Initial impression of AIYIMA A07 Premium

[amano]

I got AIYIMA A07 Premium and tested it.

It seems to produce less hiss on the speakers than AIYIMA A07. It also seems to have less channel imbalance than AIYIMA A07. Hiss was already inaudible at my listening position with A07, so the majority of audible difference comes from less channel imbalance.

Apart from that, AIYIMA A07 Premium has better passive cooling design, so it is more appropriate for summer. AIYIMA A07's passive cooler isn't thermally coupled with the case.

A man named douglas blake said he measured output impedance of AIYIMA A07 Premium. According to him, AIYIMA A07 Premium has lower output impedance than AIYIMA A07 and AIYIMA A07 Max. A07 Premium should have less load dependency on frequency response than A07 and A07 Max although it doesn't have PFFB. The lower an amplifier's output impedance goes, the less load dependency you are going to get on frequency response. This is called damping factor. I read higher damping factor reduces load dependency. I read that PFFB reduces load dependency by increasing damping factor.

My subjective listening experience was a bit better with A07 Premium probably because A07 has poor passive cooling design which affected capacitors a bit. In other words, A07 aged poorly over the last few years. A07 Premium also has higher-capacity capacitors, so it's going to sound a bit better than A07. But, it's not a day-and-night difference. The difference is subtle. I think the difference is that A07 Premium controls my speakers better than my aged A07. The audio sounds more tightly controlled. A07 Premium sounds more regimented. I mean it sounds cleaner.

I guess higher damping factor and better capacitors improve audio quality. Better passive cooling will help A07 Premium age better.

I think it's good enough for basic amplification inside a personal room.

 

[PMB]

This little blind test made me buy the A07 Premium. For sure youtube is not the best comparison but try it anyway. There is a difference and if you honestly pick one over another you might be surprised. It has amazing sound stage better than the A07 Max. The 3.5mm out is controlled by the master volume that I don't think you get with A07 or the Max. $50 for A07 Premium + $50 for the 48V 10A power. The little research I've done the power is vital. Even 48V 5A seems to be lacking when compared and there is a fairly noticeable difference. The 48V 10A opens the amp and it stage with range and clarity. Because it is Class D amp there shouldn't be overheating issues. These run pretty cool. I would take the $50 A07 Premium even before A20 just for the sound quality. The sound is the most important even if there are more functions. For me if it runs good monitors and has a out for sub that is controlled from the main volume there is nothing more you need. Op-amps and rolling can also a good experience but when doing it make sure it is compatible with the power supply.

My system has Schiit components Mani 2, Mimir, Lokius and Jotunheim 3. From Jotunheim 3 output to the Aiyima A07 Premium. Sources are PLX-1000, SMSL PL20, PC.

 

[amano]

As far as I know, A07 Premium has bigger capacitors which may improve sound quality. I guess bigger better capacitors and the better passive cooler are why you felt better sound stage.

 

[PMB]

As far as I know, A07 Premium has bigger capacitors which may improve sound quality. I guess bigger better capacitors and the better passive cooler are why you felt better sound stage.

My intention is to run Magnat Vector Needle speaker with Active Magnat Alpha A30 sub. The combination is really good. Mid and high from the Vector's and low from the Alpha A30. Vector is 320 W speakers. I'm hoping the claimed 300W*2 will do justice. My A07 Premium is still on it way to me. I used to run 6.1 from my Pioneers for the entertainment system and it rumbled very well and music was out of this world. But at this point it is a bit unpractical for the smaller space and sound bar does a good job with rear satellites. Music is different where you want that bass and treble with a good stage for vocals. Judging from the blind test A07 Premium seems to deliver. Of course it needs a DAC and the Schiit Mimir has a good timing. I got the 48V 10A power coming also. Also happy that the sub will be controlled from the master volume of the A07 Premium.

What do you think? Will it have enough to rock these speakers?

 

[amano]

If you calculated correctly, then that will be enough, but the extra capacity is there for headroom and "momentary" power.

You don't actually want extended periods of high power which will blow your ears or bother your neighbors unless you live far from other people.

Make sure you have room space and distance from your neighbors before you utilize high power.

I think A07 Premium isn't built for extended periods of high power. Its small passive cooler chassis is built for momentary power. If you want extended periods of power, you need bigger passive coolers or active coolers.

Basically, you need to be a multi-millionaire before you get to enjoy music at high power. Big house. Big room. Distance from neighbors. Etc...

 

[PMB]

If you calculated correctly, then that will be enough, but the extra capacity is there for headroom and "momentary" power.

You don't actually want extended periods of high power which will blow your ears or bother your neighbors unless you live far from other people.

Make sure you have room space and distance from your neighbors before you utilize high power.

I think A07 Premium isn't built for extended periods of high power. Its small passively cooler chassis is built for momentary power. If you want extended periods of power, you need bigger passive coolers or active coolers.

Basically, you need to be a multi-millionaire before you get to enjoy music at high power. Big house. Big room. Distance from neighbors. Etc...

Exact reason why I invested for good headphones and system to run them. The room is small and my whole proper Pioneer system is excessive. Instead of using all 6.1 I'll only going for 2.1 from the Schiit Jotunheim 3 output.

For the A07 Premium I'm planning to change the op amps to opa1612. Also I'm thinking the heatsink plate needs a polish and some thermal paste. I'll check this when I open it. opa1612 is a good upgrade to the stock ne5532 and power needed is very similar. It should have a dramatic change. Have you tried any op amp changes?

 

[RandomEar]

Exact reason why I invested for good headphones and system to run them. The room is small and my whole proper Pioneer system is excessive. Instead of using all 6.1 I'll only going for 2.1 from the Schiit Jotunheim 3 output.

For the A07 Premium I'm planning to change the op amps to opa1612. Also I'm thinking the heatsink plate needs a polish and some thermal paste. I'll check this when I open it. opa1612 is a good upgrade to the stock ne5532 and power needed is very similar. It should have a dramatic change. Have you tried any op amp changes?

Op amp rolling is essentially snake oil. See here for one example of many on ASR. You're highly likely to either change nothing or make the performance measurably worse, but not audibly so. You're extremely unlikely to see any audible change at all (in correctly controlled blind tests). If there is an audible difference, it won't be an improvement - it will be added distortion from an incompatible op amp selection.

Blindly changing parts in a circuit you don't understand is not a recipe for improvements of anything. Just imagine someone went to randomly rip out ten capacitors from their smartphone and soldered in different ones: Would you rather expect the phone to "phone better", or would you expect it to not turn on anymore or crash randomly? I know what I'm betting on.

That YouTube comparison above and your comments on sound stage are equally misguided: Sound stage is a characteristic of the recording and a combination of your speakers and room.

In that YouTube comparison you're listing through a long recording chain, microphones, ADCs and DACs ending in your amp and speakers. That's not a valid way to compare anything. And by your logic, you would be listening to the sound stage of your own amp, because that's in your signal chain. How could you possibly compare other amps like that?

 

[Joe Smith]

For my original A07 amp, I put in a small thermal pad to make the internal heat sink connect with and transfer heat to the case. I thought they had changed the design in the new A07 Premium so that the sink does make contact with the case? At any rate, a good thing to check if the case is still sealed.

Leave the op-amps alone, it's a rabbit hole with no end and no performance difference for most folks - I'm in the camp that feels this way, if the difference can't be measured, it doesn't matter, and if the change is above 14khz, well, that doesn't affect me either.

 

[PMB]

For my original A07 amp, I put in a small thermal pad to make the internal heat sink connect with and transfer heat to the case. I thought they had changed the design in the new A07 Premium so that the sink does make contact with the case? At any rate, a good thing to check if the case is still sealed.

Leave the op-amps alone, it's a rabbit hole with no end and no performance difference for most folks - I'm in the camp that feels this way, if the difference can't be measured, it doesn't matter, and if the change is above 14khz, well, that doesn't affect me either.

A07 Premium has two screws under that tightens the heatsink to the case placed under the board that takes the heat. But unless the surface is smooth or tight against the case it does nothing. It can do a lot but there needs to be transfer of heat to the case and this needs two very smooth surfaces and ideally a thermal pad or paste. Personally I think the paste might work better.

Op amps is about clarity, stage, range and colour of the sound. It is about what you hear not about numbers.

Op amp rolling is essentially snake oil. See here for one example of many on ASR. You're highly likely to either change nothing or make the performance measurably worse, but not audibly so. You're extremely unlikely to see any audible change at all (in correctly controlled blind tests). If there is an audible difference, it won't be an improvement - it will be added distortion from an incompatible op amp selection.

Blindly changing parts in a circuit you don't understand is not a recipe for improvements of anything. Just imagine someone went to randomly rip out ten capacitors from their smartphone and soldered in different ones: Would you rather expect the phone to "phone better", or would you expect it to not turn on anymore or crash randomly? I know what I'm betting on.

That YouTube comparison above and your comments on sound stage are equally misguided: Sound stage is a characteristic of the recording and a combination of your speakers and room.

In that YouTube comparison you're listing through a long recording chain, microphones, ADCs and DACs ending in your amp and speakers. That's not a valid way to compare anything. And by your logic, you would be listening to the sound stage of your own amp, because that's in your signal chain. How could you possibly compare other amps like that?

That blind test even that it is on youtube you can hear the difference in clarity and stage. It seems halve of the people in that test heard the difference and not all have the same hearing and some couldn't tell the difference. I can hear the difference very well and if you can on youtube the reality is lot more. Aiyama A7 Premium has beefier capacitors that I can very easily hear on side by side comparison.

The ne5532 op amp is very basic and cheap that comes in these Aiyima amps and in most of the cheap D class amps. It is very good cheap option to get the product out of the door and as you pointed out not all people can tell the difference. But there are big differences between op amps that I can hear very well. The key is doing a bit of research knowing the power requirements to run specific op amp in specific amp as there are differences. I think there are some confusion here because op amps are designed to be changed and to give the listener the preferred sound for their individual taste and to match their system. Not sure what phones and capacitors have to do with op amps in a same sentence.

 

[RandomEar]

There is no confusion here. Op amps can be changed on many of these cheap amps for marketing purposes. That's all there is to it. It doesn't matter which components are socketed, there is no engineering reason for it - in fact, soldering op amps would be more reliable. You could just as well change random caps on that amp and claim miraculous audible improvements. It would be equally questionable.

Read the op amp comparison I linked, search for more here on ASR - there is usually no significant measurable difference between them or they perform worse than an NE5532. The 5532 is cheap, but it's not "basic" in the sense of "bad" - from an engineering perspective, it is an excellent op amp for audio applications. You can get slightly better ones today, but the circuit around them must be designed correctly. Otherwise you may not get the performance you expect from the datasheet.

Also, to clarify: If you can't measure a difference, you can't hear one - only imagine it. That's just how it is. Being victim to bias in a sighted test is human. It happens to you, to me, to everyone. You can think that there is a difference even when there is none.

 

[PMB]

There is no confusion here. Op amps can be changed on many of these cheap amps for marketing purposes. That's all there is to it. It doesn't matter which components are socketed, there is no engineering reason for it - in fact, soldering op amps would be more reliable. You could just as well change random caps on that amp and claim miraculous audible improvements. It would be equally questionable.

Read the op amp comparison I linked, search for more here on ASR - there is usually no significant measurable difference between them or they perform worse than an NE5532. The 5532 is cheap, but it's not "basic" in the sense of "bad" - from an engineering perspective, it is an excellent op amp for audio applications. You can get slightly better ones today, but the circuit around them must be designed correctly. Otherwise you may not get the performance you expect from the datasheet.

Also, to clarify: If you can't measure a difference, you can't hear one - only imagine it. That's just how it is. Being victim to bias in a sighted test is human. It happens to you, to me, to everyone. You can think that there is a difference even when there is none.

It is all about listening music not reading numbers on paper. If your hearing is poor of course you can't spot the differences. It's a bit like being colour blind.

 

[oleg87]

That blind test even that it is on youtube you can hear the difference in clarity and stage. It seems halve of the people in that test heard the difference and not all have the same hearing and some couldn't tell the difference

Wow, that's Aiyima official channel? Using microphones to compare electronics, and can't even get the phase to match between the two? Grim stuff. Unless one of the amps has inverted phase, I suppose.

 

[PMB]

Wow, that's Aiyima official channel? Using microphones to compare electronics, and can't even get the phase to match between the two? Grim stuff. Unless one of the amps has inverted phase, I suppose.

The point is you heard a difference. Now you are qualified to choose between those two. People that only look numbers are usually those that can't hear the difference.

 

[oleg87]

The point is you heard a difference. Now you are qualified to choose between those two. People that only look numbers are usually those that can't hear the difference.

I wouldn't waste my time with a blind test that didn't have basic controls, I just dumped it straight into my DAW to check if that was the case. Volumes are matched close enough, but polarity is not (and yes this is audible, I imagine anyone here could pick out the difference in 20/20 ABX trials with the appropriate material). Whether this reflects the amps' behavior or a needless confound due to miswiring the amps to the speakers, I don't know, but it's illustrative of how most listening tests are sloppily controlled to the point of being worse than useless.

Then the only way for such a test to have any meaningful validity is to do a statistically significant number of blind trials, and that's way more tedium than it's worth for lossy compressed microphone recordings where the null is dominated by compression artifacts. (and needless to say, you cannot do this by yourself scrubbing through a youtube video - you would need to extract the audio and prepare samples that can be used in an ABX comparator).

 

[Joe Smith]

Happy with 5532s here!

 

[RexrothPigeon]

That blind test even that it is on youtube you can hear the difference in clarity and stage.

You cannot do a blind test on Youtube, sorry, there are too many confounding and even unknown variables. It's a completely invalid methodology, full stop.

 

[RexrothPigeon]

Now you are qualified to choose between those two.

No, now you are qualified to choose between two portions of a youtube video. That's all that is being tested here, nothing more.

 

[amano]

I recommend aiyima a07 premium over other variants of aiyima a07 just for the passive cooler design. Other variants don't utilize the entire chassis as the passive cooler.

Aiyima a07 premium also comes with better capacitors which should help with product longevity and sound quality.

Even if you don't feel the difference in sound quality, better passive cooling and longer product lifespan are good.

I am not trying to get the best sound experience on earth. I just need acceptable sound quality, and aiyima a07 premium delivers that with better longevity and better passive cooling.

I skipped a subwoofer because I think I need to move to a big house far from neighbors before I can actually feel the subwoofer. For that, I need to be a multi-millionaire.

Subwoofer can vibrate floors and walls. I live in an apartment where that's not acceptable for neighbors. While I live in an apartment, I can't actually push my amp, or my neighbors will come to me.

The existence of subwoofer is going to make the most difference, and it's not for broke people.

 

[antcollinet]

It is all about listening music not reading numbers on paper. If your hearing is poor of course you can't spot the differences. It's a bit like being colour blind.

Watch and understand the following. Changing opamps in an already competent design can only degrade the sound. Most of the time in any case it will do nothing audible for any human.
Remember that there is nothing we can hear that can't be measured, and there is only noise, distortion and frequency response that can impact the sound.

Does Op-amp Rolling Work? [Video]

In this video I "upgrade" the 57 cent op-amp in the Douk A5 stereo amplifier with a $49 one. Does it make a measured difference? Watch to find out: Test review at: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/does-op-amp-rolling-work.61518/ Please subscribe to the channel. It...

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Amplifier Op-amp Rolling Part 2 [Video]

Follow up video I did on op-amp rolling, covering the latest two tests: [And subscribe to the channel :) ]

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[RandomEar]

It is all about listening music not reading numbers on paper. If your hearing is poor of course you can't spot the differences. It's a bit like being colour blind.

Message to golden-eared audiophiles posting at ASR for the first time...

Hello friend. Hey, listen...we know how it is. Believe me, most of us have been there too. You've spent years toiling in the muck of audiophilia. You read ALL the reviews. You watched ALL the youtube videos. You visited ALL the other forums where everything always makes a difference. You...

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