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Aiyima A07 Pro Amplifier Review

Rate this amplifier:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 11 5.9%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 57 30.6%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 98 52.7%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 20 10.8%

  • Total voters
    186

amirm

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This is a review and detailed measurements of the AIYIMA A07 Pro stereo amplifier. It was kindly drop shipped to me by a member and costs about $90.
Aiyima A07 Pro stereo power amplifier review.jpg

As you see the distinguishing factor from some of the other Aiyima amplifiers is inclusion of tone controls. Alas, that is also where the problem is with this unit: there is no detent and no way of setting its response to flat. Worse yet small changes in the dials will make large differences in tonality. So while I like having toner controls, I definitely like to see a tone defeat feature. Otherwise the unit feels nice to use and operate. As is typical, the power supply is much larger than the amplifier itself:
Aiyima A07 Pro stereo power amplifier Bluetooth review.jpg


AIYIMA A07 Pro Measurements
As usual we start with our dashboard of 1 kHz tone into a pure 4 ohm load, driven to stereo at 5 watts:
Aiyima A07 Pro stereo power amplifier Measurements.png


We expect good performance from AIYIMA and we get it:

Best budget stereo amplifier review.png


Switching to my PowerCube Loadbox, we can simulate more complex loads: (1 channel tested)
Aiyima A07 Pro stereo power amplifier Reactive Measurements.png


As you see, performance is essentially the same.

Noise performance is good enough for this class of budget amplifiers:
Aiyima A07 Pro stereo power amplifier SNR Measurements.png


Multitone shows good performance:
Aiyima A07 Pro stereo power amplifier Multitone Measurements.png


Frequency response unfortunately is load (speaker) dependent:
Aiyima A07 Pro stereo power amplifier Frequency Response Measurements.png

So you may be forced to use the treble control to adjust high frequency response for your speaker.

Crosstalk is very good:
Aiyima A07 Pro stereo power amplifier Crosstalk Measurements.png


Let's get into all important power measurements starting with 4 ohm:
Aiyima A07 Pro stereo power amplifier Power 4 ohm Measurements.png


Aiyima A07 Pro stereo power amplifier max and peak Power 4 ohm Measurements.png


This is plenty for desktop use. Switching to 8 ohm naturally robs us of fair amount of power:
Aiyima A07 Pro stereo power amplifier Power 8 ohm Measurements.png


Fortunately vast majority of speakers on the market are 4 ohm nominal.

To see stability of the amplifier, let's subject it to suite of loads and reactive components:
Aiyima A07 Pro stereo power amplifier Power Reactive Load Measurements.png


An ideal amplifier would follow the red line. We are essentially there for both 8 and 4 ohm. Surprisingly this little amp managed to also keep running at 2 ohm, albeit without capacitive component and some power drop. Many amps simply shut down and won't even work into 2 ohm.

Edit: here is the response vs frequency that I forgot to post originally:
Aiyima A07 Pro stereo power amplifier Power 4 ohm vs frequency Measurements.png


Finally, here is the warm up profile:
Aiyima A07 Pro stereo power amplifier Warm up Measurements.png


In use, the amplifier ran pretty cool.

Conclusions
The AIYIMA A07 Pro continues the tradition of the company providing competent levels of noise and distortion, good bit of power and very reasonable price. While tone controls are a nice added feature, they lack a defeat switch. And we have our usual load dependency.

Personally I very much dislike the lack of tone control defeat so won't buy it. But if that doesn't bother you, then the AIYIMA A07 Pro is another good bargain in stereo amplification.

-----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
 
Last edited:

TonyJZX

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didnt someone run a trace on the BT and the graph looked like a roller coaster?

i think this amp shows the same competant engineering of the original A07 with the added tone controls and wireless that many people dont care about even if it was implemented well.... and here is was implemented indifferently.
 
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amirm

amirm

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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
No, I ignore the bluetooth input.
 

Rja4000

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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.

A07Power.png
 
Last edited:

TonyJZX

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103 vs 108 claimed

59 vs 85 claimed

i mean this isnt completely out of reason... the 4 ohm is particularly on point... to $90 to get on par at 4 ohms isnt a small thing
 

phoenixdogfan

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I own the original without tone controls and employ it to drive my KEF HTC 3001 SE center channel speaker. The L R speaker are LS 50 Metas driven by a Purifi Eval 1. Neither the center speaker nor its amp seem to be markedly inferior to the L-R speakers and amp. I think the Aiyima A 07 is a teriffic bargain, but I agree the tone controls are a stupid idea. More useful, I suppose, if the amp is all you can afford, and your Goodwill find speakers have either a bass or treble flaw that just screams for a band aid.
 

3125b

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59 vs 85 claimed
I suspect that's for 10% THD+N - which is precisely what it does if you follow the graph.
Standard used to be a -60dB cutoff, which would mean about 65W RMS for this amp @8R.
 
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amirm

amirm

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FYI, I could not push this amp to 1% THD. Its protection circuit would kick in. So I had to dial that down to 0.5% THD which impacts the measured power a bit.
 

mcdn

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Toku

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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.
 

Blair

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Very professional test , the value of a good product will always be there
 

Talisman

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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
 

TheWalkman

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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.
 
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Joe Smith

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Decent specs for sure and another good option for a compact amp. I think there's a product gap in the ~$300 price point for a product with Hypex-like power/performance, good heat dissipation/board layout, onboard power, multiple inputs/preamp functionality and good looks. I bet we'll see something like this eventually.
 
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