Amazon with good results. This amp continued to stand out as a strong value and seemed like a safe choice. I have not been disappointed. I have been resisting the temptation to roll the tubes and have stayed with the supplied tubes so far, in the interest of giving the tubes due time to break in. My initial impressions will be based on using the stock tubes, which seem to be decent but I do expect to roll the tubes eventually based on consensus of using US 6SN7s for the input tubes and Russian 6P1Ps for the output tubes. Interestingly, Nobsound chose to provide a Russian 6H8C for the input tubes which are well regarded. Also note that this amp uses tube rectification, which is unusual for an amp in this price class. I’m not clear on how much the rectification tube affects the sound but tube rectification keeps this amps as a true tube amp and s generally only found on more expensive tube amps. The fist thing I notices on unboxing was the heft of the unit relative to its fairly small footprint, owing to the weight of the transformers. Build quality is impressive as has been the case with other Douk products that I own. Otherwise the presentation is nothing elaborate - just the amp, a power cord, and carefully packaged tubes are included. There was an odd smell of newness upon unboxing but this dissipated with the first use. There is no owner’s manual and no indication on the amp as to which tubes go where. However, looking at a picture on Amazon is all the guidance one needs to install the tubes. The rear panel connectors, fairly standard for Douk products, are high quality. The front panel volume knob has a nice machine feel to it, is sized well, and moves in stepped intervals. The power switch is larger than expected and also has a robust, quality feel to it with very positive actuation. The amber backlit VU meters are also a quallity touch and seem to work well. As others have mentioned, the power LED is very bright and curiously blue in color. I’m not sure why Nobsound didn’t opt for an amber LED to match the VU meters and tube glow, or even chose to include a power LED at all since it is not really necessary given the VU meters and tube indication that the amp is on. Quite frankly, over time I have not found it to be much of an issue. Being a class A SET amp, this amp gets very hot and radiates heat during operation, as expected. Being that no cover is supplied, it is advisable to keep this amp on a location where it cannot be touched. Sound quality matches up with my favorable impression of the overall build quality. While some may wonder if 6.8 watts is adequate, with my 98 dB efficient speakers, it is well adequate. With the volume know at roughly half way of its full travel, this amp plays loud. Power is just not an issue but, as with any low power SET amp, satisfaction is contingent upon using efficient speakers. I may eventually try this amp with other less efficient speakers as a curiosity but I bought this amp specifically for these high efficiency speakers. Sound is strong, articulate, detailed, and punchy. If there is one characteristic that stands out relative to other tube amps that I have experimented with, this amp has a very clear and neutral sound unlike the warm dark coloration I have come to associate with tubes. In that regard, the sound seems to have the bass bloom characteristic of tubes with a more neutral midrange. Highs have a bell like quality without being too forward or harsh. For guitar players out there, a tone wood analogy I would use is that, where most amps offer a complexity akin to rosewood, this one sounds more like mahogany. Considering my preference for the clarity of mahogany guitars, this character in an amp is favorable to me. Imaging is pinpoint with good center fill between the speakers. There is no noticeable hum and moments between songs are silent. In short, this amp does everything well thus far in my short ownership experience. I expect sound to improve somewhat given that I have only perhaps 100 hours or so on the tubes so far. The tubes are probably still breaking in. I also expect to eventually roll them as indicated above, with the expectation of taking the sound to a higher level, but that is yet to be determined. For right now, I am experiencing a level of sound that command my recommendation of this product to anyone who might be considering this amp. For completeness I should also mention that I am using a vintage Counterpoint tube preamp going into the Nobsound and an FX-Audio DAC going into the preamp. Since the Nobsound is an integrated amp, the use of a preamp is not necessarily required but may factor into my favorable impressions. All of my listening has been via streaming, much with high definition audio via Amazon Music HD, direct connected over USB and also using Bluetooth. Compared to an even lower powered but surprisingly great sounding Miniwatt N3 SET amp, the Nobsound has a different character. Again, it is one of neutrality where the Miniwatt seems to have more of that dark tubey tone. I have not A/B compared the two, nor do I intend to get too involved in such comparisons at the expense of just sitting down to enjoy music. Many reviews of the Miniwatt, also sold under the name APPJ or Tube Cube are available as a product that may be of interest to the Nobsound customer. Bear in mind that at 3.5 watts per channel, that product is only for the most efficient of speakers where the Nobound is considerably more powerful with its 6.8 watts. Suffice it to say that the Nobsound comes across as high quality and perhaps merits comparison with some higher priced gear. My adventures in Chinese made high fidelity gear has taught me that high quality is possible at tenable costs where early on in my pursuit of high fidelity in the 80s, a tube amp such as the Nobsound was just not an option. The caliber of sound I am getting would have required a substantially greater investment. The law of diminishing returns seems to be very much in play, to my ears, in audio. For the cost of the Nobsound, I believe most would find the value to be high, as do I. Consider my impressions to be preliminary given my short period of ownership, but this amp is meeting all of my expectations so far as a quality, high value product. I must also underscore that these results are predicated on use with a high quality, high efficiency speaker. With that context, the Nobsound does everything it promised well and begs for comparison with other tube amps on the market. As far as I can tell, this product comes in at a price to quality ratio that is unique, for a true tube amp with tube rectification, hand soldered point to point wiring, a quality of build that seems destined to last, delivering the detail and presentation expected of a tube amp.

Los bulbos se usan únicamente en las etapas preamplificadoras donde tienen muy poca relevancia. La etapa de salida es un clase AB común a transistores. Cuando se solicita un amplificador a base de bulbos, es debido a que en su etapa de salida producen una curva de distorsión/potencia con un codo no muy agudo por lo que es poco notoria al oido humano en el caso de manejarlos en alto nivel. En el caso de los transistores se nota ese cambio brusco en distorsión a un aumento de la potencia máxima.

Just got it today and as I type this I'm listening to a video on Youtube of the O'Keeffe Music foundation. Before that I listened to a Tellarc CD of Rhapsody in Blue. I'm actually hearing things I had simply not heard on my other audio system. Not even broken in and yet shows its well worth the price of that amp. Now I'm thinking of getting the tube preamp of the same series. It's been basically a week for that amp to burn in its tubes. Yesterday I blew the socks off of a friend that is an audiophile. His conclusion is that it's awesome and well worth the cost. In the next few months I plan on getting better tubes. I'll keep you posted. Oh, about the high temperature? I'm wondering if some aren't simply unaware as to how hot tubes electronics runs. Now a month later. Got my hands on a few direct cut LPs and also Russian pressing and this is where I learned that less is better. Don't try to listen to this amplifier full blast. It's not made for that. Set it to comfortable room level and rediscover your music!

I love the sound this amp puts out, very warm.

The amp has been great so far. Zero issues with transformer buzz and the tubes have been perfect, no issues or noise at all. I currently have connected to Klipsch Cornwall IV speakers and it really sounds great. it does improve with long break in time. It smells toxic , strong oil smell for about 5 days, the smell goes away. It exceeded my expectations and I am keeping it. if you have efficient speakers this may be the best value in tube amps out there. really happy with it.

Compared with a pair of Dynaudio bookshelf speakers it’s got me listening to everything all over again, and I’m astonished at the detail that I never heard before. The classical fanatics might have some complaints about linearity or something, but almost everything I listen to is folk, and I think the curious little thing is reproducing just about everything that the engineers intended it to. The bass will never shake the floor, but ... good. 6.7 watts and it fills a room. There are quite a few very negative reviews however, so YMM very well V. My copy is still sounding beautiful, though.