Izguglao ovo:
Was browsing around ebay earlier and ran across one of the sellers of this Yarland job (which goes under a variety of names) had a nudie shot of the bottom. Looks clean as a whistle like most Chinese designs though it does have a circuit board (I'd prefer a hard wired as I know a few of them like MeiXing and Kailin do), like a Dared or some of the others.
Looking around I am pretty sure these are actually made by Yaqin or however they spell it, the one that makes the big EL34 one with the three toroidal trannies, I have seen this same design branded as a Yaqin somewhere along the way, as well as Sonice (or something like that).
I imagine there are not really that many companies making these things. I'd guess less than 10 actual makers and others just making cosmetic updates to them. The only really "original" designs appear to come in a few "brands". From what I have been able to discern in all the time I have been looking at these things...
Music Angel- this is a house brand of the 18audioguy seller so it appears, used on a variety of rather fancy looking amps, 845s, 300Bs, look well built, but its probably contracted stuff.
Yaqin- this may be an actual company, they have that big EL34 amp, and I am pretty sure they are the company behind this Yarland and the many other names it goes by, I think they also have a lowered powered version of that big EL34 that looks more like the little EL84 one. I have seen enough of these generic designs bearing this name, but there are one or two that only come up as Yaqin which leads me to believe they are one actually making them.
Radii- the designs don't match much else out there, so either they are having them contract built or they are an actual company.
Kailin- earlier ones were actually MeiXing jobs rebranded, the latest stuff appears to be original in that it does not really match anything else out there (and some of the designs are really quite odd). I believe this is actually a trademark of the person who sells them, and he has them contract built by someone. I'd guess the actual manufacturer has switch at least three times, from someone to MeiXing to another place. The current crop is way better built than the earlier stuff. I did some research before I bit the bullet on mine and found some of the earlier models. Trannies have gotten bigger (and I think they are actually sourced from Japan now), wiring is all point to point and remarkably done, real wood, all of the criticisms that revolved around the earlier ones seem to have been worked out. Not a bad value for the money but it really is not a "real" manufacturer from what I can tell. Just for comparison my EL84 amp from them weighs 25lbs, quite a bit more than some of these.
Dared- another "real" company, but unlike some of these others I don't think they rebrand for competition. They have been maligned for cutting corners. Actually aside from the circuit boards they seem to use decent quality parts, at least in the MP-7 (but its a rather simple design being single ended). I think they sell for more than what its really worth (side by side I'd say my Kailin is better build than my Dared). If the price is decent I don't see a problem, circuit boards or not I like the sound of mine, though you might be better with another from somewhere else on a price for build quality ratio.
MeiXing- make a variety of amps, and they are commonly rebranded, nicely built stuff at good prices IMHO
YS-Audio- this is a company out of Hong Kong that makes a lot of preamps (and from the looks of it amps that they don't sell here) that turn up on ebay, I actually have had one of these for close to three years, nicely built stuff
Ideal Innovations- actually a Canadian company, though I have not seen any on ebay in a while they make quite a few uniquely designed amps and reasonable prices, a good alternative to a Chinese amp, their website is at
www.idealinnovations.biz which has some photos of their rather nice wiring jobs
Course there are the more knowns like ASL, Jolida, Cayin, Shanling etc. However we know about them to a greater degree, the above stuff shows up on ebay but you don't see much about that stuff anywhere else.
The 18audioguy seller is even more of a crapshoot when you go outside the Music Angel, MeiXing and Yaqin stuff, some of the stuff shows up only once, and you see it from other sellers too, around Christmas last year a seller had pallets full of nice looking EL34 and EL84 amps under a brand which I have not seen since. While you might find support if you have a problem with one of these more frequently seen amps where you might be able to find someone else who owns one (say a Dared), where are you going to seek support for something like those mystery amps from last Christmas? Its something to consider.
If the price is good it might not hurt to gamble. I've had good luck thus far. Three years on the Audio Experience pre never had a problem. Kailin EL84, almost two years on this one now, since I got it I have been amazed by its build quality at the price (nothing short of amazing, still leaves me wondering how they did it, perfect wiring, parts sourced from known sources etc.), biggest gripe I have is the volume control is on the back, good for cosmetics, bad for ease of use. Dared MP-7, been nearly a year, no real complaints as of yet but its been too short to reach the final verdict on it for a long term.
My biggest gripe with all of these Chinese jobs this far is the stock tubes. No matter what you end up with you'll almost certainly better it by replacing them. The Audio Experience pre benefitted so much you'd never even know it was the same thing! The Kailin got preamp tubes first, the Chinese EL84s were not bad but its all NOS stuff now, RCA EL84s, Sylvania 12AU7s. The Dared's tubes were so bad they went after I gave the amp enough time to ensure it would not blow up, RCA 6L6s, Mullard 7025s and 12AU7s. The power tubes you'll notice less than the preamp tubes, so much so that if I buy any others I'll be sure to have new preamp tubes lined up before I even buy the thing.
...ovdje:
http://audiokarma.org/forums/archive/index.php/t-49233.html