AIYIMA A300 Review (Stereo Amplifier)

[Walter]

@amirm has said before that for much of the lower priced gear, they don't request he return it. I'm not sure if that applies here, but I am quite confident he is not going to influenced by a sub-$200 freebie. Nor do I care what he does with it after the review, other than a teardown when warranted.

 

[jmillar]

I just bought an a08 and tried it with a set of Klipsch towers and later with the Elac Debut 2.0. I can say with the towers the sound was impressive, though not as satisfying as my Schiit monoblocks. With the Elac standmounts the sound was not really that good. That second setup does not have a preamp and I wonder if adding it into the mix might improve performance. I also wish that Amir would have the opportunity to test it.

1.Preamp won't improve performance
2. Klipsches are more efficient. 3. Elacs are current hungry.
As a poster above pointed out this amp may be a bit current limited.

They are pushing it a bit, but I don't think they have taken it to its max potential. I'll go look at the PA5 test and compare.

 

[jmillar]

Tough crowd here. With 90 watts of plenty clean enough for audio power, good headroom, balanced inputs, built is PS, and tone controls (which most people will find way more useful than an extra 10 or 20 dB of SINAD) for under $180 I don't see how this review could be considered poor. To me it looks like it deserves a "fine" panther.

Noise barely below the audibility threshold. But we are spoiled (and rightly so) by the fab SINAD ratings available at reasonable prices today. But Aiyima will come up with something better in a few short months. They are enthusiastic and brave enough to send new gear with a few rough edges to some of the fussiest guys in Audioland. Topping did that a few years ago and it worked for them.

 

[Saponetto]

I have to agree.
Aiyima is for sure a bunch of people who likes to ride the tiger...

 

[acetogen]

1.Preamp won't improve performance
2. Klipsches are more efficient. 3. Elacs are current hungry.
As a poster above pointed out this amp may be a bit current limited.

They are pushing it a bit, but I don't think they have taken it to its max potential. I'll go look at the PA5 test and compare.

Actually when I plugged it to a preamp. in single ended mode. it did improve the performance over a direct connection to a DAC, even though the A08 has a volume control so it is an integrated amp. As for the speakers, of course I know that Klipsch are more efficient than Elacs, everybody knows that! The power rating for the A08 is 36V with ~9.5V, which according to the TPA3255 specifications it does produce ~100 W per channel into 8 ohms. I am not buying the topping, it has less power than what I think I need.

 

[Saponetto]

Well, have to put my 5 cents.
When I bought a pair of A08s, all started from the needs of my wife to sonorize her fitness room and i got advantage to get another one for my office needs.
It ended that i liked so much the way this black brick sounds and fits on almost all speakers I have.
Casually, I also have a pair of Elacs Debut 6.2 and the match with the A08 is something my ears are pleased of.
The A08 moves a lot of current, and Elacs do appreciate it.

Hence, I am quite curious about the A300, perhaps I'll give a try soon...

 

[Witterings]

We actually want to make a good product, so we send it to Amirm for testing. We want to find problems through Amirm's professional tests, and know what you think through more professional comments and replies, so as to optimize our products. As you said, the results of the test were very poor and actually had a lot of negative impact on sales. But we believe that a professional and high-quality product will have good sales, so temporary problems will not stop us. We've always wanted to make a better amplifier.
So currently we are optimizing the A300 based on the test results.

Do you have any timescale on when an "optimized" version may be released ... I'd be seriously interested in one at that stage?

 

[375HP2482]

Here is our SNR:

View attachment 186961

I'm a bit confused here. Are these SNR or SINAD? Maybe to the Audio Precision they are one and the same.

I have an A07 with 86 dB speakers, and I can't hear noise at idle with my ear pressed against the grille cloth. Looking at the relative test spectra (measured noise floors, above) of the A300 and A07 it looks like the A300's noise floor (grass) is about 5 dB higher than the A07 (above right), so any hiss from the A300 should be close to inaudible.

The lower noise floor on the spectrum of the A07 along with lower distortion implies more negative feedback than the A300, possibly by rebalancing the relative gain structures of the opamp front end and the PWM stage. Another avenue to more feedback might involve more complex feedback loop compensation.

The multitone spectra tell the real story: 15 bits worth of dynamic range. That, along with better-than-tube distortion, is good enough for me.

 

[Morpheus]

Sorry mate, not specifically you... it seems to be a trend in almost every review thread and it does become rather irksome as the claims are then often used to attempt to negate part of the results. Maybe I have chosen the wrong time and place to raise this, I was also reading some other review threads, it's been a long day.


JSmith

Hi, I understand your reaction, as almost every review Amir does, gets asks for additional data, or methods questioning...
However, in this particular instance, given how usefull tone controls can be for most people and situations ( basically everyone that is not into advanced DSP and EQ) I think a few measurements here and there on the components that use them, and of their impact on noise, distortion and crosstalk could be enlightening...and prompt more people to take advantage of them, or not..I find they are one of the features that are actually worth having ( and maybe a configurable sub out too..)

 

[robertospeed]

Hi all, I received this Aiyima A300 today, I immediately noticed that in XLR as volume it feels much louder than RCA, let's say it sounds good, but I also have an Aiyima A07 with its 32v 5.0A power supply, but it sounds a lot stronger than this Aiyima A300, how come? Shouldn't A300 sound louder than A07 ?


A07 in power and volume exceeds A300 , But if I plug A300 in XLR as power and volume it sounds like A07 , I thought this A300 was much more powerful than A07 , and A07 is playing with a 32v 5.0A power supply , bought it on amazon including power supply.

Level volume Max

 

[Toku]

ciao
Ho letto il post su ASR e ora lo sto ricercando.
Come hai confrontato i livelli?
Hai giudicato dal fatto che la posizione del volume è diversa quando lo stesso segnale viene immesso in A300 e A07?

 

[Saponetto]

Roberto,
What are we seeing, exactly?
I see the graphs referring on several amplifiers, and it's good to know but in absence of any scale and/or any reference about the tools you used to acquire related levels, it is quite difficult to understand the information you are forwarding.

 

[robertospeed]

Roberto,
What are we seeing, exactly?
I see the graphs referring on several amplifiers, and it's good to know but in absence of any scale and/or any reference about the tools you used to acquire related levels, it is quite difficult to understand the information you are forwarding.

I have not measured them with adequate and professional tools because I do not have these tools.
I wanted to understand better though, on which one sounded louder of the 3 amplifiers.
So I recorded the audio of the 3 amplifiers with my smartphone, from the PC player I lowered the volume, and raised the volume of all 3 amplifiers to the maximum, then I took the audio files from my smartphone and measured the effect of 'wave with Audacity.
I did it to understand better, Aiyima A300 in RCA sounds too low, in XLR the volume is fine, only I perceive a bit of distortion, in XLR it reaches an input level of 2.2 vrms and in RCA it reaches an input level of 1 vrms and therefore the volume is too low and you have to turn the volume knob up to the maximum.
Aiyima A07 goes great in RCA and sounds good.
SMSL AO200 sounds good in RCA and also in XLR and as input level they sound the same, and that's all, unfortunately I don't have the proper tools to measure, but by ear these things are already understood and heard.
With this test that I did maybe I understood a little better, sorry if I put a photo with graphics without having made them with adequate tools.

 

[Saponetto]

Roberto, thanks for the added information.
Within this thread I added a link to an exaustive test of this amplifier done by the pals of Zvukaudio.com, and they also evidenced what you told us about the XLR levels. Briefly, the XLRs worked at the level of 2.2 VRMS you usually drive RCA inputs.
Same fate for the RCAs that, as easily foreseeable, seemed to manage at full drive at just above 1V RMS.

It is therefore highly probable that they just added XLRs inputs on the RCA drive lines, and by doing this they were forced to lower RCA inputs level at the half of usual 2.2 VRMS.
This seems to be a logical cause for the incoherence you highlight about the input levels.

 

[robertospeed]

Aiyima A300, I must admit that it sounds pretty good, with bright and detailed highs and really powerful bass, it all sounds quite detailed and with a loudness effect like the class A / B amplifiers of the 80s, tried with CD player and Magnat Monitor speakers supreme 1002 and drives them divinely, but don't mess too much with the tone controls that are heard quite well, I also tried it with Dali Spektor 1 desktop speakers and ELAC DEBUT S10.2 Subwoofer, the sound of the 2.1 is really fantastic. But the maximum sound was given with an external DAC connected to the PC and as a player player I used foobar2000, connection between DAC and Amplifier with XLR balanced cables and this time with Q Acoustic 3050i speakers, a really clean and full-bodied sound with highs refined and crystalline, in short, I liked it very much. I recommend it for desktop use because it does not have a remote control to raise and lower the volume, tone controls, etc. .. the on and off button is only behind and not in front.

 

[jmillar]

That is why I assumed it was sent to Amir too.

Nice.

Good ethos.


JSmith

Commendable! Kudos to Aiyima.