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RE: Name a SS Amplifier for $750 or Less That Sounds as Good as This Tube Amp

And how many people in this thread have actually specifically auditioned the Yaqin MC-13S? And did they compare it to whatever amp they tout as being better.

I took your post to mean new items not comparing used items correct? I mean it says a lot about the "sound quality" of SS amplifiers when people are posting second hand amps that are now $700 that used to be $3000+. If they are so desirable and of such supreme sound quality why is the value practically worthless. Back in 2003 I bought a nice EL84 amplifier that I can sell today for at least 20% more than I paid. My alternate at the time were several BIG name SS amps for the same price. You can buy a second hand one of any of those brands for 1/5 the original price.

I have not heard your amp - but EL34 runs a wide gambit from the very good to the very bad. There are a number of SS amps that I might like better than the very bad examples of EL34 based tube amplifiers. There isn't a SS that I have heard that beat a good EL34 based tube amp.

Solid State amps that have the best chance IMO/IME of beating a good Push Pull tube amp will be Single Ended class A amplifiers such as the Sugden A21a (which is a SET (Single Ended Topology). But it's $3,500US I believe and stiffer competition from tube amps today for that price and lower are abound.

And don't forget about taste - when we say better it's better to us. For instance some people prefer a tube amp to be a little darker and thicker and perhaps more the Stereotypical tube type of sound. While others want a leaner and seemingly more neutral kind of tube amplifier. As one dealer in HK notes - do you want it more beautiful or more truthful and I auditioned two integrated tube amplifiers from the same manufacturer for about the same price and you can hear exactly this point. Both amplifiers have been selling for over 20 years - but there is a pretty good chance that if you like one you probably won't much like the other one.

A company called Spark makes an awful lot of tube amps for other brands. Usually they are quite good. I think they make the amps for Yaqin so if this is the case (can't remember) then this should be quite a good amplifier at quite a nice price.

I am currently reviewing an $800ish tube amp that actually excites me - it's been a long time where I have been truly excited about products at the affordable end of the price spectrum. Sometimes stuff isn't taken seriously enough unless it meets a certain price threshold. Which is kind of a shame as this industry is often about "showing off wealth" than purely about quality.


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