AIYIMA A20 Stereo 2.1 Amplifier Review

[Guddu]

View attachment 492056


...and here's a great advertisement for "My First Cheap Soldering Kit" with the extra flux uncleaned.
Is this a joke?

I wondered how long it would be before someone mentioned this... wasn't long!

I thought this was a bit average as well;

View attachment 492057


JSmith

Really bad, but this should not be in every piece and might just be one case... I hope.

 

[JeremyFife]

Thanks for the review Amirm, always appreciated

Another pretty decent, inexpensive amp in what is becoming a crowded field. I'm sure it will deliver very nicely but there are issues, including questionable build quality (that soldering) and slightly low power.

Main issue for me is what seems to be a trend in new models: one feature in / one feature out: this has a sub-out so very sensibly offers HPF (which is pretty great) but then removes load independence by badly implementing PFFB. It's annoying and makes navigating your way through all these new amps much more difficult than it should be.

Nice enough little amp, but there are others.

 

[Good Vibes]

We got the Aiyima A20 before we got the WiiM Amp Ultra review.

 

[Ropeburn]

Really not bad performance at all for the price, and highpass makes it stand out. A bit high minimum at 60Hz, but that's just me, should work fine for most users.

Build quality though... no thanks. Price is no excuse either, other models and companies aren't that flawed at all at similar prices.

 

[JohnBooty]

Finally, we have an affordable amplifier with an integrated variable main speaker HPF. Took long enough.

Obviously in many situations, subwoofer LPF, Phase switch/knob, and/or physical placement won’t be able to nail proper integration without digital delay/APF on one or the other without sacrifices, but this is a huge step forward from the traditional:

“we are giving you a (completely unnecessarily) low-passed sub out, which your (likely) powered sub already does internally, and full range mains outs…. haha, have fun ensuring full phase alignment between the two across their hugely overlapping passband where now the sub has a “double” LPF crossover slope and thus an extra severe phase rotation which is basically impossible to align to the full range mains” approach we’ve seen from basically every affordable non-DSP “integrated” speaker amplifiers for the last 50 years.

Kudos.

Amen.

It has been very difficult for me to understand why this feature has been so elusive. It felt like such an obvious win. Been years since I pored through spec sheets but it seemed like a lot of these amps even had chips onboard already that could have provided the HPF without an additional parts cost.

I suppose it's mostly because buyers weren't demanding it -- maybe a lot of Class D buyers were newbie audiophiles.

(I also couldn't help but wonder if a difference in market preferences was a factor. I'm certain that subwoofers are far less common in Asia for a variety of reasons, including population density)

 

[sam_adams]

I wondered how long it would be before someone mentioned this... wasn't long!

I thought this was a bit average as well;

In addition to the soldering faux pas, the capacitor mounting:

and lead-forming leave much to be desired. Bending the leads like above so close to the seal end of the lead will likely result in a leaking cap(s) in the future.

Anyway, it's good to see another product exposed to the withering gaze of @amirm and the rest of the ASR membership and surviving.

 

[AaronJ]

Prior to the WiiM Amp this would be superb, but unfortunately WiiM has made the entire "desktop amp class" obsolete. The enormous power brick is a complete non-starter for me.

 

[Svensson]

A very long time ago, in a town, far far away, as a student, I bought a NAD 3020i from Richer Sounds (UK retailer). It had a simple 40 watts and a reputation for being excellent for the price of £99. With inflation, this this Aiyima blows the socks off that old NAD. However, the market is wide and deep at this price bracket.

 

[trevor_bartram]

The importance of load dependency, IMHO, is completely overblown. Below is the CTA-2034 spinorama plot for the KEF Blade 2 Meta obtained from spinorama.org. See that there is a ~4 dB roll off in the listening window measurement from 10 - 20 kHz? In comparison, the deviation between the 4 Ω and 8 Ω frequency response at 20 kHz for this amp was less than 1 dB. I get that the fix (PFFB) is easy and costs nothing. But the problem is a small one.

View attachment 492059

If you want to "optimize" the output filter by adding parallel capacitance, TI has an Excel spreadsheet tool you can play with. But since adding capacitance is just going to lower the LC output filter cutoff (resonance) frequency and therefore moves the resonance peak to a lower frequency, it is likely counter-productive.

LCFILTER-CALC-TOOL Design tool | TI.com

View the TI LCFILTER-CALC-TOOL Design tool downloads, description, features and supporting documentation and start designing.

www.ti.com

Agreed, overblown. Perhaps a Zobel network (series C-R damping) might work better?

 

[SMen]

I didn't check the price (I rarely do) but even 10 euro is too much for a load depended amp these days, no matter what.

IMD is like an ominous forest compared to other desktop amps.
One would guess that everyone should have mastered a ten years old chip, at the dawn of the rumored upcoming new one.

Thanks Amir!

There is a rumored upcoming new TI chip? Love to follow any links if you have them.

 

[SMen]

On the one hand, I am surprised that Aiyima have not got the PFFB cracked on this, but then on the other hand there is quite a price difference vs the Aiyima A7 which has - pay more get more. Seems the market is maturing.

 

[Rja4000]

Thanks for the review

A killer for the price !
(If a "fine" performance, overall)

 

[Rja4000]

Aiyima are still leaving MD performance on the table:
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How much costs the feedback loop ?
Probably just some power.
Then, what's better ?
Some more power ?
Or somehow better performance ?

As usual, a matter of balance (and use).

 

[caught gesture]

As an early buyer of this amp, I must say that I am disappointed by the power measurements. The sub out with HPF was my major reason for buying but the increase in power from my 70W per channel @ 8 Ohm integrated amp was definitely another reason for my purchase. It seems that I have gained nothing even when buying the 48V 10A power supply as an upgrade. I feel somewhat cheated. Can someone explain (@AIYIMA) how you are arriving at your power measurements stated on your sales information.

 

[JohnBooty]

Prior to the WiiM Amp this would be superb, but unfortunately WiiM has made the entire "desktop amp class" obsolete. The enormous power brick is a complete non-starter for me.

$300 vs $200 is a pretty big deal for most people in this market segment. (I do see that the WiiM is 20% off MSRP currently though)

The additional functionality of the WiiM is obviously impressive, but not relevant for a lot of people -- like literal "desktop amp" users who are playing audio from their computer while they work or play.

Power bricks are annoying, but I usually just velcro or hide them somewhere so they're off the floor and out of sight. It's a minus for me but not a dealbreaker.

 

[amirm]

Thank you @amirm
Wondering if you have thermal scan for the temperature like you did for other amplifiers?

Its temperature did not change during testing!

 

[Sir Sanders Zingmore]

This is the norm for these little desktop amps though surely?

Just don't buy expecting anything like the claimed power.

I'd love to see a list of those, whose power claims are accurate...A very short list, I'd bet .

I didn’t realise it was normal behaviour. Even if it is, I feel like it’s deceptive and should be called out.
Also why is @amirm giving a golfing panther to a device that fails so spectacularly to meet its quoted specs?

 

[Chr1]

This has been covered in several other threads here.

Unfortunately it is very rare for manufacturers to give realistic power figures. Particularly with these small form factor desktop amps.

 

[Hellboy.]

@amirm Thanks for the review.

I think you should change the price to $240.99. Because you tests with the 48V10A PS and your results show what the amplifier does with that PS.

Someone can say:
I buy this amp, the review said $195 and 70w 8ohm, but my amp doesn't do that.

 

[Sokel]

There is a rumored upcoming new TI chip? Love to follow any links if you have them.

"Rumored", so nothing concrete or something to hold on.
Based on the 10 year mark probably.