PiobGuy
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You sure they aren't shipping on the 19th? I ordered my 2nd one with a 48v on the 7th and they are shipping 7/18.
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Fosi Audio V3 Amplifier Review
- Thread starter amirm
- Start date
Which model RME 802? I think they may want TRS balanced outs. Those in your amzn link are unbalnaced TS 1/4". I'd use with a balanced input amplifier.
Pariah Zero
Member
All I can say is a picture is worth a thousand words?
That screenshot was just taken. I'll have to grant, translation errors are to be expected and are a convenient excuse...
The 48v model is out of stock on Amazon and AliExpress. It is still available on Fosi's own store, but with a change in price range, from $105 to $128 (without applying any coupons):
I am about to purchase it, but I am not really sure if I should! Do y'all think that at this price this is the best mini amp one can get?
I am about to purchase it, but I am not really sure if I should! Do y'all think that at this price this is the best mini amp one can get?
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I have purchased and tested many Chinese class D amplifiers.
Fosi V3 is the latest product and has cleared many of the problems so far, and it can be said that it is one of the excellent models in this price range in terms of manufacturing quality and sound quality. I've used amps like the A30a AO200 A300, but ever since I bought the V3, I've been using this little amp as my main amp.
Electrically, it is very stable. Sound quality is personal preference, so I can't say for sure, but I like it very much even when compared to higher-end models.
I don't think you will regret it after buying it.
I own a pair of Wharfedale Linton 85th as well. They are running with the Fosi V3, 48v power supply, right now. I don't hear what you hear.
In fact, i don't think i hear any difference compared to my regular Yamaha A-S 1200.
The amp gets warm, 42°C after a few hours. A MiniDSP Flex is 39°C. Seems normal to me.
Edit: i miss the remote of the Yamaha A-S 1200 ;-)
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Macmyazka
New Member
New to the forum and new to this HiFi 2-channel stuff. I’ve enjoyed home theater and audio for many years but I’ve always kept it pretty simple.
Anyway, I have a couple questions with the V3. I don’t mind spending a little bit of money playing with the sound and trying to get a little extra out of my 2-channel setup.
I currently have the following:
-Fosi V3 w/ 48V 5A PS
-JBL Studio 530 speakers
-(old) Energy ESW-C10 sub
-Insignia NS-BTST21 turntable
Plan on adding a preamp and streamer and maybe some other stuff.
Anyway, I’m wondering about bi-amping with a pair of V3’s. Is it possible? Is there any benefit (I assume I could play stuff louder…more headroom…however you want to say it)?
But more than that. If I got a pair of 580 floorstanding speakers that can take more power, would there be more benefit?
The other thing I am curious about is opamps. Could I play with different opamps in each V3 to further change the sound? Could I benefit further from using opamps that will give me different sound for each (tweeter and mid)?
I’ve got a lot of ideas in my head but I don’t have a lot of hands on experience or knowledge.
Edit: I should also mention this is in my basement. I have a weird almost L shaped area. The alcove is my home theater area. That is 11D x 12W. The other area is my wife’s WFH office and our reading nook. That is 11D x 16W. So the total depth from front to back of room is 22 and we have two different widths. The speakers are set up towards the 11x16 space. Not an ideal listening setup. Not looking for perfect sound. Just curious about making it louder and changing the sound a little.
Anyway, I have a couple questions with the V3. I don’t mind spending a little bit of money playing with the sound and trying to get a little extra out of my 2-channel setup.
I currently have the following:
-Fosi V3 w/ 48V 5A PS
-JBL Studio 530 speakers
-(old) Energy ESW-C10 sub
-Insignia NS-BTST21 turntable
Plan on adding a preamp and streamer and maybe some other stuff.
Anyway, I’m wondering about bi-amping with a pair of V3’s. Is it possible? Is there any benefit (I assume I could play stuff louder…more headroom…however you want to say it)?
But more than that. If I got a pair of 580 floorstanding speakers that can take more power, would there be more benefit?
The other thing I am curious about is opamps. Could I play with different opamps in each V3 to further change the sound? Could I benefit further from using opamps that will give me different sound for each (tweeter and mid)?
I’ve got a lot of ideas in my head but I don’t have a lot of hands on experience or knowledge.
Edit: I should also mention this is in my basement. I have a weird almost L shaped area. The alcove is my home theater area. That is 11D x 12W. The other area is my wife’s WFH office and our reading nook. That is 11D x 16W. So the total depth from front to back of room is 22 and we have two different widths. The speakers are set up towards the 11x16 space. Not an ideal listening setup. Not looking for perfect sound. Just curious about making it louder and changing the sound a little.
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Yes, if you change the volume somewhere else, but IMHO there is little to nothing to gain.
You would likely be better served by buying a measurement microphone, to gain insight into what's going on in your room and maybe fix some things with EQ/DSP. A useable calibrated microphone is MiniDSP Umik1.
I solved streamer/DAC/preamp RPi Zero2 with Moode connected to a MiniDSP Flex.
If i had less money to spend, i would get a RPi Zero2/3A+ or 4 and a Allo MiniBoss, then use CamillaDSP which comes with Moode.
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It's both, from RME manual:
"The electronic output stage is built in a servo balanced design which handles unbalanced (mono jacks) and balanced (stereo jacks) correctly"
Just to be clear that I'm not Bsh*tting since I'm a fresh member
Was running a topping E30 that i had on the side + PC
The speakers are great when i run them with mpa-250nc + smsl su-9 + wiim
I'll make further tests swapping everything in the line
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Had that as well.There was less noise when you put your ear to the tweeter at full volume and no signal, but other than that, no difference to the power amplifier in the A-S 1200. I sent it back.
The fact that we report different findings has nothing to do with how new or old a member of the forum is.
Both opinions are equally invalid, they are subjective and not verified by measurements.I see no reason why the Linton should be different than any other generic speaker.
Where was your volume knob? Mine points to 10:00 or 11:00, maybe your volume was much higher because you are further away?
Macmyazka
New Member
Thanks for the relatively quick response. Please don't think anything I say is coming off as rude, I am not well versed in these things so I'm probably naive.
Maybe what I need is to "correct" an issue, but that's not what I'm trying to ask. First, this is not nearfield listening, this is room filling levels wanted with small amp(s)...maybe not possible and maybe not logical. I'm not trying to do correction though. I am not an audiophile (at least I don't think I am)....I'll start in order of what you responded.
Changing volume would be on something like a Schiit preamp...Sys because it's cheap or maybe Saga S because of the number of inputs and remote for volume...so that is where I would be for that. I would try to set the 2 V3's close to each other in volume level....which I assume I could probably set identically using a multimeter checking voltage if I wanted to get technical with it.
Nothing to gain...the only thing I truly am looking at gaining is more power to the speaker to allow it to play louder. Am I better off not tinkering with these? Should I just invest money into a regular power amp and drive the speakers at their rated wattage and call it a day?
The measurement you speak of would be room correction essentially...not interested in it. I'm not unhappy with the sound. I'm only trying to tinker with what I have and see how things work. I don't need to take measurements to see what changes because I'm only dealing with how it sounds to me...and honestly as someone who again, doesn't consider themself an audiophile, I find the sound straight from the source, through the amp, into the speakers to be very good. I opted for the V3 because it doesn't have tone controls. I didn't want to play with adjustments like that. I suppose it seems illogical that I want to try opamps which will inherently change something when I just said I'm not trying to change things that can be adjusted by tone controls or dsp.
Many times, my thoughts (and this goes for all sorts of subjects...cars and performance or handling....audio...video...computer building...etc), should stay in my head and not enter forums. Many times I have asked questions that people tell me don't do this or do this instead. It's not that I don't believe others know more than me or understand some things better than me...it's just that I like tinkering and I like doing things differently...many people think it's stupid or pointless while I like to be different.
I should have stuck to one question and one question only. Can I bi-amp using two V3's and a preamp? The follow-up question to a yes answer would be, "will I gain anything in output/volume?" If the answer is no, then I will scrap the idea and look at a higher output power amp and some sort of preamp for inputs and leave everything else alone. I should not have mentioned anything else because chances are, I won't listen to what is said, I will buy some opamps and throw them in to see if there is any sort of difference to my ears...and that will be that. At that point, I would probably come back and talk about what I did and if people had questions...I could invest in some equipment to do measurements and I could take measurements of the stock setup that I have now and the setup after adding a 2nd V3 and swapping opamps. If those measurements show a difference, then I could show my findings.
Again, thank you for your response.
Look, it's a new member! Welcome to ASR
The V3 delivers 2x89W@8ohm, 2x160W@4ohm and peak 2x190W@4ohm. This tiny amp is beefy!
By bi-amping you don't double the watts, you just add a few watts that would be used by the tweeter, to the woofer. Probably less than 10 watts. That will not make a noticeable difference i think. That is what i mean by "you gain nothing".
It's not just for room correction, you can also change speakers to your taste. My Lintons have a slow roll-off starting at 12kHz. But i think i can still hear up to 15kHz, so i have boosted that roll-off a bit.
You have seen countless optical illusions, there are as many acoustic illusions. All the data compression and post processing in our brains is useful to hear a lion in the Savannah, but it's not measurement grade or repeatable. It's likely you will come to the same conclusion with time.
Unless someone does the measurements and then there would be proof it's worth the money.
BTW, it's a shame the entire Studio 500 series isn't available in Europe, new or used. I would have gone for the 530 to test them for sure.
This is made to switch two speakers to one amp, but you can also use two amps to one speaker.
I say it all the time and i say it again. It's my option to give you an ironic tone of voice in my head or a friendly one. If someone reads your prose as rude, they likely project something of their own personality into it.
Small, yes. Weak? No!
The V3 delivers 2x89W@8ohm, 2x160W@4ohm and peak 2x190W@4ohm. This tiny amp is beefy!
Makes sense.
Sadly you can't just double the power by using bi-amping. But, for the sake of argument, let's say you do double the watts, that means you get 3dB more signal, and that results in 1.41 times more perceived sound pressure.
By bi-amping you don't double the watts, you just add a few watts that would be used by the tweeter, to the woofer. Probably less than 10 watts. That will not make a noticeable difference i think. That is what i mean by "you gain nothing".
In my opinion it's not worth the trouble. Then again, i have made experiments that lead to nothing, except experience and learning. The V3 is cheap enough that such an experiment wouldn't ruin you financially.
Right now you have a setup wwith potential:
- powerful amp that measures well (Fosi V3)
- a pair of nice speakers, the JBL Studio 530
- a powered subwoofer
Fair enough, you do you. I see it like an almost free upgrade (if you can somehow use a computer to EQ the signal). It saddens me to see people ignore the potential a measurement microphone adds to their system.
It's not just for room correction, you can also change speakers to your taste. My Lintons have a slow roll-off starting at 12kHz. But i think i can still hear up to 15kHz, so i have boosted that roll-off a bit.
You will see that most here have realized that they basically can't trust their ears. If they see a black amp, the bass appears strong and the highs are muted. If they see a silver amp the bass appears muted and the highs are strong. You just can't trust your ears, they aren't measurment grade and their result is hardly repeatable. Here is an example:
You have seen countless optical illusions, there are as many acoustic illusions. All the data compression and post processing in our brains is useful to hear a lion in the Savannah, but it's not measurement grade or repeatable. It's likely you will come to the same conclusion with time.
Me too, but i'm not dropping more for opamps than for the amp itself ;-)
Unless someone does the measurements and then there would be proof it's worth the money.
Yes.
No (unless you measure, then a tiny bit).
I for one am all for you buying the gear, making the measurements and telling us your findings. Gogogo!
The 580 are likely more sensitive, that means, with the same power input, you get more sound pressure than with the 530. You can also expect lower distortion and a larger frequency range. It would be an upgrade with noticeable result, i believe.
BTW, it's a shame the entire Studio 500 series isn't available in Europe, new or used. I would have gone for the 530 to test them for sure.
Yes, and you could A/B test them if you had something to switch fast:
This is made to switch two speakers to one amp, but you can also use two amps to one speaker.
I'm not sure opamps make noticeable differences, so your guess is as good as mine. I would tend to "likely not".
I 1st got interested into this amp reading about it on tnt-audio. But i decided to wait on measurements on ASR. When they turned out good, i immediately ordered it directly @Fosi Audio. Delivery was pretty quick. It arrived, I expected a small amp. I still have a small Kingrex Class T amp, this is small. My Topping Preamp90 is small.
But this!? Smaller than small. It is a mini-amp!
I also oredered a beefier looking 32V 10A PSU from audiophonics. It is made in China and also available on Ebay. Didn't want to go 48V cos i wanted to minimise the heat in my room. Soon Sparkos arrived too.
Initial listening with stanard op-amps was wow this mini amp makes this much sound!?
I didnt bother to check the Fosi PSU, i immediately used it with "audiophonics" 32V.
Diff standard Op-Amps to Sparkos? Not sure, with Sparkos it might sound more articualate. However, didn't really compare it and like it with Sparkos a lot and can recommend them. Your gonna need risers, even if i managed to squeeze them without risers which i didnt order first. However there was direct contact between Sparkos and small caps i bent, without risers. So risers in any case. Maybe Fosi makes more place for Sparkos - there is enough space in the amp.
Fosi V3 drives PMC Twenty.23 floor-standers. Sound is fantastic! I had Bakoon, Rowland Class D, Class A, Unison Research amps and Arcam...Every one had it's strengths but also weaknesses.
With Fosi V3 everything is there and no apparent weakness. Bass could be more roaring yes, but this could be probly made with 48V PSU. Don't need it. I listen a lot to ambient music with deep basses and dont needs roaring basses all the time. Even now, if it is in the audio, basss sometimes is too strong.
So i still don't believe it this amp, minituarized almost to a point of vanishing, actually plays. Even the PSU is bigger than Fosi V3. Unbelievable.
But this!? Smaller than small. It is a mini-amp!
I also oredered a beefier looking 32V 10A PSU from audiophonics. It is made in China and also available on Ebay. Didn't want to go 48V cos i wanted to minimise the heat in my room. Soon Sparkos arrived too.
Initial listening with stanard op-amps was wow this mini amp makes this much sound!?
I didnt bother to check the Fosi PSU, i immediately used it with "audiophonics" 32V.
Diff standard Op-Amps to Sparkos? Not sure, with Sparkos it might sound more articualate. However, didn't really compare it and like it with Sparkos a lot and can recommend them. Your gonna need risers, even if i managed to squeeze them without risers which i didnt order first. However there was direct contact between Sparkos and small caps i bent, without risers. So risers in any case. Maybe Fosi makes more place for Sparkos - there is enough space in the amp.
Fosi V3 drives PMC Twenty.23 floor-standers. Sound is fantastic! I had Bakoon, Rowland Class D, Class A, Unison Research amps and Arcam...Every one had it's strengths but also weaknesses.
With Fosi V3 everything is there and no apparent weakness. Bass could be more roaring yes, but this could be probly made with 48V PSU. Don't need it. I listen a lot to ambient music with deep basses and dont needs roaring basses all the time. Even now, if it is in the audio, basss sometimes is too strong.
So i still don't believe it this amp, minituarized almost to a point of vanishing, actually plays. Even the PSU is bigger than Fosi V3. Unbelievable.
My volume was at 2:00Had that as well.There was less noise when you put your ear to the tweeter at full volume and no signal, but other than that, no difference to the power amplifier in the A-S 1200. I sent it back.
The fact that we report different findings has nothing to do with how new or old a member of the forum is.
I see no reason why the Linton should be different than any other generic speaker.
Where was your volume knob? Mine points to 10:00 or 11:00, maybe your volume was much higher because you are further away?
(2/3 of the range)The V3 really got hot
At the same (very roughly estimated) sound level the mpa-250nc was barely warm while their respective output power are relatively close if I'm not mistaken (I know, way better case but my point is valid still)
Thanks for your input, it made me optimist i could make something of this amp instead of sending it back that's why I'll try to run some tests soon to check what could be wrong.
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I think about 30% of modern music has this. I believe it's when the track was mastered with headphones or tiny speakers, not full frequency range speaker or speaker/sub setups. I know nothing about mixing, but this annoys me enough to suck the fun out of some songs.
A good example of bass volume:
A bad example of bass volume:
I don't think you made a good call there. The 32v power supply limits the Fosi v3 not of current (ampere), but voltage. The added current doesn't change that by much, if anything at all. I would send it back, if you can, and order a 48v power supply instead.
As for the added heat, a small price to pay for double the power.
Do the PMCs have a woofer inside or some kind of transmission line? They look nice.
Almost double the power for the price of a cheap power supply? Yes, you need it!
You likely pumped more power into the speakers, maybe your room is larger than mine, or has thicker carpets or you like it louder.My volume was at 2:00
Would maybe explain the added heat. But feeling the heat doesn't mean much. Get one of those, the cheapest one will do, i think i paid 15€ or so:
They also have a laser pointer builtin, if you have a cat to entertain.
Hmmm...I think with Aphex Twin, that "bloomy" bass is exactly what he wants...and the bass in your other example sounds a bit thin to my ears, listing on a 2-channel speaker setup...
I feel like bass is a little bit more forward/fat in the V3 compared to the Aiyima A07, but I need to listen more...
I might even try when the days get colder in the fall. But someone here mentioned boomy bass with 48V!?I don't think you made a good call there. The 32v power supply limits the Fosi v3 not of current (ampere), but voltage. The added current doesn't change that by much, if anything at all. I would send it back, if you can, and order a 48v power supply instead.
As for the added heat, a small price to pay for double the power.
They have their own version of transmission line, sorta "enhanced" transmission line. Measured and enhanced for their own boxes.
Quite bass-capable, their new models should have even more bass, but i am fine with this one, with bass-traps in corners, more than enough, so i actually dont want their new models
Yes once when the heat is over Not sure though how Sparkos will react, since they are hotter than standard op-amps.Almost double the power for the price of a cheap power supply? Yes, you need it!
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