Chi-Fi Tube Amp: RFTLYS EA1A
Apr 4, 2020 at 11:08 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 4

Peter Z

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Reeeal sexy, ain't it?
I don't have access to it right now since it's in my host family's garage (social distancing!), so I'm going to post some stock pictures.
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Edit: the first picture was taken with my camera so the file was too big and wasn't showing. Changed it to a slightly compressed version.
 
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Apr 4, 2020 at 11:08 AM Post #2 of 4
As you can probably tell, it has two line-level inputs and a bluetooth input.
They came with some Chinese 6N1P and EL34 tubes which were actually really nice so I didn't replace them.
Now the sound -- absolutely gorgeous. Barely tube-y, but just a little bit when you listen closely to a lead instrument (think trumpet, violin, sax, etc.) or vocals. Very very little noise (but obviously more than SS). Barely struggles with tube problems -- behaves very well at higher volumes and has very good clarity.
The only downside is that it doesn't get very loud. Don't get me wrong -- they drive hard-to-drive headphones well (such as the K701, the HD650 and HIFIMAN Sundaras); they just don't get very loud at 5 o'clock. That might be a dealbreaker for some, but I'm a very quiet listener. When I bought the Schiit Magni 2 used and used it with the K701 (which is notoriously hard-to-drive), I actually listened at less than 8 o'clock and noticed an imbalance. Sure, it went away past 9 o'clock, but I couldn't listen past 8 o'clock. I contact Schiit and they were nice enough to ship me a replacement despite I had bought it 2nd-hand.
Also, the BT input is absolute crap. When you use BT, there are no dynamics whatsoever and you can hear a hiss even before you go past 7 o'clock on the volume knob. Sounds like those ceiling speakers in an 80s mall, for ducks' sake.
 
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Jul 4, 2020 at 5:21 AM Post #3 of 4
Peter,
What's up...just bought one of these EA1A...and I got it for a steal. So the wait begins until it gets stateside!!
 

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