Video on what is single-ended tube amp: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-I3-pvbglrso.html Non-affiliated link: www.china-hifi-audio.com/en/reisong-tube-amplifier-boyuurange-audio-c-48/boyuurange-a50-mkiii-300b-single-end-class-a-tube-intergrated-amplifier-reisong-p-2309
I’m sorry, did I understood you correctly, you send back 30% of the stuff that you get from China hi-fi? Does that mean you keep the other 70%? And if so, how're you not unbiased? Do you buy it or do you just keep it? If you buy it, what kind of discount are you getting?.. Please explain…
Hi Thomas . Can you advise please, would BoyuuRange A50 Mk III be similar in terms on vocals to MUZISHARE X9 300B SINGLE ENDED CLASS A TUBE INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER WITH PHONO MM or WILLSENTON R300 SINGLE-ENDED INTEGRATED 300B TUBE AMPLIFIER& POWER AMP
I've had a pair of Wavelength Cardinal 300B mono blocks for nearly 30 years. They never fail to impress. When I first got them, I took them to a local high end dealer to audition Proac Response 2 speakers. The dealer was skeptical until he heard them. His jaw dropped and he asked me to stay until his partner could come and hear them. I've since upgraded the interstage coupling caps to Mundorf Silver/oils and they sound even better.
I purchased this amp back in March. Immediately rolled the 300B's with Genelex Gold Lion 300Bs. Also found some NOS GE 6SN7GTBs and sourcing Tidal through Topping DX7 Pro DAC out to a pair of vintage JBL 4412 Studio Monitors I have had for 25 years.(90db) The sound is incredible! Enjoy your reviews.
Great video as usual. I love how you get different opinions from you audio friends. Just a note on transparency. Having worked in a studio in front of and behind the mic, saliva sounds was definitely something we tried to avoid and it is not a highlight of my listening experience. Or as I tell my audio friends, would they enjoy it more if they could hear the singer fart. Hehe. That said, older jazz recordings will sometimes have artifacts like a creaking floorboard, light foot tapping, or a faint clapping that might becoming from the control booth that leaked into the recording. These artifacts do enhance the liveness of the sound and adds nicely to the ambiance. Again great video!
I'd say I'm not a fan of mouth sounds either. It's like hearing someone chew with their mouth open and can distract me from the music to where that's the only thing I'll focus on and ignore the rest of the song. Can even be the same with singers taking deep breaths. These days you just cut it in a digital recording but as Tay Zonday taught everyone, to move away from the mic to breathe in.
Nicely put. I seriously can't imagine a worse selling point than the ability to hear how much saliva a singer has in their mouth. Disgusting. Floorboards creaking, drummers singing along in the background, sure, if its there, I want to hear it. But something that accentuates the sound of bodily fluids? No one needs that kind of fidelity.
Thanks for such a comprehensive, candid review. Glad you tried amp with Spendor s3/5r2 with its 85 dB sensitivity. I feed a pair of Falcon Acoustic LS35a's with a 300B amp (Elekit) for a great sonic presentation. I can't detect any distortion on loud passages, which was my main fear with this pairing. Maybe the higher 15 ohm speaker impedance is the 'magic sauce' that makes this combo work so well.
I have the A10 and upgraded the EL34s to Gold Lions and the 6volt ones to JJ 12AX7s. It sounded more detailed and tighter with the replacement tubes. As if a veil had been lifted. Recently I upgraded the orange coupling capacitors to Milflex and the improvement was considerable. It now sounds organic, smooth, a more fixed image, and much better detail. Overall way more musical. If you have the A10 or A12 consider the cap upgrade, if you know what you're doing.
I lent Thomas my Reisong A10 for his comparison with the A12 - I had the pleasure of trying all three (with stock tubes) in my home (A50, A12 and A10) with my Klipsch Forte III. My experience - they are all provide very good value. All three have great midrange / vocals, only in doing a head to head did I notice a bit more of an edginess with the A50 - but the upside was better bass / bass definition in exchange. I actually liked the Reisong models in my room more than some other brands of tube amps Thomas has lent me costing 2 or 3X more… reinforced the value/dollar. I’m curious to know what tube amp is sitting on top of the speaker behind Thomas’ left shoulder??? :)
The original Western Electric factory has re-opened and is now manufacturing WE 300B tubes using the original machinery. That's the only model that they manufacture at the moment but this may change in the future. One does not have to look for NOS WE 300B tubes anymore. They even make an integrated tube amp which I saw at a recent HiFi show. Check out their website.
Listening to the sound samples at the end of the video, through my MacBook Pro speakers, I think I prefer your Spendor speakers! Very interesting to me, because I am considering the Harbeth P3 speakers for my own setup (Spendor and Harbeth being of similar character). I want to pair a Harbeth speaker purchase with a tube amplifier. My problem is finding one sufficiently powerful enough to drive them. Great content! Thanks for your work!!
Thank you Thomas for your insightful reviews, you make audio more fun. For the last 9 months I routinely run a Freya+ with nos tubes (matched Sylvania 6sn7 gtb’s and Tungsol 6sn7 gtb’s) thru the Boyuurange A50 MK3 (with Black Treasure 300B-Z’s, Sylvania 6sn7 gtb’s and stock rectifier tube) to drive various speakers (ie I “speaker roll” as well; Cornwall 3’s, Lii Audio F-15’s on open-baffle, Zu DW’s, Watkins Gen4, etc). I have experienced no adverse effects and the Freya’s small amplification when using the tube mode really helps with less efficient speakers. I can increase the Freya’s output while keeping the A50 at 12 o’clock or less to avoid any possible distortion mentioned by others. Lately, I have been using a streaming dac which also has volume adjustment (HD & high-resolution source) so I actually have three separate areas to adjust the volume. It sounds good to me; if I’m violating any electronic or acoustic laws, then I plead guilty via ignorance. I do have concerns about loss of purity in the final outcome, in theory, but when I remove each component from the chain, I can tell little to no real difference overall in soundstage, etc, other than what each component brings into the mix.
@@parthmadhubhai689 I have left the F15’s hooked up almost all the time. Whenever I swap another pair in for something different I soon go back to the F15’s. I wish I had found them before buying much more expensive speakers. This may be an open-baffle thing as much or more than an F15 thing but since I built the open baffles I’m having a hard time listening to anything else. The OB’s are 3/4” birch plywood in a plagiarized barrel shape but large (48”Hx37”W). I do use a subwoofer because I tend to like bass more than most people but the F15’s have pretty good bass on their own with the larger baffles.
Hi Thomas, great review. I own this amp & agree with everything you have to say about it. I replaced the 300B tubes with Shuguang 300B-Z(50 Years) tubes, and the input tubes with new production Tungsols. Matched with my Zu Dirty Weekend speakers, it sounds good to me.
Switching the input tubes to Tungsols gives a really nice upgrade to the bass and general meat on the bone, and the Golden Lion 300Bs gave me more definition on the top end (this didn't really make a big difference to the musical experience)
Hi Thomas, if the values of the signal caps are not big like 2uF or so, please try the V Caps - CuTF-080: 0.22uF 300Vdc V-Cap CuTF Capacitors (matched pair) . They are not so expensive but not so cheap. I paid more than 200 euros for this matched pair, but oh my God, it's worth. In this kind of SET, signal caps make 85% of the uopgrade, if well chosen. You can't go wrong with these. No hard treble. Big soundstage, etc etc etc. Thank you for the video !
🤗 I AM THANKFUL TO HAVE YOU TO EXPERIENCE TUBE AMPS ( a vicarious experience for me) AND YOUR EXPLANATIONS I AM SURE HELPS MANY PEOPLE 🤗 …I am very impressed with the looks 👀 gold and VU meters 🤩🤩🤩 You have described the differences between various types and the cost $$ but I am curious how long do they last and how fast do they deteriorate before they need to be replaced 🤔 perhaps others may also like to know 🧐 THANKS THOMAS…AND KEEP UP ⬆️ THE GOOD WORK 😍😍😍
Great review, I got myself a Reisong Boyuurange A30 2A3 which is fantastic IMHO. I forgot to add I did my own modification. I replaced the stock caps with Russian K42Y PIO and I also upgraded to Psvane Acme 2a3 and Shuguang WE 6SL7 Plus from the default Psvane 2A3C and stock 6SL7 tubes.
A big plus for Chinese amplifiers is that they come with a schematic. This is great for electronics hobbyists who can go in and make changes and improve the sound characteristics of the amplifier. The amplifiers are affordable too and priced right. The designers obviously make compromises to keep costs down, but the negative effects are minimal. So, these amplifiers sound great even without modifications.
Thank for this video…as someone who has been enjoying rolling KT88 tubes in the triode amplifier…I have always wanted to sample the B300 sound. Being like your “Mr. Designer” my plan has always been to design & build my own SET amp, but now maybe the plan could be buy-and-modify to find that sweet spot of performance:price
If I recall, PS Vane was started by a group of engineers who left Chinese state owned Shuguang Tubes. I think PS Vane as deliberate and not a mistake, based around where they had been and where they were heading toward. Western Electric have started making 300B's again, in the original way. Fun fact - 300B's were originally designed for use in telephony, and not audio. It was found later that they were really nice at handling Audio. 300B's are several hundred dollars each on there own, so getting an Amplifier based around 300b's at the price this one ..... Well it is quite a deal.
Great review Thomas. I am using the Spendor S3/5R2 myself and can confirm their superb matching with low powered tube amps, despite their sensitivity rating. The reason for that might be their very smooth response graph If I remember correctly, rated at 8 Ohm they don’t drop below 6.8 . I am using it with an Icon Audio Stereo 20 PP, which is said to have no bass at all. But with the Spendor and considering it’s tube amp I am getting quite articulate and punchy but no deep bass.
@@ThomasAndStereo Me too. It has mids to die for and I adore its coloration. I haven't found a speaker yet, basically at any price point that came even close to that. A true audiophile gem.
I have the Reisong A10 with the EL 34's modified to triode. A few minor internal tweeks and it sounds fine. Not hugely dynamic, not a lot of depth. Not spine-tingling, but quite nice. I'd like more but it's not easy to convince the wife of an urgent need for yet another amplifier... I'm driving diy folded Voigt enclosures which I've had for decades. The original 3 inch Fostex where subbed for 4 inch Fostex, and now I have a pair of 3 inch Mark Audio fitted. They're the very devil to drive now, which surprised me. Maybe they'll loosen up over time, but I think the A10 is struggling a bit...
Oh man, Etta and Nikolaj were both my teachers, way back when I was a student at the academy of music (gospel choir and piano) and I didn’t even know they made that album! Gotta check it out right away 😊❤️
Thank you Thomas for demoing the Spendor S3/5r2 speakers. They don't get much coverage these days. I listen to my Spendors with an Ariand 300B amplifier. I find there are some great things going on with that (Spendor + 300B) combo as you said (transparency, soundstage, musicality etc.) that I don't hear with other speakers. Thanks for interesting videos!
If you would like to take this amp up into the 6k performance you will not only need to roll the tube like you did but to bring out the 300b performance and soundstage you need to replace the caps to Audio Note Capacitor 0.47uF 630Vdc Copper Foils! This will make all the difference @ $90 each x2
I found the schematic diagram for this amplifier. It's not a very powerful amplifier, as a matter of fact it won't make the power that it advertises. It's powered by a lower voltage transformer than the output tube can safely handle. In other words the output tube can handle greater voltage and thus make more power if it was connected to a higher voltage power supply. Tests show this amplifier starts to clip at less than 4 watts out. If your speakers only need 1 or 2 watts to provide adequate volume, then this will work. Changing the output tube will alter the sound, but not the basic parameters of this amplifier. Frequency response is good down to 20 Hz with a noticeable increase in distortion. The high end rolls off appreciably after 10 KHz. Again distortion (ringing) increases as the frequency increases. If you try to go past 4 watts out, the distortion rises rapidly. IMHO this isn't an accurate amplifier. It certainly measures poorly as far as tube amplifiers I've worked with in the past. Just like guitar amplifier people, there's a certain sound that causes people to be attracted. This warmth or musicality is caused by the components used. RCA, when it was in the tube business, used to publish a variety of schematics and parts list to build an amplifier using their tubes. You were on your own for sourcing. Critical to getting the best sound for your efforts, was the quality of the output transformer. How it's wound, what are the windings embedded in. How much hysteresis loss due to materials, as well as the size of the core of the transformer, are critical to how well the amplifier performs. If you watch a McIntosh amplifier assembly video, you will see the attention to detail and the in house assembly of their own transformers. This is how above all else, they achieve the famous, consistent McIntosh sound. It's changed over the years because they find better ways to construct their own output transformers.
This. What seems to be wasted on most folk is that a tube amp in particular is only as good as its output transformer/s. These cheap amps dont do these magnificent valves justice and in some instances could be dangerous to boot
@@tomwebb7091 So what??? The amp is catered for a certain segment of people that can afford it. Kudos to the amplifier for giving so much amplifier value with so little money. I bet USA or any European companies can make similar amplifier without costing 3 to 4 times more. Do you hear anybody DIE using this amplifier????
Why compare to McIntosh? Not many people can afford MC intosh especially those 3rd world country. With Bouyurange A50 many poor folks can enjoy. It is like saying that everybody should graduate from MIT ....Do you graduate from Mit? If not you are not then you should not advise us on electronic gears. Only MIT graduate should give their electronic opinion as they are the best in the world, just like how they build McIntosh.
As an electronics engineer I can tell you that if you are looking for a flat amplifier you need to go with something that is designed as such. These are reference designs which allow the amplifier to become neutral for hearing it the way the sound engineer wants you to hear it. If you are looking for amps that have a "tubey" sound but don't want to deal with tubes (like me in my older age) go with Nelson Pass designs like the Aleph J. I have built these for less than $500 and they give many tube amps a run for the money and you are not fooling around with tubes any longer. Don't get me wrong i've built many amps AF and RF designs with tubes but I really feel that you are hearing the distortions of a valve design. Unfortunately with tube amps you also have output transformers which also add color and distortion which can be desirable as well but adds weight. Some of the tubes you are speaking of are overpriced compared to the sonic outcome. Tube rolling and cap changes are ver subjective and really cannot be substantiated. I am not convinced we all hear the same way. Playing audio samples from your PC/phone outboard gear to RU-vids skanky compression doesn't give any reference at all.
You hit the nail on the head, especially regarding output transformers. These can make up a huge portion of the sound. As far as value - this unit isn't very good. For the money there are far better options, especially in restored modified vintage gear or custom made-from-schematic units. I also dislike reviews that are like cigar or wine reviews that talk about flavors that aren't really there. This review drips with that; things the listener FEELS, not really hears. Another listener will think they hear what they want to hear too.
Whole series of mods & testing on this Boyuurange / Reisong A50 300B Tube Amp Basic Mods Part One about half dosen vids @ Skunkie Designs Electronics on youtube. enjoyed your review.
@@justinflemmer Thank You for the links she deserves the views all the hard work she did . But I don't know if she can send the amp for review #1 its not Hers #2 She lives in Georgia USA He lives in Canada shipping be expensive.
@@ThomasAndStereo with Stephe in Canada it may get tricky with shipping but @Skunkie Designs Electronics will be putting up her mods with BOMs up for those willing to give it a try.
I don’t know. Separate tube amp when I already run a small theater with 50a mono blocks and a vinyl setup with some classic receivers. Thanks for the info. I may take the plunge…or I may just get another pew-pew-less space, less money, less time investment :)
Another great journey shared by Thomas. Much better with the Silverline Sonata IMHO. But certainly a good base perhaps to improve with some quality caps and resistors. The ultimate limitation will be the output transformers.
Hi Thomas. Love your work, always look forward to the next video. I purchased a Reisong A12 amp (4 days from China to Australia from China-HiFi-Audio) and was interested to see your review on the A50 300B. Noting here that you are recommending changing the pre-amp tubes rather than the power tubes to get an improvement in sound without too much expense. Would you recommend the same for the A12 by rolling out the 12AX7s? If so, do you have any recommendations.
Sure, it will affect the smoothness. I don't really have any suggestions in the sense I just take whatever NOS I have and so far I get decent results with whatever I try. There is no better in the sense it depends what you want with tube rolling, more clarity or more smoothness?
Enjoyed as usual , but has anyone costed out those 300b tubes , especially good ones ? Very $$$…most OEM tubes are not biased matched and only average quality and what with shipping costs , now $$$, and hopefully not return fees if needed . It’s isn’t paying anymore to buy heavy Chinese hifi , unless one can return it to North America , sadly because I like and own quite a few their products .
I’d love a guide eventually on chifi. I know there is always a barrier due to politics, prejudices, and misinformation. For me I don’t care where a product is designed and manufactured but I do care about reliability as well as support. I’ve owned cayin products and trust their build quality. But not sure about the other brands and where you get solid quality and where it stars to get sketch.
Yup, that is why I am ok with brand name to charge their higher price because reliability is part of what you are paying for. With all this Chifi gear, there is no long term data to see their reliability.
@@ThomasAndStereo hi sir im interested in this model is this comes with subwoofer output?if it doesnt have what other model you can recommend with subwoofer output
@@sammienalaza8684 You may use a REL sub. REL recommends using the 8 ohm taps when pairing with tube amps and they have a patent on blending there subs soundwise using the high level connection. The REL sub uses it's own inbuild power amp, so the connected tube amp is not affected at all. REL offers instructions on RU-vid on how to connect their subs. I do use a pair of RELs with my Reisong A10 and the subs blend so smoothly for bass and upper midbass with a big 3D soundstage. Amazing! 😄
@@sammienalaza8684 you don’t need subwoofer out. That’s usually only for home theater. Get a subwoofer with speaker level inputs that you can then hookup directly to the speaker terminals on the amp.
I’ve owned this amplifier for years now. I’ve rolled in a Gold Lion GZ34, vintage GE 6SN7 GTBs, and kept the Psvane 300B tubes. The best thing I did was to add a Project-Audio Tube Box S2 pre-amp that I rolled some Mullards into. I have a Project Carbon Evo turntable, and Klipsch RP 600m. The next move is probably Heresy’s, but truly unnecessary.
I also had a chance to hear one of these (stock tubes) recently, and my findings were very similar to yours. Of course your friend with the (to me, unlistenable, glaring) Zu would like it. 300b's might be the only thing I could probably handle Zu's with.
It drives me crazy that you have that MC275 sitting there and you don’t review it and compare! Might be a great benchmark to compare to modern cheaper tube amps.
The world has never seen such a hype with tube amplifiers as with the boyuurange a50 mkiii 300b. This is really the bomb in the hi-fi world. China is tearing up competitors, they simply have no chance.
Hi Thomas. How does the A50 compare to the Willsenton R300? Which did you like better in terms of sound, build quality etc. Looking to get into 300b tube amps. Thanks in advance. Keep up the good work!
Hi Thomas, What amplifiers did you like with the Spendor other than the A50? I have the Spendor A1 , which I think is more or less identical to the one you have, and still have not settled on a good amplifier match for it. Are you using a USB isolator/ re-cklocker with the Exasound DAC? I found adding one (the Uptone ISO regen in my case) makes quite a noticeable improvement to my surprise as the DAC has an internal buffer.
I used it near field so I don't really need anything really powerful. Any amp with decent power sounded good with it. Granted, when I am at my desk, I just listen for tone and I don't do critical listening. I think so far I paired with the Burson Timekeeper, SMSL A2 and Peachtree something.
My suggestion is to upgrade the caps inside this thing. I did this with the A10 and it got allot better. From what I have seen on the internet the part quality is the same in this thing so watch yourself and put in some copper foil by pass caps.
I used a 0.1 uF copper foil cap paralleled to the original coupling cap. This is the capacitor between the input stage and the output stage(300B's). You could change the entire cap one to one if you want. My channel has a vid with mods for the A10. I can't find a picture of the insides of the A50 so can't specify where everything is in that
Please, please post your review of the Willsenton r300i as soon as possible. I own the Willsenton r8 and love it and know that they make great products. I have been wanting to get a 300b amp for sometime now, but the only reviews I've found on line have been for the A50 mkiii and the Willsenton r 800i. Not completely sold in the A50 and r800i is way out of my price range. Read your reply to the person who asked about the mods to the A50, and you stated the r300i simply destroys it. Looking forward to your review of it.
I always wondered about that weird spelt Psvane name. Gramatically, when a 'P' is followed by an 'S' as in words like psychology, psalm, pseudo etc, the 'P' is always silent. So lawyer mistake or not, grammer rules state we should pronounce 'Psvane' phonetically as S'vane or Suvane. Best wishes y'all, from the OCD-grammer kid
What would be the next better choice than this unit ....in terms of sweetness, airy, a bit more detailed & refined? I have an amazing pair of Totem Acoustic Tribe Floorstander Speakers.
Thomas thanks so much for another great video. I bought this amp like 2 months ago and pretty much your review is right on the money. I connected it to my Sonus Faber Sonetto VIII 90db sensitivity. I’m very surprised how well this amp drives them no problems with loudness. For me 10 o’clock is very loud. I bought some Gold Lions 300b tube and slightly improved the sound (it should improve further with more hours) Same thing with 6sn7 got some NOS GE tubes. Sounds very special. I just wonder if buying more expensive tubes around 1k would improve the sound substantially….? Thanks.
I wonder if a $1k tube will be a significant improvement too. I would say at that price, might as well upgrade the amp so you can get more refinement and bass instead.
As always a great review. Is that a Decware Zen in shot over your left shoulder?? I wanted to try a tube amp again and narrowed it down to this 300b design and a Decware. If it is the Decware did you compare them?
Hi Thomas, nice and fun presentation. Interesting and a bit scary regarding the expensive tube. I mailed that china hifi audio, 3 different mail and different questions, that was 4 weeks ago but nothing. I am from Sweden, and just feel how a company can survive when they don’t give a s.. I mean they have no idea if i whiteout any hesitations open up my wallet for a serious order. Sorry for complaining I guess it’s better looking around Europe for hifi. Anyway! Cool video 🎶👍🎶
@@ThomasAndStereo hi, is this safe writing my personal mail address here? The thing is I fixed an account on the china hifi site and found it very odd when they didn’t reply, i was thinking at first they maybe have holiday.
@@ThomasAndStereo the one they have on their website. one of the mail was a directly question about a tube amp that they wrote “Make a offer” but still not a word. I am not afraid of buying abroad, do it when I need to.., and i use PayPal where you are insured if something goes wrong. I will see later this year and keep looking for helping guidance from people like you. Thanks for taking your time, and keep on with your youtube work 😊 Kind regards Jan
I’ve recently purchased a McIntosh mc2505 power amp in perfect condition pretty much. I’d like some suggestions for an affordable pre-amp that would compliment it and give at least 2 audio inputs. Phono and a cassette. I know this is a different topic and is a solid state power unit. But from what I’ve been advised. It was the best solid state McIntosh ever came out with. For speakers: I have also acquired a set of McIntosh ML-1C as well as a set of Watkins WSC-1+. Both vintage speakers that are in very good shape. My preference for music is in the Rock category. I’m hoping to get some affordable options for this system. Thanks for any help. ~Jon
Thomas my name is Andy from Chicago. I want you to know that I really appreciate all of your videos and the insight you give us on HIFI equipment. Thank you!!! I do have a first question for you. I I am in the market for a tube amplifier. I wanted to know what your thoughts are between china HIFI tube amplifiers versus a Macintosh MA252 or352? Well the China HIFI give me as good of a sound for much less money? Or should I continue to save and buy the Mac? Better yet if you have time could you do a comparison video I have not found any comparisons between china HIFI and McIntosh amplifiers on RU-vid yet. Thank you so much for what you do and your time!!
Well McIntosh are really well built and are higher quality. They have better components but do they sound better? It depends if you like the McIntosh sound and also if you listen deep enough. It's not a simple answer because there is voicing you have to factor in and this can be a while long discussion .
@@ThomasAndStereo Thank you so much for your reply Thomas I appreciate it! Just one more question in your opinion what would have more of a musical tube juiciness to the sound? I currently have a Yamaha as 1200 which of course is solid State so that’s the reason I want a tube amplifier to have the other end of the spectrum but at the same time I want something that is quality. Thanks again for your time and all your wonderful videos!
Hi Thomas,me again,this is what i wanna say to you if you want better bass out of this little 300B amp,change the fuse into a Synergistic Research,a Blue or even better a Orange one this in combination with a Gold Lion 300B tube,you will reach near heaven,just saying!
Although i'd heard your reviewing policy before, i never thought of or spotted a likely outcome of your policy till now. By not reviewing duffers but returning them & asking them to only send you stuff with something extra special or magical about their design / sound. That's what we all want, the best for our money & that policy can only have a positive effect on what they do design, i reckon. It would be a different site & not at all interesting if all we heard about was the plethora of imported duffers to avoid, not that they'd be enougth time to cover all of them!
If I had known I could have git the A-50 for what I paid for the A-12 I would have done it in a fladh. Anyway I have found I like the A-12 with my Wharfedale 4.4s but I have done very limited tube rolling per say.
Yeah, for me now that you have the A12, I would not get the A50 because for me, any upgrade should be 2 level up and I would say the A50 is one level up, or maybe 1.2 level up :)
Hi Thomas. Thanks for another great video! I have a question. Have you auditioned the Muzishare X7. I chose it over the R8 because of the phono stage (which ironically I now don’t use). The reason I’m asking is because I also recently got a pair of KLH Model 5s and I worry that the X7 is underpowered. It sounds quite good when I really turn it up but it’s much thinner at lower volumes. I’d really appreciate any thoughts or comments
No I have not heard the X7 yet but I expect both R8 will drive the KLH similarly in the sense they have similar power. With the KLH, the sky is the limit with what amp you want to pair it with, in the sense it gets better with more power, so I would not worry too much about it with the X7 as long as you are enjoying it. If you absolutely want power, I would move to solidstate. If needed, a tube preamp and a solid state power amp.
Since you seem well connected with China Hifi, maybe you can review the Willsenton R-800i 300B 845 Single-ended? Could be a contender with those 3-7k amps you're looking at.
Thomas, I love your videos. To make you tube rolling easier, you don't need to use a rag or glove. These are vacuum radio tubes. Nothing gets in or out. The whole thing about oils on hands somehow penetrating is, well, a snake oil of sorts. If anything is allowed in or out of the tube, the tube is going to immediately go stark white on the inside and die. Let the tube get cool before removing, but spare the hassle of the glove or cloth.
I think the logic behind is the oil left by hand will raise the temperature slightly and shortening the life of the tubes. The last time I did not use something, I got people complaining about it.
I have dealt with vacuum tubes in Hi-Fi amps,Broadcast transmitters and have handled them with bare hands with no issues.Tubes are made from borosilicate glass -its very heat resistant-you skin oils-no problem----HOWEVER of course don't try to handle the tubes while hot or if your hands are damp-the glass can crack.The skin oils will not affect the heat dissapation of the tubes.
