Yaqin

[hudo]

Whats your take / experience with Yaqin amps?

I read a review here of Leema amp and comparison with heavily modded Yaqin with kt88, so that triggered me to start this thread.
Can Yaqin sound good out-of-the-box? Is replacing tubes enough or modifications are usually needed?

I have Yaqin MS23B (phono preamp), with replaced tubes (TJ Full Music), but for that price (<250eur) i can't complain much - and don't have anything to compare with (like ProJect TubeBox, similar price range). Sure, sounds much better than 50eur project phono preamp (SS) ...

Also, when I visited Hifi Hut few months ago they had one crazy looking Yaqin int amp there, and I asked them if they're going to start selling them. But guy there told me they will not, mostly because similarly priced well known brands sounds better. I always expected more sound for less money from Yaqin ...

[ho66es]

I have the 100b and 10l, both sound great out of the box but benefit from cheap tweaks like replacing coupling caps with russian pio. Hard to get better value.

I also have a 23b but mine has had the 'lesbox' mod done by les himself, truly lovely phonostage now.

[sdiesel77]

Hi,
I indeed wrote the post on the Leema & Yaqin amps and find both amps really good.
I also have the MS22B (similar to MS23B) and have also modified it (Lesbox), this is also a great piece of kit and the Lesbox mod is REALLY worth it.

Regarding the MC100B, this is a fantastic value however, to me, the stock version sounds a bit lean and lifeless to what it sounds once the correct mods have been applied.
Yaqin uses really good quality chassis, transformers, connectors and PCB however in order to offer a "low" selling price they saved money on other parts such as the coupling caps, tubes, potentiometer.
So if you want a tube amp which is able to drive almost all speakers, at this price, IMO, the MC100B is the best choice. Now if you are able to improve it and change the cheap parts, this will be a complete different amp delivering amazing performance.

Following thinking over deeply on which amp I should keep, I will most probably put my MC100B amp (highly modified and safer) for sale, so if interested pls send me a PM.

[sdiesel77]

Here is the beast [emoji847]
And a short video showing some of the latest mods done:
https://youtu.be/sRk2sb4NJso

[hudo]

Thanks sdiesel77 and ho66es for insightful replies.

How to get this Lesbox modification done, since im not skilful enough to do it on my own? Any ideas whats the price of components even?
I saw people mentioning many hours needed for this mod, so just price for hands can go put it way above some other, already good, preamps. Looks like its only worth it if you can do it yourself ...

[sdiesel77]

Thanks sdiesel77 and ho66es for insightful replies.

How to get this Lesbox modification done, since im not skilful enough to do it on my own? Any ideas whats the price of components even?
I saw people mentioning many hours needed for this mod, so just price for hands can go put it way above some other, already good, preamps. Looks like its only worth it if you can do it yourself ...

Sorry for the late response.
If you really don't feel doing the upgrade yourself, I'd probably check the Yaqin Facebook page and I'm sure you'll find people not too far who could do it for you.
I think these guys (Ask for Les Carpenter) even built a ready made new PCB with all the mods done so you just need to replace the board (very little soldering needed)

https://www.facebook.com/groups/yaqinaudio/