Audio Blog: Yaqin MC-100B, Part 1
thetawave2
Posts: 268
Hey guys! It's been a couple days of bliss with my new Yaqin MC-100B integrated tube amp, and I thought I'd share a review based on my notes from my first listening session. Enjoy!
http://paugustinos.blogspot.com/2011/12/ix-yaqin-part-1.html
The box was huge and heavy and had been waiting in my room for a couple weeks now. I enlisted the help of one brother to carry it downstairs with me while the other brought down the other components of my rig. We cleared off the entertainment console of the basement home theater system and opened the box. Securely embraced by thick, white foam was my new amplifier. It was big. Bigger than I thought it would be. It looked quite nice, with a mirror finish on the top cover, handsome black cases on the monstrous transformers, and solid-looking knobs, switches, and connections. We got to work setting up, placing the speakers with a slight toe-in, putting the Playstation in place, and setting up the Yaqin?s power cord. With my brother?s help again, I gently guided the Yaqin into place and began to unpack the tubes. Each tube was individually packaged in bubble wrap and marked for the optimal position given the factory-set bias. Each pair was slid into a length of PVC pipe for extra protection. I tenderly unwrapped and installed each tube, protecting them from the oils of my skin with a cotton cloth. As I did, I noticed that the bias potentiometers and test points were conveniently located and clearly marked on the top cover. With the multimeter headed my way through the mail, it would be a piece of cake to refine the bias in case the tubes drifted a bit. Already, I was very pleased with the construction of the amp, and the great care that was taken in shipping it to me. Clearly, Yaqin takes pride in their products.
I switched on the amplifier and the tubes began to glow. After about a half hour of warmup, I was ready to get started. I loaded Royksopp?s Melody A.M. into the Playstation and gradually turned up the Yaqin?s volume. I was pleasantly surprised at how low I could keep the volume knob for the level I wanted, especially considering I had switched the amplifier from ultralinear to the less powerful triode mode. Though I will be keeping this amp to moderate volume levels even after I?ve logged the recommended 100 hours of burn-in, it is nice to have plenty of headroom.
As the music began to play, I found myself falling in love. I?m trying to reserve my judgment for when the amp and tubes have a bit more time to settle in, but so far the Playstation and Yaqin seem like a match made in heaven. Details across the spectrum are crisp and lively. Bass is a little bit on the lighter side, but part of that is certainly due to my transition from 2.1 to pure 2 channel. The Yaqin was able to make up for some but not all of the bass boost I used in my previous listening session via my equalizer. I was willing to make that trade of a little weight for the elegant simplicity of my rig. Furthermore, what this system lacks in low end weight it makes up for with great agility and control. The Yaqin handled the bass line of ?Sparks? very articulately. The high treble range was nicely tamed, retaining all its detail while leaving behind the harshness I had tried to address with the equalizer. And the mids still rang true; the vocal line of ?Sparks? sounded natural, with the distortion effect gently softened but still textured and detailed. All the parts of the recording interacted perfectly; none unjustly stole the limelight.
?In Space? sounded appropriately light and airy. I heard through the recording to details I had not previously noticed. The fade at the end of the song sounded wonderfully even and smooth. The breakdown in the middle of ?A Higher Place? dove into a dark, deep silence. I was impressed with the involving dynamics of this system, even at a fairly low volume. ?Royksopp?s Night Out? was filled with great energy and momentum. ?Remind Me? featured sweet synths that were clean and textured. Dynamics stepped into the spotlight again, with the beautifully shaped phrasing of the synth lines in ?She?s So.? By ?40 Years Back,? the bass seemed to have a bit more weight. I wondered whether it was the mix of the song or the warmup time that was responsible. The epilogue to this final track, ?Come,? sounded soft, delicate, and wonderfully warm, and was a great end to a wonderful album.
I then popped in SomethingALaMode?s album SALM. The characteristic blend of synth and string sounded sweet and subtly textured. I imagined a solid state amp might make this sound somewhat harsh, especially in tandem with the Playstation. Synths in ?GString? had a full-bodied timbre, with a sweet, sunny treble range. ?5 AM? sounded lively with all the energy of a Red-Bull-and-vodka-fueled night on the town. The system dug deep in ?SchubertALaMode? to present the lower synth notes with poise. Soundstage expanded and contracted with the ebbing and flowing synths for a very immersive effect. The voice in ?Little Bit Of Feel Good? sounded, as did the vocal in ?Sparks? on Melody A.M., more natural than I had heard it before. I suspect this had to do with the synergy of tubes in my system. In ?Tracey?s Interlude,? strings and synths supported each other wonderfully, and the low synth seemed to fill the room. Had I not known better I might have imagined there was a subwoofer somewhere in this system, albeit set to a rather conservative volume.
I think some warm up time had brought a bit more fullness to the bass, as The Silent Force (see my previous blog post [link] for a full review) seemed weighty and full, even at this moderately low volume level. As my first listening session drew to a close, I felt as though I was getting to know the new sound of my system quite well.
http://paugustinos.blogspot.com/2011/12/ix-yaqin-part-1.html
The box was huge and heavy and had been waiting in my room for a couple weeks now. I enlisted the help of one brother to carry it downstairs with me while the other brought down the other components of my rig. We cleared off the entertainment console of the basement home theater system and opened the box. Securely embraced by thick, white foam was my new amplifier. It was big. Bigger than I thought it would be. It looked quite nice, with a mirror finish on the top cover, handsome black cases on the monstrous transformers, and solid-looking knobs, switches, and connections. We got to work setting up, placing the speakers with a slight toe-in, putting the Playstation in place, and setting up the Yaqin?s power cord. With my brother?s help again, I gently guided the Yaqin into place and began to unpack the tubes. Each tube was individually packaged in bubble wrap and marked for the optimal position given the factory-set bias. Each pair was slid into a length of PVC pipe for extra protection. I tenderly unwrapped and installed each tube, protecting them from the oils of my skin with a cotton cloth. As I did, I noticed that the bias potentiometers and test points were conveniently located and clearly marked on the top cover. With the multimeter headed my way through the mail, it would be a piece of cake to refine the bias in case the tubes drifted a bit. Already, I was very pleased with the construction of the amp, and the great care that was taken in shipping it to me. Clearly, Yaqin takes pride in their products.
I switched on the amplifier and the tubes began to glow. After about a half hour of warmup, I was ready to get started. I loaded Royksopp?s Melody A.M. into the Playstation and gradually turned up the Yaqin?s volume. I was pleasantly surprised at how low I could keep the volume knob for the level I wanted, especially considering I had switched the amplifier from ultralinear to the less powerful triode mode. Though I will be keeping this amp to moderate volume levels even after I?ve logged the recommended 100 hours of burn-in, it is nice to have plenty of headroom.
As the music began to play, I found myself falling in love. I?m trying to reserve my judgment for when the amp and tubes have a bit more time to settle in, but so far the Playstation and Yaqin seem like a match made in heaven. Details across the spectrum are crisp and lively. Bass is a little bit on the lighter side, but part of that is certainly due to my transition from 2.1 to pure 2 channel. The Yaqin was able to make up for some but not all of the bass boost I used in my previous listening session via my equalizer. I was willing to make that trade of a little weight for the elegant simplicity of my rig. Furthermore, what this system lacks in low end weight it makes up for with great agility and control. The Yaqin handled the bass line of ?Sparks? very articulately. The high treble range was nicely tamed, retaining all its detail while leaving behind the harshness I had tried to address with the equalizer. And the mids still rang true; the vocal line of ?Sparks? sounded natural, with the distortion effect gently softened but still textured and detailed. All the parts of the recording interacted perfectly; none unjustly stole the limelight.
?In Space? sounded appropriately light and airy. I heard through the recording to details I had not previously noticed. The fade at the end of the song sounded wonderfully even and smooth. The breakdown in the middle of ?A Higher Place? dove into a dark, deep silence. I was impressed with the involving dynamics of this system, even at a fairly low volume. ?Royksopp?s Night Out? was filled with great energy and momentum. ?Remind Me? featured sweet synths that were clean and textured. Dynamics stepped into the spotlight again, with the beautifully shaped phrasing of the synth lines in ?She?s So.? By ?40 Years Back,? the bass seemed to have a bit more weight. I wondered whether it was the mix of the song or the warmup time that was responsible. The epilogue to this final track, ?Come,? sounded soft, delicate, and wonderfully warm, and was a great end to a wonderful album.
I then popped in SomethingALaMode?s album SALM. The characteristic blend of synth and string sounded sweet and subtly textured. I imagined a solid state amp might make this sound somewhat harsh, especially in tandem with the Playstation. Synths in ?GString? had a full-bodied timbre, with a sweet, sunny treble range. ?5 AM? sounded lively with all the energy of a Red-Bull-and-vodka-fueled night on the town. The system dug deep in ?SchubertALaMode? to present the lower synth notes with poise. Soundstage expanded and contracted with the ebbing and flowing synths for a very immersive effect. The voice in ?Little Bit Of Feel Good? sounded, as did the vocal in ?Sparks? on Melody A.M., more natural than I had heard it before. I suspect this had to do with the synergy of tubes in my system. In ?Tracey?s Interlude,? strings and synths supported each other wonderfully, and the low synth seemed to fill the room. Had I not known better I might have imagined there was a subwoofer somewhere in this system, albeit set to a rather conservative volume.
I think some warm up time had brought a bit more fullness to the bass, as The Silent Force (see my previous blog post [link] for a full review) seemed weighty and full, even at this moderately low volume level. As my first listening session drew to a close, I felt as though I was getting to know the new sound of my system quite well.
My Stereo: Tannoy D100s, Yaqin MC-100B, VPI Traveler, Dynavector 10x5 MC Phono Cartridge, heavily modified Yaqin MS-22B phono preamp, TEAC EQA-20 equalizer, Belkin PureAV PF30 Power Conditioner, Canare 4s11 speaker cables, Custom dust cover from DigitalDeckCovers
Post edited by thetawave2 on
Comments
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Nice review. I'm not surprised. Once you've heard your first good tube amp it's pretty hard to go back! Soon you'll be rolling tubes and talking like Brock? Just kidding! I had a similar experience with the Jolida below.
How many watts does that YaQin have? Just curious. And yeah, they're "heavvvyyyyy!".
Enjoy!
cnhCurrently orbiting Bowie's Blackstar.!
Polk Lsi-7s, Def Tech 8" sub, HK 3490, HK HD 990 (CDP/DAC), AKG Q701s
[sig. changed on a monthly basis as I rotate in and out of my stash] -
Nice review. I'm not surprised. Once you've heard your first good tube amp it's pretty hard to go back! Soon you'll be rolling tubes and talking like Brock? Just kidding! I had a similar experience with the Jolida below.
How many watts does that YaQin have? Just curious. And yeah, they're "heavvvyyyyy!".
Enjoy!
cnh
Yeah I could hardly be happier with every aspect of my purchase. I'm really excited to tube roll and it's taking all my willpower to wait for the stock tubes to settle in (and for my bank account to rebound a bit).
The Yaqin MC-100B is rated to deliver 30 WPC in triode mode and 60 WPC in ultralinear at 8 ohms, I believe. I haven't tried ultralinear mode yet but I'm sure that little experiment will make for another blog post some time fairly soon. Definitely excited to explore that function of my amp.My Stereo: Tannoy D100s, Yaqin MC-100B, VPI Traveler, Dynavector 10x5 MC Phono Cartridge, heavily modified Yaqin MS-22B phono preamp, TEAC EQA-20 equalizer, Belkin PureAV PF30 Power Conditioner, Canare 4s11 speaker cables, Custom dust cover from DigitalDeckCovers -
Here's part 2: http://paugustinos.blogspot.com/2011/12/x-yaqin-mc-100b-part-2.html
Later that same day, I warmed up the Yaqin for a second session. Gotta love winter break!
I returned to Royksopp with their CD The Understanding. The opening track, “Triumphant,” gets pretty busy toward the middle. Considering the demanding nature of the material, my rig handled the multiple synths clambering for attention with fairly good balance. Still, the sound wasn’t quite so transparent and organized as I might have liked, and I found it difficult to sort through everything that was going on in my head. Again, the bass notes could have had a little more weight to them but were nicely shaped. The next song, “Only This Moment,” featured delicate vocals and the Yaqin certainly gave them a sweeter, cleaner sound than I would have expected from my Onkyo. I found that the vocal harmony in “Someone Like Me” was brought into a fair, well-supported balance.
After listening to a few songs on that album, I began to skip around a bit more, frequently switching albums and genres. “Indoctrination,” on the album Nuages du Monde by Delerium, had an intrepid momentum. This was an impression shared by the vocalist, Kiran Ahluwalia, whose etherial, haunting lyrics translates to “come with me my friend, let’s find the one who will guide the well being of my mind.” In the album’s booklet, she mentions her vision of “an epic journey--a caravan with a special quest” that was inspired by the song’s rhythms. This was definitely an aspect of the song that my rig was able to demonstrate. I decided to see if, by this point in my listening session, the bass had rounded out again. I was not disappointed in my test track, “Some Chords” by Deadmau5. This continued in my next selection, “Landed” by Ben Folds. Bass guitar still had its agility and taut shape but seemed to come out of the woodwork a bit more than I had expected, given my earlier observations. I was able to hear through the recording and more closely follow the piano passages. Listening to Regina Spektor’s “Fidelity,” I found myself nodding my head to the cheerful beat.
For only the second time, I turned the Yaqin off and watched as the glow of the cathodes slowly faded. All in all, I could hardly ask more from a new amplifier on its first day.My Stereo: Tannoy D100s, Yaqin MC-100B, VPI Traveler, Dynavector 10x5 MC Phono Cartridge, heavily modified Yaqin MS-22B phono preamp, TEAC EQA-20 equalizer, Belkin PureAV PF30 Power Conditioner, Canare 4s11 speaker cables, Custom dust cover from DigitalDeckCovers -
Nice review. Yaqin makes some pretty darn good amps IMHO. Welcome to the tube world! Do you have the Shuguang KT 88's in the amp?
Not sure if I'm explaining this well but...in triode mode you can set the volume at a really low level (for late night listening without waking up the kids) and still hear all the music. In ultralinear mode, a short turn of the volume and the amp gets loud quickly (at least it does on the MS-20L).SDA SRS 2.3TL's
Silk Audio MS-90-BT integrated tube amp
Yaqin MS-20L integrated tube amp
SDA 2B TL's -
@michaeljhsda2: All my tubes are still stock. In a month or two I'll consider my first foray into tube rolling.
All I've used so far is triode and the music is definitely coming through nice and clear, even at low levels. Looking forward to exploring ultralinear mode soon!
Thanks for checking out my review.My Stereo: Tannoy D100s, Yaqin MC-100B, VPI Traveler, Dynavector 10x5 MC Phono Cartridge, heavily modified Yaqin MS-22B phono preamp, TEAC EQA-20 equalizer, Belkin PureAV PF30 Power Conditioner, Canare 4s11 speaker cables, Custom dust cover from DigitalDeckCovers
