This is a review and detailed measurements of the Lepy LP-2020A stereo "digital" audio amplifier. I purchased it back in January of this year on prompting of the membership to measure ultra-budget priced amplifiers. When I say ultra-budget I mean it: the LP-2020A costs just US $24.39 including Prime shipping from Amazon! I could sell you an empty case for that price and stay in business. The economics boggle the mind.
The LP-2020A is cheap looking of course although I have seen worse from some high-end audio companies:
The controls feel fine. There is a bright LED ring light around the volume control which can be annoying for some people.
I measured the unit with tone control butt set to Direct (defeated). In listening tests I played with the controls and found them surprisingly useful and not overdone.
The back of the unit and power supply look like this:
There are many versions of these amps so I wanted you all to see which supply mine came with.
There are dual inputs but no way to select between them.
Amplifier Audio Measurements
Let's start with our usual dashboard of 4 ohm load with 1 kHz tone at 5 watts:
Which the one channel was not so much worse than the other. I tested the unit with 8 ohm load and both were the same. So one channel doesn't like low impedance loads. As it is, the ranking is low but not the worse we have seen:
Remarkable though to see some branded audio/video receivers right next to it!
Frequency response shows strangeness in one channel yet again:
32-tone test signal to resemble "music" shows what we already know:
Crosstalk was unusually high:
Probably still not an audible concern but we are getting dangerously close to analog FM radio performance and such (30 dB?).
Noise performance is not bad actually:
Frequency versus level and and distortion graph is a mess because each channel acts differently:
So let's look at our usual 1 kHz response with 8 and 4 ohm loads:
We are far from stated "20 watts" rating with either load. And what is there comes with a lack of accuracy as seen by the messy shape of the graph. The SMSL SA100 which I reviewed recently outperforms it easily on power and predictability.
Finally here is 19+20 kHz intermodulation test:
Amplifier Listening Test
I connected the Lepy LP-2020A to my Sonus Faber Concertino bookshelf speaker. At modest volume the sound was good. We had bass and decent enough dynamics to be usable. Turn it up close to end though and distortion sets in quickly. In this regard, the SMSL SA100 is much, much better.
I paused the source (topping DX3 Pro DAC) and turned the volume to max but could not hear any hiss or buzz demonstrating the correctness of our signal to noise ratio test. Of course, a much more sensitive speaker may show otherwise.
Conclusions
There is nothing horrifically broken in Lepy LP-2020A. It is hard to imagine doing much better given the price that it aimed for. I understand there is another version with the proper TI Tripath amplifier. If so, that may be a better buy as I have heard it produces more power which was the main issue here.
I think I am going to use the LP-2020A for my electronics bench. Often when troubleshooting the audio path, you need to amplify what is there with an amp you don't mind blowing.
And the LP-2020A fits that bill fine.
Online reviews show that when used with small more efficient speakers it sounds OK. Then again there are a lot of reports of reliability issues.
Anyway, you don't need me to tell you whether this is recommended or not. The data and value proposition is there for you to examine.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
We had a gorgeous run of dry weather with beautiful fall colors. Alas, it came to an end today with clouds and rain making me depressed. I need to go to a very expensive restaurant with bright lights to feel better. So donate all the money you have using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
The LP-2020A is cheap looking of course although I have seen worse from some high-end audio companies:
The controls feel fine. There is a bright LED ring light around the volume control which can be annoying for some people.
I measured the unit with tone control butt set to Direct (defeated). In listening tests I played with the controls and found them surprisingly useful and not overdone.
The back of the unit and power supply look like this:
There are many versions of these amps so I wanted you all to see which supply mine came with.
There are dual inputs but no way to select between them.
Amplifier Audio Measurements
Let's start with our usual dashboard of 4 ohm load with 1 kHz tone at 5 watts:
Which the one channel was not so much worse than the other. I tested the unit with 8 ohm load and both were the same. So one channel doesn't like low impedance loads. As it is, the ranking is low but not the worse we have seen:
Remarkable though to see some branded audio/video receivers right next to it!
Frequency response shows strangeness in one channel yet again:
32-tone test signal to resemble "music" shows what we already know:
Crosstalk was unusually high:
Probably still not an audible concern but we are getting dangerously close to analog FM radio performance and such (30 dB?).
Noise performance is not bad actually:
Frequency versus level and and distortion graph is a mess because each channel acts differently:
So let's look at our usual 1 kHz response with 8 and 4 ohm loads:
We are far from stated "20 watts" rating with either load. And what is there comes with a lack of accuracy as seen by the messy shape of the graph. The SMSL SA100 which I reviewed recently outperforms it easily on power and predictability.
Finally here is 19+20 kHz intermodulation test:
Amplifier Listening Test
I connected the Lepy LP-2020A to my Sonus Faber Concertino bookshelf speaker. At modest volume the sound was good. We had bass and decent enough dynamics to be usable. Turn it up close to end though and distortion sets in quickly. In this regard, the SMSL SA100 is much, much better.
I paused the source (topping DX3 Pro DAC) and turned the volume to max but could not hear any hiss or buzz demonstrating the correctness of our signal to noise ratio test. Of course, a much more sensitive speaker may show otherwise.
Conclusions
There is nothing horrifically broken in Lepy LP-2020A. It is hard to imagine doing much better given the price that it aimed for. I understand there is another version with the proper TI Tripath amplifier. If so, that may be a better buy as I have heard it produces more power which was the main issue here.
I think I am going to use the LP-2020A for my electronics bench. Often when troubleshooting the audio path, you need to amplify what is there with an amp you don't mind blowing.
And the LP-2020A fits that bill fine.Online reviews show that when used with small more efficient speakers it sounds OK. Then again there are a lot of reports of reliability issues.
Anyway, you don't need me to tell you whether this is recommended or not. The data and value proposition is there for you to examine.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
We had a gorgeous run of dry weather with beautiful fall colors. Alas, it came to an end today with clouds and rain making me depressed. I need to go to a very expensive restaurant with bright lights to feel better. So donate all the money you have using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
