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AIYIMA A80 Stereo Amplifier & DAC Review
- Thread starter amirm
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daniboun
Major Contributor
Unusual load dependency for a PFFB / TPA3255...
www.audiophonics.fr
AIYIMA A80 Integrated Amplifier
With its A80, Aiyima unveils a small integrated amplifier packed with audiophile features and components. It's primarily based on an ESS9038Q2M DAC chip and a TPA3255D2 amplifier chip. This enables it to support high-resolution sampling rates...
www.audiophonics.fr
uwotm8
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Thanks for the review, Amir.
Non-identical channels @4 Ohm... not impressive.
$200 seems right for overall package.
But I think I'd rather get Loxjie A30 https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/loxjie-a30-amplifier-review.17547/ if I needed a small desktop amp.
Their most popular solutions are still something super-cheap like A07 - typical aliexpress amp among xduoo, kguss and other "what if I chaotically press a few keys to get a brand name" brands.
This one, however, is definitely a step up, let's hope there is some reliability.
Non-identical channels @4 Ohm... not impressive.
$200 seems right for overall package.
But I think I'd rather get Loxjie A30 https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/loxjie-a30-amplifier-review.17547/ if I needed a small desktop amp.
I'm kinda uncertain if they did gain some and there's much to lose.
Their most popular solutions are still something super-cheap like A07 - typical aliexpress amp among xduoo, kguss and other "what if I chaotically press a few keys to get a brand name" brands.
This one, however, is definitely a step up, let's hope there is some reliability.
AudioSceptic
Major Contributor
Nango
Major Contributor
How much will cost to clone such a board? Couple of dollars? Expect this to be available on Ali and similar for 12-15$ which is just fair price, I guess.
Nah, there is a lot of value on that board. Anybody would be hard pressed to offer it cheaper, especially with a case and psu. It's quite crazy how low the price is here
DanielT
Master Contributor
Thank you for your review Amir. 
So a DAC, amp combo with included power supply for only US $199. Sounds good. It measures well, other than that it is a bit load dependent.
Maybe a stupid question but I'll ask it anyway. Does the remote control also control the volume? Reasonably, it should be so, but I take the opportunity to ask.
Regarding the load dependency. With 8 ohms, it increases 1.5 dB in FR between 5 kHz to 20 kHz.
But what does FR look like with AIYIMA A80 if it powers up a pair of speakers that have this type of impedance; they are at 26 ohms at 3 kHz, which then drop to 10 ohms at 8 kHz, to finally increase to 19 ohms at 20 kHz? Like these:
So a DAC, amp combo with included power supply for only US $199. Sounds good. It measures well, other than that it is a bit load dependent.Maybe a stupid question but I'll ask it anyway. Does the remote control also control the volume? Reasonably, it should be so, but I take the opportunity to ask.
Regarding the load dependency. With 8 ohms, it increases 1.5 dB in FR between 5 kHz to 20 kHz.
But what does FR look like with AIYIMA A80 if it powers up a pair of speakers that have this type of impedance; they are at 26 ohms at 3 kHz, which then drop to 10 ohms at 8 kHz, to finally increase to 19 ohms at 20 kHz? Like these:
JeremyFife
Major Contributor
Many thanks for another interesting review, although I'm losing track of all the new wee amps (and dacs) coming out
We are getting spoiled (which is great) to the point where that load dependency almost looks odd now, even though it's probably not a real world problem (or feed it from a PC or WiiM and tweak that). Aggressive protection (also probably a good thing) and some channel imbalance.
It's not a beefy workhorse.
However: it's cheap, cute and really very good indeed. As a package, for that money, it's pretty great.
Usual caveat about early adopting, hopefully it turns out to be robust enough.
We are getting spoiled (which is great) to the point where that load dependency almost looks odd now, even though it's probably not a real world problem (or feed it from a PC or WiiM and tweak that). Aggressive protection (also probably a good thing) and some channel imbalance.
It's not a beefy workhorse.
However: it's cheap, cute and really very good indeed. As a package, for that money, it's pretty great.
Usual caveat about early adopting, hopefully it turns out to be robust enough.
Clearly not a very good PFFB implementation or they tried to cure cheap coils with PFFB. Where is the THD+N vs. power graph for various frequencies? I expect pretty poor performance for anything above 1 kHz as the grass in the multitone begins to grow from 3 kHz.
I also don't understand how they could screw up the unbalanced input that badly - almost 20 dB HD2 compared to balanced!
Clearly, they spent their money on the fancy display and display modes and not where it counts.
I also don't understand how they could screw up the unbalanced input that badly - almost 20 dB HD2 compared to balanced!
Clearly, they spent their money on the fancy display and display modes and not where it counts.
Sokel
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It's only a matter of time for those to discover ASR and start bombarding Amir with a gazillion different takes of the same stuff.
I would rule a certain review percentage if I was him, specially for these thingies which seem to be endless.
170 watts per channel is medium to large room territory with a medium efficiency speakers..
What a gem at, likely, less than $200!!!
Amplification and DAC had already reached the commodity level. We weren't paying attention.
Triple WoW!
While it dosnt excite me , it's incredible what one can get for sod all these days . I'd like a PEQ tho , why not , it's super useful.
I'm still prefering seperate boxes including monoblock amps , putting amps next to speakers ( or in the speaker aka active ) , longer XLR and very short speaker wires .
The Dac lives in the source with a pre amp, Dacs in amps isn't for me.
I'm still prefering seperate boxes including monoblock amps , putting amps next to speakers ( or in the speaker aka active ) , longer XLR and very short speaker wires .
The Dac lives in the source with a pre amp, Dacs in amps isn't for me.
Roland68
Major Contributor
Great device, great test report, but...
@AIYIMA
Unfortunately, AIYIMA failed to integrate an adjustable high-pass filter for the connected speakers in the A80, although this time there is an aux output that is controlled via the volume.
This means that it is unfortunately impossible to set up a sensible 2.1 configuration with a subwoofer with this amplifier, unless you have an additional passive filter in front of the speakers.
Even without a subwoofer, a high-pass filter at 30-50 Hz can be very helpful, especially with small desktop speakers, and can greatly support cleaner playback.
It's a real shame that AIYIMA didn't take this into account and wasted so much additional potential with the A80.
@AIYIMA
Unfortunately, AIYIMA failed to integrate an adjustable high-pass filter for the connected speakers in the A80, although this time there is an aux output that is controlled via the volume.
This means that it is unfortunately impossible to set up a sensible 2.1 configuration with a subwoofer with this amplifier, unless you have an additional passive filter in front of the speakers.
Even without a subwoofer, a high-pass filter at 30-50 Hz can be very helpful, especially with small desktop speakers, and can greatly support cleaner playback.
It's a real shame that AIYIMA didn't take this into account and wasted so much additional potential with the A80.
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I’m only aware of one amp+DAC (I’d even take the option on just a single device) with sub/aux output that offers a high-pass (w/ toggle on/off) option: SMSL A300. Are you aware of any others? If so, please share.
uwotm8
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Challenge accepted.
Below are rivals in that case:
NAD C700 is $1500, nCore UcD module 2x80W - ES9028 DAC - all streaming one can imagine - pre out, sub out and so on. And a big screen.
NAD C399 is $2200, nCore 2x180(250)W and a lot of connections again.
NAD C389 is $1600, nCore again but less powerful.
OTOH we have $300-350 WiiM which I'd choose without any hesitation instead fosiyima (no offence, just being realistic).
Roland68
Major Contributor
Apparently only a few manufacturers understand anything about this area, because there are far fewer useful 2.1 amplifiers than you think.
- Many of the amplifiers only have a low-pass filter, which is really absolute nonsense, since even the cheapest active subwoofers have one built in. And without a high-pass filter it's just a bad joke.
- Low-pass and high-pass, like in the SMSL A300, AO300, Sabaj A30a and many others, are better, but far from ideal, since they can't be adjusted separately.
One of the few who seem to have understood this is Douk Audio with the new A5.
A separation between volume control and power amplifier and bringing out the outputs and inputs would also solve the whole thing much better, since you could then simply use active crossovers (car audio, DIY, DSPs, etc.) for just €20-50.
And funnily enough, there are many older amplifiers that have exactly the same thing.
So what is the problem with today's amplifier manufacturers, especially in this affordable range?
Absolute ignorance of what the end user actually needs?
Or a lack of basic knowledge to make an amplifier suitable for a 2.1 application?
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