I am struggling with returning this amp, in the midst of a paradigm shift: chinese junk has become on par with high end, how can it get better than this? What would other types of tube amps of better quality offer?A Chinese amp is usually made from lower quality parts, if what we've been seeing is any example.
As to how much better it can get, if you understand that tubes can indeed bring a lot to the table, then as a warning: the sky is the limit.
Quik Tips 101:
SETs have a lot more bloom than push-pull but don't have as much power or as much bandwidth. OTLs dispense with the output transformer and are thus even wider bandwidth and lower distortion, but you have to be more careful about what speaker you use. In all cases, different tubes used can change the sound- often making it considerably better! Also in all cases, avoid 4 ohm speakers if you want the best return from your tube amplifier dollar investment (the same is true of solid state though...). Keep you speaker cables short- longer cables reduce bass impact and resolution. Tubes can fail at inopportune times- keep a few spares on hand. Google is your friend- some amps are far more reliable than others.
Above all have fun and don't make yourself crazy auditioning the various brands and vintages of tubes that work in your amps- get it so that it sounds right and then spend the money on more music. Also, if you like what a tube amp can do, tube preamps do that too!!