Aiyima A07 Pro Amplifier Review

[TheBatsEar]

there is no "off" button on genius

I don't get your answer. The switch is set to off and yet the amp is powered on, as is indicated by the blue LED near the input switch.

 

[badspeakerdesigner]

I voted poor as it has load dependency. My experience with that ranges from making a speaker brighter, to making a speaker an unlistenable mosquito sounding machine. No excuse for it anymore, it needs fixed in these cheaper amps.

This is how c-notes reacted to an A07 (only tweeter is measured here). Totally unacceptable and should not get a pass.

 

[seangh]

there is no "off" button on genius

Power is off when BT is selected - or at least there no blue light. Just happened to pick this up couple days ago. Like it.

 

[T&T]

I prefer the Pro, I know the measurements but for me 2 things are important music have to sound like you are in a live concert, voices have to be clear and understand what the singer is saying...so selling the 07 non Pro.

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[Guddu]

My Aiyima A07 Pro Always ON

I have one but doesn’t have this issue,

 

[AIYIMA]

My Aiyima A07 Pro Always ON

Can you give me your order number?

 

[AIYIMA]

Did you try the Bluetooth input as I thought the Bluetooth caused mine to get a worse output compared to RCA? As in some audible noise

Bluetooth has also been optimized and there will be no more noise.

 

[AIYIMA]

Thanks for this review Amir, I was really curious.
Unfortunately the tone controls are only great if well implemented and easily bypassed. So finding the flat answer is a matter of luck and not good. @AIYIMA is inspired by @Fosi Audio , which has implemented the central block of controls in the flat position as suggested by users.
Also the original O7 had low load dependency, here it is much more noticeable (because of the tone control circuits?)
In any case I prefer to have a better response like the original Aiyima a07 and possibly modify the response via software (even if only with an android 10-band equalizer).
Half well. Rating not terrible
@Fosi Audio is replacing Aiyima in the low cost and decent quality class D implementation

In fact, this A07PRO was designed and approved in 2022, and the tuning took 4 months.

 

[AIYIMA]

The A07 Pro is a renewed version of the previous model, but I feel that the characteristics are not much different from the A07 and A08 Pro.
When using the A07, I sometimes feel the need for tone control. The A07 Pro is perfect to eliminate such dissatisfaction.
It's just a pity that I can't bypass the tone control.

When all knob pointers are at 0 o'clock, it's tone control defeat.

 

[audiotron]

In your dreams!

I have 2 Aiyima A07 one is stock and the other one with OPA2604. I can tell you that the OPA2604 version sounds way better when compared side by side. No dreams there!

 

[TonyJZX]

oof

op amp heresy

 

[laudio]

Interesting that tech/subjective reviewers-cum-gurus like Martin Colloms back then, always highly rated most of the worst measuring amps in his reviews, yet at the time, the better measuring (for IMD not just harmonic distortion) amps all sounded lean toned, 'thin' and with odd bass. The only 1980's exceptions being UK-Audiolab and a couple of high output current HK amps of the times, which to me all sounded very similar. It's reviews like these which robbed the UK market of so many otherwise nice amps I feel and mostly because of the religion surrounding two UK makes in particular which I was part of I admit at the time.

This little amp isn't at the top of the sinad tree, but come on fella's, even with iffy tone controls, the basic performance is at least equal to so many of the recommended 'budget audiophile' brands of the past and as so many of 'us' have desktop systems these days with a sodding great screen in between the speakers, I think it's a real bargain.

For UK buyers interested in a more European flavoured version (which sadly costs double), the BK Peardrop Class D amp may well be worth a good look. It used to have a generally good Paschal based? plate amp as its heart - and it's available on UK eBay as well -

Peerless

It's middle of the pack on SINAD on power, has decent power, costs less than $100, and has tone controls. Nobody buys these kinds of amps looking for a "defeatable" tone control (nonsense), they buy them because they want some tone controls with their crap little speakers lol and that's that. You dial them in until it sounds right. Seems decent to me, although the Fosi that was reviewed earlier seemed better... in any case at this price point does it matter?

 

[TonyJZX]

thing is they dont do tone controls that well

on cheaper devices the swings on bass treble arent smooth like you'd expect on say... a 30 yr NAD 3020

i'd always think you're better off doing that in digital on your dac if possible or preamp

at $90 ask the manufacturer to do LESS but do LESS better

if you ask them to add 'more shit' then they will add more stuff, badly. Fosi seems to have the right idea with their crowd funded V3.

But end of the day, you're right, people will hook then up to cheap $99 Daytons or whatever and then what does it matter.

 

[grogi.giant]

As usual, they list different power levels, depending on the selected Power Supply.

(I guess the power figures listed are for 10%THD, so to be taken with a serious pinch of salt)
NB: High current PS seem to include a fan as well, so not really ideal for "normal" use.

We see on Amir's photo the reviewed sample was with 36V 6A power supply.

View attachment 286734

Max output - 10% THD
Rated output - 1% THD

However, those figures are somehow controversial and contradictory to official specification of TPA3255.

 

[Jukka]

@amirm How long have you had powercube (or similar) and is it at all possible to have previously tested amps go through it?

Most people who hate ASR (and anything new) say that amps will behave differently under "real" loads and powercube gives an idea of capability into more difficult loads. I'm sure most here would like to see this aspect of the top tier amps on the sinad list.

 

[RDoc]

I voted poor as it has load dependency. My experience with that ranges from making a speaker brighter, to making a speaker an unlistenable mosquito sounding machine. No excuse for it anymore, it needs fixed in these cheaper amps.

This is how c-notes reacted to an A07 (only tweeter is measured here). Totally unacceptable and should not get a pass.


View attachment 287135

How did you get that curve? With which other amplifiers have you made the same measurements, and what did they look like?

A single curve with no information about how it was measured isn't very useful.

 

[AudioSceptic]

Do these Aiyimas match-up with a state of the art Purifi or Hypex amp? Of course not. But for someone just getting into hifi on a limited budget, 50+ watts of clean power for under $100 is an insane bargain.

As a college kid, my first real amp was a Harman-Kardon Citation 12 (60W) and preamp that probably cost me $500 in 1979 dollars.

These little Class D amps are hard to beat.

I think the makers of these tiny amps with large external PSes are missing a trick. Instead of an ugly PS that you want to hide away, they should take a leaf out of the "high-end" book and put it in a nice metal case styled to match the amp itself, which you actually want on show, and charge a bit more.

 

[TheBatsEar]

Do these Aiyimas match-up with a state of the art Purifi or Hypex amp? Of course not. But for someone just getting into hifi on a limited budget, 50+ watts of clean power for under $100 is an insane bargain.

As a college kid, my first real amp was a Harman-Kardon Citation 12 (60W) and preamp that probably cost me $500 in 1979 dollars.

These little Class D amps are hard to beat.

A used and somewhat recent (last 30 years or so) Japanese class AB amp will beat them usually.
Highly recommended for college kids, because you usually can sell them after a few years for the same amount you paid.

 

[T&T]

I hope Aiyima can build something like this...dual mono tpa3255 with swappable opamps for around 200.00 will be easy sale...Monster 600w amp.

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[TheWalkman]

@amirm How long have you had powercube (or similar) and is it at all possible to have previously tested amps go through it?

Most people who hate ASR (and anything new) say that amps will behave differently under "real" loads and powercube gives an idea of capability into more difficult loads. I'm sure most here would like to see this aspect of the top tier amps on the sinad list.

I hope Aiyima can build something like this...dual mono tpa3255 with swappable opamps for around 200.00 will be easy sale...Monster 600w amp.

TPA3255 MONO Split High Power Class D Digital Power Amplifier 300W+300W RCA/XLR | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for TPA3255 MONO Split High Power Class D Digital Power Amplifier 300W+300W RCA/XLR at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

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T&T,

I'm a 3255 fan and have a stack of the little Class D's, but I'm not sure I'm with you here.

First, if you take a look at the TI3255 spec sheet, these chips just can't make 300 watts of clean audio. Though TI is quoting 315 Watts into 4 Ohms at 10% distortion. Who wants that? As Amir shows in his review, he pushed the 07 to 70W @ 4R and 59W @ 8 R.

300 Watts out of a 3255 anywhere close to clean just isn't going to happen.

Second, even if these amps supported that type of output, how long would they work before protection/ self destruction? That's a lot of power in a very small box.

https://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/tpa3255.pdf?ts=1684783847234&ref_url=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.ti.com%252Fproduct%252Fde-de%252FTPA3255

I just wouldn't believe the advertising on this GZLZONE listing and frankly, have serious doubts that anyone could make this work.

For that type of power, I'd save a few extra dollars and get a Hypex based amp (like the Hypex UcD250LP - Niles SI-2150 class amp) that is more suited to driving higher outputs. The Hypex and Purify modules are designed for these type of higher power requirements.

To me, the e-bay amp you referenced, is a solution in search of a niche. I think the 3255 based amps are entry level products and not really targeted at folks looking for 125+ watts of clean power.

My $0.02.