First time posting here and when it comes to tubes, I'm a complete noob. It's to my understanding that SET is preferred over push-pull for tube sound but I thought point-to-point was preferred over PCB? I'm interested in purchasing the R8. Do you think my money would be better invested elsewhere?
Dagwood,
Remember that it's
your hobby, and if the looks, features and price of the Willsenton R8 floats your boat, maybe you should buy it. Assuming that it's competently implemented, it may be sufficiently accurate-ish that you can turn your attention to matters which make a more profound sonic difference, like room correction.
Ask Benchmark's
John_Siau or Topping's
JohnYang1997, and they'll tell you that meticulous PCB design is an essential ingredient for achieving state of the art performance. But I've built many less-than-SOTA tube amplifiers using point-to-point wiring and appreciate the hobby value of fussing with such anachronisms. Did I ever discover some un-measurable sonic truths from this old technology? Naaah. But even if a product winds up on the wrong end of the SINAD rankings, it doesn't mean you can't enjoy it. P2P-wired tube amps are a particular favorite of tweakers, because circuit revisions are easier with this sort of construction.
I've had quite a few single-ended amplifiers (300B, 45, 6P14P, 6BM8, even a wee little APPJ, and I've had fun with them, though I can't say I've ever experienced a particular single-ended/triode/pentode/zero-NFB sound.
