[lcrim]

I bought one of these over the weekend and am awaiting delivery.  I spent some time reading about it over on Head-Fi.   In case you haven't heard of this piece here is a link.  http://www.6moons.com/industryfeatures/dared/dared.html
Don't be put off by the advertized price, It can be had for much, much less. 
It has a MOSFET amp rated @ 13 Watts per side, a tube front end, a built in USB DAC, a headphone amp and a green cat's eye tube meter for power output.
The reviews are very respectable.  Build quality is said to quite good.  I plan to team it up w/ a pair of older Sonus Faber Concertino Homes (@ 89 dB) and a Sony 5 disc CD/SACD player over at my girlfriend's house.  I will also try it with a pc and an Ipod. 
The Head-Fiers were very complimentary about the unit driving speakers if not cans.  I listen to headphones infrequently so I guess I'll have to wait to hear it w/ the SF's.  I have a SN Chibi Dac available to use if the player sounds too etched.
Anybody got one or heard one?

[jrebman]

Larry,

No, I don't have one, nor have I heard one, but it looks really interesting so I'd like to hear what you think once you get it.

Someday when you have some time I'd also like to hear what you think of your Music Reference EM7 amp -- I have one here just waiting for my Visaton drivers to come back from their trip to Planet 10 for modding.

I'm thinking that one day this MR amp will also be a very nice headphone amp -- and I've already talked to Roger about it and he says it will work very nicely with some series resistance in the headphone connection.

Thanks,

Jim

[ryno]

I got one several months ago. After a day, one of the tubes blew and the unit had a very bad hum, even with new tubes. The seller was very good, and delt with dared to get me a new one. I just use it for the computer through a usb connection for headphones. I have a dac kit in process to try the digital out from the computer. Never tried with speakers, but I'm looking for a kit to build for the desk.
Very nice looking component.
Ryan

[lcrim]

The MP-5 arrived last night and I put it into my living room system replacing my Music Reference 13EM7 amp and my EE MM preamp using vinyl as a source.  Very well packaged unit and fast shipping BTW.  Removed the tube cage and checked the tubes shipped w/ it.  It is a US intended unit as it has 12AX7's probably Shuguangs and I swapped them for Sovtek 12AX7LPS and then went back as the Sovteks were too hard sounding.  Incidental,  the Speltz Anticables are a real PITA to connect and disconnect but do sound fine.
Initial impression was that its open, dynamic and fairly clean sounding w/ a slight metallic overtone and smell(?) that will probably dissapate as it burns in.  The Hemps are a very easy load so its difficult to tell if there's enough drive for the Concertinos but I'll find out tomorrow night.
After a few hours I cursed my way through reinstalling the EE and the Modjeski amp and was simply knocked out by the richness and warmth in the system.  A beautiful sounding combination.  I fell asleep with the TT running.  I cursed some more, shut things off and stumbled up to bed.

[lcrim]

Over the weekend I installed it at my girlfriends house and let it play for several hours.  I used a Volex PC and the source is a Sony Sony DVP-NC875V/B 5-Disc DVD/CD/SACD Changer w/ its analog outputs connected via Blue Jeans Cables IC's and the speaker cables are Audioquest 4CV to the Sonus Faber Concertino Homes.
This is a cobbled together system from old pieces and the sound is really very acceptable and should improve as it breaks in.  There is now a soundstage and violins sound sweet and while the little Concertinos are somewhat bass challenged, it isn't altogether missing in action.  There is a tiny bit of sibilance on female voices but I don't hear the metallic ringing noise I had at home.  I think that the pairing is quite nice. It will only improve with playing time.  I tried the headphone output with my Grado SR60's and it sounded clean but I'm not a headphone kind of guy and the head fiers were also of the opinion that the MP-5 was a better speaker amp than headphone amp. 
The usable range of gain is a bit limited, the sound does break up when the gain is goes past around the 2 oclock position but we never listen much above the 9 to 10 oclock which translates to a steady 65 dB w/ peaks to the low 80's.  I hope that it proves trouble free and I may tube roll it some but I can recommend this piece particularly at its price point.  It also looks very cool which helps with the wife or girlfriend acceptance factor.

[ryno]

Icrim
I got a set of jan5751's that were an upgrade on the stock tubes, with phones anyway.
They do lower output if that's a problem.
Ryan

[lcrim]

Ryno:
I have tried 5751's in my phono section, they have a gain or Mu roughly 70% of a standard 12AX7.  They do tend to be of higher quality than the Shuguang that came w/ the unit.  The 5751's would of course lower the noise as they have lower gain.
I think that it just needs to burn in for a while.  The Head Fi thread advised a 100 hrs minimum.