This is a review and detailed measurements of Arylic BP50 preamp with internal DAC, phono stage, HDMI ARC and Bluetooth. It was kindly drop shipped to me by a member and costs US $99.
Front panel doesn't hint at the immense amount of functionality BP50 provides. You get that from the back side:
This thing has every in and out you can imagine! It even comes with a remote, making it one of the most ideal preamplifiers there is as far as connectivity in modern era. How well does it work though? Let's measure:
Arylic BP50 Preamplifier Measurements
Let's start with the DAC measurements:
I kind of expected this level of performance and that is what we get. I didn't put it in my ranking table but would be in the "fair" category. Distortion is a problem as is noise to some extent:
Since there is digital out, let's see if that gives us transparency allowing an external DAC to do the job:
Ouch! That is serious amount of error! Good news is that volume control is in the path and maybe that is where the problem is. Strangely, in a good way, USB to Coax works better:
Jitter is expectedly poor:
]
I don't have an HDMI ARC source but I expect it to be worse yet.
Frequency response of the analog output is fine but subwoofer out is incorrect:
Instead of a low pass filter, you have this strange sloping down two-step response.
Switching to analog input we get:
Not bad although be careful in using a DAC to drive it as it clips above 1.6 volt and severely so by the time you get to 2 volts input.
Once again I switched to digital out to see if that is better by eliminating the DAC:
Strangely, it is a hair worse!
Next I tested Phono input:
Not an even response.
Conclusions
My impression of Arylic as a brand is focus on price/performance and functionality first with performance possibly not a factor at all. That is what we have here. What a great deal it would be if some attention was put toward getting that aspect right.
Needless to say, I can't recommend the Arylic BP50 from performance point of view. On functionality and value, it is off the charts.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
Front panel doesn't hint at the immense amount of functionality BP50 provides. You get that from the back side:
This thing has every in and out you can imagine! It even comes with a remote, making it one of the most ideal preamplifiers there is as far as connectivity in modern era. How well does it work though? Let's measure:
Arylic BP50 Preamplifier Measurements
Let's start with the DAC measurements:
I kind of expected this level of performance and that is what we get. I didn't put it in my ranking table but would be in the "fair" category. Distortion is a problem as is noise to some extent:
Since there is digital out, let's see if that gives us transparency allowing an external DAC to do the job:
Ouch! That is serious amount of error! Good news is that volume control is in the path and maybe that is where the problem is. Strangely, in a good way, USB to Coax works better:
Jitter is expectedly poor:
I don't have an HDMI ARC source but I expect it to be worse yet.
Frequency response of the analog output is fine but subwoofer out is incorrect:
Instead of a low pass filter, you have this strange sloping down two-step response.
Switching to analog input we get:
Not bad although be careful in using a DAC to drive it as it clips above 1.6 volt and severely so by the time you get to 2 volts input.
Once again I switched to digital out to see if that is better by eliminating the DAC:
Strangely, it is a hair worse!
Next I tested Phono input:
Not an even response.
Conclusions
My impression of Arylic as a brand is focus on price/performance and functionality first with performance possibly not a factor at all. That is what we have here. What a great deal it would be if some attention was put toward getting that aspect right.
Needless to say, I can't recommend the Arylic BP50 from performance point of view. On functionality and value, it is off the charts.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
