AIYIMA A20 Stereo 2.1 Amplifier Review

[Hannez0101]

I’m thinking about buying the aiyima a20. I have a Fosi ZD3 Dac. Is it possible to set the a20 volume from the ZD3 remote?

 

[bytek5]

Hi

I’m thinking about buying the aiyima a20. I have a Fosi ZD3 Dac. Is it possible to set the a20 volume from the ZD3 remote?

Just set your power amp at max volume. Like this:

 

[eshkilev]

View attachment 492056


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

In my copy, everything is fine in this regard.

 

[Sokel]

In my copy, everything is fine in this regard.

Good for your copy but even worst for the lucky one who got the dude (I guess it's already on its way back of course, you don't keep such a mess)

Can you read the resistor values, I'm curious about what they messed up with there.

 

[eshkilev]

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

View attachment 492125

View attachment 492126

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.

The capacitors are also all right. Overall, I had no issues with the soldering or assembly quality of my A20.

 

[Gibsonian]

In my copy, everything is fine in this regard.

Mine as well

 

[totti1965]

Oops. Will have to fix later.

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.

I also think: 90 % of passive two- or three-way speakers out there do have a slight treble loss (about 1.5 dB to 3.0 dB or so) in the region between 14 kHz and 20 kHz (just take a close look at https://www.spinorama.org !) - this often even after suggested parametric equalizer corrections
(and that is o.k.! Examples: https://www.spinorama.org/speakers/Audio First Design Cadentia 3/Audio First Design/vendor/Estimated In-Room Response.html,

https://www.spinorama.org/speakers/Epos ES14N/Misc/vendor_eq/Estimated In-Room Response.html

)

So: the nice high pass filter in addition with the additional 1.5 dB at 20 kHz, nearly independent from the speaker impedance in this region, makes the Aiyima A20 a remarkable choice for any practically (this means: real world) purposes, if a subwoofer (or better: two subwoofers) is used.

 

[Chr1]

As previously stated : having a HPF for subwoofer use is easy to implement, so hopefully it will become the norm...

Having one doesn't make this amplifier great to me.
Seems OK. As my school teachers used to say: "Could do better"

Hopefully we'll continue to see more with this feature, with better specs and power.

Optional/default HPF on full size amps too please.

 

[Ropeburn]

I also think: 90 % of passive two- or three-way speakers out there do have a slight treble loss (about 1.5 dB to 3.0 dB or so) in the region between 14 kHz and 20 kHz (just take a close look at https://www.spinorama.org !) - this often even after suggested parametric equalizer corrections
(and that is o.k.! Example: https://www.spinorama.org/speakers/Audio First Design Cadentia 3/Audio First Design/vendor/Estimated In-Room Response.html)

So: the nice high pass filter in addition with the additional 1.5 dB at 20 kHz, nearly independent from the speaker impedance in this region, makes the Aiyima A20 a remarkable choice for any practically (this means: real world) purposes, if a subwoofer (or better: two subwoofers) is used.

And once again it needs to be said: don't choose an amplifier for its sound character, however slight. Its one job is getting as close to the perfectly neutral "wire with gain" as technically possible, with as little dependency on the actual load and its behaviour as possible.

If you want a particular character (= imperfection to taste), do it on source/preamp level. Much easier and much more versatile.

If you're thinking about how an amp "fits" to a pair of speakers and their electric behaviour, we're getting into "synergy" territory. And that's nothing but "two flaws cancelling each other out by lucky chance". Not a useful, neither a desirable characteristic, if you ask me.

 

[Chr1]

Also, given how far from reality the power specs of these amps are, it is all the more important to have a HPF...

You WILL need a sub if you want any volume.

Unless you are sitting in front of very sensitive speakers in a small room.
Lol.

 

[Mark185]

Hi

I’m thinking about buying the aiyima a20. I have a Fosi ZD3 Dac. Is it possible to set the a20 volume from the ZD3 remote?

Yes, I am using the A20 with a Fosi ZD3 DAC. Just set the volume on the A20 to maximum or bypass the volume control by pressing button on back and control volume with the ZD3 remote.

 

[Sokel]

I also think: 90 % of passive two- or three-way speakers out there do have a slight treble loss (about 1.5 dB to 3.0 dB or so) in the region between 14 kHz and 20 kHz (just take a close look at https://www.spinorama.org !) - this often even after suggested parametric equalizer corrections
(and that is o.k.! Examples: https://www.spinorama.org/speakers/Audio First Design Cadentia 3/Audio First Design/vendor/Estimated In-Room Response.html,

https://www.spinorama.org/speakers/Epos ES14N/Misc/vendor_eq/Estimated In-Room Response.html

)

So: the nice high pass filter in addition with the additional 1.5 dB at 20 kHz, nearly independent from the speaker impedance in this region, makes the Aiyima A20 a remarkable choice for any practically (this means: real world) purposes, if a subwoofer (or better: two subwoofers) is used.

We seem to forget what it means for an amp to be load depended.
Let's remember WiiM Amp once again then:

That's SOME examples of the same amp at various loads.
And that's the thing about it, it's random, it depends on the combination.

It can also be calculated if we have all the data at hand.
Amazing thread, here:

Complex impedance load amp FR influence - WiiM Amp review by Erin

Was pleasantly surprised today when I read the review of the WiiM Amp on Erin's website. Erin will be using two complex impedance profiles in all of his amplifier reviews in the future to measure their impact on the frequency response of the tested amplifiers. My only criticism is that the...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[Ajax]

FWIW, I recently purchased the Wiim Amp Ultra, which I am really enjoying. It is available for around US$460 on Black Friday deals in Aus (about double the Aiyima price assuming the 10Amp PS).

For those that can afford a little extra it has a lot more features such as an internal DAC, Streamer, PEQ, Sub Out, HPF, Room Correction, great App and more power at 100W into 8 ohms. Amir has favourably reviewed it's predecessors but not this particular model as yet.

WiiM Ultra Streamer Preamp Review

This is a review and detailed measurements of the WiiM Ultra network streamer, DAC, phono stage and preamplifier. It was sent to me by the company and costs US $329. Physical attribute are modern and attractive enough. Alas, I can't say the same thing about the graphical interface. Icons seem...

www.audiosciencereview.com

WiiM Amp Pro Streaming Stereo Amplifier Review

This is a review and detailed measurements of the WiiM Amp Pro networked streaming stereo class D amplifier. It was sent to me by the company and costs US $379. The package is minimalistic in nature and matches the "non-pro" version of the amplifier. The volume indicator is that set of LEDs...

www.audiosciencereview.com

When compared to "name" brands promoted by the HiFi magazines it is the bargain of the decade. A no brainer, I love it.

 

[SMen]

What I don't understand about the HPF - High-pass filter - is why it is required on the amplifier?
I thought that subwoofers needed to control the cross over into them ... and if using two then one independent filter for each is better than one for both.

I can understand the benefit for the main speakers and the A20 driving those ... but the 3255 chip has such power and strong damping factor anyway ... ?

Sorry if being a numpty.

 

[Corvuscorone]

What a disappointment. The cheaper A70 measures better otherwise, except with the RCA input.

 

[pickyAudiophile]

'Checked my A20's PCB today, thankfully no issues with flux or anything of concern visible.
Just one minor issue with my device, on power-up rarely the NJW1795A seems not to "see" the potentiometer's actual positioning. For split-second only, barely audible, and I would say not harmful to speakers, that causes a "full throttle" output. - If you power up with very loud signal input active - the picture might be different.

 

[Ropeburn]

What I don't understand about the HPF - High-pass filter - is why it is required on the amplifier?
I thought that subwoofers needed to control the cross over into them ... and if using two then one independent filter for each is better than one for both.

I can understand the benefit for the main speakers and the A20 driving those ... but the 3255 chip has such power and strong damping factor anyway ... ?

Sorry if being a numpty.

The whole point is not about subwoofers - they have a (line level) lowpass on their own, at least 90% or more of all models on the market.

The point is rather, that the highpass functionality, that is removing sub (woofer) bass from the main amp output, is the main thing that's really missing on the market. And amplifiers such as this one in the topic here address. It's a big thing, especially for very affordable devices.

Which is exactly why people like me are ending up somewhat disappointed. It's largely psychological. The expectation is big: finally! Someone makes a product with this feature! And then it is much less than perfect... omai, look at that, the power figures are exaggerated... and the highpass is set to a "puny" 60 Hz... and the delivered power turns out much less than than advertised... and look at that, pictures of a member reveal horrible build quality.

All valid concerns. All good reasons I, personally, will never consider buying this product, or recommended it to others. BUT it's still a step into the right direction.

However flawed this one may or may not be, I can still acknowledge it as a valuable stepping stone, for the Aiyima company and the whole "super budget" segment as a whole.

Draw your own conclusions as you will. In the future of hifi, good things await us.

 

[NTK]

The first order HPF is inadequate for the function, just barely better than no filter. With 80 Hz cutoff frequency, signals to the main are attenuated by only 9 dB at 30 Hz.

These companies just don't seem to know how to do things properly. A wasted opportunity.

 

[Ropeburn]

The first order HPF is inadequate for the function, just barely better than no filter. With 80 Hz cutoff frequency, signals to the main are attenuated by only 9 dB at 30 Hz.

These companies just don't seem to know how to do things properly. A wasted opportunity.

Let's be realistic. You can't expect a really, seriously, super proper highpass with selectable 12, 24, 48 or 96 dB/oct attenuation like you would in music production software. It's still an analog circuit, and costy accordingly.

 

[SMen]

The whole point is not about subwoofers - they have a (line level) lowpass on their own, at least 90% or more of all models on the market.

The point is rather, that the highpass functionality, that is removing sub (woofer) bass from the main amp output, is the main thing that's really missing on the market. And amplifiers such as this one in the topic here address. It's a big thing, especially for very affordable devices.

Which is exactly why people like me are ending up somewhat disappointed. It's largely psychological. The expectation is big: finally! Someone makes a product with this feature! And then it is much less than perfect... omai, look at that, the power figures are exaggerated... and the highpass is set to a "puny" 60 Hz... and the delivered power turns out much less than than advertised... and look at that, pictures of a member reveal horrible build quality.

All valid concerns. All good reasons I, personally, will never consider buying this product, or recommended it to others. BUT it's still a step into the right direction.

However flawed this one may or may not be, I can still acknowledge it as a valuable stepping stone, for the Aiyima company and the whole "super budget" segment as a whole.

Draw your own conclusions as you will. In the future of hifi, good things await us.

OK - so this reduces the load on the speakers - so they are not trying to output bass (depending on the cut off). And so additionally if with subwoofers attached - you can also manually change the cross over frequency with the subwoofers.

I get that thank you!