Anyone use the Ming Da MC66AE with Grados? I'm considering an SA5K or K701 in the future too. I like the switchable impedence on this amp.

Is it a noticeable step up from a V-01 millet?
Is it finicky with tubes?... Any complications with replacemenmt tubes?
How is its S/N? My millet and pimeta are DEAD silent, so I have high expectations in this regard.
Looking for a warm sound thats not too aggressive or foreward, basically Millet sound, but MORE of it. So to speak.
Any problems shipping from China?

Search tool is down, so I am sorry if this is a repeat.

All comments welcome!!

thanks,
Garrett

The MC66AE is good for the money. Three impedance ranges. cattylink has an export version which is best.

http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showt...hlight=Meixing

Also consider the Woo model 3 for $490.

I like the Bada PH12 best (click on link in my signature) for $450 - not as sweet as the Woo but has more holographic 3-D imaging which I love.

However, I have never used any of these with low impedance HPs.

Kramer5150,

I am using Mingda with Grados (SR325). Somehow I felt earlier like my Beyer DT880 were not matching that well with Mingda. But I haven't tried this combo much lately.

I am always using the 32Ohm output since that is the most silent setting of those ones. It isn't dead silent either. Not even close. The others are even more noisier.

I have the stock tubes and haven't found any replacements (haven't looked that much around). The output tubes seem to be quite rare ones. There are zero web stores which have those tubes listed.

I have no experience of Millet, so I cannot compare these ones. I do have Meier Corda HA MK1, and they do balance quite equally even though they are different. I haven't compared these ones much lately, so I will not try to describe the differencies unless I compare them again.

Lately, I have mostly just enjoyed the music...

Hi guy's.

I had the MingDa MC66-AE, too.

I used it with my 50Ohm HD595. It wasn't completely dead-end, but that didn't disturb me very much. I changed the tubes to Ei Gold 12AX7 and 6H6N OTK. The bass got cleaner, the room became bigger and deeper and the frequency-range got more natural. For the money I paid it was a great amp.

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Hey

I'm trying out a friend's mc66ae with my grados right now (edit: alessandro ms-2, if it matters)

I've switched some tubes around with no issue, so I wouldn't worry about that

There's a bit of background noise on mine, but it's quite low.. maybe around 2-3%.. To hear it I had to turn off my fish tank which is across the room because the noise it makes was drowning out the ming da's background noise. that said, it's not dead silent. YMMV

I've never heard the millet but I'd say based on my impressions so far it may suit your sound requirements... I was expecting it to sound bad with the grados but I'm currently prefering it over my original master (solid state). It provides a nice full and "lush" sound without being too dark and distant (which was my fear), or too agressive and forward (they're still grados, but they're not giving you a headache).

The one i'm using was bought locally (in aus) from coem audio au, so I cant comment on the ease of shipping from china. However, coem au is the australian branch of a chinese (hong kong i think) audio company called coem audio.. So you can probably buy it direct from them, or buy it through cattylink.

I've heard cattylink can be a bit of a bitch to deal with, so I'd contact coem first (http://www.coemaudio.com/) to see if their price is in the same range as cattylinks', since they'd probably be nicer to deal with. The guy there speaks english

IMO totally worth the cash

I bought mine from Coem (HK). I'd be happy to deal with him again.

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Where did you get those 6H6N tubes?

Found them on german ebay. Paid around 50$ for a matched pair.

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Find a good 12AX7 (Amprex Bugle Boy for instance) as an input tube. May solve the noise problem and will greatly improve the sound.

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I have thought that the hum is more or less related to the output tubes? I never though that rolling the input tube only would help here.

Not that I know much about tubes...

Anyway rolling the 12AX7 wuold not be a big issue. Thanks for this tip.

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Isn't the 12AU7 a low gain sister of the 12AX7? Some of my guitar preamps Ive swapped the AX7 for an Au7.??

Might want to look into that too.

My millet is designed for 12Ae6, but I prefer lower gain 12Fk6's.

Does anyone know if this amp needs manual bias setting when the input tube is changed?

If it needs, the next question is how?

I have had this amp now for 2 months and I have been very happy with it. I have also substituted the 12ax7 for various 5751's without rebiasing and have not had a problem with it. I did ask the distributor here in Australia whether this would be alright and they said that it was fine. YMMV.

if it's close to Woo3 money i would get that instead. i haven't heard the Woo3, but i know of several people who are very happy with it using both high and low impedance phones. build quality looks outstanding, and tubes are readily available.

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I've not heard the woo3, but the mc66 sounds great with low and high impendance phones (or at least it sounds great with grado and sennhesier hd6x0), the build quality is top notch.

I dunno how much woo3 costs in america, but mc66 is like $300 in USA I think

Both the Woo 3 and MC66AE are great sound for low cost.

Love the timbre and tone nuances of the Woo 3 - very pleasing sound.

The MC 66AE also has nice timbre and slightly better image focus/separation.

More tube options for the Woo 3.

More power with the MC66AE, but no power deficits with the Woo 3 - both have enough power to phones other than the AKG K1000.

I'm not sure which is beter with low impedance phones though.