MiniWatt Tube Amplifier

Introduction

This review for the MiniWatt Tube Amplifier (www.miniwatt.com.hk) is based solely on my personal experience, idea and opinion (coupled with feedback from my family and a couple of hi-fi dealers and enthusiasts). Nothing is absolute and I clearly believe that it will never be possible by pure reason to arrive at some absolute truth. I have used mostly budget solutions in terms of amplifiers comparison, transport etc so please take this review as subjective and that I will, in all my senses try to present a totally neutral viewpoint on the characteristics of this amplifier from the tests concluded.

I would also like to mention that I work in the IT industry and I do not work for any seller / distributor / manufacturer. I do however collaborate with a few dealers in a personal review and feedback exercise at times. And yes, I am just another enthusiast caught up doing something that I fell in love with sometime back.

Test Equipment & others:

Speakers: Mission M35. Others used include Wharfdale Diamond 9.1/9.2/9.5/9.6, Quad 12L2, PSB Alpha B1.
Source: HTPC using Asus Xonar STX: For more information refer here.
CD player: Include Marantz 6003, Denon DCM 27 and Pioneer 610 DVDP (please note not all high end, audiophile grade players used here – keeping the Indian market in mind)
Other Amps: Denon 500 AE/Norge 1000/Marantz 7003/Nad 3020 and Onkyo 606/Denon 1909 (again just for kicks)
Room: Standard home environment (14X18) – not essentially acoustic treated but having decent amount of traps and two standard HT environments

MP Used:
FLAC through CMP + CPlay using ASIO4all (did not use the default asio driver). CUE sheets were created for the test FLAC files using CPlayListEditor. CMP was loaded in its own environment and CPLAY used for playback. (There is a noticeable difference in CPlay SQ when used in conjunction with CMP)

Tracks: (High Quality FLAC ripped from personal collection)
A.R. Rahman - Dil Se
George Benson - Give me the night, Kisses in the moonlight
Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb, Brain Damage
Linkin Park - In the end, Points of Authority
Vivaldi: 4 seasons
Others: Assortment of tracks from Doors, Diana Krall, Sting, Michael Jackson, Dire Straits, George Michael etc

Ratings: (50 max )

• Build Quality: (10max)
• Sound Quality: (30max) i.e. 5 X6 parameters (bass, treble, midrange, soundstage, imaging, attack & decay)
• Overall Value: (10max)

For the detailed review please proceed to the next page, and in case you have really inefficient speakers and planning to buy one, you can give the rest a miss.


Packaging and Build Quality
The MiniWatt is a striking piece of art with glowing tubes that shout out RETRO in every aspect of the term. Coming back the MiniWatt is really really small – roughly at less than 2 kgs with a small (again!!!) form factor that can fit on the palm of my hand (smaller than a psp 3000 actually)- it can be seriously regarded as a enthusiast’s ingenious DIY – but then again isn’t that the same path the others had taken initially and with clever R&D shaped into bigger brands as they are today.
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The amp was neatly packed inside a polystyrene box to prevent any damage to the internal parts. In spite of the miniscule footprint the amp looked pretty robust and well built (save for the volume knob which could have used some better material - but it is not a deal breaker and performed without any flaws or false gain during the test period).Overseas shipping of such an amp would not be a problem, not even to India – the problem that might put off a lot of prospective customers when buying such a delicate product. While the outer package seemed hammered and mishandled out of shape, on first sight, all my fears were allayed when I opened the package to find the amp neatly seated in the polystyrene box which had prevented any damage to it. Also included were a standard IEC power plug (with fuse protection) and a 2 pin EU convertor - nice thought on part of the MiniWatt team to include this as part of the overall package.
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While dimensions are restricted to 13cm x 10 cm which is really small by any standards and any tube amp I have come across, input voltage was flexible as mentioned on the website and using the selection of 176-265VAC posed no problems – no transformer hum even at startup. The surprise was the amp stayed perfectly silent at all times.

A pair of 6J1 and 6P1 tubes lined up the amplifier skyline with the front dominated by only a large volume knob. The back of this baby has L/F analog in, power cable socket and power switch. There is also a pair of speaker wire connectors which accepts banana plugs only which are not too difficult to source even in India anyway. Overall a good, sturdy feel to it.
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The specs for the MiniWatt are actually great on paper with frequency response of 30Hz to 20kHz (+-1dB) along with residual noise < 0.8mV. It operates in class A-B mode and power output is rated at 5W at 8ohms – seemingly insignificant in driving bigger speaker rated at 150W at 8 ohms – but the beauty of the device comes to light with moderate to high sensitivity speakers. So when going head to head with solid state amps apparently grunting out anything between 40-100W at 8 ohms where does the diminutive MiniWatt figure – more on this later.

While most stereophiles might argue that power conditioning is of high order for any amplifier (a typical valve amp has a huge PSU) somehow the in-house development SMPS not only delivered on this front, it did it with in style and élan. And personally neither me, nor the two hifi-enthusiasts I tested it with later, had any reason to complain. Maybe this is what held the secret to the MiniWatt – but then who know as I refrained from opening it up and gave it the respect it deserves.

Great in design and form factor and build I gave it (8/10) – marginal points lost mainly because of lack of flexibility of speaker wire connections (offering 4mm sockets and not binding posts) and sedate packaging. The amp though felt heavy wrt to its overall size and sat plush on its stands and there was no vibrations during playback per say – but a next design change could include some better stand design instead of the four metal pegs underneath the amp.


Playback & SQ

Part 1: Home environment (13x18) with M35 speakers, HTPC with Xonar STX, CMP+CPlay
(Okay when it comes to a HTPC people have a lot of things to say regarding quality of output, HW, bad power and Windows SW/Driver interference – so it should be mentioned that I used a combination of ASIO4ALL with Xonar STX using CMP + CPlay (also tried Wasapi in vista, KS using foobar) with no other HW present on the motherboard)
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After setting the amp up which was really easy since it accepts banana plugs, I put on the cue sheet that CPlay could make use of – the first strike of Jiya Jale from Rahman’s Dil Se made an uneasy feeling run down my spine making my knees go weak. The initial connect was very much there though the sonic characteristics had less of a tube sound to it. The amp kept Lata Mangeshkar’s voice in check as she went along evocatively expressing her anguish for love in the song (some amps and speakers do make her voice too shrill) – the sound could not have been any better. The dynamics were spot-on and even with the m35’s 3 way design the amp performed well keeping up with the right notes – the bass response was good and timing impeccable. Next up was George Benson’s, Kisses in the moonlight and Give me the night – vocals were excellent – the m35 keeping up the tempo – and in spite of the absolute neutrality of the xonar STX the amp did well to reproduce Lee Ritenour’s work that was all over the album. Only glitch is that at a couple of places the bass response could have been better – I did found later perhaps it was more to do with my combo test system rather than the amp itself – the Quad bookshelves and Marantz CD player seemed to get the bass timings correct – though a little too sharp at times.

Next up Pink Floyd – though personally I feel that the vocal rendition of Comfortably Numb is a big letdown (original mixing) – the guitar pieces here comes to the forte and the same is repeated with Another Brick on the Wall, the anthemic chorus of “Hey Teachers! Leave the kids alone!” rendered sharply with near perfect musicality that is highlighted later with the guitar piece. Next up Mother was rendered nicely – the soft acoustic nature of the song brought to light by the combination - and clearly one of the best from Pink Floyd stables.

“In the End” followed the typical Linkin Park sound. Others sounded as good as any budget amp (upto 800 USD) I have tested.One notable mention up to this point was the way the MiniWatt rendered bass – tons of it – tons of nice tight bass. The amplifier left me in awe – neither the Norge 1000 or the Denon 500/700 AE which I had tested on the same HW/studio environment could match up to the little wonder. The Onkyo 606 (which was tested just for kicks) was junk compared to the MiniWatt in stereo reproduction.

Lastly Vivaldi’s Four Season’s “Spring” was simply outstanding. The timing, the vast rendering of sound stage and imaging was spot on. The way the MiniWatt reproduced the notes and the timing and decay were all spot-on - kudos to that. The amp has a nice warm laid back feel to it but not at the absence of detail as the minute details for every song were checked and ticked away in every song.


Part 2: Actual HT environments with Denon DCM 27, Marantz CD6003 & Pioneer 610 DVDP. Amplifiers included the Denon 500AE, Denon 1909, Norge 1000, Marantz PM7003 and an old repaired Nad 3020. Speakers included Wharfdale 9.1/9.2/9.5, PSB Image B15 and Quad 12L2. Speaker wires used were DAC, Audioquest etc.

The Marantz combo was totally transparent and while a couple of people during the test process did comment as to be slightly detailed in some songs than the MiniWatt, albeit slightly, they agreed that the latter held its own with the sheer soundstage it created and had no fatigue that could be associated with whatsoever. With the Quads the sound became less warm, slightly thin yet the details were nicely reproduced - though the efficiency of the Quads left a lot to be desired. The Denon 500AE and the Norge 1000 (one of my personal low budget preference) were completely outgunned in the bass and details front. One thing that came to the forefront was that with low sensitivity speakers the MiniWatt could never be “loud” enough and would probably be restricted to the confines of a smaller room – that said it drove the Whardales nicely though the volume knob had to be turned all the way up to say 50-60% - though there was no noticeable distortion. The way that the vocals from different songs were represented left the other amps behind and there was sweet musicality with which country music and classics were rendered. Last test was to pit the Nad 3020 up against the MiniWatt – both paired with PSB’s. The MiniWatt stood its own and in all departments and matched the 3020 and even apparently outgunned it in dynamics – and that says a lot for this tiny dynamite. The MiniWatt felt slightly laid back than the NAD but that was probably all on paper. To the ears – and there were many, the MiniWatt outclassed the budget amplifiers in the INR 10-30k segment and more wrt the price to performance ratio in mind. And most importantly the MiniWatt has its own distinctive sound signature and the characteristic tube sound cannot describe it in any way actually. It is noticeable to point out that the MiniWatt sounded great right out of the box in my case – the assumption is that it was broken in previously before coming my way, since most tube amps do take some time to bring out their distinctive sound signature.

Overall the MiniWatt was mostly nicely relaxed, detailed yet slightly warm (except the Marantz and Quad combo) and reproduced music of almost all genres well – yet if head banging acid rock music or hip-hop is your cup of tea – then MiniWatt is probably not the right candidate you would be better off with an average Bose system then. The MiniWatt is more suited to a rainy dog-day afternoon, when you sit back and relax back while your music soothes the nerves and leaves a nice tingling sensation in your ears and soul. And with the right speakers with somewhat higher sensitivity – the MiniWatt can give you audio nirvana at a budget; which proves again that you do not have to spend tons of money on equipment to get the right sound. You can optimize with less – the tiny amp is proof enough and is a serious contender in the space – you obviously cannot compare a Cary Audio with the MiniWatt but the latter sometimes outperforms or holds its own against HW that is up to 4 times more expensive than it.

I would give it ratings of (26.5/30) in the sound reproduction front and this is taking in comparison to all kinds of HW combination in mind.
Bass = 4.5/5
Treble = 4/5
Midrange = 4.5/5
Soundstage = 4.5/5
Imaging = 4.5/5
Attack & Delay = 4.5/5

Retrospection

Simplicity is good – simplicity can be good for our senses too. Amidst all the complexity and high power output combination & integrated systems, the MiniWatt is like a whiff of fresh air, delivering high on fidelity and detailed sound reproduction – which goes to show that you do not need an expensive, complex and powerful device to deliver – a simple MiniWatt does the same, and does it with complete ease.

Yes there are a few chinks in the armour – but not in the sound reproduction front. The built quality could have been better – maybe a cage for the tubes could have helped, maybe the footrests could have been better, maybe the volume knob could be of better quality – but ultimately they mattered little when we actually started using it for the purpose it was meant for. And maybe the next step from the MiniWatt team could be matching speakers for the MiniWatt – justice can only be done that way – inefficient budget complex multi-driver speakers may not do justice to it at all - maybe single driver systems can.

Apart from this the MiniWatt team has stayed away from acronyms and marketing buzzwords and mumbo-jumbo to sell a product – they started with a decently built high quality product to start off it and the end product pricing takes the cake. Apart from it at 229 USD + other shipping charges it is a serious “audiograde” product for a wannabe and cognizant audiophile alike. And the MiniWatt team in trying to harness the power of social media and using real life users rather than test subjects and test conditions, have played a masterstroke. The Miniwatt gets a score of (9/10) for sheer overall value.

Ironically when we end up spending up tons of money on equipment – bringing in multi-driver speaker packages, complex pre-power amplifier combos, DACs and other transport in question – we often forget that simplicity is often the key to good sound. While we end up buying amplifiers with 100WPC power output all to drive some expensive inefficient speakers. Then again, on the first place a high power output amplifier’s design often is in doubt. The more complex the circuit becomes the more correction measures come into play – while logic would question the need for such complexity on the first place - perhaps the MiniWatt team figured out that some time back and the respectable 2.5WPC is good enough to drive decently efficient speakers and achieve good fidelity.

To say the least that the MiniWatt impressed me and rest (including my wife who loved the nice detailed warm sound of it) is an understatement. And though it’s cheap (quite inexpensive actually in comparison to most audiograde stereo equipment), it delivers on every front with the right speaker combination, except if one wants “louder than loud” levels of music at all times with budget inefficient speakers – that is probably it’s Achilles heel. It deserves an audition simply because of the way it handles the music delivering a smooth combination of detailed, classy sonic signature that is easy to experience and live with. It’s more for people who love and want to feel their music and maybe not for the ones who like to showcase their music and equipment – for the latter it maybe, on paper, too simple on specs to deliver anyway.

But the calculating mind may lest forget that, often, “simplicity is the ultimate sophistication”.