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Premium Audio Mini GaN 5 Review (Stereo Amplifier)
- Thread starter amirm
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My generic industrial SMPS units also have (functional!) mains input voltage selectors, but my SMPS-powered 2nd Wave Kali IN-8 monitors don't. There are apparently a multitude of both breeds available.
On its way here.
@amirm , which one you think is better? Interestingly enough, beheaded panther vs. recommended component.
View attachment 157281
View attachment 157282
to be fair this amplifer is 7 times more expensive than the Topping Amplifier. for it to be recommended it has to contend at its price tag.
SaltyCDogg
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Volkswagen were taken to task for publishing unachievable MPG figures for their vehicles. Specially tricked out models on perfectly smooth test tracks with all the vents taped up.
Perhaps if you taped up all the vents on this it would perform better? Or catch fire... Either way
Perhaps if you taped up all the vents on this it would perform better? Or catch fire... Either way
daniboun
Major Contributor
First of all thank you Amir for this very informative review.
Would like to share what have been reported by the manufacturer about the shared Graph.
I think that says a lot about the good attentions of the manufacturer ... I must admit that for an American product, I do not know what to think about it anymore ....
"Hi,
This graph was from a discussion I was having with someone and it was regarding the amps headroom. This little amp puts out lots of power and lots of very clean headroom. Some of the components of the amp are not made to handle this king of power for long periods so it is rated at 200W RMS per channel into 8 ohms.
Tom"
At the same time I share all the answers given by the manufacturer and I quote about the Heatsinks :
ClassDaudio :
"Yes, I already addressed this in the last email. We have been working on this amp for over two years. We did use to have the heatsink over the GaN FETs and using thermal compound and also thermal pads. What we found kind of by accident is the amp actually ran a little cooler having the heatsink raised above the FETs like it is and drawing a little heat away from the PCB. The GaN FETs can run at over the rated power without a heatsink, but taking some of the heat from the PCB does help with cooling. This is not a design problem or error."
So you can compare VS again the one from Premium Audio :
"The inductors were changed because as most know, there is a world-wide chip and parts shortage. The original coils we used were back ordered for months. These toroids have the exact same performance as the others we used. We did just got a few thousand pieces in (that were ordered for months). The toroids actually run a little cooler and performance is exactly the same. As for the as you called it flying heatsinks, we originally had them mounted on the FETs with thermal pads and other, but found the amp actually runs a little cooler like this. The heatsink raised like this draws some heat from the PCB and the FETs can run at rated power without heatsink. "
Would like to share what have been reported by the manufacturer about the shared Graph.
I think that says a lot about the good attentions of the manufacturer ... I must admit that for an American product, I do not know what to think about it anymore ....
"Hi,
This graph was from a discussion I was having with someone and it was regarding the amps headroom. This little amp puts out lots of power and lots of very clean headroom. Some of the components of the amp are not made to handle this king of power for long periods so it is rated at 200W RMS per channel into 8 ohms.
Tom"
At the same time I share all the answers given by the manufacturer and I quote about the Heatsinks :
ClassDaudio :
"Yes, I already addressed this in the last email. We have been working on this amp for over two years. We did use to have the heatsink over the GaN FETs and using thermal compound and also thermal pads. What we found kind of by accident is the amp actually ran a little cooler having the heatsink raised above the FETs like it is and drawing a little heat away from the PCB. The GaN FETs can run at over the rated power without a heatsink, but taking some of the heat from the PCB does help with cooling. This is not a design problem or error."
So you can compare VS again the one from Premium Audio :
"The inductors were changed because as most know, there is a world-wide chip and parts shortage. The original coils we used were back ordered for months. These toroids have the exact same performance as the others we used. We did just got a few thousand pieces in (that were ordered for months). The toroids actually run a little cooler and performance is exactly the same. As for the as you called it flying heatsinks, we originally had them mounted on the FETs with thermal pads and other, but found the amp actually runs a little cooler like this. The heatsink raised like this draws some heat from the PCB and the FETs can run at rated power without heatsink. "
Last edited:
Vladimir Filevski
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Frankly, I do not care about price. There are $30K products worse than other $1K products. All I care about are parameters, reliability, built quality, not the price. Price tells almost nothing.
daniboun
Major Contributor
Should be nice to get the ASR review for the Sabaj A20a by the way ) Amir, it is up to you )))
Here is the correct equivalent measurement for the topping - better than the MiniGan above about 1/10th of a watt. About the same below that level:@amirm , which one you think is better? Interestingly enough, beheaded panther vs. recommended component
View attachment 157281
View attachment 157282
Last edited:
Vladimir Filevski
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I bought this and sent it to Amir because the 'floating heatsink' thread was getting so silly I felt it was worth my dollars to just inject some facts: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...by-premium-audio-pictures-video-inside.26698/
If it came anywhere close to spec I'd be delighted to keep it, but as it is so poor I'm returning it. Any sensible nCore or TPA3255 implementation beats it in every parameter at lower cost.
If it came anywhere close to spec I'd be delighted to keep it, but as it is so poor I'm returning it. Any sensible nCore or TPA3255 implementation beats it in every parameter at lower cost.
price is everything because it tells you whether you can have the product or not. Why should you or anyone care about the reliability, and build quality of a product that you will never get to own?
not all of us are reviewers getting stuff for free.
Edit: If a reviewer doesn't include the price in a review as parameter then they're entertainers not reviewers.
thats some r word logic
This is such bullshit. Floating heatsinks? Hilarious.First of all thank you Amir for this very informative review.
Would like to share what have been reported by the manufacturer about the shared Graph.
I think that says a lot about the good attentions of the manufacturer ... I must admit that for an American product, I do not know what to think about it anymore ....
"Hi,
This graph was from a discussion I was having with someone and it was regarding the amps headroom. This little amp puts out lots of power and lots of very clean headroom. Some of the components of the amp are not made to handle this king of power for long periods so it is rated at 200W RMS per channel into 8 ohms.
Tom"
At the same time I share all the answers given by the manufacturer and I quote about the Heatsinks :
ClassDaudio :
"Yes, I already addressed this in the last email. We have been working on this amp for over two years. We did use to have the heatsink over the GaN FETs and using thermal compound and also thermal pads. What we found kind of by accident is the amp actually ran a little cooler having the heatsink raised above the FETs like it is and drawing a little heat away from the PCB. The GaN FETs can run at over the rated power without a heatsink, but taking some of the heat from the PCB does help with cooling. This is not a design problem or error."
So you can compare VS again the one from Premium Audio :
"The inductors were changed because as most know, there is a world-wide chip and parts shortage. The original coils we used were back ordered for months. These toroids have the exact same performance as the others we used. We did just got a few thousand pieces in (that were ordered for months). The toroids actually run a little cooler and performance is exactly the same. As for the as you called it flying heatsinks, we originally had them mounted on the FETs with thermal pads and other, but found the amp actually runs a little cooler like this. The heatsink raised like this draws some heat from the PCB and the FETs can run at rated power without heatsink. "
Also this amp doesn't even reach 200W.
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