OK Jon, let me try to explain this story.
My Jadis Orch Reference delivered INCREDIBLE sound stage/dynamics, (highs a bit STEELY/harsh, a bit I said), as the KT90 EI Czech tubes live up to their reputation, BUT could not hold up as reliable,,unless tubes burn out/short after so many hundreds hours,,I used the jadis lightly on sound/only playing orchestra, no rock/jazz. So I could not find budget price EI's,,,, and so decided to sell the Orch , as i came into some $5K , as a gift,,noted the4 DEFY7 for sale on audiogon, , bought it in 2006/2007,,,everyone on audiogon mentioned I will need a *good pre*, I felt I could work around that and finda chinese tube on ebay,,bought a Ming DA MC7,,,after 1 minutes worth, i knew *huge mis calculation*, dumped that Ming Da at a big loss, pd $700, sold for $350..That was 2007.
,,yes pass, nearly, or more than a decade, sitting in a box.
In 2018 I bought a Lite LS9, *clone of Jadis pre amp* (??!!! Big fat LIE), finally took both pre and amp to a tech guy here in new orleans to ck both out,,,1 month later says he had no time to * make repairs on Jadis Defy,* as his *reserach * shows the Defy has *terrible issues and needed major overhall*..I believed him,,at 1st,,then cked out baton rouge's tech studio, found only 1 with great google reviews. Drove up, and had Mark at Advanced Video ck it out,,3 weeks later, says he has it up N running....to my great surprise...got home, hooked her up,,,heard some slight ringing at opening all switches on pre + amp + cd player,,,not sure which had a slight tiny short,,(I think it is the Lite pre),,,brought back to Advanced,,Mark says all needs proper grounding and not to worry about the *miniscule at opening ON switchs), I agree, as the muisc plays, hum completely disapperas.
Now I just bought a Xiang Sheng 728 for $300, which I have option to return. If this Xiang can not deliver at least 20%+ more dynamics , sound stage , make that 30% as the Lite is flat, and just aweful cheap chinese junk,,,,which i plan to dump on ebay for whatever (pd $700), , I bought also a Cayin MT35, as i thought I will sell the Defy and go with a intergrated, WRONG more, as the cayin MT35 is too weak to drive the SEAS Thors.
So I will dump that at a huge loss, has 4 EL34's. Same seller as the Xiang Sheng, but can only return the Xiang as it comes from his California wharehouse, the Cayin shipped from china,
Long, too long story,,shortened, is this
My hunch says the Leaf Audio pre on ebay (with 2 solid reviews, both wrote me back and said its a *solid/good pre).
That I will return the Xiang and buy the Leaf Audio , its a Clone of various pres, like has maranzt parts and also ideas based on Audio Reserach.
Has 2 AU's and 2 AX's.
(
I plan to replace with Bugle Boys and will bring the Leaf to Mark , see if he can replace the caps with Mundorf, Silver Oil.
And now this is the end of my journey,,,UNLESS the Leaf does not pass my critical tests,,and I have only one other option,,buy the Cayin CS 10 off Ebay, guy says he can let it go for $1800, and will accept return.
Its a besat at 50 lbs!!!!, has 4 6922;s.
But really, don't have $1800+ $100 ship, for at least 6+ months.
If the Leaf is a flop, and the Xiang is superior, I will repurchase the Xiang and roll the tubes and bring to Mark for upgrades.
Which he may not agree on, as he says, alot of these so called *upgrades* are *snake oil.*
He is of the camp, a good cap is a good cap, no such superior sound witha $$$$$$ Gold Silver Oil Cap from Mundorf, at least not to his critcal hearing.
I may go Mundorf Silver Oil, or Supreme.
And also will upgrade my Hovalnd caps in Thors to Mundorf Supremes, the C2,C3 and the R2, as per Madisound tech.
I will report back when the Xiang is tested.
Not even sure if I will need to roll the EH KT90's, to EL34's, as some claim the EL34's are the most muiscal tube around.
But thats another $$$$$$.
This hobby can really get expensive if one is not careful. ...
