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AIYIMA A20 Stereo 2.1 Amplifier Review

Rate this amplifier:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 10 4.3%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 38 16.3%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 122 52.4%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 63 27.0%

  • Total voters
    233
This is a review and detailed measurements of the AIYIMA A20 stereo class D amplifier with high-pass filter. It was sent to me by the company and is on black Friday sale for US $157 (normally $195).
View attachment 491991
The A20 is the most elegant design I have seen from the AIYIMA. Not only is it stylish, it also has quite a bit of weight to it (for its class). The amp has both RCA and XLR balanced inputs which you can easily select with the switch on the right. It took me a bit to figure out that to activate high-pass filter, you push the toggle switch up a notch past "ON." Nice way to save a switch and still get the job done, allowing the design to look balanced.

Back panel shows everything you wanted but perhaps, had not managed to get in this class of amplifier:

View attachment 491992
OK, maybe not the giant, 10 amp 48 volt power supply. :) There is trigger input and of course, its high pass filter which you set with that knob. I like that it has detents and is rather stiff so you don't turn it by accident. You can bypass the volume control by pressing that button for a few seconds. In testing, I did not find a performance difference between using that, or setting the volume to max.

AIYIMA A20 Amplifier Measurements
I started with volume set by pass and high pass filter disabled using XLR input:
View attachment 491993
Distortion is kept quite low so noise sets the SINAD (more or less). At nearly 94 dB, this is excellent performance:
View attachment 491994
View attachment 491995
It is awfully close to our blue range despite the diminutive size and cost. You lose a bit of performance as usual if you use RCA:
View attachment 491996

Here is actual noise performance which again for the class is excellent:
View attachment 491998

Despite implementation of PFFB, there is a slight load dependency:
View attachment 491999
And that general peaking. High pass works as advertised.

Multitone and 19+20 kHz tests show the typical behavior of rising distortion in upper ranges:
View attachment 492000
View attachment 492001

Channel separation is better than average (for all amps):
View attachment 492002

The beefy power supply turbo charges the amplifier, producing a lot of power in such a small package with 4 ohm impedance:
View attachment 492003
View attachment 492004

It is able to maintain that close to bottom of hearing range at 40 Hz:
View attachment 492005

8 Ohm output is of course diminished but still respectable:
View attachment 492006

As noted, high frequencies are the enemies of this platform:
View attachment 492007

Amplifier was stable on power on:
View attachment 492008

It does however potentially have a power on/off pop:
View attachment 492009

Conclusions
It is amazing how far we have come in this category of amplifier. AIYIMA was one of the earliest adopters producing performance that was hard to imagine at the time. In A20, it has managed to bring more and more refinement as to define a new class here. Yes, there are a few minor misses like flatness of frequency response but generally, you have a very power full amplifier, with low noise and mostly, low distortion. Combine it with good looks and nice functionality such a proper high pass filtering for subwoofer use and you have a winner here.

I am going to recommend the AIYIMA A20 stereo amplifier.
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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

Appreciate any donations using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
LME49720 op amps is a good choice over the ne5532 that is usually offered on D class amps. That said the sound quality compared to A07 Premium with ne5532 op amps to my ears is lacking. I would choose the A07 Premium that comes with beefier capacitors. You can hear it.
 
LME49720 op amps is a good choice over the ne5532 that is usually offered on D class amps. That said the sound quality compared to A07 Premium with ne5532 op amps to my ears is lacking. I would choose the A07 Premium that comes with beefier capacitors. You can hear it.
Watch and understand the following. Changing opamps in an already competent design can only degrade the sound. Most of the time in any case it will do nothing audible for any human.
Remember that there is nothing we can hear that can't be measured, and there is only noise, distortion and frequency response that can impact the sound.
 
Watch and understand the following. Changing opamps in an already competent design can only degrade the sound. Most of the time in any case it will do nothing audible for any human.

LME49720 op amps is a good choice over the ne5532 that is usually offered on D class amps. That said the sound quality compared to A07 Premium with ne5532 op amps to my ears is lacking.

I think what PMB is trying to say is that the stock LME49720 in the A20 from the factory is a good choice by Aiyima over the ne5532 that is found in the A07 Premium; nevertheless, the other differences between the A20 and A07 Premium make the A07 Premium sound better despite having inferior op amps. In other words, he agrees with you more or less on op amps.
 
Watch and understand the following. Changing opamps in an already competent design can only degrade the sound. Most of the time in any case it will do nothing audible for any human.
Remember that there is nothing we can hear that can't be measured, and there is only noise, distortion and frequency response that can impact the sound.
Why do chip manufacturers make more than one opamp?

Why do designers bother using different ones?

Why do manufacturers go to the trouble of building discreet circuitry?
 
In other words, he agrees with you more or less on op amps.
You have not seen his flurry of pro-op-amp-rolling posts, I take it. He's new here and is single-mindedly spreading antiscientific "golden ear" op amp nonsense.
 
You have not seen his flurry of pro-op-amp-rolling posts, I take it. He's new here and is single-mindedly spreading antiscientific "golden ear" op amp nonsense.
You could be right, but that's not what I see expressed in his particular post above. My view is respond to the post, not the poster.
 
Why do chip manufacturers make more than one opamp?

Why do designers bother using different ones?

Why do manufacturers go to the trouble of building discreet circuitry?
because opamp has different usages, but the important thing in this context is it does not change the amp sound, at least for the better.
manufacturers will use different opamp due to availability, costs, etc. Some manufacturers will bend their knees in offering different opamp because part of their customer bases want it, why lost sales when it's easy to do at almost no cost for you

because it sells? audiophiles exist and they believe in a lot of things, and will buy a lot of things.

You just kind of assume "people do it for a reason", and that reason being "because it sounds differently". the former is true, but the latter is wrong. The reason is "because there is a market of people believing in it"
 
because opamp has different usages, but the important thing in this context is it does not change the amp sound, at least for the better.
manufacturers will use different opamp due to availability, costs, etc. Some manufacturers will bend their knees in offering different opamp because part of their customer bases want it, why lost sales when it's easy to do at almost no cost for you

because it sells? audiophiles exist and they believe in a lot of things, and will buy a lot of things.

You just kind of assume "people do it for a reason", and that reason being "because it sounds differently". the former is true, but the latter is wrong. The reason is "because there is a market of people believing in it"
Thank you @delta76, what if the opamp has not been optimally implemented, just good enough? In this case, could another opamp perhaps sound better and (perhaps) measure better?
 
Thank you @delta76, what if the opamp has not been optimally implemented, just good enough? In this case, could another opamp perhaps sound better and (perhaps) measure better?
that is a big IF, only if the default opamp is bad, borderline faulty. there is no point changing opamp pursuing better sounds. Save your money and time to buy better speakers.
 
Thank you @delta76, what if the opamp has not been optimally implemented, just good enough? In this case, could another opamp perhaps sound better and (perhaps) measure better?
That is why I said "in a competent design" Most even half way decent designs (including ones that might even fall into the lower sections of the Sinad charts) have noise and distortion below the level of human audibility. In this case even if an op amp were to make a measurable improvement (and from the tests we see carried out in the videos they don't), it can't make it "more inaudible" Just good enough - in this context - is already audibly perfect.
 
because opamp has different usages, but the important thing in this context is it does not change the amp sound, at least for the better.
manufacturers will use different opamp due to availability, costs, etc. Some manufacturers will bend their knees in offering different opamp because part of their customer bases want it, why lost sales when it's easy to do at almost no cost for you

because it sells? audiophiles exist and they believe in a lot of things, and will buy a lot of things.

You just kind of assume "people do it for a reason", and that reason being "because it sounds differently". the former is true, but the latter is wrong. The reason is "because there is a market of people believing in it"
I’m not really assuming anything, but you are making assumptions, could you provide some facts? Also, we’re talking about competent engineers, and chips designers, and or different circuits with different amplification types. Are they fools also?
 
General question..
As number of more than competent class D ti 32xx based amps is increasing..is there a place in this forum where amplifier specs, inputs, outputs amir's tests results are summarized in a table or similar?... for example if i wanted to see together aiyimas a20, a80, a70, a70 mono, douk audio a5, topping pa5, pa5ii, fosi v3, v3 mono...and others i might not even know...already asked chatgpt but it can't login as a member to ASR :)
 
I’m not really assuming anything, but you are making assumptions, could you provide some facts? Also, we’re talking about competent engineers, and chips designers, and or different circuits with different amplification types. Are they fools also?
You are assuming because they have different opamp they must be audibly different. Amir already did the test with opamps and that is the fact you need.
Not all engineers are competent and I already explained, they have to make things that sell and make a profit regardless what they think "
Your logic is equivalent to "engineers make a speaker cable that sells for 50k$, sure they know something about it"
 
You are assuming because they have different opamp they must be audibly different. Amir already did the test with opamps and that is the fact you need.
Not all engineers are competent and I already explained, they have to make things that sell and make a profit regardless what they think "
Your logic is equivalent to "engineers make a speaker cable that sells for 50k$, sure they know something about it"
I’m sorry, but please don’t assume what I’m doing. I’m asking a question you’re not answering the question. If you’re interested in responding, please address what I’m saying. I’ll give you some hints. Devices like operational amplifiers are designed for different applications, they have different specifications, even though they are maybe doing similar things… Maybe for higher frequencies, they can have difference slew rates. They are different.

Now you’re saying, engineers are just pandering to the uneducated audiophiles. None of these chips were designed for audiophiles.

When equipment manufacturers choose a chip or circuit topology, they have a reason, it’s not just audiophile pandering either. I think it’s wrong just to assumed that.

Throw a little something else in the mix, what about dielectric materials? Can they affect sound quality?
 
I’m sorry, but please don’t assume what I’m doing. I’m asking a question you’re not answering the question. If you’re interested in responding, please address what I’m saying. I’ll give you some hints. Devices like operational amplifiers are designed for different applications, they have different specifications, even though they are maybe doing similar things… Maybe for higher frequencies, they can have difference slew rates. They are different.

Now you’re saying, engineers are just pandering to the uneducated audiophiles. None of these chips were designed for audiophiles.

When equipment manufacturers choose a chip or circuit topology, they have a reason, it’s not just audiophile pandering either. I think it’s wrong just to assumed that.

Throw a little something else in the mix, what about dielectric materials? Can they affect sound quality?
I already answered the question, but if you don't want to find it https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/does-op-amp-rolling-work.61518/

You asked about competent engineers, but it is simple as this, why only a few companies offer opamp replacement. If opamp can affect the sound why don't they pick the best opamp already? Especially with the absurdly expensive amps?

And you were twisting my words. Companies operate to make a profit. If they see a chance to make more profit by offering opamp upgrade, they might do it. It has nothing to do with "competent engineers" think the sound could be improved with different opamp. In fact any competent engineer could run analysis and see that the output is not different. It is because they can, and because they think changing opamp will make them more benefit (more sales, bigger average order value). Some might believe it makes the sound better but then those are the ones you would want to avoid.

I will stop this argument here.
 
I already answered the question, but if you don't want to find it https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/does-op-amp-rolling-work.61518/

You asked about competent engineers, but it is simple as this, why only a few companies offer opamp replacement. If opamp can affect the sound why don't they pick the best opamp already? Especially with the absurdly expensive amps?

And you were twisting my words. Companies operate to make a profit. If they see a chance to make more profit by offering opamp upgrade, they might do it. It has nothing to do with "competent engineers" think the sound could be improved with different opamp. In fact any competent engineer could run analysis and see that the output is not different. It is because they can, and because they think changing opamp will make them more benefit (more sales, bigger average order value). Some might believe it makes the sound better but then those are the ones you would want to avoid.

I will stop this argument here.
It actually never was an argument, nobody wants to be adversarial! But your answer is partially correct imo. But you’re focusing specifically on these small manufacturers that we’re coming across. But I was also talking about the bigger picture. For example, hypex. Bruno will design with a chip that he likes, and not tell people to replace it necessarily. That’s proper engineering. But if you do replace it, it can’t sound better. In fact some of the older modules people upgraded with improvement. In fact as time went on he also changed to better opamps. These things do change with time. Sometimes though again, not just focusing on this little subset of equipment that you are talking about I’m talking about bigger picture, many things can make equipment sound different. And there are ways to measure them. Sometimes obscure or more difficult, but it can be measured. Also, I hope people can think about, that inaudible effects can affect sound imo. Something as simple as a poor connection at your speaker terminals can cause an audible difference. You might measure the cable and find no difference. But when you connect it, maybe the dirty banana plug or spade lug will cause rectification.

This conversation also has a lot to do with what one’s approach is to this hobby. If your intention is to enjoy music listening, then you might enjoy increased pleasant noise, or distortion. Humans do react to these things positively because they are familiar. If you want to be a stickler for just numbers, then you have a different perspective on this endeavor. Many times the equipment that is designed just to give us great numbers sounds un appealing vs something with pleasant, but less measurable superior specifications. YMMV
 
I am an electrical engineer. Manufacturers make different opamps for different applications to include instrumentation amplifiers for laboratories and sophisticated test facilities like the one I started my career in testing jet engines for Navy aircraft. Medical device instrumentation is another application. Then there are applications that operate at frequencies much much higher than 20-20kHz. Critical parameters include input impedance, noise and something called gain bandwidth. Audio input buffers are one of the least demanding, easiest applications possible. In the early days of opamp design and fab, there was only the 741 which did not have good enough gain bandwidth and low noise for true high fidelity. If memory serves me correctly, the NE5532 NE5534 were breakthrough designs when first introduced and they were made for the pro sound market where low noise and distortion were critical for good recording equipment. The characteristics that made them so good 30 years ago are still good and that is why they are still used as input buffers to TPA3255 chips. They are cost effective and they still perform well. There is nothing to be gained by 'rolling' them for other designs that may be superior in applications other than input buffers but offer nothing to justify the cost as input buffers.
 
Hey folks. Sorry for the incoming wall of text but I need some advice.

Background:
So I am still very new to all of this. In my home office I have an Audioengine HD3 + S6 subwoofer combo. I absolutely love the way this sounds. I know its not strictly considered an audiophile setup since it adds a lot of warmth and a nice mid bass hump to the sound but I still just love it. It has a fantastic chest thump on kick drums and while the bass doesn't get super low it is very punchy.

So I decided that I wanted to move away from headphones on my gaming setup and since I love to DIY things I decided to build my own setup instead of just buying more audioengine gear.

I built a pair of C-Note Speakers, purchased the Aiyima A20 amp (specifically because it had the HPF), and an RSL Speedwoofer 10E.

I chose the C-Note and RSL 10E because I had previously built a pair and used that sub for my TV. However there I have a WIIM Amp Pro for the HDMI ARC.

Where I need help.
Unlike the WIIM Amp Pro where I only needed to run room fit on my phone I am having a very difficult time integrating the RSL 10E into the Aiyma A20 system.

I am wondering if this might be related to the always on 200hz LPF on the A20. I ideally want to crossover the sub at 80hz but to do that I have to stack two analog filters which to what I can tell reading things on my own will wreak havoc on the phase and cause a lot of cancellation issues.

The system is currently setup like this...
PC (onboard DAC) -> 3.5mm Line out to RCA cable (for some reason the polarity is flipped here. IE Left channel on the right (red) and right channel on the left(white)) -> A20 (+3dba RCA toggle ON) -> HPF 80hz to Cnotes / Sub out 200hz lpf to RSL 10E

The basic problem is that the bass is very anemic. The little S6 sub i have in the office will punch you in the chest. I get almost nothing from the A20 + 10E setup.

So I took some measurements in REW and managed to figure out that there was a huge hole from about 80 - 120 hz when the sub was on (like -9DB measuring just L+R vs L+R+SUB). So I flipped the phase re-measured and things seemed a lot better (constructive interference this time). But bass performance in music still felt very anemic compared to the Audioengine setup and the Wiim Amp Pro setup.

So I went and asked Google Gemini if it had any ideas. It suggested I open the lpf on the sub to LFE and just run with the 200hz lpf from the A20. It told me that the chest thump was really in the 100-150 hz range and I was just not sending that to the sub.

So I did that and retested. Sure enough I saw a massive gain in that range. Testing in music showed that it indeed had a good feeling chest thump. So I REW to apply a BK curve and generate filters. I used APO/Peace to apply them. Music is punchy and the bass sounds good to me. Game explosions had really nice deep bass and explosions hit you in the chest. However a new problem popped up. Male vocals (like just litening to someone talk on youtube) sound really bad now. Hard to put my finger on. But sure enough unplugging the sub make the issue go away.

So I went back and forth with Gemini for several hours over the last few days and basically just settled on not getting the chest thump and having anemic overall bass. For some reason I just cannot get things to integrate well with the Aiyima A20.

As I test I brought the Wiim Amp Pro in and set it up/ rand room fit. Immediately things sounded 100% better. The bass was crisp and had punch while vocals were clear and nice. Instruments sounded good and my games had that nice deep base... etc.

So the only difference is the Amp involved.

Does anyone have any advice they can give me? Picture included to show how i was testing. I can probably dig up the test files or take new ones if anyone is interested. I re-borrowed the test microphone from my friend this morning.

Thanks.
 

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Hey folks. Sorry for the incoming wall of text but I need some advice.

Background:
So I am still very new to all of this. In my home office I have an Audioengine HD3 + S6 subwoofer combo. I absolutely love the way this sounds. I know its not strictly considered an audiophile setup since it adds a lot of warmth and a nice mid bass hump to the sound but I still just love it. It has a fantastic chest thump on kick drums and while the bass doesn't get super low it is very punchy.

So I decided that I wanted to move away from headphones on my gaming setup and since I love to DIY things I decided to build my own setup instead of just buying more audioengine gear.

I built a pair of C-Note Speakers, purchased the Aiyima A20 amp (specifically because it had the HPF), and an RSL Speedwoofer 10E.

I chose the C-Note and RSL 10E because I had previously built a pair and used that sub for my TV. However there I have a WIIM Amp Pro for the HDMI ARC.

Where I need help.
Unlike the WIIM Amp Pro where I only needed to run room fit on my phone I am having a very difficult time integrating the RSL 10E into the Aiyma A20 system.

I am wondering if this might be related to the always on 200hz LPF on the A20. I ideally want to crossover the sub at 80hz but to do that I have to stack two analog filters which to what I can tell reading things on my own will wreak havoc on the phase and cause a lot of cancellation issues.

The system is currently setup like this...
PC (onboard DAC) -> 3.5mm Line out to RCA cable (for some reason the polarity is flipped here. IE Left channel on the right (red) and right channel on the left(white)) -> A20 (+3dba RCA toggle ON) -> HPF 80hz to Cnotes / Sub out 200hz lpf to RSL 10E

The basic problem is that the bass is very anemic. The little S6 sub i have in the office will punch you in the chest. I get almost nothing from the A20 + 10E setup.

So I took some measurements in REW and managed to figure out that there was a huge hole from about 80 - 120 hz when the sub was on (like -9DB measuring just L+R vs L+R+SUB). So I flipped the phase re-measured and things seemed a lot better (constructive interference this time). But bass performance in music still felt very anemic compared to the Audioengine setup and the Wiim Amp Pro setup.

So I went and asked Google Gemini if it had any ideas. It suggested I open the lpf on the sub to LFE and just run with the 200hz lpf from the A20. It told me that the chest thump was really in the 100-150 hz range and I was just not sending that to the sub.

So I did that and retested. Sure enough I saw a massive gain in that range. Testing in music showed that it indeed had a good feeling chest thump. So I REW to apply a BK curve and generate filters. I used APO/Peace to apply them. Music is punchy and the bass sounds good to me. Game explosions had really nice deep bass and explosions hit you in the chest. However a new problem popped up. Male vocals (like just litening to someone talk on youtube) sound really bad now. Hard to put my finger on. But sure enough unplugging the sub make the issue go away.

So I went back and forth with Gemini for several hours over the last few days and basically just settled on not getting the chest thump and having anemic overall bass. For some reason I just cannot get things to integrate well with the Aiyima A20.

As I test I brought the Wiim Amp Pro in and set it up/ rand room fit. Immediately things sounded 100% better. The bass was crisp and had punch while vocals were clear and nice. Instruments sounded good and my games had that nice deep base... etc.

So the only difference is the Amp involved.

Does anyone have any advice they can give me? Picture included to show how i was testing. I can probably dig up the test files or take new ones if anyone is interested. I re-borrowed the test microphone from my friend this morning.

Thanks.
You have discovered the limitation of the A20 filter implementation. The Wiim amp is using digital signal processing (DSP) to set the crossover frequencies and do some equalization to get best achievable response in your room. (Best achievable within capability of the Wiim.). In my bedroom/home office, I added a separate DSP unit and set crossovers for A20 and my sub and just run the A20 as an amplifier with no volume control or internal filtering. It is difficult to find a DSP for home use priced under $600 since tariffs have kicked in. I used a Dayton Audio DSP408 with good results and it is priced at $199 last time I checked. Tariffs have affected that too. I paid $139 for mine some time ago. The DSP408 is dual use and has a power transformer for home use. I will caution you if you get the Dayton unit that the inputs and outputs clip at fairly low voltages. Max clean input I can get is about 1.5 volts RMS before clipping the input circuit. Max clean output is about 1.6 volts RMS before I see clipping on my scope. This means you have to be careful setting gains and with how much you boost frequencies. It is possible to get a good result for your use case but you have to experiment a bit. REW is able to measure the DSP output with its signal generator and oscilloscope function.

There are other car audio DSP units in the $89-100 range from Recoil and Down4Sound. I do not know how good they are as they just came on the market. You can buy the Recoil one on Amazon and return it if you don't like it.
 
You have discovered the limitation of the A20 filter implementation. The Wiim amp is using digital signal processing (DSP) to set the crossover frequencies and do some equalization to get best achievable response in your room. (Best achievable within capability of the Wiim.). In my bedroom/home office, I added a separate DSP unit and set crossovers for A20 and my sub and just run the A20 as an amplifier with no volume control or internal filtering. It is difficult to find a DSP for home use priced under $600 since tariffs have kicked in. I used a Dayton Audio DSP408 with good results and it is priced at $199 last time I checked. Tariffs have affected that too. I paid $139 for mine some time ago. The DSP408 is dual use and has a power transformer for home use. I will caution you if you get the Dayton unit that the inputs and outputs clip at fairly low voltages. Max clean input I can get is about 1.5 volts RMS before clipping the input circuit. Max clean output is about 1.6 volts RMS before I see clipping on my scope. This means you have to be careful setting gains and with how much you boost frequencies. It is possible to get a good result for your use case but you have to experiment a bit. REW is able to measure the DSP output with its signal generator and oscilloscope function.

There are other car audio DSP units in the $89-100 range from Recoil and Down4Sound. I do not know how good they are as they just came on the market. You can buy the Recoil one on Amazon and return it if you don't like it.
Thank you for the detailed reply.

So thinking about the DSP angle it suddently occured to me that I'm using a computer and my pc has extra outputs!

So an hour or so of reading later I came up with the following...
I cut apart a spare 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable and spliced in a pair of RCA plugs since I didn't have another 3.5 to rca cable. A quick check with the multimeter showed that i had soldered it up correctly and there were no shorts.

Tip -> White
Center ring -> Red
Bottom ring -> Ground on both plugs

Hooked it up to the Sub. Put the phase back to 0 (will need to verify this but it sounds right to my ear). Put the sub in LFE mode.

Went into windows and configured it as a 5.1 system. Critically here I lied to windows and told it that i had all of the speakers connected. I did not want windows doing the 5.1 downmixing. I wanted to handle that myself.

Did a bunch of reading on how to down mix the center and rear channels into 2.1.

Wrote a script in APO to handle downmixing and set the crossovers on the speakers and sub. (see attached)

It sounds great. Nice deep punchy bass and male vocals don't sound weird on youtube anymore. Maybe not on par with what the Wiim does with room fit but at least now I can separate the speakers from the sub. So I should be able to fix it up with another round of measurements and filters in REW.

Thanks again.
 

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