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Muzishare X7 or Willsenton R8?

S

Silgalias

New Member
Hi there folks,

I am in the market for a push-pull valve amp for my main system and after quite a lot of reading, watching and budget consideration I have brought it down to a choice of two.
The Willsenton R8 and the Muzishare X7.
Both are excellent sounding/looking valve amps from the reviews but as yet I have not seen a direct comparison of the two and I'm having a hard time coming to a decision without actually being able to hear them first hand.
Pros and Cons.
The X7 has a phono stage. Though I find myself using vinyl less and less these days with most of my library in FLAC format or streamed from Tidal.
The R8 has a bias meter on the front, no VU meters. The X7 has two VU meters on the front that are used to bias?
The remotes for both seem solidly built though the R8's remote seems to have more functions.
Both look great, though the R8 in black is particularly appealing. The X7 has a slightly smaller footprint though about the same weight.
The R8 has a switch for changing the KT88's with EL34's. But I read that the X7 can also be fitted with EL34's if you adjust the bias to 33-35 instead of 50. Anyone know if that is correct?
I am planning to pair them with a set of Triangle Borea BR 03's for now. Though later I would like to try them with my old Epos ES14's.
Can anyone tell me how the X7's 12AX7 and 12AU7's compare to the R8's 6SL7's and 6SN7's?
My music tastes vary from Jazz to Thrash with a lot of Progressive Rock, occasional classical but very little in the way of Pop, Rap, Dub etc.

If anyone has experience with both and can lay out the differences I would much appreciate it.
Thanks
 
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I can only speak to the R8 as I have had one for 5-6 months. I love it. Driving a pair of kef LS50s and a powered sub SVS SB1000. The kefs are only 85db. It drives them without any problem. I currently have the psvane kt 88 upgrade tubes in and I only listen in triode mode. I rolled some preamp tubes in it and it sounds great. The other night my wife says " did you hear that? Listen, that bell sounds like it is coming from my phone on the coffee table!" That's a holographic soundstage!
 
zackthedog said:
If you don't need a phono stage (it's probably only so-so anyway) go with the Willetson. Add a good phono stage if you need it. And I also give a big vote for the octal tubes in the Willetson, a much nicer sound IMO.
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Thank you. I am definitely leaning towards the R8 the more I read and research. I was a little concerned about the bass as I am not a 'bass head' . But I understand that with different valves come different signatures. Have you tried out the headphone socket? How does it fair? I will definitely need it for those times when my wife is less than understanding of my 'Awful noise'. I have a set of Sundara planar's and a selection of IEM's.
 
markmcmuz said:
I can only speak to the R8 as I have had one for 5-6 months. I love it. Driving a pair of kef LS50s and a powered sub SVS SB1000. The kefs are only 85db. It drives them without any problem. I currently have the psvane kt 88 upgrade tubes in and I only listen in triode mode. I rolled some preamp tubes in it and it sounds great. The other night my wife says " did you hear that? Listen, that bell sounds like it is coming from my phone on the coffee table!" That's a holographic soundstage!
Click to expand...

Thanks, I am pretty much sold on the R8. I have been wanting a valve amp ever since the 80's when I used to listen to my friend's Quad amp through his Warfdale corner cabinet speakers. The soundstage was a trip in itself!
 
Have heard them both and the Willsenton definitely presents a sharper soundstage as well as a richer, more sophisticated and detailed sound. And that was with the stock tubes. Can't help with the wife problem though. I don't even have headphones.
 
Blue Devil said:
Have heard them both and the Willsenton definitely presents a sharper soundstage as well as a richer, more sophisticated and detailed sound. And that was with the stock tubes. Can't help with the wife problem though. I don't even have headphones.
Click to expand...

Thank you. That is good to hear, it cements what I have already learned and has moved my focus defiantly to the R8.
BTW is your profile photo of the inners of the Blu Aura V40 hybrid valve amp?
I was very interested in that amp but ended up going with the Dared MP-5BT which I believe is a similar configuration but comes with 6N11 and 6N21 valves as stock along with the 6E21 `Magic Eye`. However it had the advantage of a Pre Out and a headphone output and on that unit I particularly wanted the headphone out as I plan to pass it on to my son as an all in one system for university. I have to say I was most pleased with the Dared but I would love to hear how the V40 sounds with the 12AU7.
I have been wondering how long the Blue Aura V40 has been around they both have very similar setup which is a copy of which I wonder? The Dared I believe has been about for about 20 years but I have no idea how long the Blue Aura has been in production. If you know I would be interested just to satisfy my curiosity.
 
Watching this thread as I am also thinking about getting either the X7 or R8. Has anybody seen the build quality on the underside of both? I'm pretty sure that both are wired point to point. But would like to hear opinions on the quality of the electronics, caps and boards that they used.
 
So I just wanted to do a follow up.

I ended up going with the Willsenton R8. Ordered from China HiFi Audio.
I have paired it with a set of Triangle Borea BR03`s and the result is outstanding. I have been truly moved by the sound this thing puts out. I am in prog rock heaven!
The build is phenomenal, it looks immaculate and weighs in at about 30kg.
I would highly recommend the R8 to anyone. It is a seriously good amp and has managed to achieve precisely the sound I was looking for.
 
I just picked up a new Melton and the bass is much better than I was led to believe that a tube amp would do. The warrentee is two years and the distributor is local to me. I picked it up at their facility so worked a really killer deal on it (~half off ebay price). Really nice construction, Sylvania small tubes, and even a hospital grade cord (complete with green dot). The speaker terminals will take wire that is much bigger than anything I would ever use.

I had heard that much of the tube magic is in the tube rectum-friers so that was something I was looking for.

s-l1600.jpg


http://meltonaudio.com/cart/amplifier/integrated-amplifier-mkt88p-80w/

https://www.ebay.com/itm/144178339908?hash=item2191b2e044:g:FTQAAOSwPSNfYUe7
 
Silgalias said:
So I just wanted to do a follow up.

I ended up going with the Willsenton R8. Ordered from China HiFi Audio.
I have paired it with a set of Triangle Borea BR03`s and the result is outstanding. I have been truly moved by the sound this thing puts out. I am in prog rock heaven!
The build is phenomenal, it looks immaculate and weighs in at about 30kg.
I would highly recommend the R8 to anyone. It is a seriously good amp and has managed to achieve precisely the sound I was looking for.
Click to expand...
Folks around here like the visual impact that pics bring!
 
Silgalias said:
So I just wanted to do a follow up.

I ended up going with the Willsenton R8. Ordered from China HiFi Audio.
I have paired it with a set of Triangle Borea BR03`s and the result is outstanding. I have been truly moved by the sound this thing puts out. I am in prog rock heaven!
The build is phenomenal, it looks immaculate and weighs in at about 30kg.
I would highly recommend the R8 to anyone. It is a seriously good amp and has managed to achieve precisely the sound I was looking for.
Click to expand...

This information helped me alot as I was looking for information about a matching speakers, thank you.
I guess the warmer sound coming from the class A R8 amplifier suits the dynamic speakers such at the BR03s.
 
The R8 is a nice amp, but it's not without faults. There are a few under rated by their voltage caps in the power supply. Also the bias circuit has no "fail safe" resistor to stop a nuclear meltdown if the potentiometer for whatever reason goes open, this has happened to quite a few of these amps with ensuing red plated tubes and blown cathode resistors. One of the main issues to me was the hodge podge circuit grounding and the way the headphone jack circuit was implemented. All of this can be fixed but takes some time and money.

It is a budget, made in China amp, and they obviously cut some corners on the parts, namely the resistors they used. Also the R8 is a push pull amp, it's not a class A single ended amp. It does meet the published specs, which is not something I can say for other made in China tube amps. It sounds pretty good but also be aware the input sensitivity is super high. It hits full power with 0.3VRMS input signal.

I did a basic review of the amp I was brought to repair (Red plate tube meltdown), and then a detailed set of videos resolving the problems I noted.

 
Well, Stephe posted a review on the updated version of the R8. She states it is a much improved amplifier. I actually have the Muzishare X7, the older Willsenton R8 and the newer R8. With the stock tubes, I feel that the new R8 is equal or better than the X7 and is a lot better than the older R8. The new R8 has a lot better soundstage and depth and is quieter than the old R8.

Using the Muzishare X7 with all Gold Lion tubes (KT88, 5AR4. 12AX7/B759 and 12AU7/B749) really makes the X7 shine. I am using an all Tung-Sol (EL34B, 6SN7 and 6SL7) setup in the new R8 and it sounds fabulous, I actually prefer it to the X7. I ordered the gold-pin Tung-Sol 6SL7s and Electro Harmonix 6SN7s and wanted to see if the gold-pin version make an improvement. Stephe posted that using gold-pin tubes on the X7 made a significant improvement in the sound.
 
Jon S said:
Well, Stephe posted a review on the updated version of the R8. She states it is a much improved amplifier. I actually have the Muzishare X7, the older Willsenton R8 and the newer R8.
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Since Wilsenton never changed the name of R8 to Mk II (or SE, etc), how does one know if they are buying the early version or latest version when shopping on the usual used market?
 
Jon L said:
Since Wilsenton never changed the name of R8 to Mk II (or SE, etc), how does one know if they are buying the early version or latest version when shopping on the usual used market?
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You don't. Pretty sure the reason they don't mark them (and they even proclaimed there isn't a "new version" and openly called me a liar, when clearly I showed there are many upgrades to this newer one) is so they can continue to sell off the old stock. Buyer beware is all I can say and avoid buying them from sources where returns will be difficult.
 
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