Behringer A800 Stereo Amplifier Review

[Vini darko]

By audiophool logic that's a (£275/£169≈ 1.63) 63% improvement in sound quality!

Wow I'll buy two

 

[Pulkass]

Crazy, 300 euros, not worth, DIY a Purefi module, better sound.

 

[N1ck]

Weirdly, I did the same this morning and saw the price. I then looked around and saw they were all £270+ and thought, ‘stuff that’.
Where has this increase come from? Oh the war…and chip shortage…and covid…and energy prices…and any other excuse they can come up with.
I don’t know what it is like in the USA at the moment, but in the UK disposable income is at an all time low, yet non essential items have sky rocketed in price. Makes no sense.

 

[hansik]

By audiophool logic that's a (£275/£169≈ 1.63) 63% improvement in sound quality!

I bought 3 of them for 154 euros

 

[Nightyard]

I have 4 of these still to sell as ive gone back to using just a denon avr. £180 each. Uk only if of interest to anyone.

 

[dumpingg]

Would the Behringer A800 be a good match for the woofer/bass frequencies of my active crossover Magnepan 1.6 system? In my system I have a Minidsp Nanodigi that performs the crossover function PRIOR to the power amps. Such that the tweeter power amps only see the specific high frequencies and the woofer power amps only see the lower bass frequencies. In my case, the crossover functions are as follows:

Low Pass LR 12db/oct @ 400hz
High Pass BW 6db/oct @ 1475hz

For these filters, at 1000 Hz, the woofer panel signal is already down about -18db. So essentially the A800 driving the woofer panel would only see signal to amplify in the frequencies below. Looking at the 32 tone performance graph, I see that the A800 is about -90 dBrA for tones below 1000hz. Which is pretty good for distortion performance at the lower frequencies. The performance drops off for higher frequencies.

Is it a correct interpretation of the performance of 32 tone measurements to only look at the lower tones below the crossover frequency when selecting a woofer amplifier in my active crossover situation?

 

[arn]

It is an excellent and cheap choice also for full range amp. yeah, it is not so clean, than a purifi, but somehow less clinical and it sounds just in the right way. I would wish more an a800 amp in a higher technical level but in the same direction, than a nad c298.

My primary amp is the c298, but sometimes i put back the a800, and always surprised, how cheerful in my environment. The nad is overall better, but it is not worth the price difference, and you did know well the both system, and you cannot compare them, you will be happy with the a800.

I used the adi2 dac and the klh5, you need a good dac with a good analogue output.

 

[Toni71]

I use 7 (soon 8) of them in a ht setup. And one attached to a Denon X3700H for stereo with two subs on a set KEF R3 Meta.
I am almost 52 years young and have been in the audio hobby a long time, with all the money earlier spend on audio equipment. I can't hear a difference in the reproducion from sound in poweramps. Only when there is hissing or noise. I also made the switch to these amps, to reduce the electricity bill somewhat. No regrets at all, it all sounds good to me.

 

[Pulkass]

I bought 3 of them for 154 euros

It s not trash though, I have 3 too. 750 euros the lot

 

[hansik]

It s not trash though, I have 3 too. 750 euros the lot

It´s still worth it. Simply good amps.

 

[rongon]

Hello ASR:
...
A buddy and I performed some listening tests comparing the a800 with his big Emotiva mono amps with broad band sounds without filters of any kind.
We knew whitch amp was playing the the whole session so no blind test. However we could hear a sharp and harsh sound on snare and cymbals not present with the monoblocks. All in all the 800 sounded like the 32 tone test made by Amir. Increasing distorsion with frequenzy. Upp to 200 hz it works great but then the distorsion starts increasing.
No rock solid conclusions in other words but then and there this is what we experienced. We played loud and used sounds notoriously difficultt for amps to transmit. We found the difference very hard to hear with ordinary pop and rock music at ordinary levels. The difficult sound was the metronome click in Pro Tools.
...
We are both very sensitive to fan noise so the passively cooled a800 is attractive.

Last November, I bought an A800 amp for $199, brand spanking new. I had read Amir's review and figured I should give it a shot.

I've been looking for reviews of this amp, especially with subjective impressions, and stumbled onto the above. My impressions exactly match the above.

1) It's clean and clear sounding. I hear lots of 'details' in the playback. I like that.

2) It's powerful. I have a fairly small listening room and I sit only about 4 feet from my speakers. Even with small speakers of only 84dB sensitivity—JBL Studio 530 (which I also got for $200 for the pair!) or an old pair Sonus Faber Concerto—I find that the A800 drives them easily loud enough to piss off the neighbors. That's more power than I need. When I swap in my vintage Hafler P1000 amp (50Wpc, class AB), I notice the sound is somehow 'mushier' -- warmer, the highs are a little softer ('warmer' sound?) but the sound is not quite so clear. There's something muddled and 'confused' in the midrange—drum fills don't sound so clear and snappy, massed strings sound more like a wall of sound and less like a collection of individual instruments, and it's harder to pick out the individual notes in dense piano voicings. I ended up choosing the clarity of the A800 (and putting up with the bit of extra 'zing' in the highs) over the generally mushier and less clear sound of the old Hafler.

3) The "sharp and harsh sound on snare and cymbals" noted above is the only thing that annoys me about this amp. It's not horrible, but being that I've always preferred the more laid back upper mids and highs from tube amps (yeah, I know, I know), I find it noticeable. If you simply cannot abide by slightly 'sharp' sounding upper mids and high frequencies, and you must have a 'mellow' sounding amplifier, then this A800 won't do it for you.

I think today's speakers are really amazing for the money. (Thank you China.) But they all seem to need zero output impedance and gobs of current delivery from the amplifier, which makes them a bad match with tube amps. Since I don't have the money, time and patience to try to make a multi-driver, high sensitivity line array, I'm stuck with the current crop of great low to mid-priced speakers like the JBL 5 series and Elac DBR62.

I was not expecting the A800 to be great, especially for that kind of money. But it is pretty good!

Now the question is, would a Topping PA5 II or similar sound (subjectively) any different? The A800 was given a SINAD of 77 vs. the PA5 II SINAD of 116, which is a large difference. Audibly different?

 

[Archaea]

Last November, I bought an A800 amp for $199, brand spanking new. I had read Amir's review and figured I should give it a shot.

I've been looking for reviews of this amp, especially with subjective impressions, and stumbled onto the above. My impressions exactly match the above.

1) It's clean and clear sounding. I hear lots of 'details' in the playback. I like that.

2) It's powerful. I have a fairly small listening room and I sit only about 4 feet from my speakers. Even with small speakers of only 84dB sensitivity—JBL Studio 530 (which I also got for $200 for the pair!) or an old pair Sonus Faber Concerto—I find that the A800 drives them easily loud enough to piss off the neighbors. That's more power than I need. When I swap in my vintage Hafler P1000 amp (50Wpc, class AB), I notice the sound is somehow 'mushier' -- warmer, the highs are a little softer ('warmer' sound?) but the sound is not quite so clear. There's something muddled and 'confused' in the midrange—drum fills don't sound so clear and snappy, massed strings sound more like a wall of sound and less like a collection of individual instruments, and it's harder to pick out the individual notes in dense piano voicings. I ended up choosing the clarity of the A800 (and putting up with the bit of extra 'zing' in the highs) over the generally mushier and less clear sound of the old Hafler.

3) The "sharp and harsh sound on snare and cymbals" noted above is the only thing that annoys me about this amp. It's not horrible, but being that I've always preferred the more laid back upper mids and highs from tube amps (yeah, I know, I know), I find it noticeable. If you simply cannot abide by slightly 'sharp' sounding upper mids and high frequencies, and you must have a 'mellow' sounding amplifier, then this A800 won't do it for you.

I think today's speakers are really amazing for the money. (Thank you China.) But they all seem to need zero output impedance and gobs of current delivery from the amplifier, which makes them a bad match with tube amps. Since I don't have the money, time and patience to try to make a multi-driver, high sensitivity line array, I'm stuck with the current crop of great low to mid-priced speakers like the JBL 5 series and Elac DBR62.

I was not expecting the A800 to be great, especially for that kind of money. But it is pretty good!

Now the question is, would a Topping PA5 II or similar sound (subjectively) any different? The A800 was given a SINAD of 77 vs. the PA5 II SINAD of 116, which is a large difference. Audibly different?

70 SINAD is .03% distortion. How confident are you that you can hear that? Especially when your speakers are putting out full single digit percentages of distortion. 5% vs 5.03%? Gene at audioholics says humans can’t really hear above 70 SINAD. Placebo is the word.

 

[gasolin75]

Take a fosi audio v3 with a 48 volt power supply, it's more power full and alot cheaper

 

[rongon]

70 SINAD is .03% distortion. How confident are you that you can hear that? Especially when your speakers are putting out full single digit percentages if distortion. 5% vs 5.03%? Gene at audioholics says humans can’t really hear above 70 SINAD. Placebo is the word.

Yes, exactly.

.03% THD would only be audible if it was purely 5th harmonic or something like that.

At 5W into 4 ohms, the A800's distortion spectra measured with higher 3rd harmonic than anything else at -80dB, followed by 5th harmonic at -92dB (probably inaudible, but maybe not??). 2nd harmonic was way down at -98dB, completely inaudible.

With the 3rd and 5th harmonics being higher than 2nd and 4th, would that be enough to 'color' the subjective 'tone' of the amp to the 'cold' or 'zingy' side? Or are these artifacts all inaudible and all these amplifiers sound so much alike that it's not worth agonizing over choosing one over the other?

I can hear a difference between it and my old Hafler. Is the Hafler so bad that it's audibly worse? The differences are subtle, I will admit.

Anyhow, I'm happy with this A800 amplifier. A quite decent sounding 200W per channel into 4 ohms for $199, brand new, with a warranty? C'mon... That's great!

 

[Archaea]

Yes, exactly.

.03% THD would only be audible if it was purely 5th harmonic or something like that.

At 5W into 4 ohms, the A800's distortion spectra measured with higher 3rd harmonic than anything else at -80dB, followed by 5th harmonic at -92dB (probably inaudible, but maybe not??). 2nd harmonic was way down at -98dB, completely inaudible.

With the 3rd and 5th harmonics being higher than 2nd and 4th, would that be enough to 'color' the subjective 'tone' of the amp to the 'cold' or 'zingy' side? Or are these artifacts all inaudible and all these amplifiers sound so much alike that it's not worth agonizing over choosing one over the other?

I can hear a difference between it and my old Hafler. Is the Hafler so bad that it's audibly worse? The differences are subtle, I will admit.

Anyhow, I'm happy with this A800 amplifier. A quite decent sounding 200W per channel into 4 ohms for $199, brand new, with a warranty? C'mon... That's great!

Here’s my experience with the a800 in a very controlled double blind test. We also had a hafler amp in the comparison by dumb luck.

Post 8989

https://www.avsforum.com/threads/kansas-city-area-home-theater-meets-and-movie-night-events.1496367/page-450#post-60198218

 

[gasolin75]

Yes, exactly.

.03% THD would only be audible if it was purely 5th harmonic or something like that.

At 5W into 4 ohms, the A800's distortion spectra measured with higher 3rd harmonic than anything else at -80dB, followed by 5th harmonic at -92dB (probably inaudible, but maybe not??). 2nd harmonic was way down at -98dB, completely inaudible.

With the 3rd and 5th harmonics being higher than 2nd and 4th, would that be enough to 'color' the subjective 'tone' of the amp to the 'cold' or 'zingy' side? Or are these artifacts all inaudible and all these amplifiers sound so much alike that it's not worth agonizing over choosing one over the other?

I can hear a difference between it and my old Hafler. Is the Hafler so bad that it's audibly worse? The differences are subtle, I will admit.

Anyhow, I'm happy with this A800 amplifier. A quite decent sounding 200W per channel into 4 ohms for $199, brand new, with a warranty? C'mon... That's great!

A fosi audio v3 is a decent 190 watt in 4 ohm amp for under 100 euros https://www.ebay.de/itm/354971153079

or cheaper from usa https://www.ebay.com/itm/2044531790...mW4aYjomTOVW3U8xIw9h/K8Q==|tkp:Bk9SR4Do0-bQYg

 

[rongon]

Here’s my experience with the a800 in a very controlled double blind test. We also had a hafler amp in the comparison by dumb luck.

Post 8989

https://www.avsforum.com/threads/kansas-city-area-home-theater-meets-and-movie-night-events.1496367/page-450#post-60198218

OK the joke's on ME!

I love that. Great test. Thanks for sharing.

Reminds me of a photo from an audio society meet, of a bunch of audiophiles sitting in chairs, straining to hear the difference between two CD playback setups in a single blind test between an expensive Mark Levinson or some such expensive setup and the other with a cheap JVC DVD player into an Alesis power amp (similar idea to the Behringer power amps). The speakers were the same for both, only the electronics differed. Despite their intense concentration, the audiophiles could not reliably tell which was which. I wish I could find that photo, it's priceless.

Interesting that the only audibly different amp was that little Tripath amp, and only when called upon to drive 4 ohm speakers to loud levels. Of course you can tell the difference, it had to be running at like 5% THD or something.

Anyhow, I guess I'm talking myself into hearing differences between the Hafler P1000 and the A800, or perhaps the Hafler has gotten old enough that it's in need of restoration (probably needs power supply capacitors replaced, as they are roughly 25 years old).

Good stuff.

 

[Pulkass]

It is an excellent and cheap choice also for full range amp. yeah, it is not so clean, than a purifi, but somehow less clinical and it sounds just in the right way. I would wish more an a800 amp in a higher technical level but in the same direction, than a nad c298.

My primary amp is the c298, but sometimes i put back the a800, and always surprised, how cheerful in my environment. The nad is overall better, but it is not worth the price difference, and you did know well the both system, and you cannot compare them, you will be happy with the a800.

I used the adi2 dac and the klh5, you need a good dac with a good analogue output.

I have 3 A800 in an electronic X overed 3 way main system, compression driver for highs with horn, in a big treated room. The cheap way to a very good sound.

 

[thewas]

Reminds me of a photo from an audio society meet, of a bunch of audiophiles sitting in chairs, straining to hear the difference between two CD playback setups in a single blind test between an expensive Mark Levinson or some such expensive setup and the other with a cheap JVC DVD player into an Alesis power amp (similar idea to the Behringer power amps). The speakers were the same for both, only the electronics differed. Despite their intense concentration, the audiophiles could not reliably tell which was which. I wish I could find that photo, it's priceless.

Do you mean this one?

Matrix-Hifi: Pruebas Ciegas --> Prueba pública de Equipos Completos

 

[Filio45]

Just wondering if the A800 will have sufficient power for Revel F35's? According to Amir, the F35 falls to 3.5 Ohms (I think around 200 Hz with sharp phase rise before). I believe the A800 does around 200 watts at 4 ohms, so it's probably going to have more than enough at 3.5 ohms? I'm already an A800 owner