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Intergrated Amplifier for Q Acoustics 3050i

Madao

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I'm struggling a bit and I have found myself in a bit of a hole.

I impulse bought the Q Acoustics 3050i as there was an admin error that made them half price. Q Acoustics strangely enough honored the deal despite this, but now I'm trying to fill in the pieces to get the speakers going.

Unfortunately I'm realizing this is a more expensive hobby than I expected.

I narrowed my amp choice to the Yamaha A-S501 which was on sale for £269... and when I went to buy it the deal had ended and the price was £350. It can still be bought at one retailer in London for £299, however.

At this point I'm wondering if it's worth forking out a bit more for the A-S701 is £409 at the moment.

Or perhaps there is an amp that would be better suited that I haven't considered?
 

Boris Badinov

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My Q3050s get along nicely with my Cambridge Audio AXR100 receiver...I wonder if there is much of a difference between the 3050 and the 3050i
 

koro

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I have the less efficient 3020i (3050i are 87.8dB according to independent measurements) and the Yamaha a-s500 (same power as A-s501) and it has more than enough power to drive them loud and clean without clipping in my medium sized living room.

Before owning the Yamaha I had been driving then with my Marantz receiver (only 50w at higher distortion) and it was enough, unless you listen to music very loud. I live in an apartment and don’t usually go above 86db (according to the crappy db meter on my phone).
 
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Madao

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My Q3050s get along nicely with my Cambridge Audio AXR100 receiver...I wonder if there is much of a difference between the 3050 and the 3050i

That looks pretty nice, but just outside my budget at £449. As for the differences, other than the 3050i being almost twice the price I couldn't tell you.

I have the less efficient 3020i (3050i are 87.8dB according to independent measurements) and the Yamaha a-s500 (same power as A-s501) and it has more than enough power to drive them loud and clean without clipping in my medium sized living room.

Before owning the Yamaha I had been driving then with my Marantz receiver (only 50w at higher distortion) and it was enough, unless you listen to music very loud. I live in an apartment and don’t usually go above 86db (according to the crappy db meter on my phone).

You think I should just get the 501? It's funny talking to people who've listened to the 500 and the 501 and prefer the 500. Unfortunately coming in to this as a relative newbie it's hard to seperate the truth and audiophoolery. Earlier today I was trying to get a retailer in the UK to drop their price a little on the 701 and he told me it was a 'much better amp than the 501' but couldn't seem to tell me why.
 
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Madao

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All three Yamaha's have the same manual.
https://usa.yamaha.com/files/download/other_assets/8/332208/A-S701_S501_S301_om_U.pdf
301,501,701.

So I would expect the only difference is in power. 501 is 85 wpc and 701 is 100 wpc. Likely virtually identical other than power output and power supply. The retailer was lying to you.

Yeah, I figured as much. Though, apparently it does have a different DAC, but I can't confirm that one way or another.

I'll probably just get the 501 as there's not much else in this price range.
 

koro

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That looks pretty nice, but just outside my budget at £449. As for the differences, other than the 3050i being almost twice the price I couldn't tell you.



You think I should just get the 501? It's funny talking to people who've listened to the 500 and the 501 and prefer the 500. Unfortunately coming in to this as a relative newbie it's hard to seperate the truth and audiophoolery. Earlier today I was trying to get a retailer in the UK to drop their price a little on the 701 and he told me it was a 'much better amp than the 501' but couldn't seem to tell me why.

There were some measurements online of both a-s500 and a-s700 which I can’t seem to find atm, and other than power, there wasn’t any objective difference between the two. If anything, I think the a-s500 had marginally better distortion figures, small enough to be far from audible.

I ended up buying a second hand A-S500 because I didn’t need a DAC. I haven’t seen any measurements of the 501 but there are some of the 701, and again, there might the slightest inaudible difference in SNR comparing to the previous generation, but I’m sure they all sound the same in a blind test.

If you don't have have an external dac, I’d say go for the A-S501 and enjoy your music. They’re all transparent amps.

The DAC might not be the best, but you can always upgrade for an external cheap but transparent one later on, if you feel the need to. There are lots of good examples on the review section here.
 
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Madao

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There were some measurements online of both a-s500 and a-s700 which I can’t seem to find atm, and other than power, there wasn’t any objective difference between the two. If anything, I think the a-s500 had marginally better distortion figures, small enough to be far from audible.

All I've found so far on the 501 is the polish site below.

https://audio.com.pl/testy/stereo/wzmacniacze-stereo/2415-yamaha-a-s501

The 701s measurements are here on the forums I think. https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...ts-about-the-internals-few-measurements.9459/

Not that I really understand them all to well either way. The salesman got back to me today and I'll quote what he said. "The 701 has a different output stage and a number of different components so the sound is quite different regardless of the numbers on the spec sheet." You guys are probably more familiar with sales talk than I am, but it does sound like he's just trying to push the pricier product on me.

If you don't have have an external dac, I’d say go for the A-S501 and enjoy your music. They’re all transparent amps.

The DAC might not be the best, but you can always upgrade for an external cheap but transparent one later on, if you feel the need to. There are lots of good examples on the review section here.

Yeah, I don't have a DAC right now so I was just looking for amps with digital input. Any upgrades won't be for a long time just trying to get this all up and running. Though I have another issue as apparently my PC doesn't do optical out. The header is there on the motherboard but you need a backplate and the sellers seem to be chinese so it's a 4+ week wait. Not really sure what to do. There's a soundcard with optical out for £40 but I was hoping to avoid paying anything like that.
 

Boris Badinov

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Ah, my fault. Saw that you had a budget limit near mine and forgot that I had originally ordered the C.A. Topaz SR10 ($299) which was out of stock so the company substituted an AXR100 at the price of the SR10. I was happy with the upgrade and the customer service
 

Willem

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The tests of the AS500 and AS700 were from the Australian publication AVhub, but that seems to have been taken over by another company. I could not find the review anymore. But I do remember: both were excellent, and better than many amplifiers costing a small fortune. The AS500 measured marginally better, but not in a meaningful way. The only real difference was power, and the difference was small. See here for a similarly favourable test of the usb input capable AS 801: https://www.audioholics.com/amplifier-reviews/yamaha-a-s801-amplifier-review
In this modern day and age the digital inputs are interesting, of course. The AS501/701 have only optical and coaxial digital inputs, which should be enough in many situations. The AS801 adds usb, but costs rather more. So my advice would be: get the AS501 (unless you have a pretty large listening room). In fact, that is what I am planning to buy for my daughter.
 

koro

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The tests of the AS500 and AS700 were from the Australian publication AVhub, but that seems to have been taken over by another company. I could not find the review anymore.

Thanks, that’s what I was trying to find, I think it’s owned by What Hifi now, no less! :facepalm:
 
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Madao

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So my advice would be: get the AS501 (unless you have a pretty large listening room). In fact, that is what I am planning to buy for my daughter.

The S801 is actually cheaper than I thought at around £500. Still completely out of my budget, but certainly affordable for a lot of people.

As I'm not very well versed in a lot of the technical information. Would I still be able to add a sub with the 501? and not that I would ever do it, but could I piss off the neighbours with the volume? I just have no reference for how loud it can be. Again, I'm not really intending to listen at high volumes, but it would be interesting to know how capable it is.
 

Willem

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At 91 dB these are quite efficient speakers, so you will be able to play them pretty loud. And yes, you could certainly add a sub using the speaker level connection. Apparently it also has a line level (?) subwoofer output, but I am not sure about the details. But there is no reason for you to worry on that front (but perhaps for your neighbours may). These speakers go pretty low, so there is no obvious need for subs (and your budget does not seem to allow for decent ones either).
 

Willem

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Any reason you might no want a cheap power amp like the Behringer A800?
Add a basic DAC with volume control and you are spending at least as much as for the Yamaha, if not more.
The Yamaha also has useful features such as tone and balance control, or dynamic loudness.
 

koro

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All I've found so far on the 501 is the polish site below.

https://audio.com.pl/testy/stereo/wzmacniacze-stereo/2415-yamaha-a-s501

The 701s measurements are here on the forums I think. https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...ts-about-the-internals-few-measurements.9459/

Not that I really understand them all to well either way. The salesman got back to me today and I'll quote what he said. "The 701 has a different output stage and a number of different components so the sound is quite different regardless of the numbers on the spec sheet." You guys are probably more familiar with sales talk than I am, but it does sound like he's just trying to push the pricier product on me.



Yeah, I don't have a DAC right now so I was just looking for amps with digital input. Any upgrades won't be for a long time just trying to get this all up and running. Though I have another issue as apparently my PC doesn't do optical out. The header is there on the motherboard but you need a backplate and the sellers seem to be chinese so it's a 4+ week wait. Not really sure what to do. There's a soundcard with optical out for £40 but I was hoping to avoid paying anything like that.

I’m not en EE so I don’t really know how to read the subtleties in the schematics, but if there’s anything crucial I’ve learn here, it’s that using fancier/more expensive components doesn’t translate to a higher quality end product. Both A-S501 and A-S701 are good engineered and similar products, not very different in fact from every Yamaha amp from the same lineage since the 90’s.

Even if A-S701 had fancier components other than a better DAC (which I doubt) measurements show they sound equally transparent, only one is more powerful.

Regarding the issue with the connection with the PC, the cheapest option would be to use the internal DAC and connect the 3.5mm (I assume) output from your soundcard to any analog input on your amplifier, with a 3.5mm ttrs to RCA cable like this:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/AmazonBasi...ds=3.5ttrs+to+rca&qid=1587739791&sr=8-2-fkmr0

A better option would be a dedicated budget but good DAC like the Topping (not Aimpire!) D10. It only has USB as input, but you could use amp’s own optical if you need to hook it up to tv, bluray etc.
 
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Madao

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Regarding the issue with the connection with the PC, the cheapest option would be to use the internal DAC and connect the 3.5mm (I assume) output from your soundcard to any analog input on your amplifier, with a 3.5mm ttrs to RCA cable like this:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/AmazonBasi...ds=3.5ttrs+to+rca&qid=1587739791&sr=8-2-fkmr0

A better option would be a dedicated budget but good DAC like the Topping (not Aimpire!) D10. It only has USB as input, but you could use amp’s own optical if you need to hook it up to tv, bluray etc.

Isn't that taking a lot of the advantage of getting this particular amp, though? If I'm understanding how this works correctly if I use RCA cable it will be using my soundcards DAC and not the Yamaha. To use the Yamaha's I need to use the digital inputs, is that correct?

The only other issue I'm having is what speaker cables do I buy? I seen either this https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/292285259666 or this https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/292285262579 both are terminated with banana plugs. (?) But I wasn't sure if I would be paying too much for the privlege.
 

Willem

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I overlooked that. If you want to connect your PC you will need either the AS801 with its usb input, a computer/card with an optical output, or a cheap external USB DAC.
What use would you make of your computer as a source? I would prefer a Chromecast Audio as a streaming source, but it obviously depends on the use case.
Cables are not an issue. Just use very cheap cable - the rest is snake oil: 1 UK pound a metre is more than enough budget. For longer cables, use somewhat thicker gauge.
 

koro

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Yes, you’re right, I only suggested that route in the case you didn’t want to spend on an usb dac or the module for the soundcard you mentioned earlier.

As far cables go, between those two I’d go for the cheapest.
 
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