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AIYIMA A07 TPA3255 Review (Amplifier)

dqniel

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I'm a big fan of the A07. I've got mine powered by a Drok 48V 10A power supply and I installed OPA1656 op amp chips in it. Aiyima has started making a 48V 7.3A power supply that comes with the wires and everything you need. I can only find it on AliExpress but it looks pretty cool: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001493689010.html?spm=2114.12057483.detail.3.1a7d75d77SetVH

Thank you for the link! I hope that 48v 7.3A becomes a bit more widely available.

Is your Drok just sitting outside your A07 or did you take everything apart and combine the A07 guts and Drok inside another enclosure?
 

Joe Smith

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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.

The one other unit you might want to give serious consideration is the Sabaj a20a. I was going to hold out for one of those, but I went for the Aiyima amps for now. The Sabaj has the nice internal power supply, dual power chips, good test results and a remote. Plus, looks damn good. About $210 I believe. See the separate thread about that on here. I think it would power the ELAC's nicely.
 

VanO

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Is your Drok just sitting outside your A07 or did you take everything apart and combine the A07 guts and Drok inside another enclosure?

I've got it separate. I like the digital display and it's got a knob to adjust the voltage. It was pretty easy to wire up and I painted it black:

IMG_2460.jpg

Also be aware that the 3.5" aux on the back of the A07 is both input and output so you can use it to connect a subwoofer. You just need a powered sub with both crossover and gain/volume adjustments. The volume control on the A07 does not control the level on the 3.5" output so one way to use it for a sub is to have a DAC with both fixed and variable volume control options (I have an ifi Zen Sig DAC with both). This way you can set your sub gain to the appropriate amp volume level and the overall system volume is controlled at the DAC. If you want to bump the sub up some just decrease the amp volume a little and vice versa. I have my amp set to about the 2:00 position.
 
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JWAmerica

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I've got it separate. I like the digital display and it's got a knob to adjust the voltage. It was pretty easy to wire up and I painted it black:

View attachment 140106

Also be aware that the 3.5" aux on the back of the A07 is both input and output so you can use it to connect a subwoofer. You just need a powered sub with both crossover and gain/volume adjustments. The volume control on the A07 does not control the level on the 3.5" output so one way to use it for a sub is to have a DAC with both fixed and variable volume control options (I have an ifi Zen Sig DAC with both). This way you can set your sub gain to the appropriate amp volume level and the overall system volume is controlled at the DAC. If you want to bump the sub up some just decrease the amp volume a little and vice versa. I have my amp set to about the 2:00 position.

The A3001 is a TPA3255 based amp with an adjustable low pass filter. Could be used with the A07 aux out.
 

dqniel

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The one other unit you might want to give serious consideration is the Sabaj a20a. I was going to hold out for one of those, but I went for the Aiyima amps for now. The Sabaj has the nice internal power supply, dual power chips, good test results and a remote. Plus, looks damn good. About $210 I believe. See the separate thread about that on here. I think it would power the ELAC's nicely.

Thanks for the recommendation. I was reading through that thread and didn't see any test results for it. Did you find them somewhere else? I was also seeing something about it making a mechanical clicking noise--I wonder if they've updated the design yet. It seems like the subjective opinions on it so far are really positive aside from the clicking noise.
 

Joe Smith

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Looks like Toku on this forum is going to do testing if he can get one of the updated ones...you might want to wait for that report to come through. I hadn't seen that issue re the relay before. That seems like something they can fix...

Toku wrote:
Good news about A20a!
Sabaj from China has contacted me that the problem with the ticking relay on the A20a I reported at ASR has been improved.
Therefore, it is expected that the improved A20a will be shipped to the market from now on.
I will get this new A20a and test it again. Anyway, the sound quality of A20a is wonderful.
 
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I decided to pull out my 60wpc valve amp and it had some issues so I am having an estimate done to it. I was wondering.... if I wanted to use the A07 to power a pair of speakers with the A07 for gaming and casual youtube and internet use but on the same pair of speakers also listen to lossless music with a tube amp, could they both be plugged in at once or would the power feed into the other amp and mess it up form dual connection.
 
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Toku

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I decided to pull out my 60wpc valve amp and it had some issues so I am having an estimate done to it. I was wondering.... if I wanted to use the A07 to power a pair of speakers with the A07 for gaming and casual youtube and internet use but on the same pair of speakers also listen to lossless music with a tube amp, could they both be plugged in at once or would the power feed into the other amp and mess it up form dual connection.
AIYIMA 07 is a BTL type amplifier. Half the power supply voltage is applied to the + and-of the speaker terminal. Therefore, be sure to select a speaker selector that switches between both + and-. Products with one side connected in common cannot be used. If you connect it incorrectly, the amplifier will be damaged.
 
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I realized last night that I have a speaker selector box that I can simply reverse amps and speakers then the button selected (1 or 2) that would normally be used for speaker selection will actually pick between amps while the "amplifier" wire terminals can head to the speakers . Thanks.
 

Jdunk54nl

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I realized last night that I have a speaker selector box that I can simply reverse amps and speakers then the button selected (1 or 2) that would normally be used for speaker selection will actually pick between amps while the "amplifier" wire terminals can head to the speakers . Thanks.

Careful with that for the btl reasons stated above.
 

IceLord

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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.

I'm currently using the A07 with this MeanWell PS (from Aliexpress). The voltage is quite stable and dimmable, so you can use any voltage from 5V to 50V (it says 48V, but it reaches 50V with no issues).

The advantages of this type of PS is you can feed up to 3 devices with the same PS. I'm using the A07 (at 40V) and a tube pre-amp T1 (at 12V), just using a variable step-down transformer (like this one for 9€), to convert from 40V to 12V. The setup performs pretty decent for the price (less than 100€).
 
Last edited:

hoverdonkey

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I realized last night that I have a speaker selector box that I can simply reverse amps and speakers then the button selected (1 or 2) that would normally be used for speaker selection will actually pick between amps while the "amplifier" wire terminals can head to the speakers . Thanks.

I have been looking into using a switch for similar reasons. I have been warned that many tube amps should not be powered-on without a load across the speaker terminals. I am pretty certain that I (or my family) will not always remember to power-off the amp before switching so I have asked the manufacturer who made mine about it (but so far they have not responded).

Have a look at this thread, which includes a switch recommendation and also some discussion of using relays and dummy loads to get around the problem.
 
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Okay so it seems the Positive side is the only thing switching in the selector box. I have some 2 way switches that I used for another project that will allow both power and ground to switch but I am thinking rather than going through all of that I will do 2 runs of wires with banana plugs. This will defeat any chance of RF or other noise the switches may draw back behind all this equipment and I wont have to get otu the solder gun nor would I have to cut wire up as much.
 

hoverdonkey

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Okay so it seems the Positive side is the only thing switching in the selector box. I have some 2 way switches that I used for another project that will allow both power and ground to switch but I am thinking rather than going through all of that I will do 2 runs of wires with banana plugs. This will defeat any chance of RF or other noise the switches may draw back behind all this equipment and I wont have to get otu the solder gun nor would I have to cut wire up as much.

I heard back from PrimaLuna this afternoon. They say do not switch on ProLogue Two without speakers attached. So I won't be using DPDT switch.

I also asked if I could use the amp with a smartplug (thinking I could automate powering on), but they said it would give bad sound quality, best to plug it straight into wall.
 
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I also asked if I could use the amp with a smartplug (thinking I could automate powering on), but they said it would give bad sound quality,

They might have said that but it doesn't mean it is true. Either way, the real answer here is simple, banana plug termination. We are trying to reinvent the wheel here, and over some illusion that its going to be so much easier than something that is already very easy. Just bread tie or zip tie the wires together close to the speakers so they dont fall down.
 

hoverdonkey

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. Either way, the real answer here is simple, banana plug termination. We are trying to reinvent the wheel here

Yes, as it happens I just fitted some, I will try swapping plugs for a while to see how it goes before making anything. However, quoting myself from the other thread: "at the mo I'm enjoying playing different things through the Aiyima A07. It's surprisingly good - indeed I haven't been desperate to switch back to the tube amp yet! Don't tell PrimaLuna I said that! It will be intersting to see what I've been missing when I do switch back."!
 

TheSacredSoul

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Sorry I'm a noob in this but wouldn't a 48 volt/3 amp PSU give lesser power than a 32 volt/5 amp PSU?
 
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