![](\"http:\/\/cache.gawker.com\/assets\/images\/4\/2010\/01\/500x_mini-watt-intro-1.jpg\")
If you think all high-end products are stupid expensive or mammoth monstrosities, the MiniWatt vacuum tube integrated amplifier should change your mind.<\/p>\nIf you think all high-end products are stupid expensive or mammoth monstrosities, the MiniWatt vacuum tube integrated amplifier should change your mind.<\/p>\n
What differentiates high-end gear from mass market technology is performance; mainstream manufacturers know sound quality isn’t much of a priority for most buyers, so they build their products to sound just good enough.<\/p>\n
By high-end standards at least, the MiniWatt is dirt cheap, just $229 (shipping is $40). And measuring just 5 by 4 inches, the little guy can fit anywhere. Powerful it’s not, just 2.5 watts for each channel, but that should be plenty for desktop applications with wee speakers, like the Audioengine P4s<\/a> I recently wrote about.<\/p>\n Not convinced? Over at ToneAudio magazine<\/a>, they hooked up the MiniWatt to a pair of $3,500 Zu Essence tower speakers<\/a> and were blown away by the sound—so much so that ToneAudio named the amp “Product of the Year” in its budget audio category.<\/p>\n You can get yours in black, silver, gold, red, blue, or green.<\/p>\n Downsides: You get just a single stereo input, but you could add some sort of external switcher to accommodate more sources. You have to buy your own AC power cord; the MiniWatt doesn’t come with one.<\/p>\n The mini wonder is garnering raves from a number of audiophile magazines worldwide, and I think that’s just great. If you’re curious about the sound of tubes, here’s your chance to get in on the fun.<\/p>\n If you think all high-end products are stupid expensive or mammoth monstrosities, the MiniWatt vacuum tube integrated amplifier should change your mind. What differentiates high-end gear from mass market technology is performance; mainstream manufacturers know sound quality isn’t much of a priority for most buyers, so they build their products to sound just good enough. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1795,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-142742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1795"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142742"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142742\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"http:\/\/cache.gawker.com\/assets\/images\/4\/2010\/01\/thumb160x_mini-watt-rear_270x226.jpg\")
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<\/a>This story originally appeared on CNET<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n
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