The Xiang 728 arrived, and after 10 minutes of Faith Hill, its going back, as one buyer on ebay wrote back after i read his comment/review on the CLASS A Single Ended tube pre , which he liked, and said he once owed the Xiang and felt it was flat = no dynamics. I quickly in less than 5 minutes, agreed.
Its a cheap chinese preamp.
What I did discover in the session, is that the Jadis is dead quiet,,all along it was the Lite LS9 (Jadis clone) that has ground issues, which i will give to my tech guy in baton Rouge to repair and sell in his shop, at whatever price, and he keeops some commission, + I will dump my brand new Cayin MT35 on hin to dump for whatever,,hoping for $400, paid $650+ $150 ship from china..The Xiang is going back and will put that $300 towards my final pre amp , the Class A LEAF AUDIO.
Has 6 Leaf Audio caps, which i will swap out and place in Mundork's Supreme or Silver Oil. My Tech guy in BR liked the payout from the pic,but adds *not sure how it sounds*..also I learned from my painter who knows alittle about stereo's , says add 4 more spades on the biwire speaker cables from the Thor, as jumping both high/low together may not allow the FQ's/HZ's to brethe properly, besides the Jadis has biwire posts.
So makes sense to buy 4 more spades (which are on order) and biwire. This may have flatened the repsonse from both preamps. Regardless, it does not subtract much, both are too flat for my taste, based on my 6 yrs experience with the Jadis Orch Reference (EI KT90's) which delivered like like vocals, sounds stage, It was like the band was playing right in the listening room.
So the Defy is dead quiet and this is indeed grat news.
Can't reture the Xiang yet, as seller says he needs to give me a contact code to return,,,meanwhile the Leaf Audio pre offer at $475 is gone, now its not even $499, , lists now at $519 + $80 ship/china.
I could wait for black Friday and get it lower,,,,,,at this point I'll pay the $500, as my hunch says , based on both ebay buyers writing back with thumbs up, ,,,
My paypal is maxed, so I was hoping to hurry and return the Xiang,,but seems it may be another week before i can make the Leaf purchase.
The Leaf has 2 outs, so finally i get to work in a sub,,which arrives tomorrow, a sub cabinet + Dayton 70 Watt RMS amp both from parts express, and a used, excellent condition Cerwin Vega 10 inch red rubber surround as the sub.
SWEET.
I stand by my opinion the SEAS Thor kit is the finest reproducion for music.
I had the Philips 2 ways, from the early 1980's and reproduced excellent sound in that epoch,,,but next to the Thors, I could clearly hear their weakness.
I'll post a comment when the Leaf arrives. about 2/3 weeks from today.
System will be
Cayin CD17 has 6 6922's + new high tech opamps
Jadis Defy 7 Bugle Boys front/EH KT90's power..
Speakser Thors, will possibly add new Mundorf caps to C2 and C3 anda new R2 resistor as per Madisound tech suggesion.
With the Leaf Audio Class A pre has 2 AU7, 2 AX7;s , both pairs will be rolled to Bugle Boys, + caps replaced to Mundorfs, Supreme/or Silver Oil.
Amazing this Jadis has sat in my room, with a sheet over it for all these years, and has no issues at all.
This amp is most likely 15+ yrs , and is dead quiet.
This beauty now sits on a bench shelf, waiting for the preamp, ,,,,,finally my journey for class A sound imaging is nearing victory ,,,,I can see Mt Everest peak just over the ridge,,,,
