343 Grenadier
Head-Fier
- Joined
- Dec 16, 2012
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Greetings. I'm an American who resides in the People's Republic of China, at least for the time being, and am considering acquiring a HiFiMan HE-560 as it's significantly cheaper out here than it is elsewhere. I've also elected to try out a tube amp. Now I'm not interested in picking up something like a Woo Audio WA-6. I'd rather the source didn't cost as much as the headphones or more. So I'm looking into alternatives. Unfortunately, the reigning champion of budget-minded recommendations, the Bottlehead Crack, is not available out here. Neither are Schiit Audio products.
However, there IS a vast abundance of indigenous tube amplifiers, and products from other obscure small-time companies around the world. And some of 'em sound pretty good even if they aren't as fully-featured as you'd like. But I can't, for the life of me, find a comparison to popular choices in the West. So while this thread is borne of my own practical dilemma (Wait to go home and get a Crack, which might take a while, or pick up something here.), I AM curious to know how these manufacturers stack up against more well-known options, and hope to help others looking for similar information with this thread. There are far too many individual models for me to list, so I'll just list the brands I've found that make use of tubes in at least some of their products:
There's Audioromy, Aune, BaDa, Bewitch, Boyuu Audio, Bravo Audio, Cayin, Classic, Dared, DarkVoice, Dussun, G&W, GemTune, JungSon Audio, Little Dot, Matisse, Meixing, MHZS, Music Angel, Nobsound, Opera Audio, Qinpu, RFTLYS, Shanling, Shengya, Wistao, xDuoo, XiangSheng, Xindak, and Yaqin.
Yes, yes, this is a long list and there's no way everyone could give detailed impressions unless they have a ton of cash and nothing better to do with it. But if anyone could provide some of their experiences with amps from any of these companies, and preferably also give us comparisons to more well-known audio solutions like the Vali, Crack, and Lyr (2). that'd be great. I'm sure a fair number of these aren't worth a second look but some of them offer rather good performance while maintaining a reasonable price tag. Little Dots, for instance, are a fairly popular choice for a budget tube amp around here. A fair few people even prefer them to some of Woo Audio's better products under four figures. I've also heard some good things about xDuoo and Qinpu.
However, there IS a vast abundance of indigenous tube amplifiers, and products from other obscure small-time companies around the world. And some of 'em sound pretty good even if they aren't as fully-featured as you'd like. But I can't, for the life of me, find a comparison to popular choices in the West. So while this thread is borne of my own practical dilemma (Wait to go home and get a Crack, which might take a while, or pick up something here.), I AM curious to know how these manufacturers stack up against more well-known options, and hope to help others looking for similar information with this thread. There are far too many individual models for me to list, so I'll just list the brands I've found that make use of tubes in at least some of their products:
There's Audioromy, Aune, BaDa, Bewitch, Boyuu Audio, Bravo Audio, Cayin, Classic, Dared, DarkVoice, Dussun, G&W, GemTune, JungSon Audio, Little Dot, Matisse, Meixing, MHZS, Music Angel, Nobsound, Opera Audio, Qinpu, RFTLYS, Shanling, Shengya, Wistao, xDuoo, XiangSheng, Xindak, and Yaqin.
Yes, yes, this is a long list and there's no way everyone could give detailed impressions unless they have a ton of cash and nothing better to do with it. But if anyone could provide some of their experiences with amps from any of these companies, and preferably also give us comparisons to more well-known audio solutions like the Vali, Crack, and Lyr (2). that'd be great. I'm sure a fair number of these aren't worth a second look but some of them offer rather good performance while maintaining a reasonable price tag. Little Dots, for instance, are a fairly popular choice for a budget tube amp around here. A fair few people even prefer them to some of Woo Audio's better products under four figures. I've also heard some good things about xDuoo and Qinpu.
