Highlights

Upgrading the Muzishare X5 EL34 Integrated Tube Amp

July 5, 2019October 26, 2019 0 Comments

Bringing our modification upgrades to the next level, we have completed testing on upgrading this beautiful Muzishare X5 EL34 integrated tube amp. It was a resounding success.

Upgrading potential is very high on this Muzishare amp. In fact, for tube amps, coupling capacitors play a huge part in the extension and spaciousness of the sounds, as much as the tubes have the greatest say in the sound flavour. Replacing over a dozen of the capacitors in X5 bring up the performance value to another notch. Importantly, this goes to say Muzishare X5 itself is already a fantastic amp to begin with.

The quality of Muzishare X5 can be easily seen from the intricately-designed and CNC-machined chassis. Beneath it, the wirings and components are similarly hefty. The capacitors this amp should be using deserved a lot more better.

We chosen Jantzen Audio, a high end brand from Denmark, to be the major branded capacitors in our modification upgrade. The Superior Z line of their caps have been lauded as one of audiophiles favourites for a long long time and reviews of these caps have never failed to impress. Their constructions are huge for similar capacitance of lesser grade caps, if you see the before and after photo of the upgrades. Luckily, their elongated shapes make the arrangement in the tight spaces possible and logical. Other top of the line caps include Nichicon KX series, ELNA Silmic II and Vishay BC. ELNA Silmic II is renown for using silk fibres in the cap itself that will “a superior acoustic characteristics.” Nichicon KX series of caps are audio-grade in itself that will normally only be seen in upper high end range of tube amps.

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The effects of these upgrades are almost immediate. X5 accepts EL34, 6L6, 6L6GC, 5881 tubes and all these tubes have great tonality of characters. But what the upgrades have aided is the ability to hear the additional smooth, silky vocals, and the spaciousness of the textured details. Leave much of the flavourings of sounds to the tubes, these upgrades presented such a clean and neutral slate akin to a clean plate for even the slightest subtlety of the food, or sound, can appreciated when being served. A few more hours of burnt-in and they open up; natural, extended and musical.

As part of the bundle to at least have the amp powered up suitably in a high standard state of operation, we are adding in one of our customers’ favourite product, the Furukawa OEM 17mm thick Audiophile Superb Clarity Power Cord FREE. Cable is 2m long to suit most circumstances of connecting. Pairing this cable with the upgraded amp ensures the amp is well-fed with clean and quality current of juice for excellent output preparation.

Do head over to the product page and read more in detail of the specifications and see more photos and place your order. Order will be shipped out in 14-18 days with ALL the upgrades done, after which you only have one job, enjoy.

A Smooth EL34 Tube Amp for both your Speakers and Headphones

April 18, 2017July 5, 2019 2 Comments

Muzishare is a brand that enjoys quite a bit of popularity worldwide. It is hard not to, when it has the design appeal and construction of a fine tube amp, and performing just as well as it looks. X5 from Muzishare possesses all that great quality and carrying the EL34s as its power tubes, we do need further decision to bring that in as the first Muzishare tube amp on sale at QA.

EL34 tube is a very versatile tube type in terms of the varieties it has for replacement and rolling. Main sound signature for EL34 is the smooth and sweet midrange it extends to the upper region of the frequency spectrums. Vocal lovers, this tube type is your best companion! Be mesmerised by your favourite artistes singing with a true presentation in front of you, probably even catching the breathing done!

Getting more details of this amp is entirely possible if better quality of EL34s are inserted in or with rolling of 6L6G/6L6GC tubes. Your listening experience may be transformed with a livelier soundstage and added crisp. If you find yourself having 5881s instead, no problem too. These military tube variants are acceptable into this Muzishare X5 tube amp as well. That is what we called flexibility.

Pre-amp section of the tube amp is driven by 2x 12AU7 and 2x 12AX7 tubes. Easily available with different brands and vintage types too, rolling these tubes will add on to the fun of creating a sound flavour to your liking!

With so many tubes available for rolling, biasing of the tubes is important to ensure the tubes put in are always operating at their best settings. X5 brings tube biasing to a great level of ease, with just a flat-head screwdriver needed. The front panel of the amp is a VU-meter lookalike that negates the requirement of a multimeter. That is the bias meter used for gauging the correct amount of current going to the tubes. There is a knob on the top of the amp on the right-hand side indicating which tube to select to while doing the bias, and that is also indicative of the reading with respect to the tube it measures off. Biasing is simply adjusting the adjustment screws on the side of the top panel respective to the tubes labelled until the needle in the bias meter points to the accepted range.

To the right of the bias meter are two fantastically-made aluminium knobs from CNC machining. Controlling the volume is a smooth act, while changing between the input settings is a solid affair. With 4 inputs selection to plug in and choose from, you can plug in a wide range of sources to play your favourite music from!

Two wonderful features of this X5 are found to the left of the bias meter. A 6.35mm headphone out ensures this amp not only powers speakers, but it can also drive headphones of any sizes and demands without difficulties at all! Dedicated tube-powered headphone amps can cost close to what this X5 is offering. At the same time, they may use tubes less commonly found for replacement or rolling. This restricts the headphone amp from performing to a variety of sound flavours. An amp like X5 almost brings the best of all worlds in giving you one package with exceeding performance, cost and versatility.

The switch beside the headphone out is to toggle between Ultralinear and Triode mode of the amp. These two modes are common connections within the circuit of tube amps that provides different power outputs and also different flavours of sounds. Ultralinear has a high power output, i.e higher gain. It boots a higher dynamism to the sounds, like a SS amp in some sense. This mode is great for orchestra, ensemble and classical genre of music.

Triode mode on the hand has a lower power output. Volume control tends to need to be higher for similar sound level appreciation. However, this mode has an emphasis to midrange of the music. Hence it is a very popular mode chosen for vocal genres like pop and opera. Either mode can be toggled on the fly even with the music being played. A-B auditioning can be done to see which mode is preferred.

At the back panel are high-quality binding posts and RCA jacks that are bound to secure all connections hooked to them. RCA caps are provided to cover whichever ports not used to prevent oxidisation of the contacts. A voltage switch at the back allows the X5 to be usable anywhere in the wold regardless of 110v or 220v AC.

Weighing close to 18kg, the entire amp was constructed out of solid materials like steel and aluminium. The front panel is already one 10mm thick aluminium. The rest of the chassis is an enclosure well-glazed with sand-blasted glittering gloss that does not leave fingerprints. Quality of the construction extended to the cage. No tools are needed to fix it over the tubes. With a banana-plug-like feature, the cage can be affixed securely to the amp. Removing it from the socket is just as easy and quick. Brilliant!

Finally, the other piece of well-machined hardware is the remote control. Crafted entirely out of aluminium, it matches excellent with aesthetics of X5. While it only offers volume adjustment and mute/unmute operation, having that remote on your hands is undoubtedly a convenient in controlling the volumes while seated comfortably on your listening spot.