any hear dared or ming da amps?

David99, As far as preamp goes, it doesn't require good output transformer and the current and voltage requirement are less limited factor by its power transformer. Therefore, preamp is a very different story. As long as you have the proper design then it will sound decent. Not sure what class B preamp you have but most of the tube preamp will sound better than its solid state counterpart in the same price or higher price range. Since we're not talking about preamp, we can have this discussion else where.

Hi David, Even though I've never heard any Dared. I don't doubt what you heard at all. My amp (Jungson) and CDP (Eastound) are both Chinese. I've been into audio since 1973 and these are the two best pieces of equipment I have ever owned.

From my experience and the feedback from other owners of top tier Chinese products its very normal for them to compete with products at 3-4X the price and more.

I also wouldn't doubt if many owners of Ming-da feel the same way. Its all what you value in sonics and how it matches your other equipment.

Bottomline: spend your money wisely.

Chang- It seems the author of this thread doesnt know much about these amps.
In the case of Dared,I posted to let him know the Dared preamp is an over achiever.
I thought that would at least be of interest to him, as my findings may reflect upon the sound qualities of Dared amps as well.
You mention my old preamp and solid state in the same sentence.The preamp is a tube based preamp.Read my post again.
You wrote "since we are not talking about preamp,we can have this discussion elsewhere"
Why dont we let the author of this thread decide that?

Maxx-Although I have never heard your East Sound player I have read wonderful things about it.
It was on my short list of players I have been researching lately.
I ended up with a Xindak SCD-2.
This player caused the biggest sonic improvement to my system I have ever experienced.
I had high expectations for this player,but I can honestly say.This player far exceeds the expectaions I had.
It STOMPS a similarly priced 'brand name' SACD/CD player I borrowed for a time recently.
BTW the 'brand name' was a Stereophile class A in the last rec.component issue.
Its too bad some of these Chinese products cant make it into Stereophile.
I feel they are a real threat to US products.

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