???Anyone Here UpGrade From Yaqin/Cayin/etc... To Another Tube Amp Considered Hi End???

To expand on my choice,after a lot of listening to both EL34 & KT88’s running Triode & UL,I simply prefer the KT88..IMO it has more extended treble,a more electrostatic midrange & bass is no contest..BOTH the Mastersound amps were EL34 based so I passed them on to someone who prefers what the EL34 brings...
twoleftears"Geez, how much gear are you buying?"
About $10,000.00 all total.I got an absolutely amazing deal on my Harbeth M30.1’s at almost -$3000.00 under retail..Same for the Cayin CS55a being replaced & the Creek Evo50a/Ruby & those funds go back towards the end game system...The Nordost Leif series cables were also bought used at about 50% off retail(gotta love cable depreciation hahaha)...The Icon Audio amp also received a nice discount from the N.American importer in celebration BOTH founding members & lifelong friends of the 2 companies turning 67years old...That left just enough for a magnificent pair of ProAc Tablette Anniversaries in the amazing Ebony finish for the bedroom & a good DAC/Headphone amp...

While tubes do make a difference, the design is the key.  The BoX has well extended treble and a shocking amount of bass.  The Dueventi is more of what you'd expect from an el34, giving the richness with a smoother top and bottom end while still maintaining proper speed of the music.  Both excel at a holographic image and damn near black background due to the quality of the transformers.

I hope this doesn't come across as a disgruntled seller not closing a sale.  These amps will sell so I'm not worried about that. My only point is that not everything is cut and dry and understanding what a product is as a whole is much more difficult than looking at the 'key' components used.

With all that said, I've followed your journey here and I'm happy to see it continuing!

I agree that the topology and the sucess of its implementation and quality of parts determine the ultimate sound quality level  of the amplifier. Pure class A single ended (Very simple circuit) KT 150 with high quality output transformers should sound fantastic.
Charles

Farther down the yellow brick road Dorothy.
Today I found the nerve center worthy of my amp/speakers & headphones(HiFiMan Sundara & Audeze LCD3)...From the side of the industry I believe is the finest driving force behind DAC technology today I went to the desktop audio industry & Burson Audio of Melbourne,Au...
 If you aren't familiar lets just say Burson gives you $5000.00+ worth of performance in a compact,superbly technical,fabulously spec'd & meticulously constructed piece of equipment,sold direct for $1000.00+!!!
 I'm going to chew my nails to the quick waiting on everything to land in my living room,I've waited 45 years for a system like this...

@freediver  I've had four or five Burson products over the years (160 D, Soloist, Virtuoso, Conductor V2+, and one more I think). They all drove my Audeze LCD 2.2, X, HD 800, Hifiman 400i and now Arya VERY well.  The DACs inside are pretty nice; far from the last word... But nice. The Preamp section of my V2+ was amazing. I took it over my buddy's place who has a passive with Audio Consulting wire and it held its own.

Not trying to be a you-know-what but I loved the headphone output of my Hegel driving my Arya so much, I sold the Burson. 

Enjoy!