The available alternatives out there didn’t seem technically feasible as most D-Link and Linksys offerings are merely Windows Media Center Extenders with “support for MPEG-4/ASP” (read: DivX) but no support for MPEG-4/AVC or MPEG-4/VC1. The option of setting up another HTPC for my home theater wouldn’t be financially viable because at a base price of about $399 I might as well invest in a Blu-Ray burner to watch my backups.

Enter the Western Digital TV Live HD Media Player…

Western Digital TV Live HD Media Player

While scouring the internets looking for solutions to my problem, I stumbled upon the recently released Western Digital Live HD Media Player. The specs fit the bill (and them some) for my technical expectations:

• VIDEO – AVI (Xvid, AVC, MPEG1/2/4), MPG/MPEG, VOB, MKV (h.264, x.264, AVC, MPEG1/2/4, VC-1), TS/TP/M2T (MPEG1/2/4, AVC, VC-1), MP4/MOV (MPEG4, h.264), M2TS, WMV9
• AUDIO – MP3, WAV/PCM/LPCM, WMA, AAC, FLAC, MKA, AIF/AIFF, OGG, Dolby Digital, DTS

Throw in the fact that it supports 1080p over HDMI and is only, it seemed like a no brainer!

The device itself is small. Hilariously small actually. Imagine a small box of 3.5″ floppy disks (if anyone actually remembers those)

Now, my home network setup is unique to my situation. I have two Apple Airport Extreme base stations extending the same network. My NAS is attached to one base station in my office. The Western Digital TV Live HD Media Player is attached to another Apple Airport Extreme base station on my home theater. I knew going into this situation that bandwidth would be an issue as playback of h.264/MKV video is bandwidth intensive and can sometimes require upwards of 50mbps depending on the quality.

My initial testing after hooking up the Western Digital TV Live HD Media Player showed that I was in fact having issues with wireless bandwidth from my Intel SS4200-E NAS to my home theater. The MKV playback of a 1080p MPEG-4/AVC video began stuttering and losing audio/video sync. I started to get disheartened because I thought my Apple Airport Extremes must have been connecting to each other at the highest possible speeds, right? Wrong.

Turns out I had room for improvement in my Wifi setup. I stumbled upon this blog post over on Engadget which talked about the speed differences between Apple’s 2.5Ghz “compatible” N and their 5Ghz modes. I checked my Apple Airport Extremes to see what my network was set at. You can do this by opening up the Airport Utility and selecting your primary base station. Under the wireless tab, you should be able to select your wireless mode.

Setting Apple Airport Extreme Radio Mode

After fiddling around with all the settings, I found that explicitly setting 802.11n with a 5Ghz radio frequency gave me much higher wifi throughput as I had previously running 802.11n in “b/g compatible” mode. The downside of this is not only 802.11n devices that support the 5ghz frequency are able to join my home network, meaning our iPhones are stuck to non-wifi mode while around the house.

Apple Airport Wirelss Setup for Western Digital TV Live HD Media Player

That aside, the Western Digital TV Live HD Media Player was able to play back all of my 1080p HD content without slowdown or playback issues. It would seem from other reviews on forums and across the internet might be having networking issues if they’re having trouble during playback. Granted, I can’t speak for every method of encoding h.264 (between different profiles & containers, it’d be hard to do a comprehensive test), but I can say that my files which I encoded with x264 and saved in an MKV container playback perfectly!

I couldn’t be happier with the Western Digital TV Live HD Media Player and I haven’t had a single issue yet. It’s able to connect to my Intel SS4200-E NAS (both UPNP Media Server and SMB) and browsing files is a sinch. Part of me wishes the interface allowed for more interactive content, such as Media Browser does for Windows Media Center by automatically loading movie information and covers based on the file name. I suppose these features might come at a future time, as Western Digital has just released the first firmware update for the TV Live HD Media Player and they seem to be on track for the next release shortly.

The only drawback I’ve run into thus far is the inability to play WMV files, which I suspect might be a licensing issue… but who knows. It might be coming in a future firmware update as well!

Hope this helps someone out there in the same situation I was in! Please leave any questions you might have and I’ll be more than happy to answer!

Cheers!

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So I built an HTPC. I built a GREAT HTPC. It was small, fanless and had everything I’d ever need. But I was disappointed though, only because the quality of the video combined with what I was ACTUALLY able to do with it let me down. I suppose it was my own fault because I had let my desire for the system to be completely silent and fanless impact its performance.

Fast forward a couple years later and I have this shoe box sized PC sitting below my computer desk at home. What should I do with it?

In moving forward with reviving my HTPC from its unused ranking among my home hardware, I decided to set forth a couple of goals for the upgrade so I could be pointed in what I was shopping for (and so I could have a valid excuse to tell my wife why I was spending more money on something I never used in the first place )

1. More CPU Horsepower – This is obviously the most important aspect of this upgrade. Currently my HTPC uses a VIA EPIA-M 600mhz fanless Mini-ITX motherboard with built in CPU/Video. Originally this seemed like enough to play NES ROMS but it became obvious that OS overhead and lack of video acceleration were deal breakers when it came time to play DivX/XviD movies. So this next version had to have considerably more CPU power.
2. HDMI/HD Video Support – In the last few years I’ve upgraded my Home Theater to use HDMI exclusively. It was mostly to clean up the serpent lair that was the are behind my AV rack (which I’m sure the EMF was giving me cancer). Here’s a picture (seriously, no joke!) So, in honor of my new found love affair with HDMI, this new HTPC must support HDMI in a Mini-ITX form factor up to a resolution of at LEAST 720p.
3. 5.1/7.1/Surround Sound Support – Sorta the same as above, but the HTPC needs to support surround sound. As I’ve mentioned in my previous article, when I backup my DVD’s to XviD, I preserve the Dolby AC3 soundtrack so I would like to still enjoy the surround sound when replaying these files on my HTPC.
4. Wireless Ethernet – You see a theme here? Basically I want the power cable and the HDMI cable being the only wires coming out of the back of this device. Wireless Ethernet is pretty standard on most motherboards now, so this shouldn’t be a tall order.
5. Price – I understand that to make this upgrade even worth it, things have to be cost effective. I want to upgrade the Mini-ITX motherboard in my HTPC for under $200 out the door.

I began my search at my favorite peddler of Mini-ITX and mini-system wares, LogicSuppy.com. I immediately take note of the new Intel Atom based solutions from both Intel and Jetway, but I also note that Intel has decided to “nerf” their Atom offerings as to not undercut their desktop motherboard market. Their Atom Mini-ITX boards, albeit cheap (sub $100), lack sever of my requirements. The Jetway Atom boards at LEAST offer DVI (so I could do a ghetto fabulous DVI -> HDMI conversion), but that would require more cables than it’s worth and the Jetway boards cost upwards of $250! Yikes!

The time came to conjure up my Google-Fu skills to see what I could come up with. Newegg has some descent offering from VIA but all the EPIA boards are under powered in comparison to the latest Intel offerings. A 1.8Ghz VIA C7 board would seem to have the horsepower, but it fell short of the requirements and also crept up to almost $300!

I keep going back to the Atom platforms but none of them seem to fill my requirements. That is, until I come across the NVIDIA ION platform offering from Zotac! I remember reading about NVIDIA ION but never gave any serious thought to it as a desktop platform. I decided to check out the features of the Zotac IONITX-A Atom N330 Offering:

1. Horse Power: Dual Core Atom N330 1.6Ghz CPU — CHECK!
2. HD/HDMI: 1080p over HDMI — CHECK!
3. Surround Support: 7.1 over HDMI — CHECK!
4. Wireless Ethernet: Build In — CHECK!
5. Price: Amazon lists it at $189 when it’s released  – CHECK!

It seems we have a winner!

Talk about a colossal upgrade for a HTPC. A Mini-ITX motherboard that has a dual core CPU and HDMI output!? Insane! Needless to say as soon as this little bad boy hits the streets I’ll be picking one up.

I’m curious if anyone else out there has been in the market for a mini HTPC upgrade as well? What have you been looking for and what were your requirements? I’m interested to hear from you!

Cheers!

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I checked around the net for models that were supported by my car (which was hard because it was a 1st generation, 1st year TSX). I know there’s an MP3/DVD Player option as well as an XM head unit available for the 2004 TSX, but no iPod adapters from Honda. I finally decided on the DICE Electronics R4 Kit for Honda/Acura because it had received positive reviews and seemed a pretty simple install

I purchased the DICE iPod Kit from a reputable seller on eBay for $139 + tax and had it within a few days. The unit itself is pretty small (only a couple square inches) and has inputs for the iPod cable as well as AUX input. It’s a good thing the unit is so small because it has to fit up in the dash

Installing the unit in my car took about all of 2 minutes. Literally.

(Sorry about no pictures, I’ll add them as soon as I’m able to!)

Step one was to remove the storage bin that is located below the factory radio. This is where the factor XM or MP3 player would go. Simply open the bin and pull it out towards you. There are two clips on the bottom right and left as well as clips on the top.

Pull out the storage bin carefully as the light above is still attached to it. Carefully remove the light taking care to not break the housing. Once the bin is out your radio compartment will be exposed. Just a warning: be careful in there! Unless you’ve unhooked your battery, there’s still live current as well as some wires for the airbags Don’t kill yourself over an iPod hookup

Step two is wiring it in. You’ll see one wire running straight up into the stereo. Unplug this. This is the wire that will plug into the daisy chain provided by the DICE iPod kit. Plug the other end of the DICE iPod kit into the factory radio.

Step three is running our cables however you choose (into the glove box, storage bin, middle console) and putting the storage bin back in! Presto! Done!

I used a Dremel and cut out a small section of the bin to run the cables through. To keep it clean looking, I used a bit of rubber (read: old mouse pad) to cover the Dremel spot and cut a slit down the middle allowing the cables to run through it. This helps seal up the bin without having a gaping hole into my dash. Also, for the sake of future use I added a small amount of hot glue to the connectors that are plugged into the DICE iPod Kit so (god forbid) someone pulls on the cable too hard it wont unplug from the DICE iPod Kit while still in my dash. I didn’t add a LOT of glue, just a small drop to hold them in place nicely.

Finished storage bin with iPod & Aux Cables

A few “gotcha’s” about this unit and the 2004 Acura TSX. The ‘XM’ mode of the DICE iPod Kit only works with Honda/Acura models with an actual ‘XM’ button. This wasn’t introduced until the 2005 model year. The 2004 Acura TSX only has a “CD/AUX” button. Because of this, the DICE iPod Kit cannot work and will not be detected in XM mode. You have to set the unit to “CDC” (CD Changer) mode.

Other than that, the unit works great! It’s able to charge my iPhone 3G while I’m listening to music as well as allowing me to stream my iPod and any audio from my iPod straight into my factory radio!

Setting the DICE iPod Kit to ‘iPod’ mode allows you to control the iPod manually on the screen and not with the wheel controls. I find this much easier than trying to navigate the songs using a ‘track up’ & ‘track down’ method on my steering wheel. Also, in ‘iPod’ mode, the DICE iPod Kit acts as a standard audio source. Meaning it’ll play Pandora and send ring tones to your factory radio without having to use the AUX input, like iPod adapters from other manufacturers!

I hope this helps someone else out there in the same situation I was in Please feel free to ask any questions and I’ll be sure to post pictures of my setup as soon as I get them!

Cheers!

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Talk about backwards game development!

It’s a pretty sweet soundtrack and I highly suggest everyone take a click over this his website to check out the soundtrack as well as his other musical creations which are just as good!

Cheers!

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SCIENCE!

Backing up to DivX is another story though. I’ve always been a stickler for quality and control over the process. A perfect example of this is my use of “old” programs such as VirtualDub and refusal to use the “1-Click” applications because I feel like I lose control over the quality. I think this stems from my age and time of use because back during DivX 3.11 there were no “1-Click” applications that could copy a DVD and any attempt at making one usually failed terribly.

So I’ve always manually converted them, again, out of my own stubbornness. I thought I’d post my steps here to see if anyone agrees that there’s some method to my madness (or to tell me that I’m getting old and should get with the times!)

My process allows me to encode any DVD content into DivX using 2-pass XviD encoding while still maintaining the original Dolby Digital AC3 audio track.

To use my process, the following programs are required:

1. DVD Decrypter
2. DGIndex
3. VFAPI (codec + utility)
4. XviD (codec, koepi’s build)
5. VirtualDubMod

Step 1: Backup the DVD

Actually, that’s a misleading title. Really it should be decrypt and demux the movie. Using DVD Decrypter, I demux the MPEG-2 (M2V) and the Dolby Digital Audio (AC3). This gives me the raw video and audio files I need. Set the AC3 aside because we’re only going to deal with the M2V file.

Open DVD Decrypter and select the drive with the DVD you wish to backup. Select “IFO Mode” from the Mode menu and choose the “Stream Processing” Tab.

Inside this Tab, you’re able to select which streams you want to backup from the DVD. Usually I only select the Video Stream and the 6 Channel Audio Stream. Be sure to also select the “Demux” radio button for each stream. Start the backup!

DVD Decrypter

Step 2: Create a D2V File

Open DGIndex and open the demuxed M2V file. This will generate a D2V file which contains information needed by other programs to open and process the M2V file properly (such as Framerate, Aspect Ratio, etc., etc). Once the file is opened, select File -> Save Project. This will start DGIndex processing the video file and analizing its contents. Once the process is complete it’ll give you a D2V file that you can now use in VFAPI

DGIndex

Step 3: Create AVI File using VFAPI

Using the VFAPI driver and utility, you’re able to create a .AVI container file that uses the D2V information and M2V file as the video source. This allows you to open the .AVI file in a program (such as VirtualDub) and access the video information without having to actually go through an MPEG-2 parser.

Open VFAPI Converter, hit “Add File” and select the D2V file generated by DGIndex. Then select “Convert”. This will create the .AVI file we will work with in VirtualDubMod.

VFAPI Utility

Step 4: ENCODE!

I use VirtualDubMod as my video editor here because the “Mod” version supports muxing the AC3 audio back into the video file we create.

I do two pass encoding using XviD because it gives me the highest quality video and a more precise file size. This way I can set my movies to be encoded into an exactly 2GB file and TV show episodes into 700MB files.

Before I begin encoding the first pass, I also add the Virtualdub Deinterlace filter to it’ll handle the deinterlacing of the input video. This is important so you don’t lose any bits of data with the encoder trying to give data to the interlaced movement when it shouldn’t even be here!

VirtualDubMod Deinterlace Filter

UPDATE 01/27/2009: It was brought to my attention by my good friend Paul that there is a ‘better’ Deinterlacing plug-in for VirtualDub called Smart Deinterlacer which can be had from their website It sports some good features such as edge-directed interpolation which is a feature of the (formerly) Faroudja DCDI video processor used in quite a few high end video processors! As far as quality comparisons/speed between the default VirtualDub plugin and Smart Deinterlacer, well, I haven’t been able to spot a difference yet. I used the movie Leatherheads as a test and the frames seemed identical when I compared the deinterlaced output (Smart Deinterlacer v2.8 beta 1 used). I guess it’s up for you to decide which you prefer, but I felt I owed it to my readers to at least offer up an alternative!

Another option in the latest version of XviD is the ability to encode using multiple threads, thus enabling XviD to encode faster on multi-core machines. Currently encoding a movie at full resolution with the deinterlace filter, my Q6600 can encode a movie at 70fps first pass and 35fps second pass.

XviD Multi-Threaded Encoding Option

(Note: Not all modes of XviD encoding are multi-core friendly. Enabling cartoon mode for example will force the XviD encoder to use only a single thread)

On your second pass, this is where we remux back in the AC3 audio stream. Add it to the stream list and encode!

Adding the AC3 Stream back to the DivX Video

Your finished product will be a high quality DivX backup of your original DVD movie!

Now, I’m sure there’ll be some questions from the peanut gallery on why I do things one way or another. So I’ll just handle a few obvious ones here

Q: Why do you use DGIndex/VFAPI to handle the MPEG2 Video? Why don’t you just use the MPEG2 Input filter for VirtualDub?

A: I gave that a try for a while but it turns out that handling an MPEG2 video in VirtualDub using the plug in is hella slow. The file is not easily navigated, takes a long time to load and in the end is just burdensome to work with. I find using the DGIndex/VFAPI driver solution better because the input file is loaded quickly and is easily worked with. It doesn’t require loading the entire MPEG2 stream to memory

Q: You’re crazy! You know single click solutions probably give you just as good quality with much less work!

A: You’re probably right! I never claimed that this is the “one and only way” to encode a DivX file to get the highest quality. I just find this way works best for me

Q: Can I use this method to backup a DVD using the new ‘corrupt IFO block’ copy protection found on newer DVD releases such as “The Dark Knight”?

A: Short answer, no. The new copy protection mechenism used causes DVD Decrypter to just crash. Even if you’re using a driver patch decrypter like DVD43, DVD Decrypter still won’t be able to handle the corrupt IFO information. Have I been able to work around it? Yes, but the only process I’ve come up with thus far is long and cumbersome. I’ll blog about that later if it’s requested, but it’s not pretty.

Q: Why do you keep the AC-3 audio? Why not just conver it to MP3 so you can get more space for better video quality?

A: I’m an audiophile. I’m willing to deal with the recoded video because I know the audio will still be the same sweet sounding Dolby 5.1 that was on the original DVD. If you are so inclined to convert the AC3 track to MP3, you can do so using HeadAC3he. If you are going to be converting the AC3 to MP3, I suggest when demuxing the DVD you select the Dolby 2.0 track, this way it’s down sampled to stereo by the studio which will yeield much better results than letting HeadAC3he down sample six channels to two.

Q: Why XviD? Why not use an official copy of DivX?

A: I chose XviD because it keeps my method of backing up DVD’s to only free/open source programs. Also, I’m a fan of the XviD encoder options in letting me configure and specify a lot of different things. Such as number of threads to encode with (so it’ll take advantage of my multi-core machine) as well as different encoding types (such as enabling Cartoon Mode). Koepi’s build is lightwight and easy to use.

Q: Why are you still using the AVI container? You know that there are much better containers out there such as MKV, right?

A: Of course I know! I just don’t use them… well, to be honest, because nobody else uses them! Seriously though, I haven’t run across a commercial DVD player or network media device that can demux Matroska files in my every day use. So until then, I’ll stick with tried and true AVI

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There is no simpler a solution than a DVD player that outputs the 480i signal decoded from the DVD to an HDMI output. There’s no processing, no deinterlacing, no scaling. Just decode it and output it. Bam! Done!

My current home theater is based around a Denon AVR-2308CI Receiver which handles all my video processing thanks to it’s magical voodoo (and a DCDi video processor ). When searching for a DVD player to solve my previously mentioned DVD watching dilemma, I wanted just a simple DVD player that can output 480i over HDMI. Why should I waste my money on an upconverting DVD player when my receiver can do the same function (and probably better). Seemed simple, right?

WRONG!

It seems the internet defacto DVD player that does 480i is the Oppo Digital DV-980H which weighs in at $169 MSRP! There are a couple other options as well, including the previous Oppo Digital DVD player model, DV-970HD which was specifically marketed as a ‘cheap’ player that supports 480i over HDMI. The problem you ask? It’s no longer offered directly from Oppo and it still sells for > $100 in the secondary used market.

An hour or so of Google-Fu later I landed on the Pioneer DV-400V-K DVD Player! Pioneers own website lists its MSRP as $99 and with some luck I found it refurbished through an Amazon reseller for $49! EURIKA! At last the lords of the Internet blessed me with a little devine intervention on my search results

I got to wondering after my pilgrimage to find this DVD player, why does it have to be so hard? I mean, if manufacturers like Denon offer Receivers with video upscaling and deinterlacing already included, why do they also sell DVD players with the SAME functionality? You’d think they’d try to offer a family of products that not only work well with one another but don’t waste your money on duplicate hardware that you won’t be utilizing. Denon is a prime example of this because even their ‘low end’ DVD player still carries an MSRP of $169 (and even then, it uses the built in DVD hardware deinterlacer without offering pure 480i output).

So as I said, there HAS to be a good quality family of products out there that are symbiotic and AFFORDABLE because they’re saving money on not having to waste it on unused hardware.

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I settled on the JD 202A because it was the perfect marriage of price and performance. The JD 202A puts out 40 watts per channel (60 watts peak) using four EL34 tubes for power output stage, two 12X7A tubes for pre-amplification and two 12AT7 tubes for power drivers because the JD 202A is a Push-Pull amplifier.

Jolida JD 202A Integrated Stereo Tube Amplifier

Picture I took of the Tube Glow from the JD 202A Amplifier

I ordered the Jolida JD 202A from the fine folks at NeedleDoctor.com for $825.00. The amp itself shipped direct from Jolida and arrived a few days after ordering. It came very well packed with the tubes in individual slots within the styrofoam bock, so they were well protected. The amp itself had a black powder on the black parts of the chassis and that got all over my hands, but otherwise it came in perfect condition. It’s fairly heavy, so make sure if you’re putting it on a shelved unit that the shelf is able to hold the weight.

The tubes come paired and labeled with a corresponding slot on the JD 202A from Jolida which was nice! Took the guess work out of which tubes needed to go where The printed manual that comes with the JD 202A is also very informative and provides instructions on how to adjust the bias if need be.

I hooked the Jolida into my system which uses:

• Stanton STR8-90 Direct Drive Turntable
• Pro-Ject Tube Box II Phono Preamplifier
• Infinity Interlude IL30 Speakers (6.5 inch woofer, dome tweet with 150w maximum power handling @ 8ohms)
• Monster HTS 3500 Power Conditioner

Picture of my finished setup!

I first plugged in only the Jolida amplifier into the speakers so I could listen to see if any ambient noise would come from the amplifier while operating. To my surprise the Jolida had no audible hum or hiss which is present in many vacuum tube amplifiers that are poorly constructed. Even turning the volume up to near maximum still resulted in very little noise.

After letting the tubes heat up for about ten minutes before a first run I powered everything on and gave the Jolida my standard listening regime which includes Fugees – The Score, Ben Folds – Ben Folds Live and Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Duke Ellington Songbook.

I’m don’t have too much experience using Tube Amplifiers so I’m not in a good position to compare the performance of the Jolida compared to others, but I can compare it to the Harman/Kardon AVR7300 I was using to drive my system before the Jolida Arrived!

As far as performance goes, I am very pleased with how much depth the Jolida brings to the music. My wife and I are just amazed because even at half volume it sounds like there’s a jazz hall or concert in the other room. The sound is very natural and realistic without any distortion. The sound stage is very large and the music has a very warm feel to it, which is expected with a Vacuum Tube based amplifier.

It’s actually amazing what a difference in amplifiers could do. Even though the Harman/Kardon AVR7300 has a much higher power rating (125w x2), the Jolida 202A was able to bring the speakers to life giving the music much more depth.

To see if I could make the Jolida crumble, I put on the 12″ single of Prodigy’s “Smack My Bitch Up”, which combines techno beats with a very deep, very loud bass line. I expected with my Infinity IL30 speakers (which only have single 6.5″ drivers) or the Amp to call it quits once I kicked up the volume. To my surprise, both components held their ground with the Jolida making my small floor standing setup shake windows through our entire house.  Amazing!

All in all, I’m very pleased with my purchase of the Jolida JD 202A Integrated Stereo Tube Amplifier! If you’re looking into this model then feel free to ask any questions you might have! I’ll answer them to the best of my ability!

Hope this little review was able to help someone out there struggling with the same decision I had to make!

Cheers!

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Now, a little history on why we need phono preamplifiers A record cartridge (which is the housing for the needle) in most instances (including mine) is a moving magnet cartridge, where it uses two small magnets in the cartridge to detect the vibrations from the record grooves and generate a small electrical charge. Because this electrical signal is so small, we need a device to make it ‘louder’ so you won’t need to crank the volume up to MAXIMUM on your amplifier. Also, records use RIAA equalization so what’s on the record needs to be EQ’d properly. A phono preamplifier performs both theses tasks by EQing the incoming signal and applying gain so the signal cant be sent to a standard RCA input on an amplifier or receiver.

If you have a low quality phono preamplifier you might notice such playback artifacts as distortion, a low hum or music that is too “boomy” for bass or too “tin-y” on the treble. I know that the cheap preamplifier I was using before didn’t produce much gain as I had to turn my amplifier up pretty high for it to sound right. It also had issues doing a decent job grounding out the turntable so the music sounded distorted and there was an audible hum due to the poor quality ground terminal on the preamp. After cracking the lid off the DEEJAYPRE preamplifier I saw that it was a single JRC 4558DD chip doing all the EQ and GAIN. I Googled around and although there is a cult following behind the 4558DD chip, it was obviously not performing up to par in its current application in my system.

I researched preamps and decided to try and stick with a brand that remained true to the analog signal that’s coming from the turntable without using many IC’s or any digital to analog conversions. I settled on the Pro-Ject Tube Box II which I purchased from NeedleDoctor.com for $399. I chose this preamp for several reasons, main reason being that it uses two 12AX7 vacuum tubes for the gain stage which preserves the analog signal.

NeedleDoctor was able to ship out the preamp quickly and it arrived without hassle. Upon unpacking the preamp I noticed one thing: it’s small but very heavy for it’s size!

It uses an external wall-plugin transformer which provides 16V at 1amp. I was a little worried about the low power requirements but once I thought about it, it made sense that the output wouldn’t require a high DC current as it’s only being converted to line level.

Also as I said before, it’s very small and fits easily in one hand. The two 12AX7 tubes are surrounded by protectors to keep wandering fingers from the tube but I don’t think it’s for safety as the heat coils in the tubes are barely being fired up, so don’t expect the typical ‘tube glow’. I mean there is a tiny, tiny glow from the cathode… but only if you turn the lights off and you cover up the (very, very bright) front LED

After hooking it into my system I noticed an immediate difference when turning on my amplifier. There was no more audible hum even when turning up the volume to maximum which tells me that Pro-Ject has taken the proper steps to grounding out the phono signal and eliminate artifacts from the gain stage, resulting in a clean line level signal.

I tested the Pro-Ject Tube Box II with three albums which I thought would give the EQ a run for it’s money.

I use The Fugees album, “The Score”, because it has a very “busy” sound profile while still having very deep hitting bass. Songs such as the Fugees cover of “Killing me Softly” has a good mix of Lauryn Hill’s melodic voice with a heavy bass line while their cover of “No Woman No Cry” combines tight bass hits with an acoustic guitar. The specific version I used was a 180 gram limited edition remastered in ‘high definition’

I heard immediately that the deep bass was reproduced beautifully without distorting higher ranges. Lauryn Hill’s lyrics came through amazingly clear, including her pronounced “S”‘s when singing the line “Softly” which has a tendency to be distorted/clipped with poor equalization. The sound stage for the album came alive and literally shook the house. So far Tube Box’s performance has been great!

Ben Folds Live is one of my personal favorite albums to listen to. It’s a simple album consisting of live tracks with just Ben and his piano. It’s a fun album to play on a well setup system because it has the feel of being at a live concert while still sounding like Ben is playing right next to you on his concert grand piano. I selected songs like “Zak and Sarah” and “Army”, which both include very loud and pronounced piano sections. They are reproduced brilliantly by the Pro-Ject Tube Box II Phono Preamplifier and softer melodies like “Brick” and “The Luckiest” are as soft and sweet as if he were playing the piano in the same room.

The final test I threw at the Pro-Ject Tube Box II was an older LP I’ve had in my collection for a while and is still a favorite of mine, Ella Fitzgerald sings the Duke Ellington songbook. Sometimes older records that are worn down from being played over the last 30+ years give EQ’s a little trouble because it’s not the strict RIAA curve that they’re used to. The Tube Box was able to being harmony back to this LP by bringing forward the Duke Ellington Orchestra without having Ella and her amazing vocal runs overpower them. My wife loves when I play this record now because it makes the house come alive as if we were in a jazz club like the Blue Note

All in all I am very pleased with the Pro-Ject Tube Box II Preamplifier. It is able to EQ and apply gain elegantly to any music selection and apply the right amount of gain without causing any clipping. Is it worth the $399? Well, I suppose that depends. It could be argued that vacuum tubes are a niche market and are only for those few who want their system to be stylized without compromising quality. I’m sure a cheaper preamp might sound just as good, but why run the chance? Preamplification and Equalization is THE most important part of playing back a record so you’ll want to guarantee you have quality. My previous ART preamp only used a single JRC 4558DD IC for equalization and gain, which I imagine was the cause for it’s low quality and performance.

So for those with money in the budget for an upgrade, I highly suggest picking up this amazing phono preamp for your turntable as it’ll breathe new life into all your LP’s both young and old

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