Well I currently own 3 EL84 amps as follows:
Jolida JD102B - easily the most powerful of the group with manual bias it does an honest 18watts per channel across the audio band. Excellent sound with slightly soft bass but needs the optional JD50 passive preamp for remote control. Currently drives a pair of Sequerra MET7 version I speakers and a sherwood(yes sherwood hey it was free) subwoofer in bedroom system. This amp is one of the best values in audio today at it's $500>$600 price tag.
Cayin MT12a - has built-in remote but only 2 inputs. I use it with a Niles AXP-1 input selector box for additional inputs and about 10 watts per channel cathode bias (no manual adjustment). Beautifully made but somewhat cumbersome to use with again excellent audio but it is obviously less powerful than the Jolida. It currently Drives a pair of Epos ELS3's to good effect with an Atlantic Technology subwoofer.
Luxman SQ-N100 - this is the Rolls Royce of EL84 amps in my opinion. Beautiful construction,numerous inputs, Built-in Phono preamp, tone controls (defeatable), A magnificent headphone output jack and that luxurious feel that using a really well made piece of audio gives you. Easily the most expensive of the group by a factor of 4 times it is the best sounding as it has excellent deep bass even though it to is cathode biased and only rated a 10 watts per channel. This a great amp and I have not even rolled any tubes yet.
So to sum all of the above up the Jolida is a bargain and is closer to the Luxman than it has any right to be considering the price differential. But the Luxman is the best overall as it should be at the price. One amp I have not had the opportunity to hear is the Leben CS300 series which is priced about the same as the Luxman. I have found after auditioning the Almaro that single ended EL84 amps do not have the purity of sound advantage over push-pull designs that they seem to with designs using other output tubes. Finally I use the Russian 6P14P-EP (Sovetek EL84M)output tubes pretty much exclusively with Mullard front end tubes in the Jolida and Cayin. The Sovtek's take a while to burn in 2>3weeks of heavy use but are better than anything other than original Mullards and there is not a clear cut difference even there. The EI's that also were excellent sounding are impossible to find now and they lack the reliability of the Soveteks. It really is difficult to find a bad sounding EL84 I have used in addition to the above JJ's,Electro Harmonix, Mullard Re-Issues and various Chinese(now those were not good). Sorry for the long winded response but the EL84 is tube that offers a lot at reasonable cost to the user.
Regards, Jerry
Jolida JD102B - easily the most powerful of the group with manual bias it does an honest 18watts per channel across the audio band. Excellent sound with slightly soft bass but needs the optional JD50 passive preamp for remote control. Currently drives a pair of Sequerra MET7 version I speakers and a sherwood(yes sherwood hey it was free) subwoofer in bedroom system. This amp is one of the best values in audio today at it's $500>$600 price tag.
Cayin MT12a - has built-in remote but only 2 inputs. I use it with a Niles AXP-1 input selector box for additional inputs and about 10 watts per channel cathode bias (no manual adjustment). Beautifully made but somewhat cumbersome to use with again excellent audio but it is obviously less powerful than the Jolida. It currently Drives a pair of Epos ELS3's to good effect with an Atlantic Technology subwoofer.
Luxman SQ-N100 - this is the Rolls Royce of EL84 amps in my opinion. Beautiful construction,numerous inputs, Built-in Phono preamp, tone controls (defeatable), A magnificent headphone output jack and that luxurious feel that using a really well made piece of audio gives you. Easily the most expensive of the group by a factor of 4 times it is the best sounding as it has excellent deep bass even though it to is cathode biased and only rated a 10 watts per channel. This a great amp and I have not even rolled any tubes yet.
So to sum all of the above up the Jolida is a bargain and is closer to the Luxman than it has any right to be considering the price differential. But the Luxman is the best overall as it should be at the price. One amp I have not had the opportunity to hear is the Leben CS300 series which is priced about the same as the Luxman. I have found after auditioning the Almaro that single ended EL84 amps do not have the purity of sound advantage over push-pull designs that they seem to with designs using other output tubes. Finally I use the Russian 6P14P-EP (Sovetek EL84M)output tubes pretty much exclusively with Mullard front end tubes in the Jolida and Cayin. The Sovtek's take a while to burn in 2>3weeks of heavy use but are better than anything other than original Mullards and there is not a clear cut difference even there. The EI's that also were excellent sounding are impossible to find now and they lack the reliability of the Soveteks. It really is difficult to find a bad sounding EL84 I have used in addition to the above JJ's,Electro Harmonix, Mullard Re-Issues and various Chinese(now those were not good). Sorry for the long winded response but the EL84 is tube that offers a lot at reasonable cost to the user.
Regards, Jerry