O-Noorus D3 Pro Amplifier Review

[Ajax]

Thanks for the review Amir, a nice little amp, however, for another US$300 you can get a Wiim Amp Ultra, with built in streamer, tuner, better SINAD (100 vs 88db), Room Fit and PEQ plus a very useful App that supports Spotify and Tidal connect etc. I purchased one a few months ago and I'm a very happy camper. The term "game changer" has been bandied about the past few years but I really believe it's appropriate in the case of the Wiim, especially for the average music lover.

I appreciate this unit is very cheap and delivers competent performance but in a world where "name hifi" still rules in the magazines for many $ thousands, $530 is a certifiable bargain.

WiiM Amp Ultra Streaming Amplifier Review

This is a review and detailed measurements of the WiiM Amp Ultra stereo streaming amplifier. It was sent to me by the company and costs US $529. I was surprised how heavy and solid feeling the Ultra is for its size. I upgraded its firmware which went smoothly and rather fast. I was pleasantly...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[delta76]

Thanks for the review Amir, a nice little amp, however, for another US$300 you can get a Wiim Amp Ultra, with buit in streamer, tuner, better SINAD (100 vs 88db), Room Fit and PEQ plus a very useful App that supports Spotify and Tidal connect etc. I purchased one a few months ago and I'm a very happy camper. The term "game changer" has been bandied about the past few years but I really believe it's appropriate in the case of the Wiim, especially for the average music lover.

I appreciate this unit is very cheap and delivers competent performance but in a world where "name hifi" still rules in the magazines for many $ thousands, $530 is a certifiable bargain.

WiiM Amp Ultra Streaming Amplifier Review

This is a review and detailed measurements of the WiiM Amp Ultra stereo streaming amplifier. It was sent to me by the company and costs US $529. I was surprised how heavy and solid feeling the Ultra is for its size. I upgraded its firmware which went smoothly and rather fast. I was pleasantly...

www.audiosciencereview.com

the people who are looking at this would be very cost-conscious. "just $300 more" makes it more than double the price.
Wiim Amp Ultra is a better overall product, I agree, but a hard pass over this.

 

[VientoB]

Gets points for the orange/red display. The best display colour.

 

[Ajax]

the people who are looking at this would be very cost-conscious. "just $300 more" makes it more than double the price.
Wiim Amp Ultra is a better overall product, I agree, but a hard pass over this.

Yeah, your point is well made, I'm sure there are many students, and young families with mortgages, where $300 is not easy to find. It is why I referenced my comments against the HIFI jewlery that appears in magazines. Have a look at these eye watering numbers from Sterophile's recommended power amplifiers for 2025, absolutely ridiculous when you can purchase high power SOTA amps with modules from the likes of Hypex and Purifi for between $1k - $2k.

Recommended Components 2025 Edition Power Amplifiers | Stereophile.com

Power Amplifiers: A (SOLID STATE):

www.stereophile.com

However, I will say that my first HIFI system that I purchased while a student cost a lot more than $500 in today's $.

If you are a music lover and listen at reasonable volumes (say max 85db with 95db peaks), then the Wiim Amp Ultra is a bargain. For those with little funds and want quality HIFI I suggest you go without a few niceties for a couple of months as it deserves to be on your review list.

 

[delta76]

Yeah, your point is well made, I'm sure there are many students, and young families with mortgages, where $300 is not easy to find. It is why I referenced my comments against the HIFI jewlery that appears in magazines. Have a look at these eye watering numbers from Sterophile's recommended power amplifiers for 2025, absolutely ridiculous when you can purchase high power SOTA amps with modules from the likes of Hypex and Purifi for between $1k - $2k.

Recommended Components 2025 Edition Power Amplifiers | Stereophile.com

Power Amplifiers: A (SOLID STATE):

www.stereophile.com

However, I will say that my first HIFI system that I purchased while a student cost a lot more than $500 in today's $.

If you are a music lover, and listen at reasonable volumes (say max 85db with 95db peaks), then the Wiim Amp Ultra is a bargain. For those with little funds and want quality HIFI I suggest you go without a few niceties for a couple of months as it deserves to be on your review list.

that is a completely different world where people have and can throw money at the most absurd things because they believe they sound better.
and those will not even look at WiiM because, apparently, it's not musical enough!

 

[Power Pop 23]

However, I will say that my first HIFI system that I purchased while a student cost a lot more than $500 in today's $.

I cringe a little when I think of how much I spent in the past on HiFi in today's $ and how much that can buy now.

If you are a music lover, and listen at reasonable volumes (say max 85db with 95db peaks), then the Wiim Amp Ultra is a bargain. For those with little funds and want quality HIFI I suggest you go without a few niceties for a couple of months as it deserves to be on your review list.

Agreed.

I view the 'biggest competition' to a WiiM Amp Ultra as being any lower-priced WiiM streamer - if it meets the needs.

 

[Billy Budapest]

Dominant 3rd harmonic combined with low-ish SINAD won't sound nice at all.

Look at the level of the harmonics. -96dB for the third harmonic. Others are around -110dB. There is no way you can hear them. I am always more concerned about noise—which can be audible—than distortion.

 

[Billy Budapest]

Interesting and attractive display and plentiful connectivity gave me high hopes. Slightly disappointing measured performance dragged my rating down to “fine.”

 

[dguillor]

Amir says the amp got toasty during testing. If I was interested in this amp, I would scour the internet for more information on its thermal properties. Heat reduces life of electronics.

 

[Cote Dazur]

Interesting little amp.
Another nice "swiss knife" for desktop use., thanks for the review!

This amp is in no way limited to “desktop” use. It has plenty of clean power to supply most full range speaker in any typical size room.

 

[GWolfman]

I voted fine. The connectivity/features gave it the extra bump though, as performance is “meh” for me.

Thanks @amirm!

 

[HalSF]

Interesting little amp.
Another nice "swiss knife" for desktop use., thanks for the review!

As @Cote Dazur says above, I feel like at some point we’ll need to reconsider automatically slotting these amps into the “desktop” or “small bedroom” category. People seem to finally be dropping these diminutives with WiiM’s best components.

As a sort of punk-ass ASR fanboy move I’m currently using a $149 Fosi ZA3 to drive my main system, and still not finding any compelling reason to “upgrade.”

 

[bearberry]

You reminded me in the Topping thread. Saw the box and realized it had been sitting here a few months so tested it....

Nice to see an O-Noorus review.
Any chance the D4 Pro is available for test? Appealing for adjustable high and low pass filters.
O-Noorus D4 Pro

 

[capslock]

Mixed bag.
+ Plenty of power
0 Decent harmonics at 1 kHz (-95 dB 3rd is certainly not best in class, but there are worse offenders)
- Very poor two-tone IMD at 10 bits (I believe this is the worst 3255 with PFFB we have seen so far, and there are non-PFFB implementations such as the original Aiyima A07 and the Wiim Amp that are a lot better)
- Very poor multi-tone IMD (the rise in the grass starts at 1 kHz, where other poorish implementations start at 3 kHz, and reaches -80 dB at 20 kHz where other poorish implementations are at -90 dB)

Conversely, 15 kHz THD+N is maybe a little odd in shape but not bad overall. Not sure how this can be explained?

 

[capslock]

??? You can implement analog volume control using a pot and a buffer (IC or transistor). This can't be controlled using a remote unless you make it either motorized, or us a volume control IC. The former costs more money. The latter costs you SNR and distortion.

Depends. If the same NJM is used here as in the other O-Nooruses, it is probably true but would not seem limiting with this kind of amp performance. Some of the newer PGA chips, for example, are good for >100 dB SINAD and <-120 dB harmonics if you pay careful attention to load impedance. I just can't remember where I have seen measurements.

 

[Satori]

Thanks Amir

 

[Guddu]

This is a review and detailed measurements of the O-Noorus D3 Pro stereo class D desktop amplifier. It was sent to me by the company and costs US $249 with the included 48 volt@5 amp power supply.
View attachment 502538
As you see, the D3 Pro has a colorful display. I like the large volume indicator whose color and brightness you can change. A remote control is provided which necessitates a digitally controlled analog volume control (this can have a hit on performance):
View attachment 502539
Connectivity is extensive for this class supporting a number of different inputs including HDMI ARC. The speaker terminals are pretty close together and small. While they fit my locking banana plugs, it was a tight fit.

Back to remote, there is supposed to be a mode to turn off the volume control but I could not figure out how to get into that with either the remote or front panel. So for all the testing, the volume adjustment was in the loop.

PFFB is implemented which should lower or eliminate load dependency.

Maybe due to inclusion of all of this functionality, the amp runs warm even when sitting idle. While it didn't burn my hand, at the end of the testing, the case was toasty.

O-Noorus D3 Pro Amplifier Measurement
I adjusted the volume control to 74 which gave me 25 dB of gain. RCA input and digital Coax produced identical results indicating the amp is the limitation:
View attachment 502540

This is very respectable performance:
View attachment 502541
View attachment 502542

As is noise:
View attachment 502543

PFFB implementation is good but not perfect:
View attachment 502544

Crosstalk though, is near perfect:
View attachment 502545

Multitone and 19+20 KHz intermodulation tests both show the weakness of this class with rising distortion at higher frequencies:
View attachment 502546
View attachment 502547

The amp is pretty powerful for its size:
View attachment 502548
View attachment 502549
View attachment 502550
View attachment 502551

Since the amp runs pretty warm as is, I didn't want to push it at 2 ohm in stereo. But did test one channel:
View attachment 502553

We see much rising distortion at higher frequencies yet again in our multiple sweeps:
View attachment 502552

The amp is rather noisy on power up:
View attachment 502554

But stable:
View attachment 502555

Conclusions
Boy, we sure have so many offerings in this IC based class-D desktop amplifier. Nice to see competent implementations such as this D3 Pro. Compare to much of its competition, it wins on comprehensive set of inputs and remote control. Measured performance is very good for class but for the price, I wish the PFFB was better.

I am going to recommend the O-Noorus D3 Pro stereo integrated amplifier.
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Thank you @amirm

Just to add, A-F & D-F modes disable tone/volume adjustments.

Did you also test with digital inputs? If yes then was it the performance same as RCA since you haven't added the information.
P.E. Context: Is performance using digital inputs worse!

 

[phoenixdogfan]

Having all those inputs (HDMI Arc, Coax, Optical, USB, and Analog) along with a sub output and remote, makes the less than edge of the art numbers easier to accept, especially considering how powerful it is. Just add ASCI F6b speakers, and use your smart tv as your player for Netflix, Tidal, Qobuz, Prime, Apple, and have a complete high quality system for $1100. Later add a sub to make it full range.

As always, thanks for your great review, Amir.

 

[M.C. Logan]

It is crazy that this amp today is "mid tier". In most use case scenarios, this device is "fit, forget, use and enjoy".
The competition standard has however become incredible.

What exactly are the use cases?
ARC has no use on a desktop, where a monitor, not a TV, is in use. It's not much use for a main hi-fi (where it might get used of the ARC for those not interested in multichannel) due to minimal analogue inputs, which are equally pointless on the desktop. I simply do not get these type of devices. Active speakers are less cluttered for a desktop and WiiM/Sonos etc. more functional for entry level hifi.

 

[Guddu]

This seems to have either analog input OR preamp (DAC+volume, I suppose) output.
So I wonder how it would perform just as DAC/Preamp or just as analog amplifier.

Doesn't have a DAC pre-out.

What exactly are the use cases?

Feature set is wide which could make many use cases if you want to, it doesn't have to be a desktop device only.
Just to name one, pair it with decent bookshelf/floorstands and a subwoofer on a ARC connected TV for a more than decent soundbar replacement.