Recently bought a Resisong A10, my first proper hi-fi tube amp. Made Bottlehead SEx headphone amp 10 years ago, but not really used it with my soeakers. This EL34 amp seems very bright with a forward midrange. Great for classical and vocal, not so for rock and pop. A few months ago I got 3e Audio 3250 Class D, which also sounds bright especially in the upper-mids. After almost 50 years listening to A/B amps, these class A tube and D amps just don't sound 'right'. Can't speak for other amps. Apart from 3e's's cleaner deeper bass I found them to be quite similar. Just as all my Class A/Bs are darker - still my preference for long listening with different types of music.
Never owned a SS Class A, wonder how they sound?
Never owned a SS Class A, wonder how they sound?
Of course you meant:
Reisong Boyuu A10 EL34 Tube Amplifier
This is a low budget, maybe low quality tube amp from china.
The question is, what to expect if you buy on the cheap offer? You will never know what audio transformers they use, but be sure that the asians are very clever to maximize their profit instead of maximizing quality. I'm sure the audio transformers are something they paid $10 for, one piece. Thats how cheap they are in china, and thats what you get if you pay those prizes.
So what to expect in sound quality? The amp plays music, thats all.
They are not shy to use those low budget/low quality parts, because they don't have to proove their amp in a shootout.
In germany AAA audio forum, there was this guy buying a $750 mono 300B tube amp pair from china. He liked it, whereas he disliked the chinese EL34 PP amp he did purchase before from china. So it all may be a matching problem with your speakers, but first of all its just how picky you are on sound quality. For one, a VW Beetle is good enough, for the next only a Mercedes will do.
You need a reference in tube amps, not a reference in Class D switching amps.
That reference should be of very good quality, build with quality parts instead containing chinese rubbish.
And after you have compared both, make a decision about sound quality.
But first, be sure your speakers match your amps, otherwise it will be pretty unfair to make any judgements at all.
Reisong Boyuu A10 EL34 Tube Amplifier
This is a low budget, maybe low quality tube amp from china.
The question is, what to expect if you buy on the cheap offer? You will never know what audio transformers they use, but be sure that the asians are very clever to maximize their profit instead of maximizing quality. I'm sure the audio transformers are something they paid $10 for, one piece. Thats how cheap they are in china, and thats what you get if you pay those prizes.
So what to expect in sound quality? The amp plays music, thats all.
They are not shy to use those low budget/low quality parts, because they don't have to proove their amp in a shootout.
In germany AAA audio forum, there was this guy buying a $750 mono 300B tube amp pair from china. He liked it, whereas he disliked the chinese EL34 PP amp he did purchase before from china. So it all may be a matching problem with your speakers, but first of all its just how picky you are on sound quality. For one, a VW Beetle is good enough, for the next only a Mercedes will do.
You need a reference in tube amps, not a reference in Class D switching amps.
That reference should be of very good quality, build with quality parts instead containing chinese rubbish.
And after you have compared both, make a decision about sound quality.
But first, be sure your speakers match your amps, otherwise it will be pretty unfair to make any judgements at all.
Well, it's most likely your imagination, but one obvious possibility is power level. If you are used to typical 100W+ AB SS it's very possible your long term perceptions of your lower power amps are because of occasional clipping. IMHO most of those "audiophile" equations to calculate your power requirements, conveniently showing esoteric low power amps are perfectly adequate, are audiophoolery.
“Occasional” clipping? Probably more like constant unless you like it really quiet. Listening at 80 dB through “90 dB efficient loudspeakers” requires 100 milliwatts of average power and at least 10 watts of peak power. Single-digit-watt amplifiers will struggle. Either add a zero to the power, be content with listening at 70 dB, or get some K-horns.
I would love to have a high end audiophile system. Unfortunately I'm on a tight budget, so high quality tube amps are out of the question.
I've found the A10 to have a very real sound - great for acoustic, classical, vocal - anything that sounds natural and is meant to sound live.
I eq'd the Class D on Foobar and the sound improved, but still lacks warmth, which apparently is a trait of Class D, even the more expensive amps. My speakers are Tannoy M15 from 1991. They are very revealing (I mostly listen close range anyway) with low bass extension for their size.
They have and spl of 89db, which is just about enough for my small room. Looking to build a more efficient (min91db spl) speaker. 2 Pi seem like an affordable option.
I've found the A10 to have a very real sound - great for acoustic, classical, vocal - anything that sounds natural and is meant to sound live.
I eq'd the Class D on Foobar and the sound improved, but still lacks warmth, which apparently is a trait of Class D, even the more expensive amps. My speakers are Tannoy M15 from 1991. They are very revealing (I mostly listen close range anyway) with low bass extension for their size.
They have and spl of 89db, which is just about enough for my small room. Looking to build a more efficient (min91db spl) speaker. 2 Pi seem like an affordable option.
What is your music source? A decent CD player is probably the best way to have a decent source. Cheapest is an FM tuner seperate, which are given away nowadays.
If the sound is not satisfactory, then it could be the amp is highlighting another weaknesses of incompatibility.
If the sound is not satisfactory, then it could be the amp is highlighting another weaknesses of incompatibility.
Try listening to your speakers with reverse polarity connection. It might suit your listening space better.
I'm not surprised.
I bought a -cheap- used one for total rebuilding (for me only the box is interesting).
Very simple OPT, with not optimal UL.
It's rather a 3k5 transformer, than 5k.
With low impedance -trioded- power tube it would be satisfactory, but not in EL34 UL configuration.
Measuring set: generator (EMU0404 USB, sound card interface, adding 5k impedance), 8R load.
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I've examined a few budget EL34 SE amplifiers from China and they all behave like this one. Budget output transformers and low B+ supply, barely enough for EL34. As adejacko said, they are ok for voice (and stringed acoustic instruments such as guitar), but top and bottom aren't good. I guess they are meant to be paired with small budget bookshelf speakers. To rescue this kind of amplifier, my first try is to rearrange the output stage as triode; power will be sacrificed but the overall behaviour should improve. Disconnecting the global feedback resistor is a further quick fix to get more warmth at low power, because the output impedence will increase and speakers will be underdampened, while at the same time bandwith will be reduced to 10-12KHz and the nasty high frequency response of the cheap output transformer will be attenuated. It basically is a distortion, but it may be a pleasent one and it surely is easy to try and fully reversible. The usable power is also reduced even further, and some hum will be audible if the amplifier quality is insufficient. Real solution would be to rebuild the amplifier with good parts and/or use a different output tube more fit for the supplied transformers; probably a smaller one.
80 dB average level with classical music is very loud level. With rock, pop and similar is a good level but peaks are not as demanding. It might happen occasionally the amp clips at loud listening levels but has nothing to do with bright sound or forward-projected sound. So I don't think sound pressure is an issue here also because the OP is a typical British guy with a limited size room 🙂..... it's just poor quality amplifier. I don't even mention the cost because with that money one can build a better amp. But that's DIY.....
Polarity might make some difference but it's not always the case.
At the end of the day, IMHO, the best bet when buying Chinese economical amplifiers is to go for 300B amps or similar. They cost a bit more but the typical quality is a lot better (than the Chinese with pentodes or pentodes in UL). From the same brand the Boyuu A-50, for example. 940 GBP including everything (taxes, customs and shipping). Certainly for that money I can make a better 300B amp from scratch but as the OP mentioned this is not for everyone.
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The right price of low-cost tube amplifier from China is the one they have on the domestic market. The A-50 you mentioned is sold at 4000 yuan on Taobao including domestic shipping, that's about 500 euro at current rates. The M2 (A10 in a basic chassis) is sold at the equivalent of 130 euro shipped. Design and manufacturing choices are obvious, when you look at this price level. My guess is: on China domestic market, people is seeking for tube amplifiers even at budget level, while on our market this is a higher tier product. Exporters are trying to sell low-tier products meant for China domestic market at higly inflated prices. This also explains why quality-wise the higher priced tube amplifiers from China are a better deals than the cheapest, and the high end ones have the same build quality as western products (but then they usually aren't a good choice anymore, due to support issues etc).
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The right price for them...you need to pay taxes and customs. That's the Western world for you.🙂