A little backstory of Muzishare R100

Our Muzishare X5 was the first full-fledge branded factory-made tube amp we brought in around 3-4 years ago in bid to increase its exposure to the general audiophile community in Singapore and the region. A tube amp so well-made and beautiful has no reason not to be considered for anyone seriously into getting his/her first, second or third tube amp.

Muzishare over these years has consistently improved on the quality further, both on the aesthetic front as well as the worksmanship and most importantly, audio quality. Their increasing popularity in China are slowly bringing much awareness outside the region and to the global scene. It is imperative such exposure could do a lot of good to have a focus here in Singapore. And as outlined in our previous post, QA’s effort has finally paid off to have secure the official distributorship of Muzishare tube amps in Singapore from November 2019 onwards.

In recent months, Muzishare has been building a flagship model in order to refresh their tube amp lineup, which has been consistently hovering in these respective tube series – EL84 of X3T, EL34 of X5, KT88 of X7 and 300B of X-300B. While KT88 tube amps are traditionally the onset of big boys, for those graduating from a EL34 tube amp, it is no longer a tube series of amp that holds the charm. Many other manufacturers have come out with various KT88 tube amps and begin saturating the market. The once-powerful and rather exclusive KT88 tube amp is now quite a dime a dozen. Not to undermine KT88 tubes at all for I am still a huge fan of the fat beam tetrode, but above this class is another league that just dwarfs the KT88s (as can be seen in the photo below), big triode tubes, 211/845/805.

From left to right: EL34, 5881, 6L6GC, KT66, KT88 & 845. The first four belongs to the same tube type and are interchangeable in most EL34 amps. Currently using the 5881 Brown base from RCA. But 6L6GC remains my all-time favourite which I could not even bear to use, similar to my reverend 6L6GC Blackplates from RCA that are preciously stowed away.

Line Magnetic is one brand of the Chinese-made amps that have enjoyed stellar reputation worldwide for its indisputable quality. They are one of the early adopters in Chinese tube amp manufacturing to use these giant triode tubes. Their 845 and 805 series of amps are parked at the higher end range of the tube amp chain in many rooms, providing a sound output of the higher echelon.

Muzishare’s flagship model of R100 is heading towards this direction – a hefty tube amp that branches into three different versions of 211/845/805 tubes respectively, allowing customer to choose one that they are most comfortable with. It may seem like a challenging feat for Muzishare in building the R100 as it is only a recent development and lack of previous big triode tube model to back as portfolio. Truth to be told, amps from both Muzishare and Line Magnetic come from the same factory estate in Zhuhai at Guandong, China. Connecting the dots, Muzishare does has a wealth of expertise in building a big triode tube amp, confidently and remarkably, as we are to find out in the next post, where I will dive in details on the Muzishare R100.