Having being part of the audiophile world for over forty years,I've had my share of good amplifiers. And some pretty bad ones too.
I'm one of those ho has given it a try a couple of times. My present main amplifier is a Music Angle 845 single ended amp that I modified with the help of Lampizator. http://lampizator.eu/amplifiers/china/SET%20triode%20amplifier%20Music%20Angel%20845%20Hong%20Kong.h...
The amplifier arrived at my home from China and sounded muffled. After the modifications to the circuit with top quality parts, I can no longer part with it. It's the best amplifier that I've owned thru all the years. Just imagine if I'd have installed better Japanese transformers.
Those modifications where made in 2008. Its still going strong and better than ever.
One of my favorite s&s amp in the past was a NAP250 of the first generation by Naim Audio. It was sweet sounding with lots of tempo, but not the last word in micro details. The one thing that it made you do, was taping your feet with the music. It was never boring.
I noticed a Chinese clone of the NAP250 in a two enclosure set up for sale at a real low price on the net for 159.95$ US plus low shipping charges. I said to myself, the worst I can loose is 211.00$ total. So I gave it a go. I figured I needed a backup amp just in case.
The clone amp is build differently from the original and it uses different transistors as well. But the sound is very similar to the old original Naim. The build quality is very good. The amp is totally quiet. Mind you, I was driving the old NAP250 with a Naim NAC72 with High-Cap power supply at the time. This clone was driven with a tube pre-amp based on the Marantz 7 circuit that I made.
I must add that I did purchase other Chinese tube amps in the past and all of them sounded muffled. If you do give the Chinese amps a try, I would go with their S&S models.
Hope this helps.
I'm one of those ho has given it a try a couple of times. My present main amplifier is a Music Angle 845 single ended amp that I modified with the help of Lampizator. http://lampizator.eu/amplifiers/china/SET%20triode%20amplifier%20Music%20Angel%20845%20Hong%20Kong.h...
The amplifier arrived at my home from China and sounded muffled. After the modifications to the circuit with top quality parts, I can no longer part with it. It's the best amplifier that I've owned thru all the years. Just imagine if I'd have installed better Japanese transformers.
Those modifications where made in 2008. Its still going strong and better than ever.
One of my favorite s&s amp in the past was a NAP250 of the first generation by Naim Audio. It was sweet sounding with lots of tempo, but not the last word in micro details. The one thing that it made you do, was taping your feet with the music. It was never boring.
I noticed a Chinese clone of the NAP250 in a two enclosure set up for sale at a real low price on the net for 159.95$ US plus low shipping charges. I said to myself, the worst I can loose is 211.00$ total. So I gave it a go. I figured I needed a backup amp just in case.
The clone amp is build differently from the original and it uses different transistors as well. But the sound is very similar to the old original Naim. The build quality is very good. The amp is totally quiet. Mind you, I was driving the old NAP250 with a Naim NAC72 with High-Cap power supply at the time. This clone was driven with a tube pre-amp based on the Marantz 7 circuit that I made.
I must add that I did purchase other Chinese tube amps in the past and all of them sounded muffled. If you do give the Chinese amps a try, I would go with their S&S models.
Hope this helps.