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Fosi Audio TB10D Amplifier Review

Rate this amplifier:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 18 7.0%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 74 28.8%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 135 52.5%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 30 11.7%

  • Total voters
    257

amirm

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This is a review and detailed measurements of the Fosi Audio TB10D stereo amplifier. It was sent to me by the company and is only sale for US $70 on Amazon including shipping.
Fosi Audio TB10D stereo amplifier cheap review.jpg


We have the typical compact desktop aluminum case. Controls feel nice for the class. Tone controls are not centered however for flat response (you can see in the picture what I set them to). Typical of these budget amplifiers, power is provided externally through a switching supply:
Fosi Audio TB10D stereo amplifier cheap back panel power supply review.jpg


Binding posts are spaced out a bit more which made it easier for me to plug in my large cables.

This is a class D amplifier based on TI TPA3255 single chip amplifier.

Fosi Audio TB10D Measurements
Let's start with our usual 5 watts measurement of 1 kHz tone into 4 ohm load:
Fosi Audio TB10D stereo amplifier cheap measurement.png


Dominant distortion is third harmonic which essentially sets SINAD to same level. This is slightly below average but considering the price of this amp, it is reasonable:
Best stereo cheap amplifier review 2022.png


Best stereo cheap amplifier review zoom 2022.png


Kind of interesting that the $5,900 Jeff Rowland 535 amplifier lands almost next to it!

Signal to noise ratio is modest but again, good for the class:
Fosi Audio TB10D stereo amplifier cheap SNR measurement.png


Crosstalk holds its own against much more expensive amplifiers:
Fosi Audio TB10D stereo amplifier cheap Crosstalk measurement.png


Frequency response is variable due to bass and treble control and load dependency:
Fosi Audio TB10D stereo amplifier cheap frequency response measurement.png


The load dependency is the norm in this class. Hopefully some amp comes along and with no cost penalty takes care of that (by incorporating the output filter into the feedback loop).

Distortion rises with frequency which we can see in multitone test:
Fosi Audio TB10D stereo amplifier cheap Multitone measurement.png


Power is everything in amplifiers so let's see how much we have:
Fosi Audio TB10D stereo amplifier cheap Power 4 ohm measurement.png


This is quite healthy for such a small and low cost amplifier! It gets even better if we allow 1% distortion:
Fosi Audio TB10D stereo amplifier cheap Max and peak Power 4 ohm measurement.png


We are talking essentially 200 watts coming out of this little box! Cost per watt is just 35 cents. Amazing.

Even with 8 ohm load we get good amount of juice:
Fosi Audio TB10D stereo amplifier cheap Power 8 ohm measurement.png


Amplifier "transfer function" (output vs input) is very good for class D although it does show rise in distortion as noted earlier:
Fosi Audio TB10D stereo amplifier cheap Power vs frequency 4 ohm measurement.png


Of note, you still have 66 watts of power at 20 Hz. Many budget amps drop to 20 or so watts which can be problem as bass is what requires power.

Conclusions
Maybe one day this will change for for now, in under $100 range you can't expect perfection in performance of a stereo amplifier. What you do want to see is delivering healthy amount of power with close to our average of all of our amplifiers tested to date. On that front, the Fosi Audio TB10D delivers. If you need an amplifier for secondary use (bedroom, workshop, etc.), the TB10D is a very good candidate for no more money than one or two dinners!

I am going to recommend the Fosi Audio TB10D amplifier.

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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
 

Drengur

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Surprised by the (relatively clean) power available for such a low price. Considering the price, this is a very interesting product. I know some people will wish it was made by a western manufacturer with fancy letters in the logo and have a cost of a few thousand dollars. Let the "toy" discussions begin.
 

usersky

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Why is it not the norm for this kind of amps to include output filters in the feedback loop? And another question, why is this chip or similar used in AVRs? Price? Power? Performance seems similar with your average AVR.
 

GambaKufu

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Interesting stuff. I have the Fosi DAC-Q4 feeding a pair of Presonus E3.5 active speakers in my WFH setup for super non-critical listening and find it to perform similarly to the amp to my subjective tastes, absolutely fine for the £/$ 70 class.
 

Michou

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Device "reviewed" by Cheapaudioman some months ago and he absolutely trashed it. Complained about noise and unit sounding bad. Different strokes, I guess but I am still curious to hear comments from users that actually listened to it Here is a link FYI:
 
Last edited:

JSmith

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Seems the SNR is on track with the manufacturer specs;
However, 300W@4 ohm... not even remotely close.

There are some reports online as well (video) that the power cable connector can arc, so the suggestion is to of course plug the unit into the PSU before turning on. I believe this is mentioned in the manual too...

Seems to be an improvement over the BT10A.

Nice to see ASR measurements on this basic amp... have been waiting for the next review @amirm. :cool:


JSmith
 

AndreaT

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Thank you Amir! Amazing product for the price, it offers an introduction to power and FR stretching the value of your $. My very first amp was a 6 W mono kit made by GBC (the Italian equivalent of Radio Shack) with a 24 V DC PS and baseboard amp with volume, bass and treble controls without centered tone controls. So your review brings back memories. It probably did cost a bit more than $ 70 equivalent and performed much worst, but oh it did sound divine to my young ears!!
 

Bleib

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Device "reviewed" by Andrew Robinson a.k.a. Cheapaudioman some months ago and he absolutely trashed it. Complained about noise and unit sounding bad. Different strokes, I guess but I am still curious to hear comments from users that actually listened to it Here is a link FYI:
Well, no idea about this amp as I'll never buy it but CAM has also trashed this DAC:

So AKM sucks?

So a bit later he loves this AKM DAC:

Not really that consistent.

He claims the first AKM DAC has problems in the treble but this is likely because he listens through these cheapo Sony speakers...which has elevated treble:
 
Last edited:

Michou

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Well, no idea about this amp as I'll never buy it but CAM has also trashed this DAC:

So AKM sucks?

So a bit later he loves this AKM DAC:

Not really that consistent.

He claims the first AKM DAC is has problems in the treble but this is likely because he listens through these cheapo Sony speakers...which has elevated treble:
I still have a pair of these well-reviewed Sony 3-way speakers which I bought on Amazon for little money when they were on special ($73.00). Spent more on shipping costs than on the speakers themselves and they sound utterly atrocious. Worthless. Waste of money.
 
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MCH

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Thanks Amir,
A bit more power than the venerable Aiyima A07? I hope someone knowledgeable gives an opinion on how they compare across the board. Thanks in advance.
 

Michou

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It is currently half-price today on amazon.co.uk, 50% off 69.99UKP, roughly equivalent to $38.00.

Lots of reviewers complaining about noise and hiss...
 

taisho

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It is currently half-price today on amazon.co.uk, 50% off 69.99UKP, roughly equivalent to $38.00.

Lots of reviewers complaining about noise and hiss...
With the measured high-frequency THD+N, their claims have a solid basis. Ayima is still the uncontested budget stereo amp king.
 

posvibes

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I bought the Fosi Q4 DAC/AMP for my younger daughter as I had set up her older sister with a nice set up, so the Fosi was small, pretty good subjectively to be used with the JBL305p mkii's I gave her. Nice for her small apartment.

The Fosi came with a 5v USB power cable, USB midi and Optical cable all for less than AUD$70.00.

I replaced the 305's with Adam T5v's after Amir's review that I like very much but i am still in two minds as to whether they have the same wow factor as the JBL's. The 305's are really special, the Adam's are still very satisfying.

Still I am continually amazed as to what you can get for such few dollars.
 

KxDx

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I still have a pair of these well-reviewed Sony 3-way speakers which I bought on Amazon for little money when they were on special ($73.00). Spent more on shipping costs than on the speakers themselves and they sound utterly atrocious. Worthless. Waste of money.
When your speakers suck, everything you listen to through them will suck as well. ;)
 

poxymoron

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I watch all CheapAudioMan videos. I enjoy him and I find some of his videos worth the watch, but I think that if either of the units he thrashed above were US made, then he might have something different to say.
I think that based on Amir's review, for $70 this little amp is fine. Thanks for the review Amir.
 

Bleib

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When your speakers suck, everything you listen to through them will suck as well. ;)
Note, I do not know with certainty that just listened with those speakers, but he often brings them up as good purchases. says he likes some "fun" speakers so if he was consistent he should also love some "fun" DACs. However, the DA-6 appears to be completely neutral, so it's easy to to think that there's an error in his methology.

I can vouch for the 07, so I'd get that instead for the desktop or bedroom stereos in any case.
 
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