Thank you all for the advice.......

........my valve itch has been scratched!!



I'll do a write up later when i've had a better listen, but first impressions are that I could be turning into a valve fan!! This is nice, very nice.


Paul.

 

wow.....BLING!!!

 

I call it a Bling Da for obvious reasons! Trust me it looks even worse in real life. The led on the front is blue and about half a million candle power at a guess.

Paul.

 

Haha... Soon you'll start tube rolling. Muahahaha.

JJ

 

lol, blue LEDs suck. If you put a bit of clear nail varnish over it it can help. Nice amp tho

 

noooooooo I thought I had the only gold Ming da in existance. Paul you've got to send it back!!!!

 

And they did the sides of it in matching wallpaper - how cool is that??

Seriously tho, congrats - it looks the dogs nads

 

Hope you're enjoying it. If it's anything like mine, it'll sound great out of the box, go a bit boomy, so you get worried that you don't like it any more, then after a good bit of use, 200 hours or so it'll sound so right that you won't believe you were worried!

 

The on/off switch looks a little out of place .....could have put it round the back ?
But hope it sounds as good as it looks!

 

That depends on what type of rack its being used in

 

Whatever your views on the aesthetics of the Ming Da one thing can't be denied, this is an awful lot of amplifier for the money. Available from this country for £350, or for £25 extra you can have Sovtek 5881 tubes fitted in place of the standard Chinese 6L6's. Mine came with the Sovtek's.
Built around a highly polished stainless steel chassis, there is nothing flimsy about this amp. The base plate is thick steel plate as is the transformer cover. This is fully welded and all the edges smoothed out, it is then coated in a tough looking black crackle finish. It also has 2 partitions inside so the 3 transformers are screened from each other. The faceplate is 8mm brushed and anodised aluminium. The valve cover is a chromed steel and Perspex affair that is held in place by 4 banana plugs that fit into hole's in the top of the chassis. Quick and easy to remove with no tool's. The only slight gripes I would mention are some sharp corners on the back of the main chassis and one of the 4 gold plated screws that secure the faceplate was tarnished. Other than that, the fit and finish is as good as anything anywhere near this price.
The inside is equally robust looking. The ceramic valve bases are mounted on a heavy steel sub chassis, and each and every screw is secured with a blob of locking agent. Soldering is generally to a very high standard, the only let down being where all the earth leads attach to the chassis which was a bit messy. There are no PCB's at all, it is all point-to-point wired. All the wiring looks neat with plenty of twisting all held together with cable ties. There are a few Rubycon capacitors but most are labelled Ming Da, I doubt there are many audiophile grade components in there but then that never did Naim any harm did it? The volume pot however, is an Alps blue.
On the front is the volume control and a matching switch to select between the 2 pairs of RCA sockets. A headphone socket that has a small toggle switch on the side to disable the speakers. An on/off rocker switch and a (over bright) blue LED complete the line up.
On the back panel, along with the 2 pairs of phono sockets are some multi way binding posts with 4 and 8 ohm outputs. Power enters via a IEC connector fitted with a 2A fast blow fuse. There is also a voltage selector, pre-set and sealed on 230V. Power consumption is given as 130W.

In use the amplifier is a fuss free delight. Switch on the power and there is not the slightest thump through the speakers. With the volume off, pressing an ear to the speaker is greeted with total silence. Turn the volume up to maximum and there is the slightest hum and buzz from the drivers. The amp itself is mechanically silent, no buzzing transformers at all. Switch off is accompanied by the slightest of thumps.

As to the sound, I think my initial impressions were not far off. The midrange is the strong point. Crystal clear and very revealing it lets you hear bit's of the recording I never knew were there. Treble extension is a little limited but is very smooth and the bass remains a little soft and slow, but is nicely weighted.
Small scale and acoustic music is where this amp is at. Talk about transporting you right to the heart of the performance, listening to Eva Cassidy at low volume late last night I could almost feel her breath on my face, magical. Playing some of my favourite blues tracks, the music is conveyed with such emotion and atmosphere you almost feel there pain.
It seems to have a way of bringing the best out of lesser quality recordings also. Abba's Greatest Hits albums sounded terribly thin and lifeless on the Naims, but the Ming Da seems to drag so much extra detail out of the recording, more akin to upgrading the front end than the amp. Historical recordings get a new lease of life too, Bessie Smith once again revealing all her hurt and sorrows.
Lest you think I'm getting carried away with this amp, put on some rock and things turn in the Naims favour. I don't think that it lacks in the PraT department as such, bass line's, although a little soft and slow are very easy to follow, it just lacks that last bit of dynamic headroom. The ability to go from quiet to loud is not quite there and you tend to want to reach for the volume control to liven things up a bit. Of course more lively speakers than my ancient Kefs may well help. I have also not tried out the 8 ohm speaker outputs yet, all my listening has been on the 4 ohm tap. I will have a play and report back.

So, would I go back to the Naims? No, I don't think so. Will I keep the Ming Da? Mmmmm, I like the amp, no doubt about that and from what I have heard the amp is capable much with a few simple mod's, but its styling is just to much for my tastes. We'll see how things go, if it stays then it is certainly going to have to have a style makeover!








Paul.

 

Paul: Try some kt88's in it, you should get more bass then.
One thing, are the capacitor values labeled in english or chinese? I'm thinking about getting a pair of the 845 monoblocks but not if I can't understand the component values without a tester.

 

I'm going to live with it for a week or so untill the novelty value has worn off then decide wether to have a play with it.
As for the capacitor values I'll open her up again and check as I didn't notice.

Paul.

 

Ok thanks

 

Good pic of the internals, for those who have asked about biasing in the past, the four gold discs with the blue internal disc are the bias pots that adjust the voltage. You'll see a resisitor is in-line with this pot and the cathode, this is where you take your reading from unless you like high-volts.

 

They'll be in english I would have thought, Ive yet to see different.

 

Nice nudie pics there, thanks.

My amp has the 4 and 8 Ohm taps. Sounds better on the 8 by far, more control. You could also play around with tube rolling to tweak your sound somewhat. Stock tubes generally don't let the amp shine. Search around AudioAsylum for recommendations. Like you said, for that kind of money you sure get brilliant sound!

JJ

 

Another SS user bites the dust, I can't imagine ever going back, actually I can't imagine ever changing my amps again!
I don't mind the MinDa styling although the black facia looks better IMO and I prefer the guard removed, the ones on mine are like shopping trolleys sprayed black.

 

Wow...thats a great looking beast for £350! Is that about the cheapest way of getting a valve amp?
Shame theres only 2 inputs though.

 

Its not hard to add more