I'm new. Abuse at will 
I've been lurking for a long time, but now I need a new mini amp.
Some background on me.
I take care of my elderly mother full time, so I don't have much money. However, I still love audio!
I watched my dad build one of the first "transitor" "hi-fi" systems in 1964 (well, I was 3 years old but I still remember him working on it -- lol), a Heath Kit AMPLIFIER AA-21D and AJ43-D Tuner. Ours
was not the walnut case, but the steel with vinyl wrap above.
What the Walnut looked like new:
We listened to music on that from 1964 until 1990, when it started to burn out. You turned on the amp by pressing the far right off white square. It would give a nice, audible "click". There were lights in the top that actually would come on an illuminate the dials. The option we had was about $150.00 in 1964 for the amp and tuner! I guess we would call it the Preamp, now. lol
Anyway, just thought I would share that. Fast forward 59 years:
Back in 2019 I bought the Douk G3 mini amp, the original G3. I scraped together enough money for a pair of Klipsch R-51M speakers. Well, that's been my listening machine for the past 3 years. It has been ok.
A very long time ago, in a life far, far away. . .I had a old original Bose Acoustimass 3 Series II system I got while in college. It was long gone, but somehow I kept the active "bass module." It was 23 years old and had seen many garages over the last 15 years. Anyway, since I had it I wanted to try and make it work again, you know, since I am poor. hhaha. So anyway, I took it all apart, took the heat sink off, checked the transformer, cleaned out the amplifiers, and ended up re-soldering all of the amp chip connections since the solder joints were cracked.
From a review I did back in 2020, I got a free Aiyima A05 with dual 3116D chips and a sub out. So I put the Bose bass module back together and, IT WORKED! I also heard some sort of "boof boof" sound when I put my head near the box. I initially thought it might be a bad spider in the little 5 1/4" speaker, but I took it apart and inspected it and it was in amazing shape. Still, I bought a Dayton woofer to test to see it it was the original woofer, and it wasn't. So now I had like 50 bucks (had to buy a long shaft driver for my Makita drill to reach down into the box also) in that POS old thing and still have that woof sound, like escaping air or something. You couldn't hear it sitting 5 feet away, but it was there and so it had to go.
I contemplated putting the entire thing, without the guts, into a hot box until the glue released, and then re-glue everything to see if it might have been a loose glue connection, after 23 years. I found a guy on Youtube that did one. It's pretty amazing. It's a 6th order box. Crazy. I always wondered how they got so much bass out of such as small box and 5.25" speaker, even though it was far from accurate.
I also thought if that didn't work, I'd pull the guts out of it, and use one of the mini sub amplifiers to power it.
Anyway, while enjoying my handiwork and contemplating how I would go about finding the time and place to actually heat it up and completely tear it down and put it back together, I heard pop, crackle, pop. I knew one or more of the 23 year old caps blew. I decided to save the speakers for some future project and just dump the rest of it, box included. It was time to get rid of the past.
However, getting that little Bose bass module to work reminded me how much I missed a sub. (I listen to mostly to smooth jazz and at lower levels, so there just isn't any warmth. I miss that.)
So I sold some electronics I had around, and came up with enough money to buy a relatively cheap sub (Kanto Sub8, old version). I contacted Aiyima about how the old A05 amp compared to their newer amps, and they said not even close.
Anyway I have the Klipsch R-51M speakers and I just purchased a Kanto Sub 8, since I got it for $179.00. I'm using the old Aiyima A05 amp, but I want a new one. It's a little harsh and the sub out is not right.
After reading this forum for days now and other reviews also, I'm more vexed than ever about what to buy. I know the new Ti 3055 amp is the shit. But then Douk and Aiyima have the class AB hybrid tube amps out also. Anyway, after all of this, I was leaning toward either the Douk H7 or the Aiyima A08 Pro. The H7 does NOT have a sub out. It's a pass through line out, so that's a big no.
Parameters:
(1) I'm a BT streamer. (I know, I know.)
(2) I have a Startech BT aptX HD sink that uses a Wolfson DAC. (WM8524 Wolfson DAC, Thd+N@1kHz at -80dB & signal to noise ration (SNR@1kHz) at 129dB)
(3) I also have the Lavaudio DS601 that, too me, sounds like shit and has all sorts of Windows problems, such as maxing out Windows volume on restarts. I edited Win registry to disable Absolute volume, but it didn't work.
(4) My main concern is whatever amp I get, I just want one of these amps that is as clean as can be expected with a sub out (amp volume controls sub volume).
I've literally looked at all of them under $250.00, which is my max.
Aiyima A07: I think if I could use the Aiyima A07 and somehow get sub out and volume control, I'd do that. But the line out is not a volume controlled out. I did look at the A07 Pro and read the thread here, but it's the same thing with the line out as the A07 and the Douk H7 -- pass through.
Douk B100: I was also seriously considering the Douk B100. However, I can't find ANY technical reviews on it. I really like the looks of the B100, but it's class AB and around 25 watts at mystery Ohms and inefficient as a jack hammer hitting a nail. It's also plain old Bluetooth, no aptX nothing, which is wasted electronics. If I understgand AB vs D correctly, all of the AB power rating is usable with very low distortion, unlike the Class D which is about 50% usable?
Aiyima 08 Pro: Incidentally, on Amazon two days ago, the Aiyima 08 pro was on sale for $112.00! Now it's $139.00 with a 15.00 off coupon.
Douk ST-01 PRO: I was also seriously considering the Douk ST-01 PRO. There is a review of the Douk Audio ST-01 on Youtube that shows very bad distortion on the line level output measuring voltage and THD using a Panasonic Distortion Meter VP-7704P. At 1.6V RMS the meter showed over 10% THD. At 1V THD was still 6.4%. You can find the review on the Youtube channel "Williston Audio Labs" Douk Audio ST-01 review. I contacted Douk about it and they admitted it but said it was normal for most amplifiers.
"The THD should be tested with 0.775V input and 1W output. In this condition, its THD should be 0.01%. All amplifier will make higher THD when the output is higher. For this comment, the maximum output of the line out is 2V. 1.6V is reaching the maximum value. So the THD would be much higher than usual. We don't want to find an excuse for it. But this issue is quite normal for most amplifiers on the market." -- Douk Audio
I asked what the voltage would be at half power, and they said 1V. So still 6.4% distortion at half volume on the sub out.
In any event, the STE1 PRO uses the 3250, which is rated at 100 watts per channel @ 4 Ohms, so that around 50 watts a channel into 8 Ohms minus 50% volume (to keep THD around 1% or less), so around 25 watts per channel usable into 8 Ohms. It also has plain old Bluetooth, which is, again, a waste for me.
So that leaves me with the Aiyima A08 Pro, for the best options for me, or maybe the B100 or the Douk STE1 Pro ( or AIYIMA T9 PRO, which I think is ugly because it mixes LED readout with tubes and the Douk STE1 Por looks so much better.)
Is there any reason to get a class AB like the Douk B100?
Any input is appreciated!
I've been lurking for a long time, but now I need a new mini amp.
Some background on me.
I take care of my elderly mother full time, so I don't have much money. However, I still love audio!
I watched my dad build one of the first "transitor" "hi-fi" systems in 1964 (well, I was 3 years old but I still remember him working on it -- lol), a Heath Kit AMPLIFIER AA-21D and AJ43-D Tuner. Ours
was not the walnut case, but the steel with vinyl wrap above.
What the Walnut looked like new:
We listened to music on that from 1964 until 1990, when it started to burn out. You turned on the amp by pressing the far right off white square. It would give a nice, audible "click". There were lights in the top that actually would come on an illuminate the dials. The option we had was about $150.00 in 1964 for the amp and tuner! I guess we would call it the Preamp, now. lol
Anyway, just thought I would share that. Fast forward 59 years:
Back in 2019 I bought the Douk G3 mini amp, the original G3. I scraped together enough money for a pair of Klipsch R-51M speakers. Well, that's been my listening machine for the past 3 years. It has been ok.
A very long time ago, in a life far, far away. . .I had a old original Bose Acoustimass 3 Series II system I got while in college. It was long gone, but somehow I kept the active "bass module." It was 23 years old and had seen many garages over the last 15 years. Anyway, since I had it I wanted to try and make it work again, you know, since I am poor. hhaha. So anyway, I took it all apart, took the heat sink off, checked the transformer, cleaned out the amplifiers, and ended up re-soldering all of the amp chip connections since the solder joints were cracked.
From a review I did back in 2020, I got a free Aiyima A05 with dual 3116D chips and a sub out. So I put the Bose bass module back together and, IT WORKED! I also heard some sort of "boof boof" sound when I put my head near the box. I initially thought it might be a bad spider in the little 5 1/4" speaker, but I took it apart and inspected it and it was in amazing shape. Still, I bought a Dayton woofer to test to see it it was the original woofer, and it wasn't. So now I had like 50 bucks (had to buy a long shaft driver for my Makita drill to reach down into the box also) in that POS old thing and still have that woof sound, like escaping air or something. You couldn't hear it sitting 5 feet away, but it was there and so it had to go.
I contemplated putting the entire thing, without the guts, into a hot box until the glue released, and then re-glue everything to see if it might have been a loose glue connection, after 23 years. I found a guy on Youtube that did one. It's pretty amazing. It's a 6th order box. Crazy. I always wondered how they got so much bass out of such as small box and 5.25" speaker, even though it was far from accurate.
I also thought if that didn't work, I'd pull the guts out of it, and use one of the mini sub amplifiers to power it.
Anyway, while enjoying my handiwork and contemplating how I would go about finding the time and place to actually heat it up and completely tear it down and put it back together, I heard pop, crackle, pop. I knew one or more of the 23 year old caps blew. I decided to save the speakers for some future project and just dump the rest of it, box included. It was time to get rid of the past.
However, getting that little Bose bass module to work reminded me how much I missed a sub. (I listen to mostly to smooth jazz and at lower levels, so there just isn't any warmth. I miss that.)
So I sold some electronics I had around, and came up with enough money to buy a relatively cheap sub (Kanto Sub8, old version). I contacted Aiyima about how the old A05 amp compared to their newer amps, and they said not even close.
Anyway I have the Klipsch R-51M speakers and I just purchased a Kanto Sub 8, since I got it for $179.00. I'm using the old Aiyima A05 amp, but I want a new one. It's a little harsh and the sub out is not right.
After reading this forum for days now and other reviews also, I'm more vexed than ever about what to buy. I know the new Ti 3055 amp is the shit. But then Douk and Aiyima have the class AB hybrid tube amps out also. Anyway, after all of this, I was leaning toward either the Douk H7 or the Aiyima A08 Pro. The H7 does NOT have a sub out. It's a pass through line out, so that's a big no.
Parameters:
(1) I'm a BT streamer. (I know, I know.)
(2) I have a Startech BT aptX HD sink that uses a Wolfson DAC. (WM8524 Wolfson DAC, Thd+N@1kHz at -80dB & signal to noise ration (SNR@1kHz) at 129dB)
(3) I also have the Lavaudio DS601 that, too me, sounds like shit and has all sorts of Windows problems, such as maxing out Windows volume on restarts. I edited Win registry to disable Absolute volume, but it didn't work.
(4) My main concern is whatever amp I get, I just want one of these amps that is as clean as can be expected with a sub out (amp volume controls sub volume).
I've literally looked at all of them under $250.00, which is my max.
Aiyima A07: I think if I could use the Aiyima A07 and somehow get sub out and volume control, I'd do that. But the line out is not a volume controlled out. I did look at the A07 Pro and read the thread here, but it's the same thing with the line out as the A07 and the Douk H7 -- pass through.
Douk B100: I was also seriously considering the Douk B100. However, I can't find ANY technical reviews on it. I really like the looks of the B100, but it's class AB and around 25 watts at mystery Ohms and inefficient as a jack hammer hitting a nail. It's also plain old Bluetooth, no aptX nothing, which is wasted electronics. If I understgand AB vs D correctly, all of the AB power rating is usable with very low distortion, unlike the Class D which is about 50% usable?
Aiyima 08 Pro: Incidentally, on Amazon two days ago, the Aiyima 08 pro was on sale for $112.00! Now it's $139.00 with a 15.00 off coupon.
Douk ST-01 PRO: I was also seriously considering the Douk ST-01 PRO. There is a review of the Douk Audio ST-01 on Youtube that shows very bad distortion on the line level output measuring voltage and THD using a Panasonic Distortion Meter VP-7704P. At 1.6V RMS the meter showed over 10% THD. At 1V THD was still 6.4%. You can find the review on the Youtube channel "Williston Audio Labs" Douk Audio ST-01 review. I contacted Douk about it and they admitted it but said it was normal for most amplifiers.
"The THD should be tested with 0.775V input and 1W output. In this condition, its THD should be 0.01%. All amplifier will make higher THD when the output is higher. For this comment, the maximum output of the line out is 2V. 1.6V is reaching the maximum value. So the THD would be much higher than usual. We don't want to find an excuse for it. But this issue is quite normal for most amplifiers on the market." -- Douk Audio
I asked what the voltage would be at half power, and they said 1V. So still 6.4% distortion at half volume on the sub out.
In any event, the STE1 PRO uses the 3250, which is rated at 100 watts per channel @ 4 Ohms, so that around 50 watts a channel into 8 Ohms minus 50% volume (to keep THD around 1% or less), so around 25 watts per channel usable into 8 Ohms. It also has plain old Bluetooth, which is, again, a waste for me.
So that leaves me with the Aiyima A08 Pro, for the best options for me, or maybe the B100 or the Douk STE1 Pro ( or AIYIMA T9 PRO, which I think is ugly because it mixes LED readout with tubes and the Douk STE1 Por looks so much better.)
Is there any reason to get a class AB like the Douk B100?
Any input is appreciated!
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