Aiyima A07 Max Amplifier Review

[donahana]

Warning, complete noob here but I do have a few questions.

Found a pair of Dali Oberon 1 locally but still quite lost as to which amplifier to use. It's for desktop usage so the smaller/lighter the better, if i can plug it into the TV via optical/BT it'd be nice though it's not mandatory, room is 10m², speakers are 90cm~ away or roughly 3m when watching TV though as said earlier, if not possible to use it on the TV as well it's not mandatory. Planning on adding a subwoofer later and keep it 2.1 forever.

I've searched for amplifiers locally but I've only found those huge integrated amps like the Marantz PM6007 ($675), Yamaha A-S301 ($550) and A-S501 ($845), Cambridge AXA35 ($510 or $380 used) , Onkyo A9110 ($575) etc which seem quite overkill for my case (as well as bulky) so I'm thinking of going with a more budget option and these chinese amps caught my eye.

Would this amp be an adequate choice considering I don't need a ton of connectivity for multiple devices or more power to fill a giant room? I've read and from the little I understood it seems I can just plug any active subwoofer on the aux out and be done with a great-sounding 2.1 setup. Did I get anything wrong? And are there any better or more interesting options with a budget of up to $200? What if I up that to $300 or $400? Also have a Topping DX1 if it helps in any way.

Just updating, got my Aiyima A07 Max about a month ago but the Oberon 1 arrived only today, really digging the sound though bass is non-existent compared to my S350DB (totally expected as that kit has a 8" subwoofer), currently running connected to my Topping DX1 DAC (DAC RCA to Amp RCA) though I plan on grabbing a D50 III for better connectivity. I'm still wondering what would be the way to go hooking up a subwoofer to the amp, was a bit confused regarding all the inputs (speaker-level, line-level, LFE) and which would be most appropriate, or could that maybe even change depending on the subwoofer model I end up choosing?

I'll list a few subwoofer options available in my country in case anyone can maybe recommend one of them or even something different, though others options might be either unavailable or extremely overpriced around here. Anyway, out of those, anything that stands out performance-wise?

JBL - A100P for $310, LSR310S for $490, A120P for $600
Polk - PSW10/PSW108/XT10 for $325, XT12 for $405, HTS10 for $555, R-120SW for $570, R-120SWi for $650, HTS12 for $700
Yamaha - NS-SW100 for $330, NS-SW200 for $455, NS-SW300 for $620
Cambridge - SX-20 for $390
Klipsch - R-100SW for $435, R12SW for $455, R-12SWi for $540
Jamo - J12 Sub for $440, C910 for $455, C912 for $585,
SpeakerCraft - SDSi-8 for $490, SDSi-10 for $650
Monitor Audio - MRW-10 for $555

 

[ShanSolo]

So I just received my A07 Max. Mine didn't come with the sticker seal and the box seems slightly damaged. Hoping it's not a refurb/return unit.

It seems they have updated some of the caps, looks like Nichicon caps (hopefully not knockoffs) vs ELNA in the previous versions.

Noticed that I have to have the volume pot almost at max to achieve the same volume that my x3700h gave at -3db for fronts. Also noticed something weird with the audio image a bit, like it was out of phase or something, but it may be cause I have not rerun Audyssey. Should probably test for crosstalk and volume variation. I read that the V3 monos seem to have an issue with reversed phases, I hope it's not the case here.

Sound wise it's definitely more clinical and bright/tinny than even the Denon, probably a class D vs A/B thing, easy to fix with some eq. No weird noises, unlike the Fosi TDA7498E that I had some time ago.

 

[ShanSolo]

Ok so I was right, phase was reversed on my A07 Max. Confirmed when running Audyssey. Simple fix, but still think its scummy they likely sent me a returned/defective unit.

 

[donahana]

Just updating, got my Aiyima A07 Max about a month ago but the Oberon 1 arrived only today, really digging the sound though bass is non-existent compared to my S350DB (totally expected as that kit has a 8" subwoofer), currently running connected to my Topping DX1 DAC (DAC RCA to Amp RCA) though I plan on grabbing a D50 III for better connectivity. I'm still wondering what would be the way to go hooking up a subwoofer to the amp, was a bit confused regarding all the inputs (speaker-level, line-level, LFE) and which would be most appropriate, or could that maybe even change depending on the subwoofer model I end up choosing?

I'll list a few subwoofer options available in my country in case anyone can maybe recommend one of them or even something different, though others options might be either unavailable or extremely overpriced around here. Anyway, out of those, anything that stands out performance-wise?

JBL - A100P for $310, LSR310S for $490, A120P for $600
Polk - PSW10/PSW108/XT10 for $325, XT12 for $405, HTS10 for $555, R-120SW for $570, R-120SWi for $650, HTS12 for $700
Yamaha - NS-SW100 for $330, NS-SW200 for $455, NS-SW300 for $620
Cambridge - SX-20 for $390
Klipsch - R-100SW for $435, R12SW for $455, R-12SWi for $540
Jamo - J12 Sub for $440, C910 for $455, C912 for $585,
SpeakerCraft - SDSi-8 for $490, SDSi-10 for $650
Monitor Audio - MRW-10 for $555

After researching a bit more and checking this subwoofer comparison sheet the KEF Kube 10b caught my eye, nice results as it seems to go quite low and it is compact-ish, ended up buying the 12b model instead as it was only $50 more, and I'm gonna connect the amp to the sub using a spare P2-RCA cable I found, though it's nice the subwoofer also got speaker-level inputs

 

[ShanSolo]

After researching a bit more and checking this subwoofer comparison sheet the KEF Kube 10b caught my eye, nice results as it seems to go quite low and it is compact-ish, ended up buying the 12b model instead as it was only $50 more, and I'm gonna connect the amp to the sub using a spare P2-RCA cable I found, though it's nice the subwoofer also got speaker-level inputs

10"s can only go so low, you might be interested in checking out your other 12 inch options if you want maximum extension.

Also ensure the sub has a built in or adjustable low pass cause the A07 max will send a full range signal to it.

 

[donahana]

10"s can only go so low, you might be interested in checking out your other 12 inch options if you want maximum extension.

Also ensure the sub has a built in or adjustable low pass cause the A07 max will send a full range signal to it.

Yeah, considering my 8" ported sub with 40hz spec was already quite good I'm thinking the 10b with 24hz spec would be more than enough considering it's a small 3x3m room, though I ended up going for the 12" as price was almost same as the 10", it might be a bit harder to fit in my room but worst case if it's indeed too overkill I might end up replacing for the 10" model. I'll only use it for music and I'm guessing it won't be a huge difference on the 10" vs 12", any of those two should be a very nice upgrade compared to my old sub!

 

[bundo]

Hey guys, long time lurker, first time poster here. I thought I'd share a newbie cheapo mod I did to my A07 max. I've been bothered by how uncomfortably warm (borderline hot) my small amplifier has been the past few weeks with the included 36V 6A PSU, and spent a few hours scouring amazon for a nice fat heat sink. The one I got was $17 CAD, and it arrived yesterday. I put on some Noctua cooling paste in an X pattern on top of the amplifier and spread it out with an old credit card before zip-tie'ing it all together.

I'm blown away by its performance; I left the unit on for over 24hrs, and the amplifier is still only lukewarm to touch. I think maybe it has reached a happy equilibrium where it's shedding nearly as much heat as it's generating. The chips and capacitors will be happy now

 

[donahana]

Hey guys, long time lurker, first time poster here. I thought I'd share a newbie cheapo mod I did to my A07 max. I've been bothered by how uncomfortably warm (borderline hot) my small amplifier has been the past few weeks with the included 36V 6A PSU, and spent a few hours scouring amazon for a nice fat heat sink. The one I got was $17 CAD, and it arrived yesterday. I put on some Noctua cooling paste in an X pattern on top of the amplifier and spread it out with an old credit card before zip-tie'ing it all together.

I'm blown away by its performance; I left the unit on for over 24hrs, and the amplifier is still only lukewarm to touch. I think maybe it has reached a happy equilibrium where it's shedding nearly as much heat as it's generating. The chips and capacitors will be happy now

Pretty interesting, been using mine for a few days and even with high-ish ambient temp (around 30c atm) and the same 36v 6a PSU mine only gets slightly warm at the top though I don't know about the internal temps, but it probably isn't hot cause I only use it for nearfield on my desktop setup so power draw should be quite low

Anyway, since I run it as a desktop setup and the amp is perforated (even if not much) at the bottom, I was considering keeping the amp on top of my PC case and mounting an exhaust fan at the top of case and that fan would blow directly on the amp, even if not much airflow gets through the holes I'm thinking just blowing some air into the amp should help some, I might add a heatsink later as well though I'd like to avoid the mess with thermal paste lol, maybe I'll grab some thin thermal-pads or thermal putty

 

[ShanSolo]

Yeah, considering my 8" ported sub with 40hz spec was already quite good I'm thinking the 10b with 24hz spec would be more than enough considering it's a small 3x3m room, though I ended up going for the 12" as price was almost same as the 10", it might be a bit harder to fit in my room but worst case if it's indeed too overkill I might end up replacing for the 10" model. I'll only use it for music and I'm guessing it won't be a huge difference on the 10" vs 12", any of those two should be a very nice upgrade compared to my old sub!

You can’t really go overkill with a sub lol. Bigger usually means deeper and you tend to feel that more with music. SPL can be easily turned down via gain but extension is limited to size most of the time.

Size and placement is unfortunately an issue for most, myself included. I have a Rythmik L12, would have went ported 12 inch if I had the space. Though it isn’t really an issue until pretty high volumes with bass heavy movie content.

 

[donahana]

You can’t really go overkill with a sub lol. Bigger usually means deeper and you tend to feel that more with music. SPL can be easily turned down via gain but extension is limited to size most of the time.

Size and placement is unfortunately an issue for most, myself included. I have a Rythmik L12, would have went ported 12 inch if I had the space. Though it isn’t really an issue until pretty high volumes with bass heavy movie content.

Oh yeah, I was just thinking that maybe even the smaller 10" model might already be able to play more than low enough for my needs as it seems to do pretty well according to the measurements. SPL-wise it'll definitely be way more than I'll ever need though the actual difference in bass extension is what I'm curious about, by spec it's only 2hz but in practice I'm not exactly sure how that'd translate, I'm led to believe it wouldn't make that much difference most of the time cause I'm not even sure how many songs on my library actually hit under 30hz

Once the 12b arrives I might grab the 10b as well to test within the 7-day period and if it suffices I might keep it but we'll see, it'd definitely be easier to fit in the room, even though 3x3m is not THAT small I'm also gonna have a queen-sized bed and an L-shaped desk which will take most of the space plus my PC case stays on the floor as well. Was planning on keeping it at the same place as my current sub but I'm thinking my chair wheels might hit it if I move around too much lol, those -4cm in height, width and depth from the 10" would help a little bit

 

[AIYIMA]

Ok so I was right, phase was reversed on my A07 Max. Confirmed when running Audyssey. Simple fix, but still think its scummy they likely sent me a returned/defective unit.

Please check if the speaker wires are reversed.

 

[ShanSolo]

Please check if the speaker wires are reversed.

They are not, I've double checked. The polarity of the speaker terminals on the A07 Max seem to be reversed.