New small tube amp

rforst · « **on:** 25 Jan 2014, 09:23 pm »

I just got a Sophia Electric baby tube amp. It sounds great with my Klipschorns!

Letitroll98 · « **Reply #1 on:** 26 Jan 2014, 01:18 pm »

Welcome to AC, but even at $899 this amp is over cheap and cheerful guidelines. You'd have to pair it with components that are under $300 tops for the complete system to meet guidelines. Or if you got the amp used for less than retail. Let's give a day for the op to state his case before moving to Low Wattage circle.

tabrink · « **Reply #2 on:** 26 Jan 2014, 02:14 pm »

Maybe not The Sophia Electric Baby is a fabulous amp NTL and punches way beyond anything remotely in its price range. I used it with a Touch. X Sabre DAC and a pair of AJ's SAM 1 speakers and the sound is amazing. 10 watts of fury.
The best way to find a Baby is watch for them factory refurbed on Agon. Best...

Letitroll98 · « **Reply #3 on:** 26 Jan 2014, 06:46 pm »

Sophia Electric Baby = $899
X Sabre DAC = $1099
Soundfield Audio Monitor 1 = $1100
Ipod Touch = $299
Total cost w/o cables= $3397.00
Please, no disrespect meant personally, sounds like a great system, but with at least $2400 over C&C guidelines why is it here?

I was thinking more like Sophia Electric Baby bought used for $500, a set of Pioneer BS22's for $100, a chinese DAC for $200, and an old Oppo universal player for $100, leaving room for some C&C cabling and cheap stands. The idea here is a musically satisfying system for $1000 or under, with a little wiggle room to be fair. Otherwise it's a great little system that works well in the Low Wattage circle.

geowak · « **Reply #4 on:** 26 Jan 2014, 07:06 pm »

It might qualify halfway. ~~Cheap~~ and Cheerful HiFi

Letitroll98 · « **Reply #5 on:** 28 Jan 2014, 03:03 am »

Cheerful indeed, yet not cheap enough. On to the Low Wattage circle.

tabrink · « **Reply #6 on:** 28 Jan 2014, 03:43 am »

Ouch..hilarious..
Sorry..Not meaning to insinuate my system was cheap, at least not on my charity worker's pay..

But I love its modest mediocracy daily.
But I actually bought a refurb Sophia Electric Baby for about half of list and placed with your little Pioneer speakers., cheapm dac WOWSA . SWEET and cheap.
This amp is so quiet!

wushuliu · « **Reply #7 on:** 28 Jan 2014, 07:32 am »

Actually there's one for $500 and one for $700 on ebay. FYI...

Wonder how they compare to the Musical Paradise.

Letitroll98 · « **Reply #8 on:** 28 Jan 2014, 01:35 pm »

Quote from: tabrink on 28 Jan 2014, 03:43 am

Ouch..hilarious..
Sorry..Not meaning to insinuate my system was cheap, at least not on my charity worker's pay.. But I love its modest mediocracy daily.
But I actually bought a refurb Sophia Electric Baby for about half of list and placed with your little Pioneer speakers., cheapm dac WOWSA . SWEET and cheap.
This amp is so quiet!

Ouch, 40 minutes too late or I would have left it in C&C. As is often the case the 1st post op never returns to check on his thread. There can be so many reasons for this both genuine and nefarious (e.g. A person is surfing sites far from his home ground and just doesn't get back to AC, or it can be a shill for Sophia posting an advert on multiple sites, or something else, we have no way of knowing if the op doesn't return) Anyway, thanks for putting my suggestion into action tabrink. How does the C&C setup compare to your more expensive rig?

Also, is the Sophia Baby different from the EL90A amp pictured? Are they different names for the same amp? The website doesn't seem to clear up anything.

Poultrygeist · « **Reply #9 on:** 28 Jan 2014, 02:48 pm »

There's a Music Angel on ebay that looks identical for $198 shipped.

wushuliu · « **Reply #10 on:** 28 Jan 2014, 04:59 pm »

Quote from: Poultrygeist on 28 Jan 2014, 02:48 pm

There's a Music Angel on ebay that looks identical for $198 shipped.

Have to be wary of the tube amp knockoffs on ebay. Lots of horror stories at diyaudio, including high voltage exposure, poor wiring, and mediocre sound with most buyers gutting the amp and rebuilding. That's why I avoid the cheap Chinese tube amps no matter how shiny they look. Musical Paradise is just as affordable and has genuine high quality parts and performance and even greater tube flexibility with much higher qc. Last thing you need to worry about is getting a couple hundred volts running through when you turn an amp on.

Shogun · « **Reply #11 on:** 28 Jan 2014, 06:13 pm »

Affordable, well build, good transformer, I believe Raphealite Sinovt is the answer. I hope to get one soon.

http://www.hifiwow.com/7-sinovt-tube-valve-amplifier-amp-diy-kit?p=2

wushuliu · « **Reply #12 on:** 28 Jan 2014, 06:19 pm »

Quote from: Shogun on 28 Jan 2014, 06:13 pm

Affordable, well build, good transformer, I believe Raphealite Sinovt is the answer. I hope to get one soon.

http://www.hifiwow.com/7-sinovt-tube-valve-amplifier-amp-diy-kit?p=2

but how much is the shipping?

planet10 · « **Reply #13 on:** 28 Jan 2014, 06:32 pm »

Quote from: wushuliu on 28 Jan 2014, 07:32 am

Actually there's one for $500 and one for $700 on ebay. FYI...

A friend bought one of those for less than $300 landed (directly from China).Quite a nice amp at that price.

dave

Poultrygeist · « **Reply #14 on:** 28 Jan 2014, 06:44 pm »

Having bought Yaqin, Jolida, APPJ and Dared amps from Chinese merchants I'm not the least bit wary. Every one has been high quality and a top performer.

If you buy anything on ebay and it's not as described you get your money back, plain and simple and no more jumping through hoops. I've been buying from the same Chinese ebay merchants for years and have zero complaints.

Gray market scare tactics is a marketing tool used by North American drop shippers. Tube amp knock offs of what? They all come from China including the the MP.

wushuliu · « **Reply #15 on:** 28 Jan 2014, 07:02 pm »

Quote from: Poultrygeist on 28 Jan 2014, 06:44 pm

Having bought Yaqin, Jolida, APPJ and Dared amps from Chinese merchants I'm not the least bit wary. Every one has been high quality and a top performer.

If you buy anything on ebay and it's not as described you get your money back, plain and simple and no more jumping through hoops. I've been buying from the same Chinese ebay merchants for years and have zero complaints.

Gray market scare tactics is a marketing tool used by North American drop shippers. Tube amp knock offs of what? They all come from China including the the MP.

Uh. So I'm using scare tactics? 'Mkay.

Quote

"I bought MA XDSE YC-808MK KT88 From tubestein. It cought fire after 3 hours of using. reason: undervoltage filter capacitor. In the next 3 months I was in touch with tubestein to get at least a schematic for the amplifier. After sending 3 wrong schematics, I finally got it the right one. In the end the repair cost me another $100. Never again I will buy from tubestein beacuse I have bad experience in communication with him. Never again I will buy chinese amplifiers because it realy is a hazard in doing it. I end up building a SET with KT88. Just my $0.02."

Quote

"My story with the Chinese Yaqin MC-100b is that it sounded good for the 2 weeks it worked. One channel went out (after about 100 hrs use - 2 weeks). I finally popped the cover and well my dog could solder better... I think they are using lead free solder for some reason ta boot. Probably some lame attempt to keep the work place and workers safer.. just a guess.

After all solder joints de-soldered and re-soldered, the Yaqin amp sounds ok and of course I had to get replacement tubes (extra $$) for the pre stages (6SN7 and 12AX7). So without any other money just tube replacements I was at close to $900 and the amp build quality is suspect at best. What I did was buy a variac (7.5 amp) and turned down the voltage to like 104V ac and turned up the bias (72 Mv) - finally after 6 months it sounds pretty good."

And that's with just a few minutes of searching diyaudio. Yes there are many satisfied owners of some of these brands but someone who is new to it all may not know a real authorized seller of a brand vs. the knockoffs, etc. There are also many unsatisfied folks with tales of caps blowing, live voltage exsposure, poor soldering, etc.

Here's a good pros/cons thread:

Quote

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/tubes-valves/159686-any-pretty-good-bad-chinese-amps.html

Yes the MP is made in China. That's not the issue. The issue is genuine parts and quality control on a component that carries hundreds of volts for someone who may not know jack about who or where to buy and just click on the first shiny amp they see.

galyons · « **Reply #16 on:** 28 Jan 2014, 07:18 pm »

I consider buying Chinese tube amps quite the same as buying someone else's DIY amp. You can get good value for the money, but you must be prepared, and able to, troubleshoot and diagnose issues. Just because the equipment uses "quality components" you have little guarantee to the authenticity of said components. Workmanship maybe variable. You don't need to be a tube tech, just willing to learn basic circuitry and to adequately de-solder and solder.

I have reworked several Chinese amps, pre's and phono stages. Once done, with some wonky stuff replaced, they can be quite nice. If one must pay to have someone else do this, not quite the bargain or value.

Cheers,
Geary

fredgarvin · « **Reply #17 on:** 6 Mar 2014, 09:01 pm »

To be fair, both the Sophia and Musical Paradise are well regarded amps. Music Angel? Never heard of it. If I could get one of these cheap enough i'd put them up against the cheap Tripath or other cheap Chinese class D boards. Right now I'm enjoying those with my laptop.

Mmaxed · « **Reply #18 on:** 7 Mar 2014, 09:34 pm »

I have a MP301 MK III and am playing with a stock TPA3110. The MP is better but the 3110 is closer than it really should be at the price. With mods it may be too close to call, different but equal.

Poultrygeist · « **Reply #19 on:** 8 Mar 2014, 01:58 am »

Quote from: Mmaxed on 7 Mar 2014, 09:34 pm

I have a MP301 MK III and am playing with a stock TPA3110. The MP is better but the 3110 is closer than it really should be at the price. With mods it may be too close to call, different but equal.

I have the $9 TPA3110 but my $15 TPA3116 is more resolving with better bass and even closer to entry level SET amps.