Audioengine N22 Amplifier Review

[pseudoid]

Thank you for the review, @amirm,
I have to admit that I've set-up a couple of mini-systems, using of their electronics and what AudioEngine calls their 'desktop speakers'.
Before even reading your review, I chopped the Panther's head off... but would have glued it back on; if my previous negative exposure to their products was proved to be wrong.
I did not need any glue... like you did not need to test its headphone amp!

 

[TonyJZX]

a lot of people who wouldnt frequent this website like audio engine and their B&B is active speakers so it would not surprise me to see that they have a few placeholder passive speakers and single amp as a stop gap... and so this isnt their priority, it never was so I would assume this decade old amp has been 'tuned' for their two line passive speakers... being 4 and 5.5" i reckon they gonna need that bass boost and their target audience would be fine with it

these are more desktop slash nearfield type use? so yea. this is how it is for their audience but $200 is a bit rich i guess when the chinese have been doing better for half the price or less.

 

[ROOSKIE]

Furthermore, the PS states: 17.5 volts and 1.8 A (or so it seems in the Amir’s pic). Does this means the total available watts of PS are 17.5 x 1.8 = 31 W?

No.

Receiver Power Consumption Rating vs Output Power Is Not Watt You Think!

Ever wonder how your favorite manufacturer rates power consumption on their AV receivers and how it relates to maximum available output power to your speakers? The answer may surprise you so read on.

www.audioholics.com

 

[SMc]

I bet those old ta2020 chip t-amps that used to sell for about 30 USD performs better

This reminds me of my Nuforce DIA but it was more than that! Worked okay for a tv system.

 

[formdissolve]

I had one of these and hated it. Missed the return period by a few days, so lost money on it.. Glad to see it on the bench

 

[Tks]

Nonsense!

I'd say they're even. We got Revel, they have Genelec.

 

[warpdrive]

It is sad that they do not even meet their own specification for frequency response which is 20Hz-22kHz ±1dB, nor their distortion spec which is
THD+N 0.02% at all power settings.

Strictly speaking, the FR does stay within a +/- 1 dB window in that frequency range.

 

[3125b]

I bet those old ta2020 chip t-amps that used to sell for about 30 USD performs better

Well ... this is a little worse, but not by all that much. Spend not 10 but 20% of what this Audioengine costs and you'd probably get something better, the $100-ish ones blow it away. This wasn't good when it launched and it's utterly pointless now.

 

[warpdrive]

I have one of these. Back then, if you wanted a compact desktop amp around $200 other than Tripath amps, there wasn't much of a choice. I suspected it wasn't flat FR wise and the channel imbalance is definitely bad at low volumes.

What I liked about it is that it has auto standby, and plays both inputs together (mixed together). The Auto Standby is pretty much useless as a power saving feature because it seems to drain a minimum of 6W always. Anyways I use it for my work with my laptop and workstation outputs and can hear both computers' audio simultaneously.

 

[notsodeadlizard]

It's a dirty cheap amp with very good for price parameters. As far as I know it's a kind of "cheapamp" based on a popular and not so bad LM3886. And it's old.
If you'll try to build the same (it's possible and not so hard) you'll be out of this budget, be sure.
Because the good enclosure, power transformer, heatsinks, electrolytes, PCBs, work, time, everything cost money,
In result nobody will hear the difference between 0.05% THD and 0.01% THD, especially from the "desktop" amp with the small desktop loudspeakers.

 

[AndreaT]

No.

Receiver Power Consumption Rating vs Output Power Is Not Watt You Think!

Ever wonder how your favorite manufacturer rates power consumption on their AV receivers and how it relates to maximum available output power to your speakers? The answer may surprise you so read on.

www.audioholics.com

And yet, the literature you quoted speaks at length about amplifier power. I was referring to the power supply, spec recites 17.5 V and 1.8 A…it seems way below the specs of the Loxjie A30.

 

[ROOSKIE]

And yet, the literature you quoted speaks at length about amplifier power. I was referring to the power supply, spec recites 17.5 V and 1.8 A…it seems way below the specs of the Loxjie A30.

It is answering your question about total available watts from the power supply.
It will likely be more than 31.

 

[amirm]

@amirm
Would you mind measuring the power consumption of amps and active speakers at low listening levels (<1W actual power output)? I find that there are huge differences (sometimes more than an order of magnitude) at these conditions that apply for most people for most of the time they are using their audio gear, yet manufacturers tend to not provide any specs for it.
Especially for cheaper gear this can make a difference of more than the initial cost of the product itself over several years of use, so it would certainly be interesting to investigate.

This is something you all can do as you only need a cheap power meter. I can do it too but just takes more time to finish a review.

 

[AndreaT]

It is answering your question about total available watts from the power supply.
It will likely be more than 31.

Quite anemic power supply with very little headroom in contrast with the robust specs of the Loxjie one.

 

[ROOSKIE]

Quite anemic power supply with very little headroom in contrast with the robust specs of the Loxjie one.

It is indeed, though the amps are very different it terms of manufacturer rated output power
N22 22watts x2 @4ohms (20 as tested ASR)
Loxjie 80watts x2 @4ohms (40 as tested ASR)

I'd much rather buy the Loxjie as it is better than the N22 in basically every way. Much more contempoary value for the $.

 

[GWolfman]

An expensive desk ornament, to say the least.

 

[pseudoid]

An expensive desk ornament, to say the least.

If the external surface is like their older black coating, the emulsifier [?] oozes out after a few years and gets all sticky to the touch...

 

[Hatto]

This product amped up my expectations so high for no reason then! I bought one to use with my desktop setup only to pack it back for a return in a week due to audible distortion. Placing my trust in manufacturer's claim of 0.02% THD+N at 22W RMS, I thought if 0.02 is so bad I should set the max bar much lower.

I'm happy to find out retrospectively that what I heard was not 0.02% THD+N but three times worse in reality.

But such deceit. Wow.

 

[MyCuriosity]

Permanent tone control

 

[Mnyb]

The Aphex exciter was invented when Kurt Knoppel (sp?) miswired a Dynaco St70 by accident and generated huge 2nd harmonic distortion. He liked what he heard and made a business around it.

Interesting demo I think in most cases it makes things worse

Reminds me of a demo , of some Italian CD player with an optional tube output stage I visited ( can’t remember the product name ) you could switch between the tubes or normal output while playing.
I was the opposite guy in the bunch I never preferred the tubed output it gave a similar papery kazoo like sheen on voices . This CD player must have had massive flaws ? Ofcourse there was no proper control in the demo. So it’s just my 20 year old anecdote, the interesting thing was that the demo was supposed to make us like this but it misfired on me . The other guys preferred the tubed output thou.