SMSL PA-X Stereo Amplifier Review

[amirm]

@amirm waht is the reason for the volume "gain" setting of 66/70?

I set the gain (volume) as close as I can to 25 dB. This in general allows full power to be reached at 2 volts for unbalanced and 4 volts for balanced. As a result, we can compare all amps the same way. This amp has a gain exceeding 30 dB from what i recall. It would be unfair to it to use it at its maximum gain when another amp is at 25 dB.

Of course this is not a complete solution as there are amps that have fixed gains as low as 12 dB.

Lack of standards in audio is rampant and somethings there is only a partially good answer is available. But that is better than not doing anything.

 

[Hiten]

Why wouldn’t you just get:

Yamaha A-S701 Stereo Amplifier Review

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Yamaha A-S701 stereo integrated amplifier with included DAC and Phono stage. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $800. The A-S701 is one of the best looking amplifiers I have tested. Yes the controls are plastic unlike the glory days...

www.audiosciencereview.com

Makes sense. No load dependency, ample features, clean maximum power even at mid and high frequencies (if compared to class d amps).
-------------------------
Sometimes i dont understand tpa3255 popularity. No doubt it is cheap. But a proper implementation and build quality it reaches the popular branded integrated amp. May be power it produces in small form factor ? Efficiency ? Chip amps like lm3886/tda7293 almost does equal if not better job at moderate power requirements. And i guess chip amps will also be not load dependant and have clean power at max power.

 

[M.C. Logan]

Putting aside the unit failure, these features and measurements seem very meh for $700.

• No trigger
• RCA better than balanced
• Fine but not great sinad
• Frequency droop
• Power specs slightly under
• Crosstalk

Given the state of the industry, this is a hard pass.

I'm a little confused, what's with the obsession on ASR with 'trigger in'? Unless you're an over wealthy type who buries their kit in a dedicated machine room and runs everything off a Crestron, what's the point?

 

[M.C. Logan]

Well, that's a big bad no from me then. Drop in HF power with falling load impedance makes it the exact opposite of what is needed for electrostatic speakers, where HF impedance can go as low as 1.4 Ohms. No fixed output bypassing the volume control for use with a preamp either, yuck.

 

[DSJR]

I'm glad there's currently no poll as i for one, would have voted it as 'poor.'

Why? well, domestic users are a clumsy bunch in my experience and an amp like this in my view, really needs plenty of protection so it can withstand teenage drunken parties, shorts on the speaker terminals, confined siting if it's inclined to run warm or hot under duress and so on. Not every user is going to treat the thing with kid gloves (I'm thinking a couple of UK amp makers where the designs are intentionally NOT unconditionally stable, one of these brands in particular, suffering damage if inappropriate speaker cables are used).

 

[staticV3]

No fixed output bypassing the volume control for use with a preamp either, yuck.

It's there, Amir just didn't test it.


There's a Mono mode as well, also not tested here.

 

[M.C. Logan]

It's there, Amir just didn't test it.
View attachment 446621

There's a Mono mode as well, also not tested here.

Set through the gui? Still a yuck, just a switch on the back thanks, same for mono blocking, with printed labels on the correct speaker terminals.
KISS.

 

[obsessive9119]

I'm a little confused, what's with the obsession on ASR with 'trigger in'? Unless you're an over wealthy type who buries their kit in a dedicated machine room and runs everything off a Crestron, what's the point?

All my audio gear other than speakers are in cabinets.

If I want to watcg TV, I press one power button which turns on the AppleTV and the TV itself. The TV turning on triggers with WiiM to wake up, which in turn triggers the amp.

Likewise for music - I just choose what I want to listen to in the WiiM app and press play; it trigger the amp on, and later when idle, turns it off again.

It’s super handy.

 

[Norcal]

Has anyone else noticed the pre-tariff price of this Chinese gear escalating recently? It's been happening with western designed Chinese built speakers too. I hope this isn't planned by the CCP. I took advantage when prices were cheap, I paid $72 for a 32V Fosi V3 Stereo last Black Friday, as a backup amp. I'm curious if any analysis has been done & what others think?

Better to start a new thread or ask this in another thread that is already discussing tariffs, pricing and purchasing decisions, otherwise, this thread becomes a mess.

 

[amirm]

It's there, Amir just didn't test it.
View attachment 446621

There's a Mono mode as well, also not tested here.

It is not what you think:

 

[staticV3]

It is not what you think:
View attachment 446744

Ah I see, so the PA-X is either a Stereo Int Amp, or a Mono Power Amp.

Shame it called quits before you could give your power cube a good workout in Mono mode

 

[M.C. Logan]

All my audio gear other than speakers are in cabinets.

If I want to watcg TV, I press one power button which turns on the AppleTV and the TV itself. The TV turning on triggers with WiiM to wake up, which in turn triggers the amp.

Likewise for music - I just choose what I want to listen to in the WiiM app and press play; it trigger the amp on, and later when idle, turns it off again.

It’s super handy.

That's rather an edge case, I know nobody who hides all their gear away in cupboards where you can't see them and they get hot. And I also don't know anyone who only uses a single streaming box. Personally I have a turntable, streamer, cd player, Blu-ray/sacd, shield TV and TV. I don't think I know anyone with less than 3 of those.

 

[M.C. Logan]

Has anyone else noticed the pre-tariff price of this Chinese gear escalating recently? It's been happening with western designed Chinese built speakers too. I hope this isn't planned by the CCP. I took advantage when prices were cheap, I paid $72 for a 32V Fosi V3 Stereo last Black Friday, as a backup amp. I'm curious if any analysis has been done & what others think?

Nope, but then I don't live in the US, thankfully.

 

[CedarX]

That's rather an edge case, I know nobody who hides all their gear away in cupboards where you can't see them and they get hot. And I also don't know anyone who only uses a single streaming box. Personally I have a turntable, streamer, cd player, Blu-ray/sacd, shield TV and TV. I don't think I know anyone with less than 3 of those.

Me !!!
WAF non-negotiable must: no visible gear or cable. So inside closets it is… I installed temperature-controlled fans (unfortunately noisier than what I had wished for), and if we need to see the gear to operate, we just open the closet door!

 

[Liberal Democracy]

Lack of option to vote questions the credibility of the review in general in my opinion.

Hilariuous, I laughed out loud so thanks .

 

[lordhumungous]

Wow , I’m surprised this is a SMSL product . Pretty poor performance .

 

[trevor_bartram]

Better to start a new thread or ask this in another thread that is already discussing tariffs, pricing and purchasing decisions, otherwise, this thread becomes a mess.

This amp's high cost was the reason for posting!

 

[M.C. Logan]

Me !!!
WAF non-negotiable must: no visible gear or cable. So inside closets it is… I installed temperature-controlled fans (unfortunately noisier than what I had wished for), and if we need to see the gear to operate, we just open the closet door!

Fairly sure I don't know you. That is *still* a corner case as far as I can see.

 

[ExUnoPlura]

Fairly sure I don't know you. That is *still* a corner case as far as I can see.

I initiate almost everything from Roon and the trigger out from my streamer turns on the amp and everything just goes. I consider triggers a critical feature for frictionless, modern operation.

 

[obsessive9119]

Fairly sure I don't know you. That is *still* a corner case as far as I can see.

This is so strange. “Unless someone I personally know does something, it must be fringe”.

Or, maybe, you just know people of a similar demographic or with similar preferences to yourself, and there’s a whole big wide world out there that doesn’t things differently.