Loxjie A30 Amplifier Review

[Toku]

Anyway, they advertise 80Wx2(4Ω)@ but the power/distortion graph in their measurements starts to rise rapidly at ~50W...?

And I'm curious, it has bluetooth 5.0 & AptX "only". Is the support for AptX HD "FW upgradeable" or is it rather HW limited?

For that purpose, it is necessary to replace the BT chip.
The BT module used in the A30 is the QCC3008, which is often used in inexpensive Chinese amplifier products. I would like you to use the higher performance CSR8675 for A30 class products.
Loxjie is a group company of SMSL, so I think the A30 is designed by copying the SMSL SA300.

 

[The Capstan]

I posted overnight the below comments as part of the thread posted by Peterwen, now I think that after Amirm’s review this is a better place to have these. I have made few additions.

Nice to see the device has been awarded a recommandation by Amirm.

It must be said the amplifier is a class D with analogue tone control in front of the Infineon chip and a “not top of the line” ESS DAC. It is not falling in the “full digital“ category (not a problem by itself, given overall performances).
I wonder if the outcome of the aux input measures could be associated to the NJW chip used for volume and tone control.

To complement Amirm‘s scientific findings, some personal pros and cons after few weeks of use:

+ nice display and remote.
+ nice and solid build, very good looking
+ sounds quite transparent
+ Although not advertised as part of the features, the USB input is capable of DSD decoding. (not sure max DSD frequency BTW).
+ headphone out seems not bad, tested with HifiMan Sundara. (Note: quite suprised of bad review of this section).
+ comfortable separate volume settings for speakers and headphones.
+ still completely cold after hours of use
+ cost-wise very effective

- The chi-fi trend of keeping volume value on the display very small continues...
- display does not mention actual sample rate in use, except Bluetooth.
- Bluetooth APT-X fixed at 48Khz (don’t know if this is a limit of the hardware or my iOS device)
- don’t understand the rationale of sharing the coax in and the analogue... weird engineering decision.
- don’t like eq and tone control via NJW chip. The bass and treble are disabled if you select whatever EQ setting that at the end are just tone presets. Curves resemble the classic Baxandall tone control, nothing to do with real DSP processing of other similar devices like SMSL Q5 which I prefer.

my 2 cents,
Alessandro.

 

[boselover61]

From the numbers provided, this amp does have an abysmal Headphone Amplification. Is it possible to purchase a headphone amp and use this as a DAC? I know the DAC performance in this isn't great but it's ok for now until I get something better. I have an AKG K371, would something like Schitt Heresy be a good option to drive those headphone?

 

[Vladetz]

Wonder if smsl sa300 and smsl da-8s (both have the same ship) measure differently
@amirm reviews of these are planned?

 

[ZolaIII]

For that purpose, it is necessary to replace the BT chip.
The BT module used in the A30 is the QCC3008, which is often used in inexpensive Chinese amplifier products. I would like you to use the higher performance CSR8675 for A30 class products.
Loxjie is a group company of SMSL, so I think the A30 is designed by copying the SMSL SA300.

So far they both (SMSL and Loxjie) did they own designs, even to the point of some being rather unusual.
Anyway really positively surprised with performance. For me there are other designs currently available from China which are more interesting involving either old STK Sonyo thin film amplifier or LJM L12 boards.

 

[GimeDsp]

Wonder if smsl sa300 and smsl da-8s (both have the same ship) measure differently
@amirm reviews of these are planned?

I had the smsl sa300 and to me it had way less power and I wasn't happy with the power or the sound, YMMV.

 

[Rja4000]

Hi Amir
Stupid question :
How come THD+N at 5w 4 ohm digital input in the power graph doesn't match the SINAD value in the dashboard ?

 

[Veri]

From the numbers provided, this amp does have an abysmal Headphone Amplification. Is it possible to purchase a headphone amp and use this as a DAC? I know the DAC performance in this isn't great but it's ok for now until I get something better. I have an AKG K371, would something like Schitt Heresy be a good option to drive those headphone?

Heresy is a good option for the 371 for sure, yes. But you can't really use the A30 properly as a DAC, there are no RCA outputs. Using the headphone out isn't a good idea...

 

[PeteL]

Anyway, they advertise 80Wx2(4Ω)@ but the power/distortion graph in their measurements starts to rise rapidly at ~50W...?

And I'm curious, it has bluetooth 5.0 & AptX "only". Is the support for AptX HD "FW upgradeable" or is it rather HW limited?

I'd be surprised if it was firmware upgradable, If they had chosen a bluetooth chip that had the architecture for AptX HD (24 bit) it's pretty much part of the reference design, they would need to purposely disable the option. They likely chose a cheaper chip that is not AptX HD compatible

 

[Juhazi]

Measurements and ponderings about another MERUS amp

http://archimago.blogspot.com/2020/11/measurements-smsl-sa300-infineon-merus.html#more

 

[Robbo99999]

Nice.......but just don't use it as a headphone amplifier then.

 

[Veri]

Measurements and ponderings about another MERUS amp

http://archimago.blogspot.com/2020/11/measurements-smsl-sa300-infineon-merus.html#more

Can someone tell me if either is better than the other? From what I see they're quite similar, right?

 

[Kuppenbender]

Nice.......but just don't use it as a headphone amplifier then.

It looks like the headphone output was there to differentiate itself from the S.M.S.L. SA300. Personally I find the A30 perfect for my use as an outdoor/summerhouse amp driving a pair of (weather ‘resistant’) B&W LM1’s and Chromecast Audio for the price of a bluetooth boombox.

 

[PeteL]

Can someone tell me if either is better than the other? From what I see they're quite similar, right?

went trough quickly, bur he find that the analog in to be a tad better than the digital, and it's the opposite here. Meaning that the smsl could be improved with a better DAC. Just that to me is a win for the SMSL

 

[daftcombo]

As a power amp, it has the same performance as the SMSL AD18 (40 W under 4 ohm), but with lower distortion:

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...w-and-measurements-of-smsl-ad18-dac-amp.7325/

I have an AD18, used every day for movie-watching on a pair of DIY speakers, and I wonder if upgrading to this A30 would be worth it.

The AD18 even has a lot less noise at low volume according to the graphs.

 

[hestejoe]

Could this amp be expected to do good pair of bookshelf speakers such as B&W 606 or KEF Q350 any justice?
It would be a very crazy ratio of the amp to speaker price if yes.

 

[PeteL]

Could this amp be expected to do good pair of bookshelf speakers such as B&W 606 or KEF Q350 any justice?
It would be a very crazy ratio of the amp to speaker price if yes.

From what I read they are both not particularly efficient speakers, but not inneficient neither. How close are you to your bookshelves? This kind of power is suitable for desktop/nearfield setup, very small room, or if you like quiet listening

 

[pjug]

Measurements and ponderings about another MERUS amp

http://archimago.blogspot.com/2020/11/measurements-smsl-sa300-infineon-merus.html#more

Thanks for this. So I guess these amps in fact are running without an output filter, relying on speaker inductance. Without an inductor Arch said he had >10V spikes and a lot of ultrasonic energy spead up to very high frequencies. Does this bother anyone besides me? I wonder what the situation is with real speakers. Can these amps cause interference problems?

Here is the @Archimago snapshot (measured without inductor). Are tweeters safe with this amp?

 

[shellback]

Could this amp be expected to do good pair of bookshelf speakers such as B&W 606 or KEF Q350 any justice?
It would be a very crazy ratio of the amp to speaker price if yes.

I was contemplating the same thing with the Q150's. Trying to find a small desktop amp for my bedroom and was looking at this and Aiyima A07 and their other offerings.

 

[digicidal]

I think I am going to try this with my Focal Aria 948s for a while, and if it works, which I think it probably will, then run it for a few weeks like that... I wonder how much less power it will use than my class A SET 845 tube amp.

At a guess, nearly all of it? (Unless those tubes are filled with fairy-farts and the pins made of cryo-treated unobtanium, then maybe not).

The better question is if, and how much, you notice the difference between the topologies themselves? My ears can barely tell the difference (and they don't care much), but my back can definitely tell the difference (and it couldn't be happier).

Seems like the A30 paired with something cheap (but efficient) would be a great setup to leave in a cabin or vacation home... even if it got stolen... it would be the cheapest possible replacement. Of course, since it also fits in your pocket... not really a problem to chuck in a suitcase either, so meh.