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Coming back to the fold...

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Hey all!

Former mid range audiophile here. Last decent system was a top shelf Onkyo 5.1 reciever (don't recall the model), Wharefdale mains and centre channel, Polk M3 rears and a powered 12¨ PSB sub. Long story short, I moved into a smaller home and wanted a minimalist system so I ended up with a Polk sound bar system with wireless rears and a wireless 10¨ sub. Sounds great for TV and good enough for digital music.

Fast forward to last fall, while I was going through some storage, I found my old vinyl collection. I decided to pick up an Audio Technica turntable and hooked it up to my Polk system. While the sound was certainly better than digital, it was missing a bit. Some of it is the lower end turntable, so I'll be moving to something higher end, probably from ProJect. As I was looking through my turntable and pre-amp options, I started seeing some little bitty Chinese amps, some of them with some funky designs like the Loxjie A10, and they were highly rated.

So I got to thinking (never a good thing with me) that maybe instead of dragging my old system out of storage and dealing with trying to find a place to put it, maybe I should be looking into something like the A10 or an offering from Fosi, mating it to some smaller bookshelf speakers and a 10¨ sub. And that brings me to my question (finally):

Are these little Chinese amps and pre-amps really as good as their Amazon reviews? I find it hard to believe that, accoutically speaking, an $88 amp paired with a $60 tube pre-amp can actually run with a decent $2000 integrated amp. Or can it? I don't need wall shaking volume, but I appreciate crisp highs, warm mids, and tight bass at moderate volume levels. And I really like the style of the little minis, versus that gaudy old Onkyo. But I won't sacrifice sound for looks. So whats your take? Blow the dust off my trusty Onkyo and maybe hide it behind some books or pick up a funky looking Chinese mini amp? Or is there another option I haven't considered?

Thanks!
Rod
 

RickSanchez

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Are these little Chinese amps and pre-amps really as good as their Amazon reviews? I find it hard to believe that, accoutically speaking, an $88 amp paired with a $60 tube pre-amp can actually run with a decent $2000 integrated amp.
Well, if you're on ASR you will learn that Amazon reviews (and other subjective sites/forums) for audio devices are garbage. Measured performance is what counts. The Loxjie A10 hasn't been measured here but the A30 is a fantastic amp. Amir even mentions in that review (re: power vs. distortion @ 4 Ohm) "Notice how the A30 is tracking the performance of 'high-end' Arcam AVR10!"

I appreciate crisp highs, warm mids, and tight bass at moderate volume levels.
I'd say your best bet is getting a well-designed well-measuring amp that is transparent. Then you can do room EQ to integrate your speakers into the room, and then adjust from there to get whatever FR curve suites your preferences. Almost all modern AVRs come with room EQ software on board; otherwise you'd likely have to invest in a measurement mic + REW to do this manually.
 
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