O-Noorus D3 Pro Amplifier Review

[xanalog]

Can't forget the name easily, even if by mistake you end up remembering it as 'O-Neurosis'!

 

[Graham849]

Why not add a bit more money and get an entry level amp from one of the known brands (marantz, yamaha, etc.)? You'll get a much better remote control, many inputs, nice case and might even get a phono and earphone amps.

I have my D0100 and ZA3 connected to TV, Computer, 4k bluray, and Denon CD. I believe this set up outperforms any all in one avr for 25% of the cost in Australian $. Sure the remote is dinky but I don't use it everyday.

 

[Scrivs]

Life’s too short to commit the many O-Noori to memory

 

[Hart]

Why are so many of these new amps choosing to have separate power supples? I assume an off the shelf power supply is pretty cost effective? I think I would prefer to have one larger all-in-one box, the separate power supply just reminds me of a charging vacuum cleaner.

 

[kyuu]

Why are so many of these new amps choosing to have separate power supples?

Presumably because it results in a much smaller box (as long as you can hide away the PSU brick somewhere), and it makes a lot of sense to move the thing responsible for taking in the high-voltage AC and converting it to lower-voltage DC away from the rest of the amplifier's electronics. Also, those external PSUs are simultaneously really cheap and really good at their jobs nowadays (not to say that awful ones don't exist). Oh, and much easier to replace if they go bad.

Still plenty of good options around if you prefer the PSU built in, though.

 

[TurtlePaul]

Why are so many of these new amps choosing to have separate power supples? I assume an off the shelf power supply is pretty cost effective? I think I would prefer to have one larger all-in-one box, the separate power supply just reminds me of a charging vacuum cleaner.

I heard that a lot of these desktop amp makers aim to keep the size and weight below a certain threshold for cheaper international direct-to-consumer shipping costs. A desktop amp and a 48V5A PSU can be shipped for the affordable cost, an AVR formfactor with internal PSU costs too much for international logistics on Aliexpress. The 48V 5A power supplies weight a little over one pound. Despite the implied ratings (48 V x 5A = 240 watts) these seems to usually be good to drive these amps above 300 watts total output.

 

[amirm]

8

Why are so many of these new amps choosing to have separate power supples? I assume an off the shelf power supply is pretty cost effective?

It is. There is an entire industry creating these external power supplies. Importantly, they come with safety and regulatory certifications which is expensive and harder to do when the power supply is internal. It also gives them the option to offer different ones as is the case here.

 

[Hart]

8

It is. There is an entire industry creating these external power supplies. Importantly, they come with safety and regulatory certifications which is expensive and harder to do when the power supply is internal. It also gives them the option to offer different ones as is the case here.

Thanks. Can we assume the power supply is matched to the maximum ability of the amp, or is it possible a larger power supply can provide a more powerful amp?

 

[TurtlePaul]

Thanks. Can we assume the power supply is matched to the maximum ability of the amp, or is it possible a larger power supply can provide a more powerful amp?

It depends on your speaker. At 8 ohms, the amp is limited by the voltage. This comes with a 48V power supply and the chip in this amp (TPA3255) maxes out at 52V, so not much headroom. I would say this power supply is maxed for 8 ohms speakers.

At 4 ohms, this amp was tested to put out 160 watts per channel but I believe that a 48 V 10 amp (increased from 5A) power supply can put out just over 200 watts on the same test. 10 amp power bricks are expensive, have higher idle power draw and are about twice as big. But they are available for a ~25% power boost.

Amir didn’t do the reactive load test, but the high current bricks can push a ton of power into 2 ohms. I don’t know if this amp is stable at 2 ohms. Very few speakers dip to 2 ohms.

 

[Hipocrates]

What a cool little amp, I needed something just like this.

Thanks Amir

 

[EDMoser]

Got a Wiim Amp on sale for $239. It has similar performance, internal power supply, and way more features. This amp might be smaller but that's about the only advantage I can see.

 

[VientoB]

Life’s too short to commit the many O-Noori to memory

It's an O-Norous task.

 

[M.C. Logan]

I think it has a few potential uses and I wasn't even thinking of desktop use, at all. For me, it could work as an additional set up witihn the house. My daughter might like it for her room. It would have been a dream for me when I was a student in a shared house. More than enough power, small and neat either for simple stereo hifi +/- with TV connection and possible gaming etc.

Most people, with normal sized homes and incomes, only have room for 1 hifi setup. Kids today use phones and ear destroying earbuds along with the free version of shitify. Only the wealthy or audio obsessives have/want/need more than one setup, and even then they mostly want the simplicity of "multi room", e.g. Sonos. I think it's too easy on dedicated sites like this to overestimate demand from the mass market.

 

[Svensson]

Most people, with normal sized homes and incomes, only have room for 1 hifi setup. Kids today use phones and ear destroying earbuds along with the free version of shitify. Only the wealthy or audio obsessives have/want/need more than one setup, and even then they mostly want the simplicity of "multi room", e.g. Sonos. I think it's too easy on dedicated sites like this to overestimate demand from the mass market.

I have a front room (main hifi & TV) and a dining room / kitchen (second little set up). My daughters room with small TV, bed, desk chair etc. Our main bedroom, no TV, or music. Perfectly normal in the UK. .

 

[M.C. Logan]

I have a front room (main hifi & TV) and a dining room / kitchen (second little set up). My daughters room with small TV, bed, desk chair etc. Our main bedroom, no TV, or music. Perfectly normal in the UK. .

Most people in the UK don't have separate dining and living rooms, due to the fact that if a dwelling has both they are usually knocked through due to the small size of our rooms, modern homes simply don't have them because they are so small by design, equally most people have, at most, a radio or smart speaker in the kitchen or kitchen/diner.

 

[Svensson]

Most people in the UK don't have separate dining and living rooms, due to the fact that if a dwelling has both they are usually knocked through due to the small size of our rooms, modern homes simply don't have them because they are so small by design, equally most people have, at most, a radio or smart speaker in the kitchen or kitchen/diner.

What point are you making about my use of my kit in my house?

 

[M.C. Logan]

What point are you making about my use of my kit in my house?

The point is that your use case is not common, we were discussing the use cases for this product, which I was proposing are not many, especially within the mass market and outside of niche users such as readers of ASR. So, whilst you may have a valid use case, I would suggest that UK use cases are niche due to a combination of domestic property design/build, both historic and current, wealth, and consumer desire for simplicity in the mass market.

 

[Svensson]

The point is that your use case is not common, we were discussing the use cases for this product, which I was proposing are not many, especially within the mass market and outside of niche users such as readers of ASR. So, whilst you may have a valid use case, I would suggest that UK use cases are niche due to a combination of domestic property design/build, both historic and current, wealth, and consumer desire for simplicity in the mass market.

OK understood.

 

[daniboun]

Read this amigos

NEW BRZHifi PAD-30 : Dual TPA3255 +PFFB @ $99

Hi amigos Just to share I found this new dual TPA3255 + PFFB. The price seems very attractive. Makes me think the 3E Audio A7 BTW. I wish Amir could test it. See attached filed for details Main spec : PFFB Dual TPA3255 (seems to be a one chip per channel) Trigger Pre-out Upgradable Op Amps...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[dankandi]

I have this amp and it is disappointing imho. I mentioned in my threads https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...im-amp-ultra-upgrade-over-yamaha-as701.68018/

The AKM DAC implementation sounded very dark, congested, with noticeably smaller soundstage than AS701 and Wiim Amp Ultra

It runs hot, i like to think because it has a heatsink plate attached to the PCB and contacting the external aluminium shell, it is doing a job extracting heat from the amplifier mosfet tpa chip outwards?

The HDMI does not auto switch, does not auto power on, does not auto detect correctly. It is a very poor implementation, detection rate is not 100% even with manual controls, it will not be updated or patched. You will be left disappointed thinking to use with TV after spending US$240. I like to forgive them because they are small setup but @Alexander Lin, if only you can release a patch to make HDMI auto power on with TV CEC, D3 Pro will infinitely be more useful.