Chinese transformers

[ruffrecords]

I followed a link from another board where someone had used a 1:8 mic input transformer from a Chinese source. They say they have a permalloy core so I thought I would buy one just to see if it was any good and it cost me less than £20 so a lot cheaper than the £80 or more I would pay for a reputable one. When it arrived I gave it some basic tests and so far it seems to be pretty respectable with decent primary and secondary inductances and low DCRs.

So I went looking for other similar ones. What struck me was the original link led to what was described as a "cattle" transformer, So I searched for cattle transformer on Alibaba and this brings up lots of audio transformers. Some use the word "cattle" others "bovine" and one actually said "cow" in the description. I suspect this is as a result of some erroneous translation. I cannot think what audio transformer characteristic could be translated as cattle?

Just go the Alibaba and search for "cattle audio transformer" to see what I mean.

Cheers

Ian

[mediatechnology]

That's an odd translation.

Did it have a HTS or HS trade code?

[Tubetec]

There are a few bizzare words have crept into audio related products .
The word bile is often associated with amps or preamps for some strange reason
Heres an example of a pic from an Ebay seller ,

[mediatechnology]

I don't have bile duct in ANY of my products.

[flyboy71]

Oh the gall of those audio products!

[flyboy71]

I found a plausible explanation on a Stereonet forum thread but had to screenshot it because it wiped out my link for sharing and Im not signing up over there.

[ruffrecords]

Ah, so maybe it just means power.

Cheers

Ian

[mediatechnology]

I don't have bile duct in ANY of my products.

No bile duct may mean no semiconductors.
Maybe I do then

Huo Niu = "fire power" = "electrical power?"

[AnalogJoe]

I followed a link from another board where someone had used a 1:8 mic input transformer from a Chinese source. They say they have a permalloy core so I thought I would buy one just to see if it was any good and it cost me less than £20 so a lot cheaper than the £80 or more I would pay for a reputable one. When it arrived I gave it some basic tests and so far it seems to be pretty respectable with decent primary and secondary inductances and low DCRs.

So I went looking for other similar ones. What struck me was the original link led to what was described as a "cattle" transformer, So I searched for cattle transformer on Alibaba and this brings up lots of audio transformers. Some use the word "cattle" others "bovine" and one actually said "cow" in the description. I suspect this is as a result of some erroneous translation. I cannot think what audio transformer characteristic could be translated as cattle?

Just go the Alibaba and search for "cattle audio transformer" to see what I mean.

Cheers

Ian

It would be nice if you could stick them into an audio analyzer and test for THD vs frequency. It is at low frequencies where the shit hits the fan, and the high-end trannies usually trump over the Chinese "el cheapo's"