When I'm listening to the 4th movement of Mendelssohn's Italian Symphony I'm not necessarily aware of sinad, etc. I'm just a human animal whose brain is enjoying sounds as they are being projected in my general direction. I guess I'm in big ASR trouble now. Oh well.
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SMSL A300 Stereo Amplifier Review
- Thread starter amirm
- Start date
Roland68
Major Contributor
But you can hear the difference compared to other amplifiers.
I don't think that makes sense here.
You've fallen in love with some fantasy about these Infineon chips, based on promotional videos and datasheets. And these also show the problems of load dependence, among other limitations.
In reality, I haven't seen a truly well-measured amplifier based on this. And my experience with the Merus development boards, including the MA5332 and IRS209x, confirms this for me.
May I ask what your experience is based on, apart from perhaps the A300?
Have you already built amplifiers with the chip from a demo board or developed something yourself? Then you certainly have measurements.
Have you ever actually blindly compared them with good TPA325x-based amplifiers like 3E Autio, Topping, etc., Hypex/Purifie, or a Sabaj A30a?
I'm not saying that the A300 or other Infineon amplifiers are bad, but the better is the enemy of the good. And I've done these comparisons with more than 10 Infineon-based amplifiers and many other amplifiers. And even a 30-year-old NAD 2200 was clearly superior to it, and that's clear to everyone in the comparison.
My two A300s, which I used as dual mono BTLs, now power my subwoofers, which they do really well.
Just show results that are better than all the tests already published on ASR. Manufacturer publications don't count in this case; paper is patient.
By the way, one of the last Infineon-based amplifiers tested on ASR failed during the stress test. Only a few weeks ago and the latest Infineon technology. So much for burning out other amplifiers, because they survived this test without any problems.
I have an A0300 and I have to admit that, purely subjectively, it sounds decent, but I don't find it sounds great by any means.
Now as an all in one device for what I needed, it ticks the boxes and I think was pretty good value for the money. I had purchased the A300 and returned it, but that is due to the Bluetooth chip being less capable than the one in the A0300.
My use case for the A0300 is to have a source for when I'm playing my drums along to music. I used to use an older, probably 90s vintage Denon integrated amp with an SMSL M200 DAC which I feel sounded more dynamic than the A0300. I wanted to simplify and have a single device that I just streamed to from my phone so the A0300 gives me that.
Now as an all in one device for what I needed, it ticks the boxes and I think was pretty good value for the money. I had purchased the A300 and returned it, but that is due to the Bluetooth chip being less capable than the one in the A0300.
My use case for the A0300 is to have a source for when I'm playing my drums along to music. I used to use an older, probably 90s vintage Denon integrated amp with an SMSL M200 DAC which I feel sounded more dynamic than the A0300. I wanted to simplify and have a single device that I just streamed to from my phone so the A0300 gives me that.
Please don’t appoint that person the spokesperson for ASR. He has a deviant idea of what the science is and isn’t.
Roland68
Major Contributor
I can fully support this, and it also corresponds to my experience with the AO300. The amplifier in the AO300 is the same as in the A300.
As a whole, it's perfectly fine, and the price-performance ratio is good. There are very few devices that offer all of this (integrated DAC, HPA, BT, remote, display, etc.) as an all-in-one solution, and in a compact package at this price.
Actually I agree with the abow post.
But we deverge in definition of science. Guess I have go back to read some scientific articles to enjoy the reading. Not so much the last few posts.
To others considering MA5xxx tecnology. It is stellar engineering. For the implementation in the amp theese measurements are good enough for normal ears and loudspeakers.
But, it is not better than good enough.
And I really love good engeniering
But we deverge in definition of science. Guess I have go back to read some scientific articles to enjoy the reading. Not so much the last few posts.
To others considering MA5xxx tecnology. It is stellar engineering. For the implementation in the amp theese measurements are good enough for normal ears and loudspeakers.
But, it is not better than good enough.
And I really love good engeniering
Maybe I have got some lucky help from recent review regarding good enough for distortion.
Shows the amplifier distortion for high frequency. -65dB worst case at 5k
But 50 watts of tweeter power is really, really loud.
Nevertheless lets look at the review of tube headphone dac
Looks like the sound is good as the THD approaches-60dB
Shows the amplifier distortion for high frequency. -65dB worst case at 5k
But 50 watts of tweeter power is really, really loud.
Nevertheless lets look at the review of tube headphone dac
Looks like the sound is good as the THD approaches-60dB
This is a review, detailed measurements and listening tests of the xDuoo DM-01 Robot DAC and hybrid tube headphone amplifier. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $237.
As you see, the product is aptly named! The arms are actually functional with one being on/off and then other, selection between USB and Bluetooth. The "ears" control the up/down volume control. The torso shows what you see with color changing depending on mode. Missed opportunity to have it be a graphics display saying robot stuff.
What follows is a bit of abbreviated measurements in the interest...
As you see, the product is aptly named! The arms are actually functional with one being on/off and then other, selection between USB and Bluetooth. The "ears" control the up/down volume control. The torso shows what you see with color changing depending on mode. Missed opportunity to have it be a graphics display saying robot stuff.
What follows is a bit of abbreviated measurements in the interest...
Art of sound
Active Member
I got this for my friends place with a set of JBL Stage A130 bookshelf pair and later added a JBL lsr pro sub that has 200wRMS to this amplifier with a 100USD DAC that resolves well but provides less volume to the amp. After 2 years and moving it to a new room the volume never exceeds 30-34 on this amplifier. No audible sound on power off/on and for class D amplifiers no ones turns them off this is not an issue. Sound is warm and when i tested it with a different DAC like my mojo 2 attached to a DAP while i bluetooth'ed to the DAP via LDAC i noticed the details improve by a bit and the imaging and the low end as well so even with this amp we can get better audio if you have a preamp or dac that can provide better quality and more amplified signal. In any case my point is that the distortion measurements are largely no problem at 5 watts as most people wouldn't be using that much even for a 2 channel and even lower for a 2.1 and much lower for a 4 or 5 channel setup. Its nice to have headroom but having better low end performance counts wrt preference of sound for most humans. Not sure if having more crosstalk is helping or hurting this unit as i add crossfeed on my mojo 2 to alter the imaging on my desk setup where i sit much closer to the speakers than their separation distance by 2 ft and despite the 4.1 setup and tilting of the 2 tweeters towards me the imaging improves when i add some crossfeed on mojo 2 especially the cohesion of staging and imaging behind the monitor.
I also enjoy this amp, and have compared it with several costing more and measuring much better, but in a small room at moderate volumes, it has a great sound with KEF LS50s. It could be that this amp, despite it's lesser measurements than newer class D amps, may have a load dependency favoring 4 ohm vs 8 ohm speakers. It's an anomaly for me, but also a bargain.
Art of sound
Active Member
Sure. i noticed that in most amp's under 500USD and some recent ones have managed to overcome that but its usually 1-1.5db after 15khz so its not that noticeable in real world scenario in the measurements i've seen. last time i tested my hearing i could hear upto 17,17.5 in a sweep and this is one tone and more noticeable under 13k and less after 13k. you can buy a hypercar and drive it around day to day or to parties and events and get those specific benefits but you realistically you wouldn't be able to take advantage of it unless you hit a highway without speedlimits or on a track. This amp is mostly driven at 23-33 volume with the 200watts speakers. even after adding the 200w sub the volume is usually under 30 and maybe 40 in much larger room. testing at vol 48 makes sense but thats just testing the instrument for extreme cases.
What matters more is the output impedance of the amplifier and how each speaker measurement changes with output impedance and how much in what frequency ranges. This is a very difficult thing to measure so may be the audiophile reviewers out there are having a go at their reviews with these combinations and give all kinds of irrelevant opinions about gear and speakers.
Demonizing 88db on amplifier SINAD's is also something that doesn't have much real world implications imo. you get a tesla or a bugatti and drive it in real world and you will never need the headroom of the max speed in a bugatti in almost all situations. Sure there are other benefits but having a go at that spec means little to nothing.
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