Loxjie A30 Amplifier Review

[antcollinet]

DDCs can correct the timings from a noisy source, namely a PC with lots of other electronics nearby. Whether the improvement is audible is another debate:

Any competently designed dac (including the low cost ones reviewed here) do their own digital retiming. Jitter/timing effects on the inputs of dacs was a solved problem decades ago at least in terms of audibility. You can of course pay $1000 for a gadget that makes jitter artifacts "even more" inaudible, if you're looking for a way to burn money.

The main benefit of a DDC is reduction (or elmination if you use optical to the dac) of ground loop/noise problems, where you don't have an optical out from your source. But then only if you have ground loop/noise problems.

 

[HT51]

New to the forum and not much experience with audio gear. Thought it would be useful have technical data and user comments to guide future purchases.
These small form factor amps, along with small bookshelf speakers could be an improvement over a soundbar for a bedroom 250 sq ft.
Not interested in home theater. Have an older Sony bluray player that will be used for playing CD's and DVD's. New 1080p tv. QAcoustics 3010 speakers.
Connection-wise, I believe it would be player > tv (HDMI), tv > amp (Optical).
Also considering a budget traditional stereo receiver (Sony, Yamaha) which are priced about the same as Loxjie 30 or Aiyima D03/05, although
may need to figure in a better power supply.
I realize the speakers play a major part in sound character. However, with the stereo receivers not having a digital input (optical or coax), would there be much of a difference compared to the chip speaker amps? Thanks for comments/advice.

 

[aktiondan]

For me it was the form factor. Yes, a stereo receiver can probably do everything an A30/D03 can, maybe better. But it's also a massive 20 lb., 17" wide, 15" deep full-blown stereo that you have to find a spot for in your system somewhere. Maybe your system is just a TV and speakers, which means you may not even have a good spot for a full-size receiver. Performance-wise I think these are on par with your basic receiver at ~1/10th the size. There's something to be said about that for sure. So form factor I think is a big reason to go with one of these all-in-one integrated solutions. And they sound great and measure great on top of everything else, so you're not really giving up anything.

I've actually got a Denon AVR that I was looking add BT to, and once I had exhausted my research for a suitable BT receiver, I was about to spend $100 for just that one piece of gear, which would then need to sit on top of my massive AVR. That's when the A30 caught my eye, BT built-in, plus it did everything the Denon did at a fraction of size and only a few dollars more. It's almost a little unexpected, that this little box can do so much and sound so good. Like you expect that out of a big ole' stereo, not something as small as this. Plus it's got a remote, a cool display (which you can change the colors), 1/4" headphone jack, and despite some boohooing tone controls, I actually really like the ability to make such adjustments. Anyway, my 2 cents. But to answer your question, not knowing what soundbar you have, I would venture any amp and those QAcoustics are going to sound much better.

 

[HT51]

We wanted to avoid the clutter of stereo gear in the bedroom which led to researching soundbars. As much as I wanted one to work, I found myself rowing against the current. With a cd collection to revisit, we wanted better than just an improvement over onboard tv speakers. Hats off to forum advisors @ AVS and AV, in particular, for helping me to appreciate the separates alternative. I dropped the soundbar quest.

I wasn't aware of the small form Class D amps until very recently. No doubt that the A30 is working for you! I like your enthusiastic vote of confidence for these all-in-one integrated amps with DAC.

From what I've read, many of the Class D amps are quite accurate, but also can be tiring to listen to. I suppose quality of materials and how well
it's all put together play a role. The chips selected by the amp maker also may impact sound character. However, I don't know whether, or how much "tuning" is possible. My preference is for a little bit of coloration or warmth. I would appreciate learning how you and others would rate reliability and sound character of the A30 and similar integrated amps with DAC in the $200 range.

The QA 3010's are 6 ohm/86dB. Recommended power 15-75w. Volume level for us is low-moderate.

Thank you.

 

[chunky_lafunga]

Has anyone noticed a bit of a flicker on the display of their A30? This happened from day 1 of getting my unit.

I sent this to Loxjie;

"I notice there is flickering on the LCD screen. For example when Optical is selected, the 'c' part of the word Optical has a regular flicker every 15-20 seconds. Is there a problem with my LCD screen?

Their response;

"Hello, it is normal, this is a state of refreshing."

Not sure what their response means. Anyone else noticed this? I can replicate it by putting input to 'Optical', and while watching the display the 'C' tends to flicker every 10-20s.

 

[aktiondan]

Mine does this too, also the letter C in Optical. Not the whole letter though, just a vertical band of pixels. Thought my eyes were bugging out on me at first. Shot some super slo-mo video to capture it and it's real. Not sure what to make of it though. Never really bothered me and I'm not super worried about it. I saw the one Amazon review where the guy said his display died completely after a year. So maybe it's just the beginning of the end? Or maybe it's nothing. Not sure how to really gauge this kind of thing. I guess time will tell.

 

[chunky_lafunga]

Mine does this too, also the letter C in Optical. Not the whole letter though, just a vertical band of pixels. Thought my eyes were bugging out on me at first. Shot some super slo-mo video to capture it and it's real. Not sure what to make of it though. Never really bothered me and I'm not super worried about it. I saw the one Amazon review where the guy said his display died completely after a year. So maybe it's just the beginning of the end? Or maybe it's nothing. Not sure how to really gauge this kind of thing. I guess time will tell.

Thanks for confirming. I do wonder what it is.

 

[David James]

I ran into a very troubling issue with my A30 yesterday:

I received a brand new A30 and connected it to my laptop via USB.

I decided to play Spotify on my laptop through connected headphones, to 'break them in' (at 30 volume) and walked away from my computer into living room. After about 20-30 mins, I could hear a very high pitch whine - I couldn't figure out what it was, thought it was my washing machine cycle filling up with water (it makes a similar sound when you can hear it from the living room).

After a while I got up as the sound was continuing. Walked into my study where my laptop is and lo and behold, my headphones were blasting this terrible white/brown noise (and at 30 volume)! I immediately switched output to speaker and the same noise was being output through my speakers. I quickly closed Spotify wondering what the hell that noise was! Surely I thought it would have damaged my headphones - it was that loud and that bad.

I went straight to Youtube (on the laptop, with headphones still connected to A3o) to test of the issue was the source - and the terrible sound continued even on Youtube.

Next I cycled through the different inputs (Optical, BT, AUX etc) until I got back to USB. played music again and now it was perfectly fine and back to normal.

Has anyone experienced this? This is EXTREMELY shocking to me. If I had those headphones on my ears, I no doubt would have busted my eardrums - the sound was that intense and piercing that I could hear it 30ft away in my living room. I messaged Loxjie on AliExp and he said this:

"Hello, we have received your feedback that white noise may be caused by:
1. It may be a device compatibility problem, just restart
2. Because the bit rate of the played song is too high, it exceeds the decoding capacity of A30. Don't play songs over 384khz."

But the thing is, I was playing through Spotify with audio quality set to 'Very High", which I understand is only 320kbps. Or am I not understanding correctly? How many khz does 320kbps convert to? Sorry for the dumb questions. Just very annoyed at what just happened.

@kniff @ctakim I read through this thread and noticed you both had somewhat similar issues. Did you ever figure out the problem?

I had a similar problem. Only on my Windows machine and only through certain connections. Might have been aux only. Mac didn't have the issue and I don't have the issue if I use an audio interface and route to the amp aux. I deleted the review because I attributed it to issues with the computer that I didn't pick up on at first and figured my experience was irrelevant.
Perhaps not so irrelevant after all.

 

[haloeight]

Having an issue with the volume knob not working on the A30. I'm very happy with it overall, but every now and then then volume knob no longer works. Sometimes unplugging it restores function but would appreciate any help on whether this is a known issue, resolvable or RMA situation. Thanks.

 

[scannypack]

Mine does this too, also the letter C in Optical. Not the whole letter though, just a vertical band of pixels. Thought my eyes were bugging out on me at first. Shot some super slo-mo video to capture it and it's real. Not sure what to make of it though. Never really bothered me and I'm not super worried about it. I saw the one Amazon review where the guy said his display died completely after a year. So maybe it's just the beginning of the end? Or maybe it's nothing. Not sure how to really gauge this kind of thing. I guess time will tell.

My Loxjie D30 DAC does this (3/4 of a year old). I never thought much of it. I figured it was fluctuating wall voltage? Weird. It sounds amazing tho. No issues with sound. Thanks for sharing.

I've had my A30 for 1 week. I have not noticed the display fluctuating so far. No issues yet with the A30. Loving it!

 

[scannypack]

I bought a Loxjie A30 one week ago based on Amir's review. Only $185 on Amazon (US). I'm using it on my desktop with vintage KEF Q15.2 speakers. It sounds awesome! Thank you Amir.

Question on amplifier wattage: is this amplifier really outputting 80 wpc at 4 ohms / 40 wpc at 8 ohms? That seems excessive. My KEFs are rated at 8 ohms and 91 dB sensitivity at 1 meter; that's with 1 watt of power, right? My ears are about 2.5 feet from the speakers. I have to turn the A30 up to about 40-45 (out of 60) before my speakers get really truly loud. 30 is fairly loud but still comfortable; I still doubt 30 is producing 1 watt / 91 dB out of my KEFs. I'm mostly listening at in the 12-25 range, because this is a work/office setup and I'm trying to usually not focus on music. So, I have no problem at all. I'm just wondering if I crank the A30 up, are my KEFs really receiving close to 40 watts with this amp? i.e. at about 15 on the knob, the speakers are pretty quiet, and based on the 91 dB at 1 meter sensitivity, I think I'm generally drawing less than 1 watt of power most of the day. I do not have a dB meter. I suppose that would help.

Office is a tiny cube of a room with 7.5 foot ceilings. Kind of an audio nightmare, but I'm making it work as best I can (photo attached).

 

[haloeight]

Having an issue with the volume knob not working on the A30. I'm very happy with it overall, but every now and then then volume knob no longer works. Sometimes unplugging it restores function but would appreciate any help on whether this is a known issue, resolvable or RMA situation. Thanks.

I tried emailing Loxjie support from their company webpage with the only email listed but have not received a response. Does anyone have a support contact address for Loxjie?

 

[syvmn]

Is the A30 a good choice for a record player amp paired with DIY Tritrix Speakers? I asked in a different thread for suggestions for a record player amp that also has bluetooth to play silly kid songs for my two young monsters. Amir said something about the analogue not being as good as the digital. I'm not quite sure what that means. Does that mean my vinyl will not sound as good as silly kid songs?

 

[decees]

Hi, I ordered this amplifier and while waiting for the delivery, I read the thread and the topic of the weak power supply appears. What do you propose to buy from power supplies available, for example, on amazon?

Ok, after a short search, I'll try with Nobsound DC 24 V 6 A Audio Power Adapter Power Supply

 

[Overseas]

Got my toy today, impressive. For starters, I hooked it to Australe EZ, absolutely decent and the EQ settings really make a difference. Looks like A30 does not pretend to do what cannot, but does well what it pretends. Somehow very nice and sweet sound. They will end up amplifying a pair of Wf 9. 1 anyway.

Looking forward for a killer big amp from Shenzen, a tool to compete with the big dogs in terms of exquisite sound. Am I looking in the wrong direction?

 

[mvnchies]

Hi, I ordered this amplifier and while waiting for the delivery, I read the thread and the topic of the weak power supply appears. What do you propose to buy from power supplies available, for example, on amazon?

Ok, after a short search, I'll try with Nobsound DC 24 V 6 A Audio Power Adapter Power Supply

hello! any updates to this? I'm not sure what one could expect from an upgraded power supply other than more headroom if it gives more power, to be honest. but curious nonetheless

 

[decees]

hello! any updates to this? I'm not sure what one could expect from an upgraded power supply other than more headroom if it gives more power, to be honest. but curious nonetheless

Hello there , I did not feel any benefits when replacing the power supply, but probably because the amplifier was connected to small Sony satellites + subwoofer. This purchase was dictated by the opinion on amazon that can be found and the man took measurements there and it turned out that the parameters of the attached power supply differ significantly from the description ...

 

[mvnchies]

Hello there , I did not feel any benefits when replacing the power supply, but probably because the amplifier was connected to small Sony satellites + subwoofer. This purchase was dictated by the opinion on amazon that can be found and the man took measurements there and it turned out that the parameters of the attached power supply differ significantly from the description ...

I see - maybe it's good enough stock, but strange that it would be wrong specs. maybe within tolerance range?

thank you for the answer!

 

[fabricionaweb]

I have one HD599, which I dont think to replace too soon since I really enjoy it, and I kinda know its easy to drive (50ohms and 100dB/mW).
Having said that, my plan is to get some passive speakers (2.1) and if is possible I'd live to have just a single unit for all.

At first glance I looked to SMSL AD18 and Topping MX3 but Its impossible to find Topping MX3 and looks like AD18 isnt much good (right?).

Now my simple question: Does the Loxjie A30 will drive the HD599 in the headphone output well? Worth it or should I forget about have single unit.

 

[jdg78]

It's that currently on the Loxjie A30 some of the posters above have seen that the USB input bypasses the ESS Sabre DAC and instead relies on the Realtek DAC which is currently a mystery.

Are you familiar with the XMOS USB chip? that's what's being used in the Douk Audio USB > Toslink converter. The idea here is that converter would help pass the data to the ESS chip in the Loxjie - it is very specific to this usecase. I really don't love the idea of doing it all but am looking into it.

In case anyone is interested, I recently tried this exact setup (Computer USB output routed through a USB-Toslink converter (Douk Audio U2) then connected to Loxjie A30 via Optical input) and found the sound to be noticeably improved in comparison to connecting to the Loxjie directly via it's USB input.

For context, I bought the Loxjie A30 about a month ago intending use it for 2 purposes: 1) As part of a desktop system connected directly to my Mac via USB, and 2) As part of multi-room system connected directly to a standalone music streamer via digital input (coaxial).

I immediately noticed that audio files played through my Mac via USB had a slightly lower volume output than identical files played through the streamer, which I assumed had something to do with the output levels of each device. But even when I adjusted the volume to compensate, I noticed that the sound played through the USB connection was noticeably less clear and dynamic than the digital connection, and couldn't figure out why.

More out of curiosity than anything, I decided to see if I could find some way to convert the USB signal to optical or coaxial in order to connect to a different input on the Loxjie. I honestly wasn't expecting much difference if any, but after converting the input signal, the difference was immediately apparent - much fuller and clearer. Like not subtle.

In addition, I noticed that when connected via the USB input, the display merely says "connected" but when routed through the optical converter it displays the actual output signal (44.1KHz, etc.)

I can only conclude that the device is set up in such a way that the signal received via USB input is processed differently than the other inputs. Why they would do it that way I have no idea, but I don't know how else to explain it.

Overall, I still think it's a great sounding little unit and don't regret buying it, but just be aware that if you are considering this device and planning to use the USB connection as your primary input, you may be disappointed unless you're willing to shell out some extra $$ for a USB/Toslink converter.