Inexpensive Tube Amps

Hi will62,

Trying to answer the question you actually asked.  There were a couple of threads on these amps over at Audio Karma.  Here they are:

http://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/nobsound-el34-single-ended-class-a-tube-amplifier.669...

http://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/aiqin-oldchen-tube-amps.720003/

I have the second amp, the 5-tube Oldchen (Aiqin).  It is single-ended and has point-to-point wiring (rather than a circuit board).  It has a good tube sound and ~10W of power.

That said, I have mostly been listening to TPA3116 and TPA3250-based chip amps lately.  Although the Oldchen sounded better for some types of music, I feel the chip amps sound better overall.  But they are all fun!

I hope this helps a little bit, happy shopping!

 

Hi again will62, I have a miniwatt as well (the Tube Cube 7 version).  I can tell you that the Oldchen sounds much, much better, the miniwatt doesn't put out as much bass, even to 98db efficient speakers.  

I hope those AudioKarma discussions helped.  Post in one of those topics, a bunch of us own them and have been talking about them for a long time.  I think you'll get more of the type of feedback you are looking for than you've gotten here.