Propeller Head Plaza Technical and scientific discussion of amps, cables and other topics.

---

[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] Thread: [ Display  All  Email ] [ Propeller Head Plaza ]

---

[ Alert Moderator ]

---

More Testing Of Tubes (Mastersound) Vs Transistors (Jungson)

Posted by thetubeguy1954 (A) on May 29, 2007 at 14:05:44

This weekend I decided to do some more testing of tubes vs transistors. In my mind it wasn't really fair to test the Mastersound @ 40W/ch against the Audio Analogue Puccini @ 40W/ch, so I purchased a 200W/ch Jungson DA-200IA from a man on Audiogon. The AD can be seen here:
http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?intatran&1184553211 and he specs can be seen at the link below. The man I purchased the Jungson from can verify I bought this for those naysayers who doubt everything I say like when they claim I don't attend live unamplified symphonies at the Bob Carr.

In any event I just wanted to hear for myself what a new, high power, solid state amp could honestly do against the Mastersound. As much as many hear doubt it I'm not insecure and really want to own what sounds the best to me. If/when I find an amp, be it tubed, hybrid or solid state that I believe betters the Mastersound's sound, I will sell the Mastersound and buy that amp! To that end I purchased the Jungson. When I first turned the Jungson on I was very disappointed. To me it sounded quite dull but I decided to let it warm up BEFORE making any snap judgements. After allowing the Jungson to warm-up for 30mins I returned and dropped in JUMP IN THE WATER by JUMP IN THE WATER. I like this CD because it has lots of different acoustical stringed instruments like guitars, mandolin, lutes & dobros. In addition Steve Moo's lead vocals are wonderfully backed by the gorgeous harmonies of the accompanying vocalists.

The first thing that struck me was how much nicer the Jungson sounded after it warmed up. I've noticed this effect before on a couple of other solid state amps. I understand why tubed equipment sounds better after it's been on awhile but I'm not really sure why this happens with solid state components. I just know that with some solid state amps, the Jungson DA-200IA included, they sound better after about 15-30mins. With that in mind the Jungson was no longer dull sounding. I readily admit I'm quite spoiled the Mastersound's sound but the Jungson plesantly surprised me. With the Jungson's dynamics were literally effortless in a way the Mastersound isn't. I guess it's a 40 vs 200 watt issue. However with these effortless dynamics came an occassional and slight problem. Sometimes when the Jungson got loud on musical peaks it seemed a bit harsh and/or congested, which the Mastersound with "ONLY" 40W/ch never does! So if that's a result of "clipping" then it's definite proof of the superiority of the sound of a tubed amp when it clips. It could be a problem with the Nordost BlueHeavens too, they're said to get that way at times with some music and some audio equipment. So I honestly don't know where to lay the blame.

The Jungson's soundstage was very wide and well defined but it was not as quite as wide as the Mastersound. They were close enough in this area were I could live with either one and be very happy. However as wide as the Jungson's soundstage was it was nowhere near as deep as the Mastersound's. I like using the Jump In The Water CD to test soundstaging width & depth. With the Jungson the backround singers sounded as if they were standing directly behind behind the lead singer, but with the Mastersound you can hear these same singers are actually some 5 or 6 feet behind Steve Moo.

After extended listening IMO the Jungson is simply not as musically refined as the Mastersound is when replicating music, but at 1/10th the price that's hardly surprising and I find the Jungson is very nice indeed. I wished I had access to a 200W/ch Krell, Mark Levinson, Musical Fidelity or Rowland Research integrated solid state amp to do a more apples vs apples (transistors vs transistors) as opposed to an apples vs oranges (tubes vs transistors) test like I did. I think that would be a very interesting test indeed. All-in-all I really like the Jungson. It's dynamic, transparent and does many things quite well. It doesn't have the air around the singers & instruments I hear with the Mastersound and it's soundstaging suffers in comparison. The Jungson with it's chromed face-plate is absolutely beautiful to look at and sounds quite nice indeed.

Now as everyone here knows I prefer tubes to solid state so I'm curious why that particular expectation bias on my part didn't keep me from liking the Jungson? Why didn't my expectation bias prevent me from hearing the improvements in the Jungson as it warmed up? Why didn't my expectation bias prevent me from noticing and prefering the effortless dynamics of the Jungson? Just curious why doesn't my expectation bias doesn't seem to work like so many here always seem to be claiming it should be?

Thetubeguy1954

• Jungson DA-200IA   (Open in New Window)

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

Schiit Audio

---

[ Top of Page ] [ Contact Us ] [ Support/Wish List ] [ Copyright © 2025, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]

---

[ General ] [ Speakers ] [ Tubes ] [ Vinyl ] [ Digital ] [ Hi-Rez ] [ Video Asylum ] [ Cables ] [ Tweaks/DIY ] [ Music ] [ Films ]

---