SMSL A50 Pro 3-channel amp

[Sokel]

Yes, if your adding centre and surrounds. I used to have such an amp myself to add to a stereo amp.

But the three here are L, R and (implicitly passive) Sub.

Can do the classical 2.1 desktop setup I guess.
Specially for those looking for a very low cost solution as passive subs can be found in dirt cheap prices.

 

[Yorkshire Mouth]

Can do the classical 2.1 desktop setup I guess.
Specially for those looking for a very low cost solution as passive subs can be found in dirt cheap prices.

I certainly wouldn’t argue that there’s no market.

But it must be infinitely smaller than desktop 2.1 servos with active subs, which are currently woefully under resourced in this respect.

I mean, WiiM aside, where on earth (for example) are new DACs from Topping and co. with a sub out?

 

[stbitw]

La sortie sub n'est pas obligatoire, si tu commandes le volumes depuis la source il suffit de diviser les câbles et d'ajuster les niveaux de volume une bonne fois...

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The sub output is not compulsory, if you want to control the volume from the source, just split the cables and adjust the volume levels once...

 

[ChenHui]

Même avec une grosse remise le produit concerné par CE FIL n'est pas fonctionnel !

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Even with a large discount, the product concerned by THIS THREAD is not functional!

As a consumer, I agree with your point of view and hope they can do better. SMSL's products always have some strange bugs that are unexpected. However, in this price range, the quality of other brands' products is similar. This is also why they can offer such affordable prices. If you compare the Wiim Amp (priced at $300) to the A50PRO, there is no doubt that the Wiim Amp is better because you are paying $300 for it. You may need to consider looking at products from brands positioned at a higher level rather than SMSL.

 

[stbitw]

As a consumer, I agree with your point of view and hope they can do better. SMSL's products always have some strange bugs that are unexpected. However, in this price range, the quality of other brands' products is similar. This is also why they can offer such affordable prices. If you compare the Wiim Amp (priced at $300) to the A50PRO, there is no doubt that the Wiim Amp is better because you are paying $300 for it. You may need to consider looking at products from brands positioned at a higher level rather than SMSL.

Pour moi, quel que soit le prix payé le produit doit toujours être conforme à ses spécifications et pleinement fonctionnel !
A titre de comparaison, voulez-vous m'acheter une voiture pesant presque deux tonnes, un peu moins chère sous prétexte qu'elle a des pédales à la place du moteur, sachant que je vous avais promis de la livrer avec un petit moteur ?

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As far as I'm concerned, whatever the price paid, the product must always conform to its specifications and be fully functional!

By way of comparison, do you want to buy me a car weighing almost two tonnes, a little cheaper because it has pedals instead of an engine, knowing that I promised to deliver it with a small engine?

 

[Fwen]

Bonjour à tous ^^

Cet ampli est une blague, l'ARC CEC est inutilisable, à titre d'exemple (il y a d'autres soucis) si vous voulez mettre en sourdine depuis la télécommande de l'ampli c'est bon mais si vous le faites depuis la télécommande de la TV seules les enceintes sont coupées, le caisson de basse reste actif au même niveau !

Comme souvent SMSL sort un produit sans même l'avoir testé correctement... Je parle d'expérience car j'achète leurs produits depuis plus de 8 ans maintenant.

Ils vont sans doute rectifier ce qui ne va pas au fil du temps mais comme à chaque fois les premiers acheteurs n'auront que leurs yeux pour pleurer...

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Hi everyone ^^

This amp is a joke, the ARC CEC is unusable, as an example (there are other problems) if you want to mute from the remote control of the amp it's good but if you do it from the remote control of the TV only the speakers are muted, the subwoofer remains active at the same level!

As is often the case with SMSL, they release a product without even having tested it properly... I'm speaking from experience because I've been buying their products for over 8 years now.

They will undoubtedly rectify what's wrong over time but, as always, the first buyers will only have their eyes to cry about it...

I also have an A50PRO connected to my Sony TV and a 2.1 speaker system. I've never tried muting with the TV remote before. After seeing your post, I tried it, and the result is different from what you described. The muting effect is very good on my end, all three speakers are very quiet. What brand is your TV?

 

[Bleib]

Curious how quiet this amp is. If you put your ear towards the treble with no audio playing, is it silent?

 

[stbitw]

I also have an A50PRO connected to my Sony TV and a 2.1 speaker system. I've never tried muting with the TV remote before. After seeing your post, I tried it, and the result is different from what you described. The muting effect is very good on my end, all three speakers are very quiet. What brand is your TV?

Il peut effectivement y avoir un lien avec la marque du téléviseur, une histoire de compatibilité, un obstacle que mon convertisseur ARC/HDMI à 12€ passe haut la main

C'est d'autant plus dommage du coup car ma TV est d'une marque Chinoise (Hisense), les tests auraient donc pu être menés d'autant plus facilement...

Avez-vous remarqué que le réglage de la fréquence d'accord est rendu inutilement compliqué ? Il n'y a aucun intérêt à prévoir une fréquence de coupure différente pour le sub ou les satellites, sauf à vouloir reproduire trop une bande de fréquence ou au contraire créer un trou dans la bande comme le suggérait la fiche produit

En revanche, vous aurez constaté qu'il n'y a aucun moyen de gérer la phase du subwoofer, même pas un simple inverseur comme on trouve sur n'importe quel ampli sub bon marché...

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There may indeed be a link with the brand of TV, a compatibility issue, an obstacle that my €12 ARC/HDMI converter passes with flying colours

It's all the more of a shame because my TV is another Chinese brand (Hisense), so the tests could have been carried out all the more easily...

Have you noticed that setting the tuning frequency is unnecessarily complicated? There's no point in having a different cut-off frequency for the subwoofer or the satellites, unless you want to reproduce too much of one frequency band or, on the contrary, create a hole in the band as suggested in the product sheet

On the other hand, you'll have noticed that there's no way of managing the phase of the subwoofer, not even a simple inverter like you'll find on any cheap sub amp....

*** Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version) ***

 

[stbitw]

Curious how quiet this amp is. If you put your ear towards the treble with no audio playing, is it silent?

Non, je n'ai rien noté de mauvais de ce point de vue, il y a bien un petit bruit de fond passé les 75% du volume mais c'est assez normal d'autant que mes enceintes sont relativement sensibles (>95dB/w/m)

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No, I didn't notice anything bad in this respect, there is a little background noise after 75% of the volume, but that's quite normal, especially as my speakers are relatively sensitive (>95dB/w/m).

 

[Fondling2914]

Got the A50 pro. Looots of noise on low volume. sucks

 

[stbitw]

Got the A50 pro. Looots of noise on low volume. sucks

Can you tell us more about the equipment used?

 

[Fondling2914]

Can you tell us more about the equipment used?

I have a windows 10 PC connected via USB to the SMSL. When music plays on low volume noise is hearable. Line In is completely unusable because of the noise. Line In noise is much louder than USB noise.

 

[stbitw]

OK thanks, I didn't test this amp for long before sending it back, I mainly tested the digital inputs and I had just noticed that the USB input was limited to 48K/16bits, if on top of that it generates noise, disappointing for a device of this type in 2024...

 

[ChenHui]

Pour moi, quel que soit le prix payé le produit doit toujours être conforme à ses spécifications et pleinement fonctionnel !
A titre de comparaison, voulez-vous m'acheter une voiture pesant presque deux tonnes, un peu moins chère sous prétexte qu'elle a des pédales à la place du moteur, sachant que je vous avais promis de la livrer avec un petit moteur ?

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
As far as I'm concerned, whatever the price paid, the product must always conform to its specifications and be fully functional!

By way of comparison, do you want to buy me a car weighing almost two tonnes, a little cheaper because it has pedals instead of an engine, knowing that I promised to deliver it with a small engine?

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...iim-amp-discussion.47096/page-22#post-1827730
Maybe someone really bought a more expensive car with pedals.
This review says that the ARC interface of WIIM AMP also does not have HDMI CEC power support.
WIIM AMP only has HDMI CEC volume control (the A50PRO also has the same function).
This made me start to wonder if the promotional materials of the ARC interface are misleading, and maybe the ARC interface does not support CEC power control at all.

 

[stbitw]

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...iim-amp-discussion.47096/page-22#post-1827730
Maybe someone really bought a more expensive car with pedals.
This review says that the ARC interface of WIIM AMP also does not have HDMI CEC power support.
WIIM AMP only has HDMI CEC volume control (the A50PRO also has the same function).
This made me start to wonder if the promotional materials of the ARC interface are misleading, and maybe the ARC interface does not support CEC power control at all.

As far as I'm concerned, the problem is that this amp doesn't live up to its specifications on several points, not just ARC and CEC compatibility...

I mentioned the ARC concern because it was one of the special features of this product, which made it interesting in my case, but for example it's not possible to control the phase of the subwoofer even though this is essential to integrate a subwoofer correctly and, on the other hand, the setting of the cut-off frequency has been unnecessarily complicated with two parameters instead of one, with the risk that an inexperienced user could create a hole in the frequency band...

In short, it's quite clear to me that this product has been developed by a sales engineer or a real electronics specialist who knows nothing about audio!

After that, whether or not CEC Power is supported would be a mere detail if that's all it was...

*** Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version) ***

 

[USER]

Alright, a couple of quick thoughts on the SMSL A50 PRO after a test in my basement.

As I stated before, this thing is TINY. I know that the latest class D amps are small, but it still shocked me to see it. It is a very nice looking amp. For me, it is the best looking option right now, by far, and this is a deal-maker. The lightly matted finish and the display that bleeds through the panel with an almost frosted effect is super nice. The vast majority of these look like make-at-home projects. I won't apologize for the pettiness. The amp and the power brick give the air of high-quality. (We'll see if any issues arise later on, lol.)

I agree that the 100W sub output is odd and not very helpful. A simple sub out would have made this a real AV-amp. But at the price and with these looks, I can forget about it. This is not supposed to be endgame. I mean, it's a 70/36W amp. I can always use it with a high-level connection sub if I needed to, though I think that this amp will work better with floorstanders as they are often more sensitive. (Does anyone know if it is at all possible to use the sub out connectors with a high-level connection? Because if it is possible and I can use the high and low pass filters then there is no issue for me.) It is clear that this bothers some here but, again, I can look past it. The thing is $80-$90. If someone told me that I could get something like this for the equivalent of $50 twenty years ago when I started with audio I would have thought they were crazy. It is a weird experiment that got a little out of hand, but I like that. We are going to see some strange amps as cost, size, and sound quality are no longer limits for smaller companies. (And the market as it is today forces the hand too.) But what is important is that you no longer have to be Sony with a massive R&D department to try out things like this. I am going to assume that aside from nearly double the power this measures similarly to the Loxjie A30, which did very well here. (You can see that SMSL were smart to drop the analog inputs.)

I spent an hour playing music on my Revel M106 speakers (~86 dB sensitivity). I used it via optical in with a Google Chromecast Audio. I was sitting about 9 feet away and had the volume set at 40 (edit: my phone's volume was set to low so volume at 30 is comparable in normal use; also remember that sound level is logarithmic, so its not like I have 70% "more" volume available). It was more than loud enough there and it is good to know that I have power to spare for music dynamic range. The sound was good with no obvious issues, but I can't speak too much about it or compare it to how it sounded before as I use those speakers with a Hypex NC252MP amplifier and, more important, a miniDSP Flex based Dirac DSP. It was never going to sound as fine-tuned to the room as before. But still, nothing to complain about and I now can see it being used in a smaller living room. Before I was thinking that desktop use was the only realistic option. Neither the amp nor the power brick got warm during that time. That's nuts.

And those are my quick first thoughts. If you guys can convince Amir to review it, I'd be happy to send it to him.

Update:

I tested out the "hissing" that I get some more in my living room on Revel M16s (~85 dB sensitivity) using another Chromecast audio and Roon. I sit about 8 feet away in that room and I don't think I need to go past 28 in the volume. It's loud enough for me there. I pushed it to 60 and that was LOUD. Note that the speakers make all the difference here so these numbers could be useless to you and you may have issues. I am finding that these mini amps likely work better with high quality speakers but these are the types of speakers you likely would not want to pair with a mini amplifier. Oh the irony, lol. Again I hear faint hiss with my ears by the tweeter. But it is a different sort of hiss than usual, less high-pitched and in this way less annoying. I can't hear it 1 foot from the tweeter. I hear a little more if the volume is set to 40. (Note that this is not an anechoic chamber, I have central air going though it is not loud.) I also tried it from a desktop distance as I think the most discerning ears could possibly pick it up there. However I don't see myself going past 20 on the volume on a desk so I don't think it is an issue. I don't think there is any chance this will muffle any audio at any level. (Again, there may be speakers that fare worse so YMMV.) I do have to say that the "hiss" is less audible than that I get with some of my phono preamplifiers.

Will these amps improve dramatically over the next 5 years? Of course. I don't think there is any small class D amp that is future proof so I think that is the wrong approach to them. I am lucky to have many fun toys (including a Benchmark AHB2, which I don't mention just to mention but to say that I can recognize issues), and I now consider this one of them. Certainly I wish there was no hiss (and I am going to explore it some more in case it is an issue on my end), but I like this little guy a lot as I take it for what it is. I'd say you purchase this for the size, the looks, the cost, and the sound in that order.

 

[ppataki]

Alright, a couple of quick thoughts on the SMSL A50 PRO after a test in my basement.

View attachment 380224View attachment 380190

As I stated before, this thing is TINY. I know that the latest class D amps are small, but it still shocked me to see it. It is a very nice looking amp. For me, it is the best looking option right now, by far, and this is a deal-maker. The lightly matted finish and the display that bleeds through the panel with an almost frosted effect is super nice. The vast majority of these look like make-at-home projects. I won't apologize for the pettiness but it and the power brick give the air of high-quality. (We'll see if any issues arise later on, lol.)

I agree that the 100W sub output is odd and not very helpful. A simple sub out would have made this a real AV-amp. But at the price and with these looks, I can forget about it. This is not supposed to be endgame. I can always use it with a high-level connection sub if I needed to, though I think that this will work better with floorstanders as they are often more sensitive. (Does anyone know if it is at all possible to use this sub out with a high-level connection? Because if it is possible and I can use the high and low pass filters then there is no issue for me.) It is clear that this bothers some here but, again, I can look past it. The thing is $80-$90. If someone told me that I could get something like this for the equivalent of $50 twenty years ago when I started with audio I would have thought they were crazy. It is a weird experiment that got a little out of hand, but I like that. We are going to see some strange amps as cost, size, and sound quality are no longer limits for smaller companies. (And the market as it is today forces the hand too.) But what is important is that you no longer have to be Sony with a massive R&D department to try out things. I am going to assume that aside from nearly double the power this measures similarly to the Loxjie A30, which did well here. (You can see that SMSL were smart to drop the analog inputs.)

I spent an hour playing music on my Revel M106 speakers (~86 dB sensitivity). I used it via optical in with a Google Chromecast Audio. I was sitting about 9 feet away and had the volume set at 40 (edit: my phone's volume was low so it really is loud at 30). It was more than loud enough there and it is good to know that I have power to spare for music dynamic range. The sound was good with no obvious issues, but I can't speak too much about it or compare it to how it sounded before as I use those speakers with a Hypex NC252MP amplifier and, more important, a miniDSP Flex based Dirac DSP. It was never going to sound as fine-tuned to the room as before. But still, nothing to complain about and I now can see it being used in a smaller living room. Before I was thinking that desktop use was the only realistic option. Neither the amp nor the power brick got warm during that time.

And those are my quick first thoughts. If you guys can convince Amir to review it, I'd be happy to send it to him.

Do you hear any hiss from the speakers? There was a complaint about that earlier in the thread, hence I am asking

 

[USER]

Do you hear any hiss from the speakers? There was a complaint about that earlier in the thread, hence I am asking

Yes I heard a little when I pressed my ears against the tweeter. I did not find it audible from any normal distance or it to be any sort of issue. It was also a little lower in frequency than what I usually think of as "hiss".

When it comes to hiss, if you can't hear it from the listening position it is not an issue. (I think this is a reason some old timers have issues with the concept of SINAD.)

I'll test it again and update if I change my opinion. And to be clear, I only listened from optical in/Chromecast audio/tidal.

 

[Bleib]

I think it might in some cases or very few cases mask low level detail. It's a shame this is not a completely solved problem

 

[USER]

I think it might in some cases or very few cases mask low level detail. It's a shame this is not a completely solved problem

I'm not sure what "low level detail" is. A quick check online shows that the term is associated with PS Audio, which is alarming. But it may be a technical term for all I know.