Reviews on JungSon amp/preamp combo: JA-1/JA-99C


Any of you know the JungSon brand? Is it considered to be one of the better brands from China?
I came across these two reviews on Chinese made JungSon amp/preamp.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqFNrWEImEA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDV2expR2WE
 
Both reviews are very favorable. However, I wonder how much would I trust the reviews and reviewers. Has anybody tried this amp/preamp combo? 
Any input would be appreciated.
128x128ihcho

Showing 5 responses by ihcho

Thanks for your reply. That's pretty bad. You purchased more than one JungSon gears and they were all bad?

I did not know this brand, but just recently came across a youtube review from ZeroFidelity. I don't know the guy (Sean?) at ZeroFidelity, but he seems to know what he is talking about and he doesn't seem to be a guy who is going to review a junk product and give a favorable review. But we all know that most products coming from China have reliability and support issues even though they may be good in the beginning.
The second reviewer pretty said the same thing the first reviewer said.

More comments, both negative and positive, would be appreciated. 
But 20 years younger and dumber I decided to hope for the best.
I guess many of us fell into this trap.
In my case, it's not been that bad.
I've purchased one integrated tube amp (Yaqin MC10L, $550) and tube preamp/phono (Yaqin MS12B, $250) directly from China over 10 years ago. I played around with different tubes and it was fun to notice the difference of sound from different tubes. I also played around with bias adjusting after changing tubes each time, and I blew up few resistors and replaced them by myself, ... on MC10L. It sound pretty good overall, but I eventually sold it.
I don't use the preamp but I still have it. It sounds OK for under $300.
I see they are still sold new at around $1000 and $400. At least these two models did not seem to have as many problems as you had with what you bought from China. 
From reading online reviews, JungSon appeared to me to be at least as good as Yaqin in sound and build quality, and that's why I'd like to hear about them from Agon users. 
It appears that most of Agoners either have no experience on them, or just are not interested in talking about this Chinese brand, or any products from China.
My Plinius SA102 eventually died (due to my stupid mistake) and I needed a new (temporary) amp. I have a few spare amps (Nakamichi, Mitsubishi, and AR) but they are far inferior to Plinius.
Against millercarbon’s horrible experience with Jungson, I made a plunge and bought them. It took a less than a week to get to Michigan from China. Well, Jungson exceeded my expectation. I cannot say it is better than Plinius, but it is certainly better than my old Japanese amps and quite close to AR 150M.2 which cost 4 times more than Jungson 20 years ago.
My AR will go to eBay soon.
The preamp JA-1 is also very good, but certainly it has its limit compared to my other preamps (Plinuius M16 and PrimaLuna Diaglogue).
Jungson JA99C is rated as 80wpc class A, but it sounds as loud as 125wpc class A Plinius. I am not a big fan of Chinese audio products, but I cannot but give a big thumb up to Jungson amp. Hope its reliability is as good as its sound.
It will take a while to service my Plinius, but since then I will certainly enjoy Jungson. After I get Plinius serviced, Jungson will work in my second setup.

Have you contacted the seller? Well, many Chinese sellers don’t stay in business long to take care of after service, so you may be out of luck. That’s I’m worrying about too. When I addressed the possible repair situation to the seller (Mr. Yong Lee), he said I can send my amp to their service center in US.
I hope no such occasion occur in the near future. Even though you might not have bought yours from Yong Lee, you can still ask him about their repair center in US. His email is [email protected].
Yes, I see that you had a terrible experience with Jungson and Jungson dealer. I am not sure though whether it is an exceptional event or a rather widespread event. 
All I can say is, buyers of Jungson gears need to be aware of the reliability and after service issue. I knew those issues, and I still purchased them, so if something goes wrong and if I don't get proper service, I guess I was a fool and it is all my fault.