I recently bought a Mitsy DA-A30 on FB marketplace for only $50 because the owner suspected it was broken. Turns out it was not broken, just has a non-functional "on" light. Lucky me. I was excited about this because it's my first foray into separates and into vintage gear. I also bought a PS Audio 4.5 preamp off of Reverb. I've heard great things about the DA-A30, so I expected it to sound a heck of a lot better than my Sony STR-DH190.
I was happy to find that the amp worked when I turned it on, but disappointed that upon first impressions, it seems to lack clarity compared to the Sony. The top end isn't as crisp and the whole frequency range seems a bit "muddy" compared to the Sony. Not necessarily warm, just not as clear or open. This was the case when running my preamp both in passive and active mode. I opened the unit up and it seems to never have been serviced. It's absolutely filled with dust and all the parts seem original. My question is this: would taking the time to check resistor values, replace the filter caps, adjust the bias for the transistors, and replace any potentially faulty transistors or diodes be a solution to this problem? I can't help but feel that a piece of vintage hifi audio held in such high regard (according to the internet) should have blown me away. Or has technology really improved so much that my low-end entry level sony receiver is actually better than a vintage dual-mono beast?
I was happy to find that the amp worked when I turned it on, but disappointed that upon first impressions, it seems to lack clarity compared to the Sony. The top end isn't as crisp and the whole frequency range seems a bit "muddy" compared to the Sony. Not necessarily warm, just not as clear or open. This was the case when running my preamp both in passive and active mode. I opened the unit up and it seems to never have been serviced. It's absolutely filled with dust and all the parts seem original. My question is this: would taking the time to check resistor values, replace the filter caps, adjust the bias for the transistors, and replace any potentially faulty transistors or diodes be a solution to this problem? I can't help but feel that a piece of vintage hifi audio held in such high regard (according to the internet) should have blown me away. Or has technology really improved so much that my low-end entry level sony receiver is actually better than a vintage dual-mono beast?