I wanted very much to love this device, it appeared to be well crafted, have a quality build feel to it and seemed to be exactly what I was looking for.
I thought it would provide many years of faithful service, after all its just a volume attenuator.
I labored over choosing this or a well regarded Canadian manufactured unit, in retrospect I wish I would have gone with the Canadian one.
As far as I can tell, this seemingly well crafted, good looking, low cost little monster killed two tube amps in a period of less than four days.
I am still in shock and quite angry about the situation. The evidence would seem to sugest that this device was in someway responsible for making two up till then, fully functioning reliable peices of audio equipment junk. And this innocuous little $20 accessory leaving me out several hundred dollars and no means two recoup my losses.
Now I am no audio pro, but I am avid music listener and have been around component stereo equipment of one kind or another my whole life. Until now I have never blown an amp, let alone two in a few days, maybe some speakers but no amps, until now anyway.
To be clear, I was not using this device in a reckless, irresponsible or careless manner as it pertains to my beloved stereo setup. This device was not being played at extremely high abusive or excessive volume when it blew up my amps, one of which I have had for a number of years with no problems or issues whatsoever. All I know is soon after this was introduced into the signal path one of my tube amps suddenly just stopped working, with no great fanfare, one minute music the next nothing.
I thought "ok, maybe its just its time to go, it's been in use a fair amount of time", and unhappily tried to accept its fate. I replaced the non functioning unit with another tube amp I that recently bought, and everything was going fine until the following afternoon when the exact same thing happened, I couldn't believe it, one minute music, the next silence, it just stopped working.
In disbeief I did what I could to get both amps going again, replacing the tubes with some brand new ones, tried different power supplies, nothing. Just this newly introduced device to be left to blame for their demise.
I have used a volume attenuator in the signal path between my DAC and a tube preamp for years with no issues whatsoever. And again I stess this was not being played at a high volume that would blow a amp, actually it was quite a respectable low volume when these things happened, having recently decided to be nice to my neighbors.
Now I can't say for sure this device caused these two tube amps to falter, but it would certainly seem that way, seeing that my system had been preforming without issue for quite a while , this device was the only change introduced into the path and in less than 4 days ,two of my tube preamps were fried. After removing the Noobsound volume controller from the signal chain things have been as they were, problem free.
The Amazon tech support rep was of zero help in finding a resolution, except maybe as a shoulder to cry on.
There was a steady stream of obviously scripted attempts to placate an irate customer with assurances that "she would feel the same way" in such a situation, as well as endless insincere apologies on behalf of Amazon for what had occurred due to a product they were selling and finally did result in the standard offer of a Amazon credit worth a fraction of what I lost.
And in the end she couldn't do much more than recommended contacting the seller, Douk Audio which I have yet to do as it may contain somewhat higher than what some may consider acceptable amounts of profanity.
Complicating things further, I have a couple of other pieces of equipment made by Douk, and like very much, but this has disappointed me as well as angered me considerably and left me unsure if I will be able to purchase any thing further with any kind of confidence.
This device was actually sold under the name Noobsound but I believe Douk is the parent company, it seems as though a lot of the China manufactured audio stuff is all manufactured by one company based in Shenzin and then a bunch of different brand names are slapped on them. And I have had no problems and been quite satisfied with most everything I have purchased from them. However the lack of product support, specifications, ratings or instructions of any kind as to proper usage or set up dos and don'ts, if there were any was not helpful.
So I don't know if I got a faulty unit, it was just a coincidence or bad luck but I wouldn't get one of these things anywhere near any stereo equipment I wanted to keep using.
And if anybody read this till the end, then I thank you for your tenacity and sharing in my written attempt to recover from this, what for me was a traumatic event and needless loss of stereo equipment.
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Product Description
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| Douk Audio M1 | Nobsound FV3 | Douk Audio U6 | Nobsound NS-05P | Music Levels | Douk Audio EleksTube | |
| Feature | 3.5mm AUX volume control | RCA volume control; ALPS27 | PC USB volume control; Super mini size | XLR/RCA volume control; Fully-Balanced/Single-Ended passive preamp; Audio selector; ALPS09 | MIC sound level; Audio spectrum; RGB LED | Retro Nixie tube clock; IPS Screen; Impressive display effect |
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| Nobsound NS-01G PRO | Douk Audio G3 | Douk Audio P1 | Douk Audio U3 | Douk Audio T3 PRO | Little Bear MC104 PRO | |
| Feature | Bluetooth stereo amplifier; USB sound card; 100W | 2-CH Bluetooth amplifier; 100W; Tone control | Bluetooth vacuum tube preamp; Headphone amplifier; USB DAC; APTX-HD; Tone control | Headphone amplifier; Classic; Mini size | MM phono preamp; Vacuum tube; Audio Preamp | 4(1)-IN-1(4)-OUT; Fully isolated switches with no interference |
Features
- Small and Delicate; Aluminum Case, CNC Machining Process; Gold-plated pins
- 3.5mm Audio In: Connect Tablet PC, Computer, Phone, Audio Player
- 3.5mm Audio Out: Connect Power Amplifier, Active Speaker, Headphone Amp
- Replaceable signal cable; High-end step potentiometer; Bottom spongy cushion
Packing List
- 1× Volume Controller
Douk Audio M1
Parameters
- Dimensions(W*H): 49.8 * 39.4 mm / 1.96 * 1.55 in
- Weight: 0.2 kg / 7 oz
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From the brand
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Estabilshed in 2012, Douk Audio & Nobsound is created by a group of enthusiastic music fans and professional audio experts.
We design and make various audio equipments including amplifier, phono preamp, headphone amp, DAC, audio switch and so on.
Our aim is "Make Hi-Fi Affordable" !
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Perfect weight & size, some tone distortion as volume changes (to be expected)
Reviewed in the United States on April 4, 2022
I have a USB hub-ish monitor that takes audio over HDMI or DisplayPort and can send it to a 3.5mm line out. The line out is fixed level, so no adjustments permitted in the monitor or OS and fortunately is often too loud for headphone output (rather than needing to be amplified). I was looking for a simple, unpowered solution to reduce volume from the monitor's line out.The unit is a CNC'd aluminum base & knob, soft inaudible "click" when rotating, non-scuff padding at the bottom. It appears to be a glorified potentiometer, which is 100% what I was looking for, but that does mean you have some tone distortion with headphones as you reduce the audio signal. I hadn't thought of that, but it does make sense: this isn't a DSP but a passive component. It didn't add any noise of its own from what I can tell.
Reviewed in the United States on April 4, 2022
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Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 1, 2021
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 9, 2022
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 4, 2022
The unit is a CNC'd aluminum base & knob, soft inaudible "click" when rotating, non-scuff padding at the bottom. It appears to be a glorified potentiometer, which is 100% what I was looking for, but that does mean you have some tone distortion with headphones as you reduce the audio signal. I hadn't thought of that, but it does make sense: this isn't a DSP but a passive component. It didn't add any noise of its own from what I can tell.
Perfect weight & size, some tone distortion as volume changes (to be expected)
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 4, 2022
I have a USB hub-ish monitor that takes audio over HDMI or DisplayPort and can send it to a 3.5mm line out. The line out is fixed level, so no adjustments permitted in the monitor or OS and fortunately is often too loud for headphone output (rather than needing to be amplified). I was looking for a simple, unpowered solution to reduce volume from the monitor's line out.Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 4, 2022
The unit is a CNC'd aluminum base & knob, soft inaudible "click" when rotating, non-scuff padding at the bottom. It appears to be a glorified potentiometer, which is 100% what I was looking for, but that does mean you have some tone distortion with headphones as you reduce the audio signal. I hadn't thought of that, but it does make sense: this isn't a DSP but a passive component. It didn't add any noise of its own from what I can tell.
Images in this review
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 4, 2022
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 15, 2022
Top reviews from other countries
Sparesmann
Finally, an Attenuator that Works!
Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on April 13, 2022
