What's astonishing exactly? A chip amp, in a tiny aluminium can, with an off-the-shelf SMPS. I don't see anything remotely astonishing about it. Personally, I think it's way overpriced for what it is (or isn't)
How grown men can get excited about an "amplifier" lacking pretty much everything that makes an amplifier remotely useful is beyond me.
One set of speakers- not switchable
No headphone socket
No tone controls
No filters
No loudness
No tone defeat
No signal routing options
No processor loops
No remote control
No muting
No phono stage
Only two inputs- LOL what a joke.
All of these things (except remote) were standard on ~USD$100 integrated amplifiers in the 70s/80s/90s and into the 2000s.
And then there was Bob Carver, who disagrees with everything you listed as necessary or standard and his products pretty much make this look like a toy, but then Bobs stuff was meant to be big and for grown ups who had space, money and no need to upgrade unless he came out with a new model that had more watts. Some things are forever and then there's Chip amps, I only own 1 amp that was made after 2000 and I'm willing to bet anyone would want to trade their chip amps for the amps I have yet I wouldn't do the opposite. It reminds me of the joke, what's the difference between a guy who owns a Corvette and the guy who owns the Mustang? The Corvette guy never dreams of owning a Mustang.
Oh I lied I forgot I have 2 of those 50w x2 +100w amps that cost under $4 with 2x $7 - 24v 20A psus and they've been used about the same time it takes to connect the wires to them. Sure they're great for $11 but it's really just $11 wasted since every other amp puts them to shame, even amps with less power like an old 50w x2 BGW 150 that cost me $25 and I have 5 of them laying around in case I need a temporary fill in. These tiny amps are just goofy, the weight of the speaker wires and the XLR cables is enough to drag them off the table top and crash on the floor. I've had that happen countless times just while they were stored. Do you use double sided tape to hold them in place or do you tie a string on them to retrieve them from the back of the cabinet when you need to change the volume, which should be done using an upstream device .
I'm sorry but this tested amp has useless features that make no sense and they could be selling just an amp for less and make other tiny items to go between them like a crossover with tiny knobs or digital numbers all operated by a single dial that you push 10 times to get to the next setting. This all reminds me of testing out a miniDSP which I found to be useless and annoying to even try to use. But to each his own, I like to come and see the newest tiny amp everyone is getting excited about and find out if the last best thing at this price stayed working past its warranty. I'll wait till they get to a point where there's no more big wows and each one is basically the same, that's when they have perfected it and it's worth switching over.
I never had any weight problems with any of my home amplifiers and I sure am glad that others have gotten rid of their large speakers and large amps and heavy amps used for live shows over the years, I'll never run out of room for those big and heavy pieces especially when they're practically giving it away. I like to read how people get rid of quality gear and regret it 2 years later. But then I'm not hen pecked and allow my woman to boss me around either.
I comend the work Amir does here, I realize that he can do this now since the size and weight to ship these tiny things is negligible compared to shipping a 75lb power amp built before 2000. If he wasnt verifying builders claims I doubt anyone would be buying these things. The manufacturers owe him for his service, he alone has been the one constant that people can turn to to see how things are taking shape in the recent changes in audio, well at least for the very cheap minded people who are trying to create the impossible with a $200 budget.
I would never expect to see more tests of older amps because it's not practical and testing old gear doesn't drum up sales to keep this industry going, besides, all the best stuff is huge and heavy, not really geared to shipping for test purposes and much of it has such high output that it will be difficult to test since 2 and 1Ω tests would need to be done to get a clear idea of its potential.
I never considered anything with tone controls, selectable inputs, volume and a balance control to be an amplifier, that's s receiver minus the tuner, any pre amp with an amp section is receiver. Notice how popular they are within the audiophile world? I won't even look at the ads if I see more than an voltage input setting on anything but pre amp.
