SMSL A300, SONY STRDH190 or Yamaha RS202B?

[SuperDerpBro]

I've been trying to decide which to buy for about 3 days now. They are all about the same price (250 CAD).

My speakers are the ELAC Debut PRIMA DBP5

https://imgur.com/mkjRrLS

Although leaning towards Yamaha, the SMSL is also very interesting to me.

I cant seem to decide, lol. Thoughts?

 

[TonyJZX]

to me you have to weigh up what is useful acceptable to you

straight up i'm not buying a Sony 190 or Yam 202... these are the cheapest in the lineup and for the cheapest cheapest class a/b out there... even for that $99 I dont think its a useful buy... unless you have very low expectations and you MUST have a 19" format unit.

The A300 to me is my first introduction to class d and really, this place has enough experiences to go on to work out if its right for you.

For me I get this typical class D sound, a very very small form factor and for what it does it does well.

I dont care about BT at all. Its small enough you can move it from setup to setup and not be bothered.

going by your speaker sheet any of these amps will work.

for my household if i'm buying a 19" full sized unit then it must perform, and these japanese brands dont.

 

[SuperDerpBro]

Thanks for the reply Good points. I've watched and read just about every review I can find on these 3.

I was just going to order the SMSL....... and then I came across a used Pioneer Elite A20. Fairly low wattage but its cheap (and looks cool lol).

heh

 

[TonyJZX]

as much as i like new hardware i also really love the idea of classic hifi

if you can live with a unit that is 10-20-30yrs old and maybe the sound is good then i dont see a need to buy new unless you're after a 'new sound'

i still have an ancient parasound 6 channel power amp because i still really love the sound

 

[SuperDerpBro]

Too many options these days, lol. Took me far too long to narrow it down to those three. And that's only because I forced myself to stop looking at new stuff. Cant pull the trigger because i will likely see something 3 mins later lol. Just saw the Sabaj A10A 2022.. cheaper that all three options in my OP. Pretty cool looking too, heh.

I like the two low end Japanese amps because I can walk into a store and just buy one, with a warranty. Not so much with ChiFi/used :/