X7 KT88 x4 Vacuum Tube Integrated Amplifier Push-Pull Power Amp MM Phono Tube Amplifier Balanced XLR 2022 Remote

I’ve had the X7 for over a month now, and it has been an extremely enjoyable purchase. I’ve had tube components before, but never an integrated tube amp or tube amplifier. But I’ve very much enjoyed the tube preamps I’ve tried and the tube phono preamps that have been in my system. Buying the X7 was a leap of faith on my part. I’ve always wanted a McIntosh tube integrated, or maybe a Rogue Audio tube integrated, but the high costs of either have always held me up. In addition, I was concerned about the drop in power ratings when moving to a tube amp. I have a pair of MartinLogan Motion XT 100 towers that like a little power to sound their best, and have been using a 150 watt per channel Rotel integrated to push them. But I haven’t been pleased with the sound quality I’m getting through the Rotel so wanted to make a change. Enter the X7. Four KT88 tubes = 25 watts per channel in triode mode and 45 watts per channel in ultra linear mode. Point to point wiring inside the case. Two 12au7 tubes and one 12ax7 tube, and the X7 uses a rectifier tube, which not all tube amps have. I ran the X7 with the included Muzishare tubes for a couple of weeks, and then started rolling tubes. I purchased a Mullard rectifier tube, a Gold Lion gold pin 12ax7, and then tried a series of 12au7 tubes before ending up with a couple of new release mullards. I swapped out the KT88s with PS Vane Horizon series tubes, but didn’t like them. I bit the bullet and bought a set of Gold Lion KT88s and that is where I stopped. I couldn’t imagine the X7 sounding much better than it does now. Much better than the solid state electronics that were running the MartinLogans prior. I use the 4 ohm taps for the MartinLogans and run it in triode mode the majority of the time. This gives a smooth, slightly rolled off treble and plenty of low bass definition. When I really want to turn the volume up, I switch the X7 to ultralinear mode and enjoy a sparkling treble and increased volume. With the right set of tubes, the X7 performs amazingly. The stock tubes were good, but the combination of Mullards and Gold Lions is a revelation. The KT88 upgrades were 300 dollars. The Mullard rectifier tube was 60 bucks. The Gold Lion 12ax7 was 55 dollars, and the pair of Mullard 12au7s was 55 dollars. Adding all that up, from X7 to upgrade end game cost me less than 2000 dollars. Less than 2000, and it sounds better than the 3500 dollar solid state integrated it replaced. 2,000 dollars is a lot less than the cost of a nice Rogue Audio, Luxman, or McIntosh tube integrated. One heck of a value here! Couple additional items. The X7 has a balanced input. That’s what I run my Cyrus Signature phono amp into. The built in phono pre of the X7 is pretty average to be honest. I wouldn’t plan on using it for critical listening. The VU meters look amazing. It is beautifully built. Sounds great.

I Always dreamed of a Tube amp with Two VU Meters, ever since I was a kid. I saw the reviews (and an especially helpful video review on YouTube), and I was convinced to buy the Muzishare X-7. I paired with Polk Audio i200 bookshelf speakers and a Polk Audio 10" powered subwoofer. (These bookshelf speakers are not tiny--they don't fit upright on any bookshelf). The amp powers the i200s just fine. Sound is excellent in both Ultralinear mode (45 watts per channel) and Triode mode. I personally prefer the Triode Mode at a higher volume (which I'm told is 25 watts per channel and has rolls off the treble a tiny bit). The bass response without the subwoofer is excellent. (I add just a tad of subwoofer as a personal preference). I have never exceeded the 12 o'clock position on the volume. At 12, the amp is overpowering in a good way. There's still a lot of power left. My personal tastes aren't loud volumes, just note that there's plenty of power for efficient speakers. Highly likely, you'll have plenty of power for larger drivers that are in tower speakers, especially in Ultralinear mode. I haven't opened up the case (like the reviewer did on YouTube), but the exterior is solid quality everything! The reviewer showed quality point to point wiring with quality soldering on the inside. I have nothing negative to say about this amp. I've had it use for about 3 hours per day. Theoretically, the sound will get better as my speakers get broken in. Apparently, tubes also get a little better performance with use. (Note, they'll degrade after time, but that's probably 5-7 years away, and will need to be replaced. But, that's a known fact about vacuum tubes). My amp is the focal point of my living room. I love the look in the light. In the dark, the glowing tubes and twin VU meters are just art! Again, since the early-80s, I've dreamed of a tube amp. $1300 is a lot of money, but an incredible value for what you get, considering what boutique tube amps cost. Don't let the "Made in China" scare you on the quality. It is excellent. The biggest negative that the YouTube reviewer had was servicing (because it comes from China). I disagree. Since it's basically 1950's era technology (that is, it runs on vacuum tubes), I would argue that service should be easy to find no matter where you live. By no means am I criticizing the 1950s era technology, I just mean to say that it's relative simple compared to the most modern solid state amps.

I spent a couple of weeks looking at and reading about Chinese tube amps after giving up on trying to find a good used vintage one for fear of what lurks in 50+ year old circuitry and realizing that modern materials/components are much better than they were in the 1950s-1970s anyways so unless I spent alot of money on an old one that has been completely rebuilt with modern components then it really wasn't worth it for any reason other than nastalgia. I like nastalgia and all but I am a practical man so I decided to get something new without spending more than $800. While shoppinhg around I quickly realized that my price cap was unrealistic for the feature set that I needed. It had to be: Class A-B with an ultra linear/triode switch and a phono preamp stage and of course power output, distortion, signal to noise ratio etc. were also being taken into consideration and of course it had to have at least one analogue meter. The remote wasn't a requirement but it is quite the luxury on an amp such as this, I would not have gotten a remote had I bought that Citation II I was eying on Ebay. After a lot of searching I found the X7, it looks great with a retro sort of style as if it were made for people like me who are craving whatever it was in the sound and presense of the amps we experienced when we were younger. The experience of hearing the sound, feeling the warmth eminating from the cage and witnessing the equally warm orange glow of the tubes and of course the glowing dancing meters. The experience was enhanced by me only being 3 ft tall at the time so the glorious tube amp was almost at eye level so could feel the warmth on my face and not only on my hands. End tangent. The bottom line is the X7 was the least expensive one that met all of my requirements and much to my delight it looks fantastic as well. Upon reception I was immediately impressed by the quality feel of the amp. The feel of the weight of sturdy metals. The knobs feel nice to turn, there is a good amount of resistance which give them a quality feel. And of course, it was very well, no, it was meticulously packaged as something like this should be. The sound at first was good but a little raspy on the high end, after the 100 hour burn in period I couldn't stop smiling at the sound. It wasn't what I would consider perfect but it was very good, good enough to put a grin on my face. Plenty of power for my JBL Es90 s, sounds really good. I didn't like the port noise at the low end of the es90 s though so I added a powered sub. I didn't want to lose that elusive and magical tube sound on the low end so I bought a speaker to line level adapter from Crutchfield so the SA-1000 class ab amp powering the sub is amplifying the wave form being output by the tube amp and not the signal before it is passed throuth the tube preamp and amp stages. I think this is a good compromise and now the system is very loud if I want it to be but volume isn't the point of an amp like the X7, I wan't quality, I've had plenty of quantity. I didn't like the sound of my klipsch 3.2 s with this amp although they were very loud all by themselves since they have an spl of 94. My JBL studio 190 s sounded the best and there was no port noise to worry about but with an spl/sensitivy rating of 90 I had to turn the volume knob up almost all the way to get it to be what I consider to be enjoyably loud when I want to crank it up a little bit. No bleeding ears or anything like that, lol. The phono input sounds ok but not as good as I hoped and not as good as my 1992 Onky preamp. I am hoping that some future tube upgrades will resolve the issue. The upside though is that the preamp sounds excellent hooked up to the SB AE-9 in my PC. In fact, my 24 bit vinyl rips sound so good now on the X7 with no equalization whatsoever, (I can control the low end with the sub levels) that I wonder if I even need to play my records anymore. I still will though either way. The headphone output does not sound very good on my AKG K7xx headphones, I'm not sure if it is an impadance issue or what but the sound is very flat and needs heavy equalization for me to get any kind of good sound out of it. The headphone output and the less than excellent phono stage are the reasons why I only gave 4 stars but for the $1500 I spent on the X7 I don't think I could have gotten anything better and now I have a good excuse to get me a nice vincent phono preamp if I so desire. I needed an HDMI switcher for my set up. If you need one too I recomend this one. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0865Q2MTG?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details I recently hooked up my vintage Onky preamp and EQ to use in the phono stage and it is sounds much better, even with the new tubes.

(May 11th 2021) This has only got better in the almost 2 years I've owned it. I've swapped out 12ax7 and the 12au7 tubes with NOS 50's and the rectifier tube with a 1958 GE Copper. I also swapped out the KT88's for KT120's. (See updated photo) Is this something you need to do? The answer is no, but it has taken it to the next level. Don't listen to the very,very few bad reviews. This is on the level of Amplifiers well passed it's price. I'm a proud audiophile and I've been in this game for 40 years and heard and have had many great amp's and this is right up there with some of the best. Is this in a league with a $20,000 amp...NO but come on let's be real, but it hangs in with $4000 and $5000 ones with no problem. After 2 years of continuous play and that's almost everyday and not one issue, I'm saying again BUY IT!! You will not be sorry. Everything about this is mind blowing good!!! The build,the sound and the price. This is not your Yaqin or Nobsound. This unit is on par with Primaluna and I dare say a little better. You will not be sorry buying this or any Muzishare amp. Handmade with point to point wiring and nice and heavy. The imaging is breath taking. Warm smooth mids and tight bass and tons of air. It feels like your in the room. I play a wide range of music from rock,jazz,classic country and everything in between. I was listening to a recording that was recorded in a old cathedral in Germany and it took me there, I could almost smell it. I love this amp and you will also!!!! Get it before the price goes way up!!!!

What a beautiful and high quality piece of audio equipment! I love this amp, fantastic sound. That’s it, I don’t need anything else anymore. Attached to my Bower & Wilkins CDM 7 NT floor speakers, it’s like sitting in front of a jazz combo, or trio. So lively! And even the aluminum remote is just beautiful. Precision made.

JUNK. During my 100 hour burn in (Checked bias twice) the right VU meter would NOT FUCTION properly.The GZ34 tube started sparking as well. My wife, after seeing the sparks was so upset, fearing it would cause the house to catch fire (FIRE HAZARD) I am so DISAPPOITED that this amp never made it to the 100 hour burn in period without MALFUCTIONING. I suggest you make sure you get a 100 hour burn in BEFORE your 30 day return has expired. NOT RECOMMENDED. RETURNED !

So this is my first tube amp that's not a guitar amp, always had solid states, and my Marantz 2275 will be a hard act to follow. Did some research and landed on the Muzishare X7, for many reasons it's the one; both aesthetically, quality and sound. Boxed quite well, remote is a solid brick of aluminum, finish and gauges are gorgeous, super simple, to sound options, etc. Right, but HOW DOES IT SOUND....? Well It's only been playing for 2 days but I can say via a turntable, and old iPod it sounds pretty damn amazing. It's super clean, fills the room, multilayered, live, but also very studio sounding through my KLH Model 5s. Not sure if it'll grow louder as it breaks in but it's supposed to. But right outta the box it's pretty fantastic. I'm already researching tubes to roll but these seem perfectly adequate and depending on the rest of your components it may not even make sense to change em. If you want to blow the doors off your place it may not be what you're looking for, but it can easily keep up with a 75/100 watt per channel integrated SS amplifier. I was going to use a sep phono pre-amp but this one actually sounds pretty great. Very happy with this purchase and choice.

***UPDATE*** it's a bit of a pain, and you shouldn't have to do it, but disassembling the unit and spraying some CorrosionX (red can) into the volume pot substantially improved the noisy volume control. CorrosionX is safe for electronics, it is sprayed on circuit boards, so IMO it shouldn't cause problems, but do your own research. Also, the more I listened to the amp, the less i liked the sound. That's common in hi-fi, over time your ears can pick out more of the sonic ideosyncracies of the equipment you're listening to. I removed all of the stock tubes except the rectifier tube. I replaced all of them with Genelex Gold Lion, except the 12AX7 I swapped in JJ long plate that I had on-hand in another piece of equipment. This made a notable improvement in the sound quality. More spacious and less constrained, less honky, more open highs with a subtle touch of sparkle, and a lot more power in the bottom end, although you have to turn the volume up a little higher to reach the same levels. This aftermarket tube combo did result in a little bit of mid-bass congestion, that's the only real negative. Point is, if you really want good sound, plan on scrapping the stock tubes and spending a few hundred bucks on upgrades. ***UPDATE*** After just a couple of weeks and only a handful of hours of playback, my volume control developed static when rotating, and this got progressively worse over a day or so. Based on another customer's complaint of the same issue, I thought this worthy of note. ***UPDATE*** After the volume control became progressively more scratchy and static-y with less than one week of use, I ordered a replacement amp from Amazon. The second amp had the exact same problem right out of the box, noisy volume control on right channel. I deducted a star due to problems with multiple units. ***UPDATE 2*** The graduations on the VU meter for bias setting are different on my unit than pictured in the manual, as if they changed meter suppliers and the markings are different. I initially set it to the 40ma bias as recommended in the manual. But in the manual, this corresponds to a different position relative to the dB scale than my meters. So there's no way to know if I'm actually biased according to recommendation without opening the amp and taking measurements at the tube sockets. After several hours of critical listening with many different speakers, including a pair of Martin Logan Motion 4i speakers, I was beginning to like the sound of the amplifier less and less, such that I was becoming disappointed. Just kind of constrained and occasionally honky, like a caricature of tubey traits. But then I decided to try biasing the output tubes 10mA higher. This made a notable improvement in sound quality. I also replaced the stock JJ 12AX7 preamp tube with a JJ long plate I had in another device. This also improved the sound, a little more detail and crispness up top and firmer bottom. The build quality is indeed impeccable. The brushed aluminum faceplace, the controls, the remote, and the metallic blue finish are all top-notch. It is beautiful to look at, especially when it is lit up in the dark with the tube cage off. I find the sound to be good, but not excellent. The upper treble has a very smooth presentation, as is typical of tubes or MOSFET output devices. There is none of the harshness associated with many solid-state amps. The midbass is competent, tight for a tube amp and relatively substantive into efficient loads at lower volumes, and yet there is a touch of tubey roundness in that region as well The mids are dependent upon the speaker pairing, perhaps a little moreso than typical. I find there is a separation of multiple harmony vocals that lesser amplifiers cannot reproduce, and on certain recordings there is a breadth of soundstage that is tasty but not as good as other (solid state) amps I own that can be had at this price or less. Despite its power rating, and despite the advantageous characteristics of tubes when driven to their limits, this amp struggles at moderately elevated volume levels, especially on highly compressed recordings. Midrange distortion is notably apparent, even with smaller speakers, like 5.25 inch bookshelf models. However, if, you keep the meters from exceeding the 0db mark, this isn't an issue (I'm not sure whether the VU meters are calibrated such that 0db is rated power output or not, but I found this to be a good metric). Despite what the vendor proclaimed in response to a question, this amp is NOT suitable for driving Martin Logan electrostatics. I own a pair of Aerius i ML stats, and I tried this amp with them. A the 8 ohm terminals, the amp sounded extremely nasal and constrained. At the 4 ohm setting, it opened up quite a bit and sounded nice at low volumes, as in background music level. (The ML electrostatics are 8 ohms nominal, but dip to below 1 ohm at the high frequencies, which is why the amp sounded more open using the 4 ohm terminals). However, with either 4 or 8 ohm taps, there was a lot of midrange distortion when turned up above background levels. Not a good pairing for electrostatics. On multiple different speaker pairings, including Infinity bookshelf models, there could be bass distortion at relatively low levels in Ultralinear mode. Interestingly, on speakers with rolled off low end, the bass distortion wasn't perceptible. Interestingly, the best pairing I found for this amp was an old pair of Optimus bookshelf speakers with the 180 degree Linaeum tweeters atop. Those are some lousy speakers except for the tweeter, primarily due to excessively warm and colored midbass. But, the dispersion pattern of the Linaeum tweeters really let the amp sing in terms of imaging, soundstage, and holography. I think I will keep the amp as a piece of furniture and for listening to small speakers in the bedroom where a relaxed audio vibe is desirable. I think with the right pairing, such as an efficient speaker with excellent imaging and smooth mids and highs, this amp could sound very good. But, unless you are specifically looking for a touch of that tube sound, and are willing to pair with the exact best match of speaker for this amp's characteristics, and listen and low to moderate levels, I think higher levels of fidelity with a wider range of speakers can be obtained for a fraction of the cost from a good solid state amp. One final note: I own some amplifiers which are so remarkable sonically that you can hook the amp up to a lousy pair of cheap speakers, and the amp makes the speakers sound remarkably better. This is not that amp. But, if you can experiment with pairing until you find the right match, it is possible to get a taste of that sweet tube flavor at lower volumes with this product. And I suspect it can be improved by tube rolling if you have the time and the funds to go down that road.