Arylic A50 Review (wireless amplifier)

[Alice of Old Vincennes]

I think Amir mentioned that he does that with speakers, but since upstream gear with good measurements are the norm rather than the exception, he won't spend more time than absolutely necessary on the stuff that doesn't cut the mustard.



Definitely. I bet most of it sounds just fine, especially after you've allowed your ear/brain combo to "burn in" a little.

But a great ingenuity achievement it isn't.

Really, ear brain burnin? Sounds like a euphemism.

 

[Alice of Old Vincennes]

In defense of these amps (sort of)

I haven't listened to the a50 but I do have a few similar STA326 based amps which will all measure really badly similar to the a50 as the chip itself has the sort of distortion levels Amir measures. They do have some (a lot) of limitations but they also have something to offer in addition to just being a cheap and integrated solution.

First the limitations:

• They will perform less well with an analogue input as with the direct digital chip they have to go through an aditional adc conversion. These are not the ideal choice if you have an analogue orientated system.
• In some cases the supporting chips aren't good either. The Alientek D8 has good USB (xmos) and Coax inputs, my FXaudio amp has good coax but a poor USB implementation. Used with the right input and high res lossless music they can be surprisingly good.
• They perform poorly with difficult speakers and complex crossovers with uneven impedance characteristics. They work best with reasonable efficiency well behaved speakers, ideally some large easy to drive floorstanders.
• They don't have much absolute power.
• You must route the audio through the 'Direct' mode. Any of the other modes (even the 'Flat' mode) which route through the EQ section of the amp just kill the magic that these amps can, under the right conditions, do.

Now the good:

• They are really convenient. Tiny self contained package providing the complete amplification chain without needing a DAC or preamp.
• They're cheap.

Now the surprising:

These amps do not really shine for layered complex or electronic music but, if you listen to a lot of live acoustical small scale music, you may find these amps a bit of a revelation and that they have (dipping into subjectives) a very open, detailed presentation giving a more realistic and rewarding performance than many much more expensive, larger and better measuring amplifiers. Providing you use them within their limitations i.e. not too loud, easy speakers to drive and a good quality digital source.

Now I duck for cover having dared to suggest that a really poor measuring amp can be quite spectacular in the right place

Duck

 

[Killingbeans]

Really, ear brain burnin? Sounds like a euphemism.

Sounds like standard brain functions to me.

I bet there's tons and tons of people out there enjoying garbage, solely because they've been spending a lot of time with it and it now has become their "new normal". Some will have their eyes opened when finally comparing it directly to high performance gear, but others will ironically label the good stuff as "garbage", because of how it doesn't fit with their idea of normal and because it has become synonyms with quality to them.

There's just no way of overstating how much our brains f¤ck with us all the time.