Review on Nobsound 6P1: High-quality Vacuum Tube Power Amplifier with Stereo Class A Single-Ended Audio Amp & Headphone Amp Function by Katie Smith

Please wait. Amazing amp and sound but still a 5 star rating? OK. let me explain. I don't consider myself an avid audiophile who can tell the difference between a set of 192kHz and 708kHz DACs. I consider myself a noob and bought my first "audiophile" rig from Revain. My setup consists of an SMSL M300 DAC for Spotify streaming, set to the highest quality. The M300's balanced outputs feed an SVS SB Ultra 13 subwoofer (overkill, I know, but I found it in a dump in my apartment building). From SB13 ultra I connected RCA to Nobsound 6P1 amplifier, Qinpu S2 speaker and Audio Technica ATH-M50x. I bought all of these units (except the SB13 Ultra) from Revain, including an expensive set of balanced/unbalanced audio cables and speaker cables. I currently have this setup in a cube in my office as I don't have room for this device in my apartment. My first impression was: wow. I'm starting to hear subtle nuances that I've never heard before. The bass was super deep. The widest soundstage and separation. And oh my god. The vocals are so rich and velvety. My hair stood on end and tears filled my eyes during Hailee Reinhart's performance of "Can't Help Falling In Love". Now the music takes you to another dimension. To another state. You just sit back in your chair, close your eyes and the music takes you to another level of experience that you cannot explain. Now your emotions will be awakened as you become one with the music. From John Coltrane's whimsical jazz track to the first note of Franz von Suppe's energizing "Morning Noon and Night in Vienna," you'll begin to feel things you've never felt before. Until the moment of silence. There was noticeable background noise when listening to the amp through the M50x headphones. I thought that was the beauty of tube amps until the sound got a little louder. I wanted to give the device the ability to shatter the lamps, so I just ignored the white noise. Until those little clicks and pops on the left channel started to develop. I tried to ignore it, but it only hampered my experience. I wanted to do my due diligence before sending the unit back, so I tried reinstalling all the tubes to no avail. I removed one of the 6H8C tubes and examined it more closely. I was not very satisfied with the processing quality of the pipes. When I rolled them both onto the table, the glass bowl wobbled. So what did I do with it? Send the system back, report this to Revain support? No! I did what any sane person would do. I rolled up my whistles lol! 2 pairs sourced from Riverstone Audio. I then replaced the original Chinese 6H8Cs with a matching pair of Psvane UK-6SN7s. It takes about 300 hours to fully burn in, but I'll just put that to one side and try to enjoy the tuning during the burn-in period. What in God's name? Absolutely ZERO background noise. dead silence. You can hear a pin drop from another quiet parallel universe. Additionally, what I thought was super cool got even more amazing with Russian 6P1P EBs and high-end Chinese Psvane UK-6SN7s. the "audio bloom" threshold is exceeded when the tubes finally come into play. Simply great sound and great processing quality! Many people think that Chinese HiFi products are inferior. Nobsound 6P1 broke that stereotype! UPDATE 11/14/2019! So I put tubes in this little amp; replaced the regular 6P1 with the Russian 6P1P-EB NOS and the regular 6N8S with the Psvan UK-6SN7. FINALLY THEY BROKE IN! Oh my God. Sounds even better! No matter how loud I crank it, it just drives with no distortion. The Audio-Technica ATH-M50x is insane! No distortion. Only problem is my ears are starting to hurt now lol. I just can't blow these headphones! It's really worth waiting for the tubes to break. Patience pays off; During this time, the installation was a bit moody. Some days the bass is just distorted, some days it sounds flat - just random things to get in the way. The next day the installation just lit up. Annoying, but once the tubes are fully inserted the experience is almost better than sex, especially if you start Meute's You & Me when "Audio Bloom" happens. Never experienced anything like this!