Stereo amp with optical and usbc inputs?

[Mattwah]

G’day
I’ve just got my bedroom setup sorted- Kef lsx and an entry level NAD Cd player

Now looking to sort the home office
Thus far I have an old pair of JBL TLX12’s which I’d like to use in the meantime to play
CDs but also to play Apple Music via an IPad Pro

With that in mind, can anyone recommend a decent, relatively low cost amp which has usb c and optical inputs?

At some point I’ll likely upgrade the JBL’s too

Cheers

Matt

 

[ppataki]

G’day
I’ve just got my bedroom setup sorted- Kef lsx and an entry level NAD Cd player

Now looking to sort the home office
Thus far I have an old pair of JBL TLX12’s which I’d like to use in the meantime to play
CDs but also to play Apple Misic via an IPad Pro

With that in mind, can anyone recommend a decent, relatively low cost amp which has usb c and optical inputs?

Cheers

Matt

Hi Matt,

I would recommend taking a look at this:

SMSL RAW-HAI CS43131 Bluetooth 5.1 Desktop DAC & Power Amplifier

Buy SMSL RAW-HAI CS43131 Bluetooth 5.1 Desktop DAC & Power Amplifier with Free shipping on HiFiGo, you can enjoy a year warranty and the best after-sales service.

hifigo.com

 

[ppataki]

Or this one (I have three of these)

SABAJ A30a Power Amplifier 200W*2 Axign AX5689 XU208 DSD512

SABAJ A30a Power Amplifier 200W*2 Axign AX5689 XU208 DSD512 Bluetooth LDAC Apt-X HD AAC For Passive Speaker & Active Subwoofer Using the latest DSP chip with ST high-power amplifier chip, carefully designed and debugged, its distortion is as low as 0.0008%; The second generation XMOS...

hifi-express.com

 

[kyuu]

It would be helpful to have a little more guidance for your budget than "relatively inexpensive". Different people have different interpretations of what that means.

For starters, I would recommend just looking at a Wiim Amp. It has USB-A rather than USB-C, I believe, but USB-A to USB-C cables are cheap and ubiquitous.

 

[Zek]

I would recommend just looking at a Wiim Amp. It has USB-A rather than USB-C

It is not DAC input, only for USB Disk.

 

[kyuu]

It is not DAC input, only for USB Disk.

It also supports USB audio out, but yes you're right it doesn't support USB as an input now that I look. Original Amp supports Airplay, though, if he's just planning to use it to play media off the iPad. Or he can just do whatever he was going to do with the iPad directly from the Wiim Amp with their app instead.

 

[Timcognito]

Loxjie A30 Amplifier Review

This is a review and detailed measurements of the multifunction Loxjie A30 power (speaker and headphone) amplifier with integrated USB DAC and Bluetooth input. It was kindly sent to me by a member and costs US $159 plus $7 shipping on Amazon. The A30 sports a high resolution and high contrast...

www.audiosciencereview.com

Loxjie A40 all in one amp 2024

Loxjie A40 https://www.loxjie-audio.com/productshow.asp?id=161 I can't find any review about this amp, not even audiophonics in france has one It's an all in one amp with hdmi (arc),bt,dac (total 7 inputs) and rated up to 2x165 watt with a built in power supply, for only 210 euros on...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[Mattwah]

It also supports USB audio out, but yes you're right it doesn't support USB as an input now that I look. Original Amp supports Airplay, though, if he's just planning to use it to play media off the iPad. Or he can just do whatever he was going to do with the iPad directly from the Wiim Amp with their app instead.

Good call re price
I guess I am looking in the 200/350 dollar range
Re wifi and Bluetooth connectivity, wifi here is pretty average and I’ve noticed with the kef that wifi connection results in a great sound but is patchy, airplay just doesn’t have as good a sound, perhaps though the wifi patchiness and Bluetooth sound is more to do with the kef lsx gen 1 speakers than the wifi itself (we can stream television fine) which might make the WIIM a perfect option?
Btw- im not looking to Kef bash and have seen much debate raging on Kef forums on this issue with plenty of Kef fanboys saying there is no problem with connectivity and many others saying it is horrible… for me wifi connectivity drops out frequently enough to be a cause of frustration and I’ve found using the optical input my best option to get the most out of the very nice sound these offer as a bookshelf speaker

 

[Mattwah]

Tried the Wiim, and a few other options, ended up deciding I needed speakers too, so worked on choosing those first- settling on Monitor Audio Studio 89s and a Vincent 237mk2 (hybrid) to drive them… the amp has optical inputs as well as a Bluetooth antenna that purportedly offers the equivalent of cd quality- which is ok- haven’t tried that, but have played Apple Music in via optical and that sounded better than expected.
Sound is superb even at low volume (class a to about 10 watts) which I really value, but can push hard too
The Studio Monitors shine for me- plenty of bass, quite fast and with a gorgeous and even tonality… much preferred them to everything else I tried inc the kefls50 and r5 meta… which really surprised me as I’m a fan of Kef.

 

[Mattwah]

Not totally convinced by the Vincent- so doing an ab with this- a demo model Densen b130 (not sure how old it is)