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Dual DA10004D Review (Car Amplifier)

Beershaun

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Even a car stereo with an external amp likely has speakers with lightweight cheap speakers with small magnets and flexi cones. Which are designed for high sensitivity and efficiency at the expense of linearity and distortion. Every OEM is building to a price point first. My bose 10" in-door woofers weigh less than the 6.5" mid-range Morel's I replaced them with and have less "impact" (the speaker is starting and stopping faster accelerating the air faster causing a physical acceleration in my ear drums when reproducing a kick drum) and less clarity (I can hear the pluck of a bass guitar string and hear when it stops vibrating more precisely because the speaker is stopping and starting more quickly and more linearly reproducing the actual note as it was played) when reproducing mid-bass and bass notes.
 
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amirm

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Indeed. The drivers in the doors in my Mercedes Sprinter Van must have cost $1. Replaced them with $10 JBL speakers and the impact was huge! Sadly there is so little space in there, combined with custom holes that the JBL and an ebay adapter was all I could do.
 

Willem

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I drive a 1998 low mileage Peugeot 406. It is an elegant, reliable and comfortable car with excellent handling. However, when I bought it three years ago the stereo was still original, with a cassette player but not BT to stream to the head unit. The original speakers were HK, and quite decent. I did not want to spend big money on a car, so I bought a Pioneer MVH-X580DAB head unit to replace the original one. I can now stream Spotify, listen to internet radio, etc. The biggest sonic improvement was from the built in DAB+ tuner for digital radio. I don't know about digital radio in the US, but here in Europe this is increasingly becoming the de facto standard for car radio, and I can only say the audio quality is much better than in car FM. Sonically the DAB+ is a bit better than the BT. I did consider adding a power amplifier and modern speakers etc, but decided against it. Sonically a car interior is inevitably problematic, and I drive an old car to save money and not to throw money at it (I find cars boring so the less I spend on them the better). But the digital radio was worth it. Is there DAB+ in the US as well?
 

virtua

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I remember when I was more into car audio, these types of tests on YouTube were the only way you could determine how good an amp was, mainly if it delivered the power stated. I wonder if it would be possible to determine just how accurate the SMD AD-1 Amp Dyno they use is (that's the reference piece of equipment everyone seems to use).
 

Beershaun

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I drive a 1998 low mileage Peugeot 406. It is an elegant, reliable and comfortable car with excellent handling. However, when I bought it three years ago the stereo was still original, with a cassette player but not BT to stream to the head unit. The original speakers were HK, and quite decent. I did not want to spend big money on a car, so I bought a Pioneer MVH-X580DAB head unit to replace the original one. I can now stream Spotify, listen to internet radio, etc. The biggest sonic improvement was from the built in DAB+ tuner for digital radio. I don't know about digital radio in the US, but here in Europe this is increasingly becoming the de facto standard for car radio, and I can only say the audio quality is much better than in car FM. Sonically the DAB+ is a bit better than the BT. I did consider adding a power amplifier and modern speakers etc, but decided against it. Sonically a car interior is inevitably problematic, and I drive an old car to save money and not to throw money at it (I find cars boring so the less I spend on them the better). But the digital radio was worth it. Is there DAB+ in the US as well?
+1. "HD" radio in the US is widespread and much better. Also I was very happy replacing my 2015 oem head unit with a modern after market one. As manufacturers have gotten more complex with head units with voice command navigation Bluetooth, they have fallen behind smartphones due to the age and lead time of the technology and product life cycles they use. My oem head unit was outdated and problematic when it was new and in 2020 it was archaic. The replacement is so much better with Bluetooth and allows me to use Android auto wirelessly! It's fantastic.
 

Pdxwayne

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Amir, try testing some JL amps next. At least in my local shops, JL typically is the more premium, more expensive brand. I have the XD700/5v2.
 

nerdstrike

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Every OEM is building to a price point first. My bose 10" in-door woofers weigh less than the 6.5" mid-range Morel's

The rear speakers fitted to GT86/FRS/BRZ sound like the teacher in the peanuts cartoon. They added a kilogram to a weight conscious car for unintelligible noise!

I'm delighted to see a little effort going into car audio, just to see how bad/good some of it is. Cars are terrible environments for audio even on a good day!
 

Katji

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I love the battery box :)

The amp is good value for money...
 

Wes

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Newer (and higher end) stock car stereo may have multiple amplifiers to drive multiple speakers. All of it may use DSP and mounting locations unavailable to most DIYers.

There are some threads on this you can search up and bump for more.
 

jannek

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Before getting (back) into home hifi I spent about the last ten years with car hifi (sound quality only). Of course there are the "x000 watts" (peak power) amps with fancy blingbling cooling fins and some electronics inside which seem misplaced somehow ... Good example: https://amp-performance.de/790-First-Austria-1800W.html
1800w claimed, 4x14w measured...
This page is sort of an ancestor of ASR in car audio by the way.
But it has to be mentioned that there has been a LOT of improvement made at (serious) car amps in the last years. Especially at class D amps, which have a lot of advantages in car hifi because of size and efficiency. These were pretty horrible at the beginning but have improved so much that they outperform most class AB amps at a comparable price distortion wise.
One of the first class D amps measuring really good (and being known and sold worldwide) was Alpine's PDX series, especially the F6, but there were a lot more recently which raised the bar.
In general, serious Sound Quality car audio is a lot underestimated by the most, because it uses digital filtering, equalization and time correction for every single chassis and takes chassis, surrounding and "room" of the specific installation into account. A lot more than most home hifiers do for their highend listening place.
If anyone has the chance to get a test listening in a serious SQ car (forget 99% of OEM stuff, no matter what it cost), use it and put your prejudice to the test. Car audio is not only boooom and 140dB with neon lights.
 
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michaelahess

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Returning to car audio you mean:
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...undigital-sd-600-1d-nano-car-amplifier.11521/

I wish someone could send an Alpine PDX-V9 for testing. Specs are promissing.

CEA-2006 Power Rating: 100W RMS x 4 + 500W RMS x 1 (4-ohm/2-ohm, 14.4V at <1% THD+N)
THD+N (10W into 4 Ohms) for CH-1/2/3/4: <0.005 %
THD+N (10W into 4 Ohms) for Subwoofer: <0.006 %
THD+N (Rated Power into 4 Ohms) for CH-1/2/3/4: <0.03 %
THD+N (Rated Power into 4 Ohms) for Subwoofer: <0.05 %
Damping Factor for CH-1/2/3/4: >500 into 4 ohms at 100Hz
Damping Factor for Subwoofer: >1000 into 4 ohms at 100Hz
Signal to Noise (Rated Power into 4 Ohms) for CH-1/2/3/4: 112 dB
Signal to Noise (Rated Power into 4 Ohms) for Subwoofer: 119 dB
Weight: 2.7 kg

Bought one of these in 2012 for $455 for my BRZ. Has an alpine DSP on it, with bi-amped Moral Elates, has been fantastic!
 

JWAmerica

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I believe Rockville has a number of class D amplifiers that are inexpensive. Would be interesting to see how they perform compared to the TPA3255.
 

dinglehoser

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Returning to car audio you mean:
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...undigital-sd-600-1d-nano-car-amplifier.11521/

I wish someone could send an Alpine PDX-V9 for testing. Specs are promissing.

CEA-2006 Power Rating: 100W RMS x 4 + 500W RMS x 1 (4-ohm/2-ohm, 14.4V at <1% THD+N)
THD+N (10W into 4 Ohms) for CH-1/2/3/4: <0.005 %
THD+N (10W into 4 Ohms) for Subwoofer: <0.006 %
THD+N (Rated Power into 4 Ohms) for CH-1/2/3/4: <0.03 %
THD+N (Rated Power into 4 Ohms) for Subwoofer: <0.05 %
Damping Factor for CH-1/2/3/4: >500 into 4 ohms at 100Hz
Damping Factor for Subwoofer: >1000 into 4 ohms at 100Hz
Signal to Noise (Rated Power into 4 Ohms) for CH-1/2/3/4: 112 dB
Signal to Noise (Rated Power into 4 Ohms) for Subwoofer: 119 dB
Weight: 2.7 kg

I have the cheap-and-cheerful little sibling to the V9, the PDR-V75, in my pickup truck. I had the V9 in a different car. Apples to oranges obviously, but subjectively, I can't tell the difference between them from a power and noise floor perspective even though the stats for the V75 are quite a bit worse than that of the V9. Not a bad problem to have, given that one can frequently find the V75 for ~$200 used on eBay. It's also quiet, takes no more space than a large paperback book, and dissipates very little waste heat.

More broadly, given the irretrievably horrendous acoustic environment in car audio (phase problems, cabin modes, leaky and nearly unmodelable baffles, a minimum noise floor of ~60-70dBA at motorway speeds, the list goes on ...), IMO the primary considerations for car audio amps differ than that of home (or pro) audio. (I acknowledge I'm almost certainly preaching to the choir here.) Personally, I look for the following, in descending order of importance: a) thermal and electrical reliability/stability, b) outright power, c) efficiency, d) good-enough measured distortion/noise floor characteristics (particularly the latter, esp if the amp is powerful.) Then a DSP takes as much care as it can of the rest ...
 

Jdunk54nl

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I have the cheap-and-cheerful little sibling to the V9, the PDR-V75, in my pickup truck. I had the V9 in a different car. Apples to oranges obviously, but subjectively, I can't tell the difference between them from a power and noise floor perspective even though the stats for the V75 are quite a bit worse than that of the V9. Not a bad problem to have, given that one can frequently find the V75 for ~$200 used on eBay. It's also quiet, takes no more space than a large paperback book, and dissipates very little waste heat.

Agreed, I have a pdx-v9 and pdx-f6 in my truck and installed a v75 in my wifes suv. Both are great. I would love to send it to Amir, but don't want to be without music in the truck for that long ;).

Maybe next month I will convince a friend to bring their audio precision device to measure it, we still need to get an AES filter for it. It would be interesting to know the results.
 
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amirm

amirm

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Agreed, I have a pdx-v9 and pdx-f6 in my truck and installed a v75 in my wifes suv. Both are great. I would love to send it to Amir, but don't want to be without music in the truck for that long ;)
If we make advance arrangement I can turn it around quickly.
 

Rottmannash

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Indeed. The drivers in the doors in my Mercedes Sprinter Van must have cost $1. Replaced them with $10 JBL speakers and the impact was huge! Sadly there is so little space in there, combined with custom holes that the JBL and an ebay adapter was all I could do.
I did the same w/ my Hyundai Sonata-replaced the cheap in-door speakers w/ an old but still working pair of MB Quart separates w/ a nice crossover and the difference was truly shocking. The head unit must have a bit of power, as they drive the MB Q's fairly well but not what I'd like but don't want to go the full head unit/crossover/separate amp switcheroo like I've done so many times in the past.
 
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