Can this be good first tube amplifier?

@Iwin

Thanks Iwin for giving your valuable experience.

I am surprised at the sound and build quality of Line Magnetic 508 tube amplifier.

Chinese started to make good products.

I bought a yaqin mc10 for office with LSA monitors years ago if you are looking for a nice tube sound the yaqin isn't it. I had some extra  nos 1960 Mullard Blackburn plant xf2's EL34's laying around to put in it did improve but just didn't do it for me, also tried some 1980's Winged C's, yaqin sounds more solid state than tube to my ears. I kept it for a few years with no problems ran it 8 hours, 4 days a week. I ended up with a ugly dated looking Mapleshade modded Scott LK 48 $900 from Mapleshade with cheap Electro Harmonix EL84 that has a wonderful musical tone. Big bass, refined highs, great information with 6 ohm 86 db speakers in a 450 square foot room. I think it can compete with many $3000 plus tube amps, I will never sell the Scott.

After I posted  looked at your eBay add, I think the 80 watt claim is wrong, more like 40 or 45 max, that's the  same amp I had with out gold and meter. They claimed 45 back then always thought they over rated it, I get twice or more the spl with 25 watt Scott than I did with yaqin

To be honest if I bought this tube amp and it was not wired correctly or had a counterfeit part which caused it to catch fire or worse catch my audio room aflame, I don’t know who I would contact in Hong Kong. At least if I bought from a dealer I knew, who had some idea of the history of the company, history of support or history of failure I could have some kind of assurance... I did buy a Line Magnetic Audio amp from a dealer (made in Taiwan) and I had that better warranty, which was honored. I guess if I lived in China, I might know more about history, reputation, failure and support.

Tube amp sound isn't all down to the tubes. Transformers play at least as large a role. And as with everything else not just the specs but the wire and even the way the wire is wound matters. Cheap tube amps tend to use stock transformers that measure a lot better than they sound. Also if you look inside the good stuff you will see quality connections, highly organized layout, and lots of great big name brand caps. That alone can tell you a lot about your amp.

With tubes, yes there are differences between brands but generally minor compared to differences between tubes. So if you really want to get some experience what you might want to do is look for an amp that can run on different tubes. My old Aronov for example could run on 6550's or KT88's.

Personally though I would skip the cheap stuff and focus on finding the one that draws you into the music, gets your foot tapping, skin tingling and eyes watering. But that's just me.