AIYIMA A300 Review (Stereo Amplifier)

[whazzup]

Me I find this a nice set of features and decent power at a very cheap price. Probably sound OK for most. What surprises me tough is that the company would send that in for testing. They should really know by now the high standards expected here and that they would have got a poor review? Unless they are so small that they can’t afford measurment equipment but it would surprise me even more, they must be selling tons of these things.

Their product is mentioned, reviewed, and certified, on one of the top audio forums (as ranked by google). $200-ish (marketing) dollars well spent.

 

[Walter]

If this just had even 10dB higher SNR, I think it would be a winner for casual usage. Most people probably can't hear the distortion--although it is close to the borderline for that. As it is, probably only suitable for use in a really limited scenario--a workshop or other noisy or large room, in a situation where ground loops or EMI are an issue.

 

[Rja4000]

If they could decrease this 2nd harmonic spike by 6dB (or more) without lowering the power, that would make it a killer deal.

I guess it's a compromise between SINAD (THD here) and power output.
Power is more important commercially on a spec sheet than an additional 0 in the THD figure, I guess.

 

[Vict0r]

Not fantastic, but definitely not terrible. The sub out is a nice inclusion. I think a slight price decrease would go a long way to manage expectations better.

 

[DSJR]

The second harmonic level is actually pretty good in terms of domestic audio gear of just a few years back, the rest at least as good or actually rather better than most traditional amps. The price is silly low (how much is a really nice meal out for two including drinks - or these days, an SUV (posh van) tank-full of fuel, at least at UK fuel prices currently with diesel at £1.51 per litre?) This little box is a nice cheap tool to do the job and I feel it does it quite well (can -70dB second harmonic ever really be heard? - I discovered I can't hear -48dB second order distortion for what it's worth!!!). You want to get the hobby based emotions and SINAD-worship going, then you'll need to spend more I'm afraid...

Good lord, it wasn't that long ago that -40dB distortion on valve amps was *praised* by the once revered UK 'guru/engineer' Martin Colloms who helped to promote the subjective side over the p*ss poor measurements he achieved on many of his 'reference' audio amps with silly numerical scores

 

[Vict0r]

The second harmonic level is actually pretty good in terms of domestic audio gear of just a few years back, the rest better than most traditional amps. The price is silly low (how much is a really nice meal out for two including drinks - or these days, an SUV (posh van) tank-full of fuel? This little box is a nice cheap tool to do the job and I feel it does it quite well (can -70dB seconf harmonic ever really be heard?). You want to get the hobby based emotions and SINAD worship going, then you'll need to spend more I'm afraid...

Good lord, it wasn't that long ago that -40dB distortion on valve amps was *praised* by the once revered UK 'guru/engineer' Martin Colloms who helped to promote the subjective side over the p*ss poor measurements he achieved on many of his 'reference' audio amps with silly numerical scores

That's a reasonable perspective. It's easy to lose track of real world value when there are so many affordable chart toppers out there these days, though, but you're right. I mean, you could spend 10x this amount on a worse amplifier...

 

[pma]

What surprises me tough is that the company would send that in for testing. They should really know by now the high standards expected here and that they would have got a poor review?

A kind of advertising, IMO. AIYIYMA always gets quite positive review and feedback here. Poor product, to me.

 

[mdsimon2]

If they could decrease this 2nd harmonic spike by 6dB (or more) without lowering the power, that would make it a killer deal.

I guess it's a compromise between SINAD (THD here) and power output.
Power is more important commercially on a spec sheet than an additional 0 in the THD figure, I guess.

Don’t forget that noise performance is also mediocre which likely will be audible with normal sensitivity speakers.

Honestly overall a rather poor product.

Michael

 

[MarkWinston]

Gave it a headless panther for load dependency and noise. Aiyima, get your act together. You have a good reputation which isnt easy to obtain, dont mess that up with products like these. I know you can do better!

 

[DSJR]

A kind of advertising, IMO. AIYIYMA always gets quite positive review and feedback here. Poor product, to me.

I'm seriously not challenging here and asking politely. Can you list a handful of sub $200 alternatives that would perform better on the bench and with similar power output and facilities?

Noise isn't an issue in the real world as I doubt this little box would ever drive very efficient speakers (more like mid to upper 80dB smaller two ways on a desktop or small-room stereo system) and I'm darned if anyone here could remotely hear -70dB second harmonic through speakers or even headphones in all honesty... The Topping reference is double the price and only has balanced inputs with corresponding low sensitivity.

Maybe 'we're' looking too low in price as no 'audiophile/audiophool' worth their salt would ever stoop as low as this...

 

[somebodyelse]

Gave it a headless panther for load dependency and noise. Aiyima, get your act together. You have a good reputation which isnt easy to obtain, dont mess that up with products like these. I know you can do better!

I don't think they've earned a good reputation yet. We've not seen many of their products measured. So far all their amps measured have had similar load dependence, and this one is better than the A05 for distortion and similar for noise. The A07 and closely related A04 are better, but stand out for being good value rather than for absolute performance. Both this one and the A07 are sold as 3x300W amps while delivering ~100W - perhaps not as far short as the Carver recently, but a long way from honest, even if it is universal in the "cheap amps on ebay/ali" segment of the market.

 

[PeteL]

Maybe it's more for testing our response than the unit itself?
You can't have market research more cost effective than this way, even if it will be limited to our "bubble »

Their product is mentioned, reviewed, and certified, on one of the top audio forums (as ranked by google). $200-ish (marketing) dollars well spent.

In my book there is no such thing as a bad review being good for business, People look for reviews before purchasing, ASR don’t recommend this product. Testing our response to a product that measures poorly? They know what the response will be. But more than that it’s not limited to »Our bubble » eveybody will get that on their google search. No of course you cannot control everything, but willfully sending a poor measuring product to be reviewed here is not a smart move. If you want to do marketing, go and do it with a segment of the market that you know is not measurment saavy.

 

[respice finem]

IDK... If I were the manufacturer, I would be interested in what the potential customers regard as the main shortcomings, not for the current product necessarily, but for "ver. 2.0" or future products. If they weren't, they probably would never send it in, because they know very well, how it performs.

 

[Ryogo]

@amirm was it tested in "direct" or "tone" mode? I believe "tone" mode may introduce some performance impact.

 

[whazzup]

In my book there is no such thing as a bad review being good for business, People look for reviews before purchasing, ASR don’t recommend this product. Testing our response to a product that measures poorly? They know what the response will be. But more than that it’s not limited to »Our bubble » eveybody will get that on their google search. No of course you cannot control everything, but willfully sending a poor measuring product to be reviewed here is not a smart move. If you want to do marketing, go and do it with a segment of the market that you know is not measurment saavy.

Hmm... not trying to be condescending, but I do not know how much you understand about digital marketing, and how important google searches (and being mentioned by different people/websites) is to a product.

There are different types and degrees of 'bad' reviews. For example, if bad reviews are really bad for business then many amazon vendors will be dead by now.

Amir doesn't recommend this product because of its average SINAD (amongst other things). But the low price papers over many of its flaws. For a lot of users though it's good enough. These include the many 'newbies' who come onto ASR asking about amps to buy, and with a tiny budget.

And yes, they are not measurement-savy. But Google 'tells' them ASR is the top audio forum, so they come here. And hey! They see the A300, which is within their budget! And the company is 'honest' enough to let their gear be measured/marketed at ASR (top audio forum! street cred yo~). And probably a few seasoned veterans of ASR will chime in and tell them it's 'good enough' for the price. Sounds familiar? Seen many threads like this at ASR?

Many purchasing bulletpoints are now checked in the prospective buyer's mind and it will likely lead to a sale.

Now what was that about a bad review again?

 

[PeteL]

Hmm... not trying to be condescending, but I do not know how much you understand about digital marketing, and how important google searches (and being mentioned by different people/websites) is to a product.

There are different types and degrees of 'bad' reviews. For example, if bad reviews are really bad for business then many amazon vendors will be dead by now.

Amir doesn't recommend this product because of its average SINAD (amongst other things). But the low price papers over many of its flaws. For many people it's good enough. The 'many people' here include the many 'newbies' who come onto ASR asking about amps to buy, and with a tiny budget.

And yes, they are not measurement-savy. But Google 'tells' them ASR is the top audio forum, so they come here. And hey! They see the A300, which is within their budget! And the company is 'honest' enough to let their gear be measured/marketed at ASR (top audio forum! street cred yo~). And probably a few seasoned veterans of ASR will chime in and tell them it's 'good enough' for the price. Sounds familiar? Seen many threads like this at ASR?

Many purchasing bulletpoints are now checked in the prospective buyer's mind and it will likely lead to a sale.

Now what was that about a bad review again?

I am not a digital marketing expert, but I’ve run a consumer audio company, and I have worked with many, today I am still emplyed for a much larger audio products company that I’ll keep private because I am not participating in this forum on their behalf, to answer your first quesstion.

Now, exactly, ASR is one of the Top audio forums. I highly doubt that the Beta consumer goes alltrough the thread, which is generally negative anyway. What’s worst than a bad review, a bad review that has a lot of reach. Yes they are not all equal, this one will sting more than an amazon review, specifically because it’s considered thrust worthy. The Beta consumer will google a product, will look at the first few reviews, won’t read it, will jump straight to conclusion, will read unrecommended, and moved on to the next amp that was on his list.

 

[Lambda]

@amirm Nice to see the addition of Peak Power.

 

[whazzup]

I am not a digital marketing expert, but I’ve run a consumer audio company, and I have worked with many, today I am still emplyed for a much larger audio products company that I’ll keep private because I am not participating in this forum on their behalf, to answer your first quesstion.

Now, exactly, ASR is one of the Top audio forums. I highly doubt that the Beta consumer goes alltrough the thread, which is generally negative anyway. What’s worst than a bad review, a bad review that has a lot of reach. Yes they are not all equal, this one will sting more than an amazon review, specifically because it’s considered thrust worthy. The Beta consumer will google a product, will look at the first few reviews, won’t read it, will jump straight to conclusion, will read unrecommended, and moved on to the next amp that was on his list.

Yes, some readers will do as what you said.
But you cannot deny that the scenario that I've just described is happening on a frequent enough basis. Just do a search here and see how often Aiyima products get mentioned. You will get your objective data
Which means, Aiyima's intended market segment is right here at ASR.

So as long as they can reach their intended market segment, why do they need to bother themselves with the other readers who are chasing SINAD and do not want their products?

I personally buy many products that are 'good enough, functional' and not class leading.
So I'm sure worldwide there're many like myself, who's looking for budget products and intelligent enough to read the fine print behind Amir's un-recommendation.

 

[MarkWinston]

I don't think they've earned a good reputation yet. We've not seen many of their products measured. So far all their amps measured have had similar load dependence, and this one is better than the A05 for distortion and similar for noise. The A07 and closely related A04 are better, but stand out for being good value rather than for absolute performance. Both this one and the A07 are sold as 3x300W amps while delivering ~100W - perhaps not as far short as the Carver recently, but a long way from honest, even if it is universal in the "cheap amps on ebay/ali" segment of the market.

One would think that if they can come up with such measurements for something that costs 60 bucks, things can only get better with a higher model. And Aiyima has a good reputation for cheap and above average measuring amps. They are screwing up their higher priced products, which is a damn shame.

 

[noel_fs]

Too expensive for a TDA amp, for some more you get hyperx which is in a different league.

im guessing thats a simply a $20 TDA board with a power supply and case, i dont think 180$ is justified.