In Search of Preamp Elekit TU-875

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Letter from Hong Kong (22-12): ELO In Search of Preamp, Part I
Nagra PLP, Shindo Claret, Lab12 Pre One or Elekit TU-875?

Another fun filled journey in search of a preamp that is perfect match for my Aiyima A08-Pro, read on~

My quest for improving my overall system built around my lately acquired Aiyima A08-Pro is ongoing. I have done many little tweaks and I have always been immensely satisfied with the quickness and slam of this little machine, while my take on its shortcomings (sees previous post) still holds.

The Itch
I know I really would like to inject some finesse into the system without sacrificing the FUN and occasional rawness (also a fun part as well). My search never ceases, damn, as I realise that I have just started another holy grail chase for Audio Nirvana again. Much like the character of Tom Cruise in Edge of Tomorrow; with eternal reincarnation of the same scene, he gets to improve the situation bit by bit (like dying a little later or in a better way compared to the last episode 😂). Isn't it the same situation we hifi lovers are experiencing??

Aiyima A-08 Pro is like when you have just finished a 3 hour soccer game under 35-degree sun, and you grab a 1L Coke and poured it directly down your throat - the explosiveness of CO2 and resulting quench of thirst feels immensely satisfying. On the other hand, hifi'ers are insatiable beasts; we do enjoy sniffing and sipping a nice glass of Chambolle Musigny and appreciating the finesse and fragrance of the wine with our palates and noses. Chinese Saying goes, "Fish and Bear's paw, one can't have both". But us hifi'ers are defying this and want the best of both, hence the never-ending self-inflicted pain! We always say the journey is more fun than the results anyway...

Before you bid adieu (with four vowels, this word has been my staple word for Wordle), and without further ado, let me get to it.

Mental Games

I did start looking at tube preamps and set a "generous" budget of up to $3000 USD. My mind had been set on either Shindo or Nagra PLP or PLL. But the prices on second-hand markets are still far from my reach. Then I looked at Lab12 preamp from Greece (from reviews, it seems to focus more on music, naturalness rather than hifi terms) and got interested in a second-hand unit that was selling here for less than a grand USD. Spoke to Icefox; he seemed to be impartial to either Nagra or Lab12, as both seemed too pale for his taste. Lately, I was able to audition it and my impression is rather more favorable. A Lab12 pre/power combo through a pair of Neat IOTA Alpha speakers did yield some very satisfying sound at the showroom!

Why I chose Nagra as my target? Visiting Tokyo many years ago (15+?), I was wandering around Akihabara and chanced upon an upstairs hifi shop where they were playing music through the Nagra PLP with a pair of Ensemble Reference. The result was, as all would have guessed, totally intoxicating, and I remember it to this day. But over the years, I did not pursue this due to its high asking price - back then 7000 USD was a lot of money!

Fast forward to lately, when my friend was building a system from scratch. He was extremely interested in the McIntosh MA8900 Int Amp and, as a McIintosh SS amp user before, I told him there are also other routes. Nagra came to my mind and I told him to audition Nagra's latest Classic Int Amp to set a benchmark to himself first. He went to audition it and, naturally, was immensely impressed and poisoned by the sound. But the asking price was so high; at almost $19000 USD, it was far too much for his budget. By chance, scrolling through Review 33 secondhand forum he found this exact same amp on sale for $12000, still a handful of cash at stake. But he managed to haggle it down to less than $10000 USD. I told him if you can spend this kind of money, make sure you get the best out of it! So he took the plunge and become a happy man since. He snatched an Aurender A200 streamer/DAC and was all ready to rock and roll. Meanwhile, deep down, I have the feeling that my Wattson Emerson Analog may sound a bit more analog. He also bought a pair of Tellurium Black Ultra speaker cable which I think is too hifi sounding, so I handed him a pair Luna Orange cables, loaner from Raymond, the generous distributor (I dare not use it, I am very content with my Gris from Luna and it is way cheaper anyway). Poisoning someone else is what I can do best to get a taste of Orange's sound! His immediate impression fresh out of the box is positive and I will let him burn it in a bit longer to see how it fares with the TellQ~

I was getting sidetracked a bit...OK, while I was surfing secondhand forums all over the world, there's a Shindo Claret 343, which DJ also speaks highly of, on sale in Italy, but unfortunately the seller would not ship outside of Italy... The other seller is from Poland but is asking 30% more even though he's willing to ship to HK... Looking at 2nd hand prices of Nagra PLP/PLL and their asking prices are still well over $50K USD, I have given out any hopes for it.

A Darkhorse
I was not in a hurry though and was taking my time anyway. One day, I was chatting with Doctorjohn about my plan. We talked about the Nagra PLP which he bought many years ago (still in NY), and then he also suggested a Darkhorse which he had owned all along, the Elekit TU-875. Even back many years, I had been reading his posts, and he talked a lot about Elekit. At one point, I was almost sold on a TU-8500 preamp to pair with my 47 Lab Gaincard, but the obstacle of building the kit using a soldering gun set me back and the idea was abandoned.

As DJ said the TU-875 is a very good preamp which punches way above its price tag, it aroused my interest, especially as it is extremely reasonable priced. With this addition, and if I can keep the costs down to $500 USD, it might be a great buy and one step closer to Audio Nirvana (always have that belief, as with every Hifi lover).

TU-875 had long been discontinued, so how am I going to get a unit? DJ told me it's difficult to find a used one in HK or the US and mentioned Japanese sources. Well, since yen is cheap nowadays and I remembered I had signed up with FromJapan.com (a firm that helps people secure Japanese goods, for a commission) a while back. I was previously inactive but, when I logged onto the site and did a quick search, I immediately found out there was a Yahoo auction closing in 4 hours on a TU-875 unit. Immediately I placed a bid at 16000 yen, which is about $120USD. Then I waited until the closing hour and the price since then been propped up and I put up a few more bids (with only slight adrenaline rise as I was pretty cool actually) and finally won the bid at 30000 yen! With fees from the site, it works out to be around $250 USD, plus another $60 USD shipping. The unit arrived at my home in less than 2 weeks without hiccups!! So, if you want to look for a unit, go search Japanese sites and you can find one easily!

Power Troubles
The Wall Wart is marked 100V 7V/2A, kind of awkward voltage as in general. 5V and 12V AC Adaptors are abundant, but not 7V. I went to Apliu Street to look for a meter and perhaps a 7V AC adaptor or perhaps a step-down transformer. DJ also said even if the AC Adaptor specifies 100V, it should be an SMPS and therefore has variable input voltages (and perhaps Japan regulation restricts it to stamp on 100V only). So, by measuring the DCV a meter will definitely tell you whether it's a variable voltage or not. DJ also recommended me to buy an SMPS DC Power Supply, which may be my next step.

I was thinking of buying the meter and testing the stock adaptor on the spot. However, I was pidgeon eyed by the guy at the shop, hinting that I was too cheap and should have bought both the cheapo step-down transformer (which is my reason for hesitation) and meter together, and would not let me test my stock adaptor at the shop. After similar experience from another shop, albeit in a more polite way, I told myself I had enough and remembered Dr. Lo had offered to loan his step-down transformer to me. I called him immediately and borrowed a 300W step down transformer. I hooked it up finally with Gotham GAC4 and Gotham's power cord. I let it warm up a bit more before I listened to it critically.

..... To be continued (as in Srajan style)

Editor: As this is just Part I, and not yet the main course, I'd not like to say too much. I do want to say here what I did not say in my mammoth review of TU-8500 (here), which is that I still prefer the sound of TU-875. The reason of not saying that was that the TU-8500 was competent and has the additional virtue of possible use as an excellent buffer. Besides, the TU-875 has long been discontinued and is very difficult to find outside Japan, so no point in getting people's hopes up. HK readers are lucky that they have agents for buying Japanese goods. The TU-875 is a veritable legend by now. As I have both the TU-875 and Nagra PLP in NYC, I can say the former is not shamed at all; many would prefer its organic and mellifluous sound! I'm sure I'd comment more when the Main Course arrives!