SCIBER AMPLOI Amplifier Review

[Tovarich007]

I compared AMPLOI to Yamaha A-S2100 in real case of listening. And AMPLOI "Miles Ahead"...


Subj has 60+RMS Watts. And it has no problems to drive, for example Raidho TD 3.8.

Pardon my skepticism. And let's keep the great Miles Davis away from this topic.

 

[shuppatsu]

Hi All! Thanks for your comments and attention!

I appreciate you talking to us, especially on a thread with so much criticism, much of which is completely beyond your control.

This 64 w is enough to use in typical east european flats. For big houses it is recommended to bridge amps to get 220w.

My amp only makes 61W@8ohm and it's more than enough for my space. Then again it was $240 and also includes a DAC, streamer, PEQ, room correction, etc. The issue is that we expect $5,000 amps to do more. I appreciate that some of this was out of your control, such as sanctions, but that's the whole point of sanctions. If we are apolitical we shouldn't really care why sanctions make the product more expensive, it's just a fact that the amp is not price-competitive and should not be purchased for that reason. So really, the only reason to buy the amp is if we *are* political, and we want to support the actions that created the sanctions.

Unless, of course, the amp performs extraordinarily well. To that end:

I compared AMPLOI to Yamaha A-S2100 in real case of listening. And AMPLOI "Miles Ahead"...

Most of us here (including me) believe that amplifier performance is completely measurable, and that we know what to measure. Many of us (including me) also believe that the bar for transparency in amps is easily achievable. Your amp achieves this within the constraints of its power envelope, but then so do many, many amps costing 10-30x less.

We are generally very skeptical of listening tests, unless very strict methods are used to ensure that the devices are volume matched and that the comparisons are performed blind. Even in those cases we're skeptical of "night and day" differences, because it doesn't comport with our understanding, proper testing is hard to get right, and there are incentives to fudge the data.

So, do you think Amir's measurements are correct? Do you see anything in those measurements that is not done for far less in the Topping B200 or Benchmark AHB2, not to mention the top-performing Class D modules? Is there anything that Amir doesn't measure that you think contributes to sound quality? What was your method for comparing against the Yamaha? Was it completely blind, statistically valid, and repeatable?

I think we can agree that Miles Ahead would sound fabulous on your amp (and the Yamaha)!

 

[Tovarich007]

Well, the sound of this legendary jazz recording isn't fabulous, definitely not the best in that period of time, but just rather good (on any good amp and speaker) but the music's fantastic, and that's matters most for me

 

[shuppatsu]

Well, the sound of this legendary jazz recording isn't fabulous, definitely not the best in that period of time, but just rather good (on any good amp and speaker) but the music's fantastic, and that's matters most for me

I think it has a place in the audiophile's quiver, as an arguably non-classical album that has a track (Blues for Pablo) mastered at -25dB RMS, with several 0dBFS hits. That certainly requires a lot of headroom!

 

[RalphB]

Thank you comrade for helping me decide on an amp. I'm going with the Benchmark AHB2. Much better value and support.

 

[capslock]

The amplifier has a fifth-order correction and other unique solutions. There are not bare chips.

Can you please clarify: is this a composite amp, i.e. an extra gain stage in the loop or did you do something like an even more elaborate two-pole compensation on the bare 3886 loop?

 

[sceptical1]

Very strange and unexpected review .

Yes, why lift the vail of obscurity. So much more to dedicate the forum's efforts to, you would think?

 

[amirm]

Stunned to see the highest ranking -golfing panther- without any reserve.

I gave this amp a golfing panther as well:

This is what AMPLOI achieved:

This is an extremely well executed design within its envelop just like the FOSI was.

- the price is terribly high, especially regarding the standard of living and the the average salary in Russia ;

The average person in Russia is not into hi-fi. Company has aimed this amplifier for the high-end market which I suspect is dominated by hugely overpriced overseas products. Compared to those, this is a massive bargain for the locals.

 

[amirm]

- there is no innovation (SMPS power unit in class AB amps have been implemented since many years : Chord, Linn, Halcro, Benchmark, and probably many others)

What the heck you taking about? The innovation here is not that it uses a switching power supply. The innovation is using an IC amplifier part and getting incredible performance out of it.

As to LINN, here is how their amp did using somewhat similar architecture (switching power supply and IC output stage):

Compared to AMPLOI:

This is LINN's frequency response:

This is AMPLOI:

If it is just about what power supply and IC amps it uses, how come the AMPLOI did so much better?

I have not tested straight CHORD amps but this version, did very poorly compared to AMPOLI:

And of course, prices are sky high for both of these brands.

Benchmark has better performance but it also sells in huge volumes so their cost basis is much lower.

 

[amirm]

So what was your objective with this device and what 'essential' points required so much 'research' when all the components are known:

All the parts are known in just about every DAC I test as well, yet performance ranges from horrible to superb. If it were just about parts, anyone could go and put them together. But it is not. You have to have top notch engineering skills and have closed loop measurement based process to get to this level of performance. We have $14,000 DACs that lose to $89 ones for this reason.

 

[amirm]

- the brand is mostly unknown ;

As was Topping, SMSL, etc. when I stared to review them. As are a ton of speaker brands today.

 

[amirm]

Russia is officially under sanctions from the European Union due to its aggression against Ukraine. Of course, choosing to omit this fact is also a political act.

EU's support of Ukraine is much appreciated, certainly in the context of the conduct of our own government. But if I were to list such "facts," I would have to also include that EU imports a ton of Russian fossil fuels, three years into the war: https://energyandcleanair.org/publi...vasion-surpass-financial-aid-sent-to-ukraine/

"Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Europe has made significant progress in terms of energy independence. Imports of Russian oil and gas have decreased substantially, with gas imports dropping from 45% in 2021 to 18% in 2024. However, a quarter of Russia’s fossil fuel export revenues still come from Europe."

During this three year period, EU has sent more money to Russia for fuel than it has sent to Ukraine for support!

So no, me doing a review of a Russian product doesn't do anything to help slow down the horrible war. You campaigning your government to curtail its purchases of fuel, would as that directly funds the war and killing of many innocent civilians.

 

[Steven Holt]

Amir, thank you for these posts and your excellent rebuttal. Far too often, people allow their prejudices to obscure the facts. And the fact is, THIS IS ONE HELL OF AN AMPLIFIER, one of the best I have ever seen reviewed on this forum. Mark my words : China will buy one the these, reverse engineer the hell out of it, mass produce it and sell it for 499US. Just watch!

 

[xanalog]

Can we just add an LED bar graph* to the right side of the 'Rating" pane, where voting members may click for a 'Bang-For-the Bucks' polling?
* [<< peak holding? in dB re: $$]

 

[AndreaT]

Well, this is less money better spent: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/hypex-nilai500diy-amplifier-review.41669/

 

[xanalog]

Would it be a fair comparison of this cyber Sciber amp to the 3e Audio A5 @amirm reviewed this January.
imo:
Most features and performance are reasonably similar. But the pricing is quite dissimilar ($5000 versus $250).
Looking at our voting; the Sciber earned 56% of the votes at the top two (#3 and #4) ratings; whereas the 3E received 94% of the votes.
So, would this leave us with but a single other necessary input?

How would they comparatively sound, without chasing inaudible dBs?
I am betting the answer is 'not much'.

OT: And I am not deleting my bet like post#173 just did, before I posted this reply.

 

[amirm]

Would it be a fair comparison of this cyber Sciber amp to the 3e Audio A5 @amirm reviewed this January.

No. They are in different classes of engineering excellence. A5:

AMPLOI:

Objectively we have to value the better engineering. You can't get that technology to do this.

 

[Guddu]

Would it be a fair comparison of this cyber Sciber amp to the 3e Audio A5 @amirm reviewed this January.
imo:
Most features and performance are reasonably similar. But the pricing is quite dissimilar ($5000 versus $250).
Looking at our voting; the Sciber earned 56% of the votes at the top two (#3 and #4) ratings; whereas the 3E received 94% of the votes.
So, would this leave us with but a single other necessary input?

How would they comparatively sound, without chasing inaudible dBs?
I am betting the answer is 'not much'.

OT: And I am not deleting my bet like post#173 just did, before I posted this reply.

Compare it to Topping B100 if you like to see a closer match, just minor/not-so-considerable power output difference.

*Both don’t have headroom even though both are not class D, perhaps switching psu.

 

[Endibol]

I think you need to read earlier posts in this thread. ;-)

You are right, I replied too quickly..

 

[gvl]

Great performance but super expensive. Plus, given the Russian origin of the amp and the fact that the country is under international sanctions right now, there could be problems transporting the amp to/from the manufacturer and through customs should it need to be returned for service.

I’m sure it can be drop-shipped without issues using a Shahed drone.