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Has anyone measured Emotiva BasX A-100's speaker output performance?

infinitesymphony

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I'm on the hunt for an integrated speaker amp for a small room system, and while I had been hoping that Topping's offerings like the MX3 and PA3 would be suitable, their performance has been lackluster. My baseline amp for this purpose is the discontinued Pioneer Elite A-35R, which was $200 new:
  • 106 dB SNR (IHF short-circuit, A network, 'DIRECT' button engaged)
  • 45W @ 8 ohms - 0.3% THD
The Emotiva A-100 is a current product in a similar price range ($249) that looks like it could unseat the A-35R:
  • 110 dB SNR (A-weighted)
  • 50W @ 8 ohms - <0.05% THD
Both units have headphone amplifiers and are 4-ohm stable, Class AB.

Has anyone performed comprehensive measurements on the A-100 yet?
 
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garbulky

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I use the A-100 and have used it for both speakers but predominantly headphone listening. It is a real thrill with headphones (HD600, HD6xx and HD700) in direct drive mode. Care has to be taken to match it to the right headphones in that specific mode as you may have a high noise floor otherwise and encounter hiss. The stock mode has no audible hiss for me but has a resistor in the path with high output impedance (220 ohms) and doesn't have quite the never ending power reserves of the direct drive mode.

I've used it to drive Axiom m80's and subjectively compared it to an Emotiva XPA-2, a Crown XLS drivecore, and an older Crown (non class D). (No dbt testing): The A-100 and the XPA-2 sounded the most similar and even in tone.
The speaker measurements on the A_100 is probably similar to the Dayton Audio BPA-2 that Amir reviewed as they share design similarities.
 
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infinitesymphony

infinitesymphony

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Thank you, garbulky. This is good info in the absence of measurements and gives a starting point for comparison. The headphone amp portion does sound appealing. I have a pair of HD600s I've never heard amped appropriately.

I am not able to find anything about the Dayton Audio BPA-2 -- do you mean the APA 150? The review for that one appears to be average.
 

garbulky

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Thank you, garbulky. This is good info in the absence of measurements and gives a starting point for comparison. The headphone amp portion does sound appealing. I have a pair of HD600s I've never heard amped appropriately.

I am not able to find anything about the Dayton Audio BPA-2 -- do you mean the APA 150? The review for that one appears to be average.
Yes that one. It's not identical but they share the same family line from a long time ago
 

garbulky

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Thank you, garbulky. This is good info in the absence of measurements and gives a starting point for comparison. The headphone amp portion does sound appealing. I have a pair of HD600s I've never heard amped appropriately.

I am not able to find anything about the Dayton Audio BPA-2 -- do you mean the APA 150? The review for that one appears to be average.
This is what the A-100 used to look like wayyyyy back in the day. Perhaps they are no longer as similar now that I'm looking on the insides.
product_418641.jpg
 
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infinitesymphony

infinitesymphony

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Yes, I believe there is some confusion between the Emotiva BPA-1 (discontinued), Emotiva MiniX A-100 (renamed), and the current Emotiva BasX A-100.
 

escape2

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Any more feedback on the A-100? Any measurements? The one Emotiva amp that Amir tested looks like a mixed bag.

I'm looking for something in the narrow form factor to power a set of bookshelf speakers at my desk. It must have a volume knob. Source is my PC via Topping D10 DAC.

Any other good alternatives in this price range (up to $300)? Not looking at any of the cheap Class D amps as their performance seems sub-par based on the testing Amir did, and will likely not be an upgrade compared to what I am currently using.

Thanks!
 

barfyman362

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If you have amazon prime the Echo Link Amp is $210. I have used the previous gen a-100 (with lesser SNR in the specs) at a desk and don't know what to tell you other than that it can make my ears bleed before I can hear its noise floor from ~1m away. I didn't hear anything to complain about. If I turned past ~75% volume I could hear mains noise from 1m away.
 

escape2

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If you have amazon prime the Echo Link Amp is $210.
Thanks. Interesting option which I had not considered before. Although Amir's test of it seems like a mixed bag as well - the frequency response isn't exactly flat, but probably no biggie in actual use. Wifi/streaming connectivity is an added bonus.
 
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infinitesymphony

infinitesymphony

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Thanks for the bump, @escape2. Personally, I'm waiting for @JohnYang1997 / Topping to release an improved small form factor integrated amp. Rumor is, something is on the way.

Yamaha WXA-50 is the closest ASR-measured device so far in terms of form and function, but at $500 it's a bit outside of my desired price range for a secondary system.
 

escape2

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Yamaha WXA-50 is the closest ASR-measured device so far in terms of form and function, but at $500 it's a bit outside of my desired price range for a secondary system.
Yeah, that's outside of my range as well. If I was willing to spend this much, I'd probably just get a Marantz PM6006 or maybe some entry level Parasound, alas, I'd then have to find the space for it.

I'm not in a rush, but I'd like to decide on something by Christmas.
 
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