Yaqin MC-84L Tube Stereo Amplifier Review

[JakeK]

The way I look at it, there are two camps.

Can both camps agree that this amp is not bad because it's a tube amp it's bad because it's a poor implementation of a tube amp? There are better tube amps out there for those that like them. This review is saying it's bad for a tube based amp. It's amount of clean power output is a joke for a tube amp at 2 watts. You're going to need some very unusual speakers for this to sound good at even a modest volume level.

In this case, you buy tube amps for decorative/aesthetic reasons. We probably should be more gentle in criticizing purchasers of low SINAD gear if it is inaudible. It’s like gatekeeping the enjoyment of music in that you have to have the right gear when everything is inaudible.

Also look for a tube amp with better power output than this as well as the inputs you need such as a phono stage for your records! Read my lips. This has no phono input. If you add a phono stage the wife etc. will be perpetually perplexed by having to turn on a separate box and turn the input to 'DVD' in order to play a record.

I wouldn’t buy this tube amp due to the poor channel balance not due to its distortion profile.

That's a pretty valid reason not to buy this item and to look at all Yaquin brand product with suspicion or just plain ignore the make completely. Regardless of if they use tubes or not.

If a device had some nice looking tubes glowing on the top and and sounded really good would you still want it if you knew the tubes were just decoration and played no part in the signal path?

I've said far more than I meant to say now! I just wanted to point out that arguing about if the tube sound is good or otherwise is not the point of this review. The reviews here are really about 'Is this a good piece of equipment?' regardless of the stuff inside and largely ignoring what it looks like.

 

[SIY]

this amp is not bad because it's a tube amp it's bad because it's a poor implementation of a tube amp?

It is an awful implementation. Ironically, most of the distortion is likely from the solid state phase splitter, not the tubes. Incredibly incompetent design.

I saw a few examples of that old saw about "tubes have second harmonic distortion which may be pleasing." That myth refuses to die.

 

[totti1965]

Hello Folks.


If he speaks about 80dB, they are only 16 times better (not 100). Twice as good would be about 50dB. The scale is a Log scale, but dB is one tenth of a full unit (Bell).

Cheers.

In terms of percentige, it is 100 times better, but you are right: in loudness difference it is 16 times better (doubled loud distortion every 10 dB).

 

[Kagemusha]

I guess if you try to play Pink Floyd you will hear, with some luck, Sex Pistols out from this?

 

[Sokel]

Tubes are strange and there can be designs that are nice.
I frequently listen to an AR side by side to a Purifi with very efficient speakers and honestly can't tell the difference if I don't concentrate enough to the little tells at the silent parts of the recordings.
I would describe that tells as the hiss some active speakers have (even really good ones) but really low level and not as pitchy,more like pink-noisy.

The strangest one I have seen is a tube pre-amp (of the cheap alibaba shorts) which its mains noise were level dependent at the measurements.
I mean that its 50Hz component was like -70dBr at the middle position of the pot,-80dBr just before 3/4 (there should be its unity gain) and again at -70-75dBr at the max were it amplified the signal by 10dB or so.
Never wrapped my head about this behavior.

Moreover,it's input sensitivity was rather low,at 300-400mV H2 and H3 could be at the -80's but at about 1V it could be at the -60's or even higher but strangely enough only H2 and H3,the rest very low.

 

[raindance]

What?


When measured in a similar way to modern hi-fi transistor amps it's only 2 watts, not 'more than 60'!

Do they mean you can get 60 watts if you allow 10% THD? 10% THD may be what some high power PA amps are rated at but they output 100s of watts.

Haven't you heard the audiophile term: "tube watts"? It's a magical rating based on how loud it "sounds".

 

[totti1965]

Also look for a tube amp with better power output than this as well as the inputs you need such as a phono stage for your records! Read my lips. This has no phono input. If you add a phono stage the wife etc. will be perpetually perplexed by having to turn on a separate box and turn the input to 'DVD' in order to play a record.


That's a pretty valid reason not to buy this item and to look at all Yaquin brand product with suspicion or just plain ignore the make completely. Regardless of if they use tubes or not.

At least the Yaqin has a headphone output at the BACK of the item, which is incredibly well thought out, intelligent design! So the little green man who are living behind he cupboard are able to listen to this gem with their invisible headphones.

 

[Mr Vinyl]

Equivalent to say that a Botticelli painting looks better with tinted glasses. Distortion bring more distance and imprecision to the reproduction of music. As such is adding multiple additional “veils of Maya” to the perception of the composer, director and orchestra intentions. So, I beg to disagree with your description of lack of distortion as “cartoonish”.

A lack of distortion by itself isnt inherent in being 'cartoonish'. But the quest for 'perfection' in audio and film can often lead to that. There is a reason why certain recent movies were shot on film as opposed to digital. Namely, Interstellar, Blade Runner 2049, Inception, Oppenheimer and others. Why do those seem more 'real'? Dune was filmed digitally, but then transferred to film (!) and then retransferred to digital.

 

[amirm]

Namely, Interstellar, Blade Runner 2049, Inception, Oppenheimer and others. Why do those seem more 'real'?

They don't seem more real. Real life doesn't have film grain, nor does it run at 24 fps. We as viewers though, have watched movies with such limitations for decades so anything too high fidelity seems not real, even though it really is.

 

[Gord]

Have you been to the moon?

No, never much liked that mind altering stuff.......Like a Mars bar now and again. Seriously though, my amp is a 300B SET that I built from a Tubelab board. The preamp and phono amp are VTA kits. Speakers are a Jeff Bagby design that are 98DB efficient. It sounds very good to my ears, but like everyone else here, I'm always on the lookout for something better. I know an Aiyima A-70 probably isn't the anywhere near the quality of some Class D amps, but I bought one and plugged into my system. Sounded pretty damn good, but there was an edge or slight harshness I didn't like, so went back to what I had. I'd love if there was sweet sounding class D amp. 300Bs are crazy expensive

 

[MaxBuck]

Not everyone actually is looking for high fidelity as the words are defined by Webster.

 

[JSmith]

There is a reason why

Filmic style choice only, nothing to do with being the best form of capture. Digital capture has reached a point where it can surpass traditional film in terms of dynamic range and colour depth.


JSmith

 

[Badunn]

What were they thinking when they labelled an input for DVD?
Even Tape!

 

[JakeK]

Haven't you heard the audiophile term: "tube watts"? It's a magical rating based on how loud it "sounds".

It sounds louder because of the distortion?

I don't understand how they get away with putting such a lie about the power output in the product details.

 

[AndreaT]

A lack of distortion by itself isnt inherent in being 'cartoonish'. But the quest for 'perfection' in audio and film can often lead to that. There is a reason why certain recent movies were shot on film as opposed to digital. Namely, Interstellar, Blade Runner 2049, Inception, Oppenheimer and others. Why do those seem more 'real'? Dune was filmed digitally, but then transferred to film (!) and then retransferred to digital.

And yet, when I moved to digital cameras, after the first less than ideal images from a coolpix from 2001, and reached to an FX Nikon around 2009, and moved to a Nikon D850, when I compare the images to film cameras from the 1980s, I beg again to disagree. Images are now way more detailed and closer to real retina experience.

 

[rank]

6 people voted for it as a huge accomplishment.
Most tube amps will sound pretty much the same as this one, there is a sweet spot where distortion and noise are bearable, in fact close to a solid state design.
Which produces a better sound for ten times less money. Especially in the bass which will always remain problematic with tubes, that is admitted by all.

 

[pma]

There is a sweet spot where distortion and noise are bearable, in fact close to a solid state design.

You must be joking, right?

 

[JakeK]

6 people voted for it as a huge accomplishment.
Most tube amps will sound pretty much the same as this one, there is a sweet spot where distortion and noise are bearable, in fact close to a solid state design.
Which produces a better sound for ten times less money. Especially in the bass which will always remain problematic with tubes, that is admitted by all.

Maybe tube amp lovers just don't like deep bass?

My wife doesn't seem to like it and wants the sound turned down when any bass kicks in on my main speakers at home. Then again maybe the bass on my speakers is too distorted as they are 20+ years old now or there is some sort of room effect boosting a specific frequency that sets her off. IDK. I've not been able to work that one out and she was less jumpy about it when I had an actual sub. I digress.

With the bass having to be rolled off on turntables due to inherent rumble etc. as well as tube amps tending to have rolled off bass the two seem to go together. What seems the most incongruous is when a turntable and tube based electronics are used with huge speakers that must have amazing bass extension which will never be heard with those sources.

 

[JakeK]

You must be joking, right?

My guess is that would be the level where the noise and distortion are mostly still smothered by the background noise in a room which may also be the point at which your speakers start to distort more noticeably. Say your room has a background noise of 40db and you play music at 80db then an amp with a SINAD of 40db might sound clean enough and you might enjoy the rolled off bass and treble as too much of those makes your speakers distort. From there the speaker distortion may dominate the sound up to the point where the amp is clipping very badly.

 

[rank]

You must be joking, right?

No.