any hear dared or ming da amps?

Glad to hear it David! I know some of the early Xindak's had problems reading certain discs. But they went to work on it and have corrected the problem. Not unusual, the earlier model Eastsound CD-5 had a few bugs they had to work out.

Yes, although the Eastsound isn't tubed like the Xindak, a importer borrowed mine for a few days to see what all the hype was about. He had a Jolida and Shengya tube player and was really suprised when he learned the Eastsound employed no tubes.

I had the same experience. Many posts seem to indicate a good CDP upgrade won't give near the sonic improvements as a amp upgrade. I wasn't sure what to expect when I upgraded from a Cambridge Audio CDP. Well worth the effort and I can say it also exceeded my highest expectations.

BW Maxx

thanks for all the discourse, guys.

Amen to the reliability issues!Purchased a pair of 805 monos from Audioguy (china)- a big mistake! The left tube went dead before I even had a chance to hear them!Ordered new tubes from California because I did not want to wait,and the next night the right amp died altogether!My local tech is very knowledgable (a tremendous asset if you are going to take a chance on these)and got them working 100% within a couple of weeks.Basically just faulty resistors.In the mean time the factory exchanged the bad tube for the wrong one! (no top plate connector).The dealer didn't care,and sold me out for a lousy tube.Ordered a MC-767 phono from another Chinese concern and had much better luck-120 hr. burn in and excellent customer service! As far as the sound- wonderful! I have used these amps with Quad ESL -63s,Altec Valencia horns,and Merlin VSM Ms all with great results. These are an outstanding value if you are willing to take a chance on them,but they are not for the timid!

Hi
Ive own a Markhill (rebadged yaqin) 6l6a tube amp and found this to be a good entery level 23 watt amplifier it cost me approx ($ 850 AUD) about ($680 USD) new in the box delivered.And must admit was dissapointted with it at 1 st untill I started down the path to tube rolling.

I rolled the original 6l6 gcr electron tubes to (svetlana c winged 6l6gc) and rolled the smaller no name brand tubes to (Jan 6922 (8613)Phillips ECG) tubes this was a great improvement giveing it a bigger more 3d soundstage,the added beifit was it sounded better at lower volume settings and I did'nt have to drive the amp as hard to get a better responce.

From there I rolled the svets to tung sol kt 66 and still use the Jan 6922 tubes. it now sounds pretty dam good for a a $680 chinnese amp ,(IF I HAD TOO) stick with this amp, I would be more than happy to ,if you've got got a low budget this is a good amp in my humble opinion.

I also own a Mcintosh mc 240 tube amp (and waiting for delivery of a 2nd one)these are a whole different beast and way more expencive amp ,I wont go into how these amps sound because they are legendary and there's stacks of threads out there,and its all been said before by more experienced guys than I .Bye Paulie

I have been passionately into audio, pro and otherwise for the last 20 years. I meet with a group of audio nuts every week and have the opportunity to listen to a wide range of gear. Last Saturday someone brought in the Yaqin mc100 (with upgraded caps and driver tubes).

I was floored with it's musicality and performance. It was romantic indeed, and it was 3 dimensional in it's imaging. The speakers were a difficult load (Infinity Quantum 2's I believe) and the Yaqin had no trouble driving it. I can't say I've heard a more involving amplifier, and everyone in attendance agreed. Everyone was grinning and tapping their toes. It was truly a revelatory experience.

With this group, and in my own collection I have heard many of the prestigious brands and some great vintage restorations. While most of them sound as good as you might expect, the only amplifier that I have liked as much as the Yaqin was a Mac MC 24o. Total cost of the amp, plus upgrades, was about 1K.

I might add, that we meet at an audio repair shop, and at this shop I have seen many of the top brands in for very expensive repairs at a very young age.

I have ordered one. I look forward to the tweaking to come.