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AIYIMA A07 TPA3255 Review (Amplifier)

conuss

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The sound and volume is definitely better with the a07, though. For softer/background playing, a 24v/4.5a supply is OK.
Will A07 be as soft as A04 for background playback at the same volume ceteris paribus?
 

Joe Smith

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Will A07 be as soft as A04 for background playback at the same volume ceteris paribus?

I mean that with the volume control, you have a lot more range with the a04 than with the a07 for playing more softly, with the same power supply used. With the a04, in a smaller room, I am typically playing at the 2 o'clock position for a normal listening level. With the a07, I'm at about 9 o'clock to 10 o'clock. That's with the 32v/5a supply.

With the older SMSL supply I also use with the a04 (24v/4.5a), normal listening level would be volume all the way up.

Of course, if you have ultra efficient speakers, this will be a little different. I've been using Polk Monitor 4s for the moment, which are rated at 91db, not too shabby.
 

SylphAudio

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All else being equal, based on my experience, TPA3251 has a more detailed and airier sound, though on certain speakers it will sound grainy and dry compared with the smoother sounding TPA3255. In short TPA3251 sounds more like class-D and TPA3255 is more analogue sounding.
 

Joe Smith

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The one that Aiyima sells with it is quite good. Available on their website, I haven't searched for it on Amazon.
Yeah, that one is 32v/5a. Works fine. A 35v/6a or close to that would be good, too, if you want to play very loud or have slightly inefficient speakers.
 
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Yeah, that one is 32v/5a. Works fine. A 35v/6a or close to that would be good, too, if you want to play very loud or have slightly inefficient speakers.

Could a 2A 30v PSU work without damaging anything? I once had to buy a specialty adapter and the guy at Radioshack said it was important because the amp load had to be met or else it would mess up the synthesizer I was getting the adapter for.
 

abdo123

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Could a 2A 30v PSU work without damaging anything? I once had to buy a specialty adapter and the guy at Radioshack said it was important because the amp load had to be met or else it would mess up the synthesizer I was getting the adapter for.

Yes it will work.
 

Joe Smith

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It will work, but you may not get the best sound it's capable of. 2 amps is pretty light.
 
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I have the A07 and I have hooked it up 2 times, and both times I have not liked the sound. I have a ton of experience with a lot of amps but for some reason this amp sounds very... for lack of better audiophile terms, flat. Its a lot like listening to a cd when you are very used to vinyl. I dont really get it, as it does not make the most since considering all the measurements and reviews. I got it to power some pretty inefficient speakers - Ascend Acoustic Seirra EX, which sound very excellent.. however, the A07 sounds very flat, almost like comparing a capitance coupled amp after listening to a direct coupled amp.... anyone else hear this amp and feel underwhelmed?
 

HorizonsEdge

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I have the A07 and I have hooked it up 2 times, and both times I have not liked the sound. I have a ton of experience with a lot of amps but for some reason this amp sounds very... for lack of better audiophile terms, flat. Its a lot like listening to a cd when you are very used to vinyl. I dont really get it, as it does not make the most since considering all the measurements and reviews. I got it to power some pretty inefficient speakers - Ascend Acoustic Seirra EX, which sound very excellent.. however, the A07 sounds very flat, almost like comparing a capitance coupled amp after listening to a direct coupled amp.... anyone else hear this amp and feel underwhelmed?

I have used the A07 and find that it is neutral. Some people want a neutral amp. Other do not. Might I suggest using EQ to achieve your listening preferences.
 
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Should note, after splitting the rca's to the A07 and another amp and matching the volume I was able to A/B test very easily and realized my ears tricked me. I do think now that there is an improvement in clarity and the reservations must have been placebo. Thats the weirdest thing ever that I really was dang near convinced I was hearing a difference that, if anything, was positive.
 

abdo123

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I have the A07 and I have hooked it up 2 times, and both times I have not liked the sound. I have a ton of experience with a lot of amps but for some reason this amp sounds very... for lack of better audiophile terms, flat. Its a lot like listening to a cd when you are very used to vinyl. I dont really get it, as it does not make the most since considering all the measurements and reviews. I got it to power some pretty inefficient speakers - Ascend Acoustic Seirra EX, which sound very excellent.. however, the A07 sounds very flat, almost like comparing a capitance coupled amp after listening to a direct coupled amp.... anyone else hear this amp and feel underwhelmed?

Not really, my in-room frequency response was unaffected after i started using this amp.

I think you were expecting something that wasn’t there to begin with
 
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Joe Smith

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the power supply has 5 wires with 2 of them pushing 30v @ 2 amps, 2 returns, and I guess a neutral? Would 30v 2A be okay to power a FX Audio Tube-01 as seen here? The preamp would just draw the power it needs and be okay, right?

https://www.amazon.com/FX-Audio-TUBE-01-Preamplifier-Black/dp/B01HEQJGPC
That FX unit seems to be spec'd for 12 DC volts, so no, I think a 30v supply would fry it. I think the additional amps would not be an issue, but the voltage would be too high. I'm not much of a tube guy, though. The one overseas-make tube preamp buffer I tried (a "Little Bear") was a bust. No added warmth at all and just another thing in the circuit to degrade the sound.
 

Premonition

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I have the A07 and I have hooked it up 2 times, and both times I have not liked the sound. I have a ton of experience with a lot of amps but for some reason this amp sounds very... for lack of better audiophile terms, flat. Its a lot like listening to a cd when you are very used to vinyl. I dont really get it, as it does not make the most since considering all the measurements and reviews. I got it to power some pretty inefficient speakers - Ascend Acoustic Seirra EX, which sound very excellent.. however, the A07 sounds very flat, almost like comparing a capitance coupled amp after listening to a direct coupled amp.... anyone else hear this amp and feel underwhelmed?

What opamp did you get it with? I had the same initial experience as you, and found that the LM4562 sounds a lot more lean and flat while the OPA2134PA adds some decay which makes it sound somewhat more acceptable to me. I think EQ is pretty much a must with this amp, but for a 50USD amp there's really not much to complain.

If you want to upgrade to something less lean I'd suggest at least the SA300. I've stashed away my A07 as a spare since I've upgraded, and for fear of the power supply blowing up(irrational I know).
 

Ralferator

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I have the A07 and I have hooked it up 2 times, and both times I have not liked the sound. I have a ton of experience with a lot of amps but for some reason this amp sounds very... for lack of better audiophile terms, flat. Its a lot like listening to a cd when you are very used to vinyl. I dont really get it, as it does not make the most since considering all the measurements and reviews. I got it to power some pretty inefficient speakers - Ascend Acoustic Seirra EX, which sound very excellent.. however, the A07 sounds very flat, almost like comparing a capitance coupled amp after listening to a direct coupled amp.... anyone else hear this amp and feel underwhelmed?

What amplifiers are the ones that you like? I have another TPA3255 Aiyima amp and i think it doesn't "sound" very much at all, means i get a very clean sound, which i like. What do you mean by "flat"? Too dry? Not warm enough?
 

Toku

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Should note, after splitting the rca's to the A07 and another amp and matching the volume I was able to A/B test very easily and realized my ears tricked me. I do think now that there is an improvement in clarity and the reservations must have been placebo. Thats the weirdest thing ever that I really was dang near convinced I was hearing a difference that, if anything, was positive.
When the human ear listens to the same sound for a long time, it gets used to that sound, and when it suddenly listens to other sounds, it feels very strange. Me too.
Therefore, when evaluating a new device, it is necessary to keep listening to the sound of the device for a while and get used to it.
I always do that
 
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What amplifiers are the ones that you like? I have another TPA3255 Aiyima amp and i think it doesn't "sound" very much at all, means i get a very clean sound, which i like. What do you mean by "flat"? Too dry? Not warm enough?

Honestly, I think the best way I could explain it was the analogy of a direct coupled amp versus a cap coupled amp. They would measure the same, and it would probably be pretty hard to do a double blind test with the average listener to figure out if they sound different, but if you ever spent a good while listening to cap coupled amp and went to a direct coupled amp then you will instantly hear this openness to the sound that is missing from the alternative. I am definitely liking the amp more now that I have given it a better chance. I am going to keep it. I wonder now if there are any blind tests of direct coupled and cap coupled amps.
 
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dqniel

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I've started looking into power amplifiers, DACs, pre-amps, and such for the first time. As you can imagine, it's a bit overwhelming with the options available... I think I currently have about 40 tabs open from Amir's testing (thank you!), Amazon, Aliexpress, and various manufacturers.

I'm hoping to get some advice specific to my situation. I'm hoping some of you all with experience with the A07 (and other equipment) can help me out.

My desktop computer is my music source. I also game competitively, so I need extremely low audio latency.

What I have now:

-A bunch of various headphones both for gaming and listening to music. My favorites are probably my Philips SHP-9500 (in the winter when my window AC isn't running/being loud) and my Beyer DT 770 Pro 250 Ohm in the summer when I need some isolation.
-Some bookshelf speaker stands
-Audioengine D1 DAC/headphone amp (sounds "fine" with my headphones but not crazy about the fact that it bugs out sometimes and has to be power cycled)
-Audioengine A2+ speakers (very meh. looking to significantly upgrade)

What I'm pretty sure about getting:
-Creative SoundBlaster AE-5 (Amir's testing shows a pretty clean line out and great headphone amplification for the money. Also, it has ) $150
-Either ELAC Debut Reference DBR-62 or Revel M16

Where I'm pretty lost: Amplification options
-Aiyima A07 with an upgraded power supply? Looks like that would be about $110 with the amp and a Mean Well (or similar) 7.5A power supply. I'd just have to learn how to wire the power supply to the amp? Sounds from the review and this thread that I'd get better performance with that rather than a brick adapter/supply
-Aiyima A08. Looks to have a built-in power supply so it sure would be a lot less hassle. I'd probably also use the bluetooth time to time. However, I can find very little about its performance. Is the built-in PSU any good or is this a bad option? $115 or so.
-I can't seem to find anything after this until about the $500 range that seems like it would be worth spending the extra money unless I build something myself, and I don't know if I'm capable of doing that. If I'm up into the $500 range then I'm looking at the Buckeye 2 channel NC252MP. But then I'd need a pre-amp with XLR output, right? It doesn't seem like I can go from the AE-5 line-out to the Buckeye unless I'm just clueless.


I've done a lot of reading but I feel like I might be more confused/conflicted than before I started going down the rabbit hole of looking at things that aren't just AVRs. I'd appreciate any guidance.
 
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