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The Retro SMSL T2 Vacuum Tube Amp -- REVIEWED!
690 views
May 29, 2025
Ready to get more out of your headphones or little speakers by hooking up an amplifier? Of course you are. The retro SMSL T2 amp is a great option with its glowing vacuum tubes. Very steampunk, for sure. And as a surprise bonus, it sounds good, offering a louder and warmer audio versus the original source, whether you hook it up to your smartphone, tablet, laptop or computer. With almost zero THD (total harmonic distortion) it's definitely going to make your music sound better too, regardless of your favorite type of music. Tech expert Dave Taylor of https://www.AskDaveTaylor.com/ checks out the SMSL T2 vacuum tube amp and likes its sound, but definitely has some warnings for potential buyers before you click the link and buy one... Check it out: http://amzn.to/2DBrYda
View Video Transcript
0:00
a tube amp for your headphones it looks
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cool but does it sound good Dave Taylor
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here and I'm looking at a headphone amp
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and hang on a second I'm looking at an
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amplifier for headphones that's this
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this is a really interesting device this
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is the SM SL T 2 vacuum tube amp for
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headphones so it has an aux in and an
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aux out or headphones out volume control
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on off switch that's basically the whole
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thing and most distinctly it has these
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tubes on the top they're vacuum tubes
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this is old-school technology this goes
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back to when like DVDs first showed up
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and people said Oh analog sounds better
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than digital or when we had solid-state
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circuitry for stereos and people said oh
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no tubes actually give you a warmer
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sound musicians still debate this and
1:00
obviously in the world of high fidelity
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audio equipment this is something people
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discussed too so it leads to the
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question of clearly this is an
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extraordinarily cool looking device but
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what does it sound like and the answer
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is it actually sounds really good
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the idea of an amp is that it's gonna
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take whatever audio you feed to it
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through your aux and then it's gonna
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just make it richer and hopefully warmer
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that's what a tube should do a tube
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should have a warmer sound than digital
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what does warmer mean if you're looking
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at it on an oscilloscope it's hard for
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me to say it just makes things sound
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just a little bit more pleasant and it
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really does that I have to say that it's
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a nice little amp and the basic strategy
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is you plug in whatever device using I
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have an Android phone and you you have
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aux goes to the input on this your phone
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or whatever source you have might be a
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computer that you want to have pretty
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high turned up pretty high and then you
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let the amp do all the work with its own
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volume control and then you have the
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ability to get a really nice sound now
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I'm kind of cheating because I have
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super nice headphones these are the
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beyerdynamic Ameren home so they're
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already really nice headphones but when
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I plug them into the amp and then that
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into the phone it's a really nice sound
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now the amp itself as you can see it's
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pretty small it's very lightweight it's
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made out of aluminum so there's a nice
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feel to it it obviously isn't gonna fit
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in your pocket and in fact we'll come
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back to portability because this is not
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its strength but it is made out of
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brushed aluminum very nice and these are
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what's known as six j 9j grade tubes and
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the company says you could actually put
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different tubes in here to get different
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acoustic signatures I obviously haven't
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tried that but it's an interesting idea
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for something at this price point I'm
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not sure that you would be investing in
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different tubes but that's okay now the
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output its general output is 1 watt so
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if you're thinking I have a stereo in my
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car that puts out 600 Watts that's not
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much
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turns out it's plenty and for a typical
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headphone like a 32 ohm headphone that's
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gonna give you 70 milliwatts of output
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and again you hear that and you're like
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oh good gracious that's nothing but it
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turns out that this can go louder than I
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come listen and I can listen to pretty
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loud music this gets really loud there's
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a lot going on but of course as you up
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the impedance on your headphones then
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you're gonna get less output so if
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you're gonna use this with say a 250
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ohms studio monitors it's not gonna be
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super loud it'll still sound nice and
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rich and warm but this is not an amp
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that you're gonna want to have in your
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studio it's really it's kind of a
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gimmicky amp to some extent with the
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design and the tubes being front and
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center so I would put this next to my
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computer maybe at my cubicle or
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something and then you have this nice
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little amp now I will warn you for
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reasons I really can't explain the amp
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doesn't come with the aux cable so
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you're gonna need to supply your own
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cable why they don't drop in a cable
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that would probably cost them under a
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dollar is not clear to me but you can't
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even start to use it even if you have
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headphones until you figure out a way to
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connect the
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to the actual audio source not a huge
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big deal
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by the way total harmonic distortion you
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ready for this is zero point zero zero
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one five percent this adds nothing it
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just makes the music sound richer and
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louder so really really nice what else
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can I tell you is that when I got this I
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thought this is really nice and small
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and really really distinctive looking
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with that dark blue and everything until
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I looked at the size of the charger so
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long I just unplug this this charger is
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really look it's like the same size as
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the unit and it has to be plugged in
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there's no battery
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there's no portability at all so this
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really is something that you're gonna
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want to have permanently stationed next
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to your computer in your work space at
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your co-working desk whatever it is
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maybe in your den so this is not
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something you're gonna tote around the
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house and plug in as you go cuz the
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whole power source thing really is I
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guess it is what it is but it is
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something to be aware of so you have
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this really cool looking device and a
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really big power source for it so it
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goes now let me tell you like I said
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there's a lot I like about this I like
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the tubes it does have a warm sound you
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know the company says you should
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probably give it about a hundred hours
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of burnin time to really get the maximum
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benefit out of your tubes I haven't done
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a hundred hours so it might get even
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better as time goes on
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the reviews have read from other people
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everyone really likes this device they
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have really good things to say about how
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it warms up and increases the volume and
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just the overall presence of your music
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regardless of what you listen to so much
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- like now you need to buy the aux cable
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you need to be aware of the power source
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but you know what when I tell you the
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price point you'll be like holy cow this
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is fun it's just like a fun little thing
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to play with so before we get to the
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price let me ask can you go ahead and
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click on that subscribe button I really
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appreciate that and if this review is
6:34
interesting and beneficial thumbs up
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never hurt anyone here on YouTube so
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the price this is the s/m SL T 2 vacuum
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tube amplifier and it will cost you $58
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at Amazon $58 I would have looked at
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this and I would have guessed it be at
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least a hundred so really a good deal
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and unfun and visually engaging way to
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make your music sound better whether
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it's coming off your computer off of an
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old radio I'd probably do the computer
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or off of a mobile device like a tablet
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or a phone so much to like about this
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this is Dave Taylor I think I'm gonna
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plug everything back in and go back to
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my music so that means I'll catch you in
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my next video
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[Music]