Fosi Audio V3 Amplifier Review

[amirm]

that I had reasonable reasons to believe they are fake (specially for a product coming from China. I'm sorry but that's the truth).

Three times I wanted to make the point that folks would not be up in arms if this were a western company but decided to delete before posting. But now that you mentioned, this is why I chimed in when accusations were made. This kind of bias needs to go away. Heaven knows I deal with a lot of unethical companies in the west who do anything but accept the objective data. At the same time, I deal with companies in China that have incredible sense of ethics. I have repeatedly post how Fosi was a joy to work with. That should have been a hint that you don't throw them in "chinese companies so must be using fakes" bucket.

 

[dr_mick51]

So basically you've made a number of statements ranging from

- Unfounded accusations about alleged fake parts used by a company, aggravated by the attempt to justify yourself (you know they are Chinese....)

- Nothing based claims about opamps that should be replaced in your opinion (despite evidence of very good performance of the measured sample with n originals)

-Totally subjective and therefore essentially absolutely useless statements about what you think sounds better.

Uhm uhm.... Lots of interesting stuff indeed

Sorry, but not unfounded. You can think whatever you want but physical appearance of a device/item is an important indicator of legitimacy. You know, when you buy a branded shoes or clothes you check the logo. If the logo looks weird what is your first thought? You don't put the shoes or the clothes on and think: Ohh, this feels like the legitimate, so it must be.
Being serious, I don't know what all this drama is about. Don't you realize that because of this "accusation" (as you call it) Fosi managed to came up as the heroes. It allowed them to came up with total transparency(as it should be). It all played in their favor.
And please, I've seen worst accusations that saying a 20cents opamp is fake. So, stop the drama and let's move forward.
If I need to apologize to someone it's @Fosi Audio . I've done it. And publicly I'll do it again.
Sorry @Fosi Audio for all the drama caused by my suspicions.
So, @Fosi Audio now let's work on improving the things that need to be improved for your future release, and keep moving forward.

 

[Ultratek]

Dear ASR colleagues, although these debates/discussions on the subject of counterfeiting are technically, morally and ethically instructive, I humbly believe that we should now leave this subject to move on to others, although I also believe that there are reasons on both sides obviously not I can take an impartial stance because I simply don't believe in impartiality or objectivity.
Since the colleagues who could have been more or less wrong also seem to have apologized, I promote putting an end to this FAKEGATE.
Greetings to all of you, it is a pleasure for me to read your comments, reviews and to be part of ASR.

P.S: Some of my comments may be or have a sarcastic tone, but I can assure you that it is for humorous purposes and not offensive.

 

[fishmorganhammond]

OK everyone. Perhaps we can all be less sensitive here. We all have biases. A person who claims not be have any biases is delusional (and most certainly biased).

Western Companies can be responsible or not- so can Chinese Companies. Integrity and shiftiness have no cultural exclusivity. It can be fair to question a company, their parts selection and authenticity regardless of their location.

Fosi Audio handled the questioning very professionally. Kudos to them.

I came to this forum seeking information, not vitriol. Objective measurement has value, but so does subjective opinion.

Enough of the name calling and profanity. To quote the movie Frozen- Let it go.

 

[dr_mick51]

Sorry guys for all the drama caused. All these took an unexpected turn.

 

[AdamG]

OK guys “Drama Hour” is over. Lots of emotions and tempers flaring up. Quite Unlike ASR’s usual calm and technical exchange. We could have handled out a bunch of Warnings and points and Thread Bans. However, we chose to just delete some of the more “pot stirring” posts and lock the Thread to give everyone a 10 min break. If one of your posts got deleted consider that a friendly warning. If you complain about it we can delete the friendly part if you insist.

When you return from this break, we are putting this false claim of counterfeit parts to rest. The Company provided adequate documentation and proof otherwise. We are not a conspiracy type of forum and we work on fact and evidence. If you can not live with this request I strongly suggest you not post about it here.

Demonstrate respect for others and treat them with dignity and understanding. Emotional personal insults and abuse will not fly here.

Thank you kindly for your cooperation and understanding.

 

[Ron Texas]

It's wild that this much power at low distortion is available for the cost of a decent dinner. There may be some doubts about construction. My favorite reviews are of these outlier products which deliver the goods. Thank you @amirm

 

[alvigg]

Thank you Adam!!!!!!

 

[AdamG]

Well, as I am assuredly one of the "pot stirrers" you refer to, I apologize to the ASR readership for my part in the recent "Drama Hour".

A true Gentleman Sir.

 

[amirm]

It's wild that this much power at low distortion is available for the cost of a decent dinner. There may be some doubts about construction. My favorite reviews are of these outlier products which deliver the goods. Thank you @amirm

My pleasure. I must say, I just cannot believe my eyes when I see these power numbers pop up! I keep checking for errors but there are none. It goes decades of seeing big boxes for amplifiers with this much power.

 

[Doodski]

My pleasure. I must say, I just cannot believe my eyes when I see these power numbers pop up! I keep checking for errors but there are none. It goes decades of seeing big boxes for amplifiers with this much power.

The efficiency and resultant reduced heat dissipation required is far from what I would have ever expected. It's impressive to develop such ICs.

 

[KaeliKoo]

Purchased V3 today from Fosi Audioshop, the review from CAM was really revealing for me and looking forward
to using this in several ways if it performs. Also the code FAV3CAM12 will give you (-$12.00) so V3 + 48V + Orange Knob was
$108 total shipped. Things are looking up!

 

[dr_mick51]

Purchased V3 today from Fosi Audioshop, the review from CAM was really revealing for me and looking forward
to using this in several ways if it performs. Also the code FAV3CAM12 will give you (-$12.00) so V3 + 48V + Orange Knob was
$108 total shipped. Things are looking up!

Welcome to the V3 club. What are your other components on the audio chain? What speakers will you be using?

 

[KaeliKoo]

Welcome to the V3 club. What are your other components on the audio chain? What speakers will you be using?

Thanks - I have quite a few DAC's with remotes for pre-amping this V3 and also a mini-plethora of speakers, so I will
surely see what sounds the best. It may ultimately serve as an external amp for a Zone 2/3 setup with JBL 570's. I would
also like to use the pre-out and daisy chain another V3 to drive an additional set of speakers on my deck. With the ability
to drive 4/6/8 ohm speakers, I have not seen an amp with these specs anywhere near this price.
I also like what Fosi is doing, they seem quite attentive and they've stepped up their game.

 

[raceskier]

It is actually only $100 with the discount. Normal price is $110. Incredible value indeed.

With the current discount codes, my total (from Fosi's website) was $94.99 shipped, w/48V PS.

 

[Deleted member 48726]

My pleasure. I must say, I just cannot believe my eyes when I see these power numbers pop up! I keep checking for errors but there are none. It goes decades of seeing big boxes for amplifiers with this much power.

Well, I think it tricks us a bit in that sense that many components today has abandoned the 43 cm. width, which have been the standard forever in HiFi gear because everything else was 43 cm. any new component (tuner, cd, minidisc) needed to be as well to fit in your rack.
A lot of cheaper amps from the day contained 75 % of air.
Function wise full form factor amps have many more compared to E.G. the Fosi V3 and have built in power supply as well.

 

[Pixelwarfare]

I am so glad to see Fosi listened and redesigned on the thermal management, I hint on my TB10D review to use the casing and they literally did it and the Budget Audio Labs review result speaks itself!

 

[brandonhall]

My V3 arrived today with 48V power supply and orange knob. I was surprised how quickly it arrived as I ordered it last week on aliexpress. Very well packaged and the unit feels well made.

I've already given it a quick listen and it seems to have more bass thump than my SMSL DA-9.

I have the SMSL DA-9 and I'm a complete nerd, so I did some measurement comparisons with Fosi Audio V3.

Setup:

1. Speakers right next to each other
2. UMIK-1 positioned one inch out from each speaker
3. Microphone was positioned between the woofer and tweeter of my ELAC Carina's (strongly recommended!)
4. Level matched using REW "Check Levels" feature. About 90% on the Fosi dial and 52 on the DA-9.
5. Did the listening tests
6. REW ran on each speaker

This is the full picture (20/20k) with 1/48 smoothing. The DA-9 is in blue and the Fosi Audio v3 is in green:

Notice how jagged the SMSL is compared to the Fosi and look at the high frequency boost starting around 16k. We're looking at 6 DB difference from peak to trough. To me, this is an indication of the differences of the TPA 3255 vs the Merus chip in the DA-9.

Zooming in a bit without smoothing applied. This is between 14k and 18k:

This really shows the differences in the chips and therefore the amps. The SMSL has wild swings while the Fosi is just drifting down.

Zooming into 20-1k they are basically the same:

I would call this run to run variation because they are very close.

Lastly, 1k-5k with 1/48 smoothing applied:

They are basically the same but the Fosi seems more well-behaved.

Listening Tests:

I did the listening before the measuring, so I wasn't biased in any way. They were extraordinarily similar but the SMSL was a bit more airy at the top end. To me, it sounded artificial after hearing the Fosi right before or after. It wasn't bad, offensive, or a deal breaker in any way, but there was a minor difference. Ha, I was glad to see the measurements reported the same. I still hear pretty well up to 15k. Bottom line: they are both great units but I think we see the real-world implications of the old Merus chip in the DA-9 vs a top-notch implementation of the TPA 3255 in the measurements and listening tests.

 

[maimai]

It's great to see a variety of opinions on this topic, both positive and negative.
I'm from Guangzhou, China, about an hour's drive from the city where fosiaudio is located, and I didn't even know about fosiaudio before this.
I am glad to see the objective evaluation of Chinese products, and hope that fosi Audio will continue to make more rigorous and higher quality products.

 

[maimai]

Minutes ago I was in the process of pulling the trigger on the V3 in the Fosi store. During the checkout process I was not able to finish the PayPal payment because the input screen wouldn´t react, so I refreshed the site and the price went from 109$ to 131,99$. I missed the old price by just a few minutes.

I don´t really need an amp, but was looking forward to do some REW measurements to compare my Class A/B Marantz amp to this one and see how load dependency would play out with a pair of Elac DBR62. My main reason for ordering was, that many newcomers are put off by the cost of the amp and I wanted to verify if cheap Class-D amps would be a good recommendation. At 109$ I was on the fence, at 131,99$ I don´t think I´ll buy it just to play around with it. Should have just bought it earlier, I blame no one but myself.

EDIT: I´m a fool. The "new higher price" just includes german VAT of 19%

I had the same idea that using REW to measure certain speakers requires a smaller power amplifier. I have previously used a DIY power amplifier with microphone amplification, 48v phantom power supply, but its driving power is not high. Dimensions of fosi v3

Seems like a good choice

Incorrect language was entered in the last reply, now corrected