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Fosi Audio V3 Mono Amplifier Review

Rate this amplifier:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 13 2.0%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 21 3.3%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 123 19.2%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 483 75.5%

  • Total voters
    640
There is (and can be) almost no vertical air flow in this design. The entire area is blocked by the PCB
They could have used the side vents for intake and have an outlet on top.
 
Hah…yes, someone did actually do that. Unfortunately, it is so far back that I don’t have enough time to find it for you!

-Ed
In the V3 mono owners thread on June 28th here
There was another thread where somebody measured temperature with the amp placed vertically. Made a small difference of about 5°C they reckoned.
 
I feel like we will watch this product mature.

Instead of the usual gimmick of packaging features around a crappy core , Fosi built a solid clean core with crappy or, maybe more fairly, non-existent features.

My guess is we see steady, regular new versions of this over the next few years. Let's hope they don't mess with the core.
 
Hi. I'm new here. My V3 Monos are still in the mail from China, to Canada. I ordered directly from the Fosi website.

Question: As far as I have read the Fosi V3 Monos are pretty bleeding edge when it comes to power and size for audio amplification. Is it possible that the tech has existed in other applications for some time and "hot" enclosures are a normal thing for these kinds of amps?

I have experience with a cellphone booster. It's amp is about the size of the V3 and completely enclosed with no holes. When it was deployed it was very hot to touch. I was confident there was an issue. After looking into it, the amps normal operational temperature is 115 degrees celsius!!! That thing has been running for months, 24/7, at that temperature. I can't speak to long term reliability but the company is reputable with a great warranty plan (which they wouldn't have if the products were prone to failure).

When they get here, my setup will be Tidal > Wiim Ultra > Fosi V3s > Magnepan 0.7

I'll be sure to maintain a presence here on the form but my expectation is that with my setup the Fosi's will run HOT and I'm okay with that. Just my 2 cents.
 
Hey!

So I've been holding out for ages to upgrade my main system, and I finally bit the bullet! I've got pretty high hopes for this V3 mono - I'm thinking it'll be on par with the Yamaha AS-701. It's replacing my old Marantz MCR-601, which is a decent budget Class D setup, but getting on a bit now.

I'm pairing it with the ZD3 DAC. To be honest, the main selling point for me wasn't even the audiophile stuff - it was the idea of having one remote to rule them all in the living room. How cool is that? One TV remote for everything in the house, thanks to these new DACs with eARC.

I know there's a chance I might not love the look of it, or the external power supplies and small components, but if it sounds good, I dare to forgive. For 300 bucks whole package? It's a steal.

I'm really digging the whole monoblock concept - the design and philosophy just make sense to me. I'm hoping it'll sort out any crosstalk issues and widen the soundstage. Whenever I visit friends with fancy setups, I always get a bit jealous of their stereo effect. My current setup sounds alright, but it's kind of flat - almost like it's in mono.

So Fosi, take my 300 bucks and widen this stage up!
 
I would really like to see how the V3 mono would perform thermally if you were to put holes in bottom and top. But I am too scared to drill holes in anodized aluminium. (maybe chipping of black color) - did anybody tried this?
If the case is definitely anodized and not powder coated, there should be zero risk of any chipping. However, the interior edges of the hole will definitely be silver rather than black, so you'd need to be OK with that cosmetic appearance. Although careful use of black Sharpie would go a long way to concealing the silver edges :)

The bigger challenge in my opinion is successfully drilling so many holes in a consistent geometric pattern that doesn't end up looking like a hack job. Without a CNC or a small mill, its going to be difficult. Maybe if you printed a pattern on paper, and adhered it to the case, and were very careful with a handheld drill, you could get it done.
 
But I was really surprised when I unpacked the V3 monos and found out that the ventilation holes on top and bottom got cancelled.
Did you buy something online without looking at a picture of it? Why did you do that?

This line of conversation serves solely to disparage a product that has moved the goal posts for amps. I’m sure there are some people who would rather it hadn’t.
 
If the case is definitely anodized and not powder coated, there should be zero risk of any chipping. However, the interior edges of the hole will definitely be silver rather than black, so you'd need to be OK with that cosmetic appearance. Although careful use of black Sharpie would go a long way to concealing the silver edges :)

The bigger challenge in my opinion is successfully drilling so many holes in a consistent geometric pattern that doesn't end up looking like a hack job. Without a CNC or a small mill, its going to be difficult. Maybe if you printed a pattern on paper, and adhered it to the case, and were very careful with a handheld drill, you could get it done.
The solid way of drilling without any slips is pre-nailing the points to be drilled.
It's doesn't need to be a crater a steel nail or the appropriate tool can do the job just fine so the drill will never slip.
 
My V3 monos ordered from amazon.de end of september still have phase inverted (1qc sticker only)
 
My V3 monos ordered from amazon.de end of september still have phase inverted (1qc sticker only)
Mine also just arrived with only one sticker. I ordered directly from Fosi's web site. Is one sticker guaranteed to be inverted or is there a visual way to verify by opening up the unit?
 
My V3 monos ordered from amazon.de end of september still have phase inverted (1qc sticker only)
My replacement amp I received last week direct from Fosi only had one sticker but I looked inside and the phase is corrected. It is my guess the amps with two stickers were reworked (second sticker added after rework) but newer amps were corrected in original production and now only have one sticker.
 
Did someone buy a Fosi sp601 for themselves? If so, please share your impressions :)
 
Although it makes no audible difference in a 2.0 system I switched the speaker cables behind the speakers. I imagine I’m not the only one to do that.

It makes no difference to me since I'm using XLR and 2.0 also, but I wanted to know in case I ever sell them.
 
If the case is definitely anodized and not powder coated, there should be zero risk of any chipping [...] black Sharpie would go a long way to concealing the silver edges [...] the bigger challenge in my opinion is successfully drilling so many holes in a consistent geometric pattern that doesn't end up looking like a hack job. Without a CNC or a small mill, its going to be difficult. Maybe if you printed a pattern on paper, and adhered it to the case, and were very careful with a handheld drill, you could get it done.
Thanks for confirming - I have never drilled into anodized aluminium before. Have a friend with a shaper (hand-held CNC) though.
Did you buy something online without looking at a picture of it? [...] This line of conversation serves solely to disparage a product that has moved the goal posts for amps. I’m sure there are some people who would rather it hadn’t.
Clearly I did not look into the pics very carefully. My line of conversation was more about my trust into V3 mono´s thermal performance coming from V3 stereo (telling my own subjective experience). I really like all my Fosis. My posts aim at pushing forward development, not to disparage.

Thanks @Fosi Audio for liking my critical post. In my conversations with fosi I understand them as a company that invites critical thinking.
 
Optional cooling system coming
 
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