Audiophonics DA-S250NC DAC & Power Amp Review

[respice finem]

Fun fact: Many Germans used to call stuff from the former East Bloc "Klingon Tech" no one was ofended AFAIR.

 

[Anthony LoFi]

From the guy called "Tony Lo Fi". Are you Chi Fi's brother?

No John, are you related to Pauline Hansen?

I think this is off topic, hard one for the moderators to keep on top of as we are all participating in this forum as volunteers.
Its the way in which words can be used which could imply offense to those it was not intended.
Being "PC" I guess is just good manners for some and yes recent posters have indicated that the terms were used in the past to apply to the Japanese and Germans. Just a coincidence that they were both involved to a war.

Sorry for the off topic post as it detracts from the excellent discussion on this new product.

 

[Multicore]

Could we not continue using the term "ChiFi"?

I learned it from ASR. I figured it refers to a category of equipment makers that regular ASR readers can identify fairly well so it seemed like a useful jargon.

Any post referring to the term is treated by me as not relevant even if the post contains valid logical statements.
I usually associate the author with the mental note not to bother reading any further posts.

Why?

 

[Multicore]

A product can be high or low performing independently from its nationality

Regular ASR readers know that equipment makers in China are routinely making top performing and often also top value-for-money gear. Amirs reviews, the flagship content here, make this incontrovertible to any serious person reading them.

I think the term is not wrong by itself, but it can be used in a wrong way when it is prejudicially associated with good or bad performance, as i did in my post (before editing).

I think actively confronting actual examples of apparent prejudice is better than the application of word-use rules. But I also prefer to respect and adopt local customs so whichever y'all want...

 

[restorer-john]

No John, are you related to Pauline Hansen?

I think this is off topic, hard one for the moderators to keep on top of as we are all participating in this forum as volunteers.
Its the way in which words can be used which could imply offense to those it was not intended.
Being "PC" I guess is just good manners for some and yes recent posters have indicated that the terms were used in the past to apply to the Japanese and Germans. Just a coincidence that they were both involved to a war.

Sorry for the off topic post as it detracts from the excellent discussion on this new product.

You know that famous saying? When you find yourself in a hole...the first thing to do is stop digging.

Now you're dribbling about Pauline Hanson, Japanese and Germans in wars? How is that relevant to this thread or remotely "PC" (as you claim you are) ?

What a mess. I suggest sitting the next few plays out.

 

[Haskil]

Try Atoll products, a real company that makes products with discrete components, I'm sure you will be absolutely satisfied....

No ! their historic amplifiers have modest performance, radiators far too small for the advertised power that they only last a few seconds... 20 years ago, it was fine. Today they are totally outdated and sold far too expensive. Their high-end amps are better, but they're not as good either from a performance and retail price point of view.

 

[tomtoo]

Kind of surprised this doesn’t offer better audio performance. Not bad, but not fantastic.

Did you looked at the price?

 

[Billy Budapest]

Did you looked at the price?

Yes, I would have expected better for $640.

 

[tomtoo]

Yes, I would have expected better for $640.

What product at this price you would compare and say its superior?

 

[Billy Budapest]

What product at this price you would compare and say its superior?

You can get a better performing DAC for $100.

$640 is a lot of money compared to other offerings from Topping, SMSL, etc.

 

[tomtoo]

You can get a better performing DAC for $100.

$640 is a lot of money compared to other offerings from Topping, SMSL, etc.

But its a dac+amp. So what product thats compareble performs better in this price range?

 

[TonyJZX]

as said the SMSL D6 does better at $170 as a dac

and there's *should* be something even less without balanced which is unnecessary

BUT at $640 this is a real neat one box... I dont think its a lot of money for what you can get

and personally i dont think that an friggin' Aiyima A07 and an SMSL C100 is the same thing
'
it'll graph comparatively though according to taste and hearing

 

[Bleib]

A balanced DAC plus Topping pa7 is probably comparable.

 

[Kevinfc]

This is a very nice, simple all in one device for the price point. I would bet that different versions with higher feature levels will soon be available. Impressive to me.

 

[Verig]

. At the end, a Nad M22 or M10 or M23 is also just a hypex or purifi amp in a fancy package. I don't want to pay 2.5K or even more for that fancy package actually, so i'm happy that someone like Audiophonics makes them in a cheap generic package...

M10 gives you large display, very stable and competent streamer and adjustable dual sub out with room correction. All this in one neat package.
User experience is pretty remarkable and the sub outs with correction do more to the sound than any differences between amps ever could. I don't see this Audiophonics offering being anywhere near M10. Don't get me wrong, it looks like a very good no-nonsense product and I rather like Audiophonics but still it's just a simple amp with digital input and volume.

 

[jae]

[...] with an integrated Linkplay streamer, at 899€.

Definitely the version I would be considering or recommending to others

 

[Verig]

I would love to see a product like this but with crossover capability at the DAC level for the Pre Out to allow for subwoofer integration.

I've been wondering why this isn't a thing. Driving a sub from simple pre-out is not very 2023. It may work with large full range speakers where you just add sub to the bottom of well performing speakers but integration with standard 2-way is hit and miss. Ported small(ish) speaker reaching as far as it can and then adding a quality sealed sub adjusting only from the sub? Messy and missed performance gain from not relieving the small speaker.

 

[JSmith]

The problem is when people associate it with whatever prejudices they have against China, usually meaning cheap and/or low quality. But that is to blame on whoever associated it that way, not the term itself.

We should consider the intent, not the term.

I don't completely disagree... however, unfortunately intent can be difficult to ascertain simply reading some text online, especially people from places where English may be their non-native language.

I think as per Amir's request, we should continue to avoid the term really. It's more of a common courtesy aspect, considering the audience here is of an international nature. We don't want some members feeling like there may be a derogatory intent in any way.

I suppose what I mean really, is we should want everyone to feel welcome here at ASR.


JSmith

 

[Kagemusha]

None of those measurements are earth-shattering, but they're all good - for an integrated unit with amplifier and DAC at under $700, this thing's a steal. If I were setting up a basic stereo system for bedroom/office, even for non-HT living room use, I'd give this guy a long hard look.

I am doing it now....
I bought from Audiophonics dac and hypex amp already and I found their service very good.
Really nice products from them.

 

[Paszek]

I have one since November and I use it on a daily basis. It works with pair of Lintons in 36m^2 room. Average listening distance is 3m. I almost never need to go more than -15dB (sometimes I play some techno/house beat and go up to -10dB for few minutes, because it makes me smile).

It covers 95% 100% of my "audio usage" (mainly streaming music and video through iphone or mac), but sometimes I would like to watch movie from DVD and there is no simple way of doing it with this amp. So I fallback to my old Sony AVR. Can I have good dolby/dts->stereo converter without buying AVR? Edit: Works with DVD player after forcing downmix to stereo in player settings.

Audiophonics support is very good, I sent unit for firmware update after they resolve relay-clicking issue, and I got it back after few days (Poland->France->Poland).

Maybe measurments are not perfect, but my ears and wallet tell me it is endgame for 582,50 € tax excl. The next step will be to measure room response for my system and apply some EQ, to squeeze even more juice (but for now I'm not sure how to do it from here without buying more stuff).