any hear dared or ming da amps?

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.

How does the MC 100 compare with the similarly spec'd (?) Jolida 801a? Describe and also give me your net-net assessment. At the end of the day, which one wins? Need this info to make some choices.

Hi Prefab, where did you order your Yaqin from?

I used a Ming-Da MC34-B integrated amp in my small office system for a few years: 22 wpc, 2 inputs, 4 SED 6L6GC power tubes with 2 Russian military 6NP1 and 6NP2 signal tubes. Nice sound, reliable (no problems)with substantial iron transformers. Good value for the price. Kept it for my back-up amp for my home system.

For a period, Ming-Da had a problem with reliability mainly due to gray-market amps that did not meet their normal quality control standards. But otherwise they are generally well designed and well-built for their price range. My only problem was you had to bias the power tubes from underneath the amp, which was a hassle.