3e audio TPA3255 260-2-29A Amplifier Review

[DavidMcRoy]

The little chip that could; amplifier designers striving to avoid spoiling this device's true nature

 

[WTW]

I’m not denying that your amps use pretty nice components, but yes, add PFFB, and you can easily ask $ 10 more if the implementation is done right.

This forum is always so mean and stingy with bids on MiC products（remember raising incomes, raising human rights?）

 

[lewdish]

Id like to see a manufactuer build a high performing budget multi channel amp using these tbh, im curious if a builder like VTV could bring something like it to the market.

 

[TNT]

Was the exact amp as reviewed ever orderable? Just curious.

I am just saying - if I glued some DIY components together in my garage workbench - would the ASR community be interested in measurements? Why?

And don't worry, I won't. I built a speaker as part of what was required in the TUM.de curriculum at the time in "industry practice" for your MS, and I trashed them, my commercial speakers were much better. The power supply I built as another project was much better, but also ended up in the trash. Not a hoarder.

No.

And if any company would take the included parts and make a product of it, they would probably not be able to sell it for 350USD... but quite a lot more....

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[TNT]

This is a DIY module, just like the Hypex Nilai modules, or other Pascal, IcePower etc... In essence, DIY takes on its full meaning

You are not on diyaudio now ;-)

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[daniboun]

No.

And if any company would take the included parts and make a product of it, they would probably not be able to sell it for 350USD... but quite a lot more....

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I think we will have the answer to this question very soon as I said in my previous post fingers X

 

[delta76]

If some company can build this and sell for less than 350$, it will be a home run. 120x2W at 4Ohm, with >100 SINAD, it's ASR wet dream
PA5 has less power than that and it was $350 before the inflation. if not because of the notorious failures, it would probably be in home of every ASR member now

 

[Hiten]

Not taking away anything from well made 3e amplifier. Just sharing from price point perspective.

Not R-N303BL as mentioned in previous post but R-N303D. Which I guess would be same.
Link : R-N303D measurements
Good upto 100K ? Power output 144/4 ohms and 113/8 ohms. No noise figures and 19+20khz measurements.
Regards.

 

[UAN]

The final price of the amplifier, including the housing, connectors, power supply, etc., will be close to the cost of, for example, PA7. But, the purchase of a branded amplifier is guaranteed by the manufacturer, and here...
I bought a 3E board and assembled an amplifier in a DIY case, the cheapest power supply 44 V, 9A from Ali’s website. I paid about $200 for everything.
Very satisfied.
This product is interesting for DIY projects.

 

[daniboun]

Not taking away anything from well made 3e amplifier. Just sharing from price point perspective.

Not R-N303BL as mentioned in previous post but R-N303D. Which I guess would be same.
Link : R-N303D measurements
Good upto 100K ? Power output 144/4 ohms and 113/8 ohms. No noise figures and 19+20khz measurements.
Regards.

Ok. I only found this for the big brother R-N803 ...

https://audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/yamaha-r-n803-smart-receiver-review.13830/

 

[RickS]

Id like to see a manufacturer build a high performing budget multi channel amp using these tbh, im curious if a builder like VTV could bring something like it to the market.

Can ask @Buckeye Amps as he participates here. I suspect there may not be sufficient margin in it. For example, Hypex already has OEM amp modules that already compete favorably with these and still do not see any of the major vendors with a multichannel offering. Individual amp modules mean more wiring in a multichannel amp and this pushes up labor costs. Monoprice might be a more likely candidate as high volumes would be needed along with low labor rates.

For the DIY market, like these modules offer great performance alternatives at reasonable prices. Dealing with certifications, support and shipping add further costs for real manufacturers that DIY avoids. Direct sales can reduce some of the overhead, but some costs are simply unavoidable.

 

[daniboun]

Can ask @Buckeye Amps as he participates here. I suspect there may not be sufficient margin in it. For example, Hypex already has OEM amp modules that already compete favorably with these and still do not see any of the major vendors with a multichannel offering. Individual amp modules mean more wiring in a multichannel amp and this pushes up labor costs. Monoprice might be a more likely candidate as high volumes would be needed along with low labor rates.

For the DIY market, like these modules offer great performance alternatives at reasonable prices. Dealing with certifications, support and shipping add further costs for real manufacturers that DIY avoids. Direct sales can reduce some of the overhead, but some costs are simply unavoidable.

The margins applied by manufacturers vary greatly from one assembler to another.... A good example here for the same Stereo module amp :

Buckeye NC252MP = 600€
Boxem NC252MP = 750€
Audiophonics NC252MP = 479€
VTV NC252MP = 600€

The biggest difference comes close to €271 which is huge...Knowing that at €479 Audiophonics already generates a very generous margin...

 

[RickS]

The margins applied by manufacturers vary greatly from one assembler to another.... A good example here for the same Stereo module amp :

Buckeye NC252MP = 600€
Boxem NC252MP = 750€
Audiophonics NC252MP = 479€
VTV NC252MP = 600€

The biggest difference comes close to €271 which is huge...Knowing that at €479 Audiophonics already generates a very generous margin...

Audiophonics likely has some margin room with larger volumes but is also not doing much feature value add as others. Buckeye and Boxem also add a more personal touch to their offerings by participating here.

Given their size, Audiophonics can play with margin in ways that the smaller companies cannot. They are more like Parts Express and can sacrifice margin on one product to make it up elsewhere.

 

[Matias]

I recall what I shared, if we consider its performance/quality/price ratio, here is its position compared to the competition :

It fares better when looking only at 1kHz SINAD, but multitone and IMD is still a little behind NCore imo. But yes, still very competitive performance, and outstanding when factoring the price.

 

[Matias]

And correcting myself: when we consider that musical signal is much less intense in level in the treble than mids and bass, than psychoacoustically the e3 has less audible noise and distortion than NCore when using real music. So yes, it was a smart choice they made imo.

 

[arsy]

I think we will have the answer to this question very soon as I said in my previous post fingers X

Tagged you for this. I’m not a DIYer so any information regarding finished product is the one that I’m looking for.

 

[daniboun]

Tagged you for this. I’m not a DIYer so any information regarding finished product is the one that I’m looking for.

I sent you a message, if anyone in Europe was interested in my 3E Audio that I built for this Thread, I'm selling it to start a new dual Mono project )

 

[musicforcities]

Nice to see continued innovation of these chipset based amps. Great performance. Though I am not certain that the SNAID and increased power would be noticeable for many uses compared to a fosi v3 or a topping pa5ii or pa7…and for a complete build one is getting close to hypex based builds. Still very interesting.

What would be amazing would be a module with inputs and outputs included or on a modular card that one could simply pop into a standard rackmountabke modular enclosure that could take multiple modules for multichannel while only needing one power cord. Then again, these things are small enough.,.

 

[daniboun]

Nice to see continued innovation of these chipset based amps. Great performance. Though I am not certain that the SNAID and increased power would be noticeable for many uses compared to a fosi v3 or a topping pa5ii or pa7…and for a complete build one is getting close to hypex based builds. Still very interesting.

What would be amazing would be a module with inputs and outputs included or on a modular card that one could simply pop into a standard rackmountabke modular enclosure that could take multiple modules for multichannel while only needing one power cord. Then again, these things are small enough.,.

just to summarize

Max Power :

3e Audio 260-2-29A (51V PSU)
92W /8R
144W / 4R

FOSI V3 (48V PSU)
89W / 8R
141W / 4R

PA5 II (38V PSU)
53W / 8R
71W / 4R

PA7 Plus Dual TPA3255 (52V PSU)
107W / 8R
191W / 4R

AIYIMA A07 Max (36V PSU)
40W / 8R
75W / 4R

 

[Tangram]

No.

And if any company would take the included parts and make a product of it, they would probably not be able to sell it for 350USD... but quite a lot more....

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TPA3255 Class D Stereo Amplifier WiFi DLNA AirPlay 2 Chromecast Bluetooth 5.0 2x100W 4 Ohm Grey​