Hey all!
Former mid range audiophile here. Last decent system was a top shelf Onkyo 5.1 reciever (don't recall the model), Wharefdale mains and centre channel, Polk M3 rears and a powered 12¨ PSB sub. Long story short, I moved into a smaller home and wanted a minimalist system so I ended up with a Polk sound bar system with wireless rears and a wireless 10¨ sub. Sounds great for TV and good enough for digital music.
Fast forward to last fall, while I was going through some storage, I found my old vinyl collection. I decided to pick up an Audio Technica turntable and hooked it up to my Polk system. While the sound was certainly better than digital, it was missing a bit. Some of it is the lower end turntable, so I'll be moving to something higher end, probably from ProJect. As I was looking through my turntable and pre-amp options, I started seeing some little bitty Chinese amps, some of them with some funky designs like the Loxjie A10, and they were highly rated.
So I got to thinking (never a good thing with me) that maybe instead of dragging my old system out of storage and dealing with trying to find a place to put it, maybe I should be looking into something like the A10 or an offering from Fosi, mating it to some smaller bookshelf speakers and a 10¨ sub. And that brings me to my question (finally):
Are these little Chinese amps and pre-amps really as good as their Amazon reviews? I find it hard to believe that, accoutically speaking, an $88 amp paired with a $60 tube pre-amp can actually run with a decent $2000 integrated amp. Or can it? I don't need wall shaking volume, but I appreciate crisp highs, warm mids, and tight bass at moderate volume levels. And I really like the style of the little minis, versus that gaudy old Onkyo. But I won't sacrifice sound for looks. So whats your take? Blow the dust off my trusty Onkyo and maybe hide it behind some books or pick up a funky looking Chinese mini amp? Or is there another option I haven't considered?
Thanks!
Rod
Former mid range audiophile here. Last decent system was a top shelf Onkyo 5.1 reciever (don't recall the model), Wharefdale mains and centre channel, Polk M3 rears and a powered 12¨ PSB sub. Long story short, I moved into a smaller home and wanted a minimalist system so I ended up with a Polk sound bar system with wireless rears and a wireless 10¨ sub. Sounds great for TV and good enough for digital music.
Fast forward to last fall, while I was going through some storage, I found my old vinyl collection. I decided to pick up an Audio Technica turntable and hooked it up to my Polk system. While the sound was certainly better than digital, it was missing a bit. Some of it is the lower end turntable, so I'll be moving to something higher end, probably from ProJect. As I was looking through my turntable and pre-amp options, I started seeing some little bitty Chinese amps, some of them with some funky designs like the Loxjie A10, and they were highly rated.
So I got to thinking (never a good thing with me) that maybe instead of dragging my old system out of storage and dealing with trying to find a place to put it, maybe I should be looking into something like the A10 or an offering from Fosi, mating it to some smaller bookshelf speakers and a 10¨ sub. And that brings me to my question (finally):
Are these little Chinese amps and pre-amps really as good as their Amazon reviews? I find it hard to believe that, accoutically speaking, an $88 amp paired with a $60 tube pre-amp can actually run with a decent $2000 integrated amp. Or can it? I don't need wall shaking volume, but I appreciate crisp highs, warm mids, and tight bass at moderate volume levels. And I really like the style of the little minis, versus that gaudy old Onkyo. But I won't sacrifice sound for looks. So whats your take? Blow the dust off my trusty Onkyo and maybe hide it behind some books or pick up a funky looking Chinese mini amp? Or is there another option I haven't considered?
Thanks!
Rod