Totem Kin Amp review

[JoJo_Bean]

Hi !

Does anyone has experienced the Totem Kin Amp ? I can't find any review and I spent some time researching.

What I'm looking for : a compact (approx 10'' W and D, max) stereo amp with phono stage for my turntable, a good DAC with bluetooth, and of course a great sound for under 1000 CAD.

I've read great reviews about Totem's products, but these are speakers. Their recent addition of KIN active speakers makes me think that they can make fairly good amp. But that's all.

As an alternative I've considered the NAD D3020 v2.

My current set up : Fluance RT82, Ifi Zen Air preamp, Fosi 20A Pro amp and KEF Q150 speakers.

Thank you !!

 

[VMAT4]

For your money, these speakers will give you better sound improvement than a new amp. I bet.

 

[antcollinet]

Have a look at Wiim amp pro.

Doesn't have the phono preamp but if you can live with an external phone pre, it does have one analogue input.

 

[JoJo_Bean]

For your money, these speakers will give you better sound improvement than a new amp. I bet.

Thank you for your insight ! But I would like to keep my current speakers for now, and those are much more expensive than the KIN and NAD amp :/ (600 CAD vs 1100 CAD).

 

[JoJo_Bean]

Have a look at Wiim amp pro.

Doesn't have the phono preamp but if you can live with an external phone pre, it does have one analogue input.

Thank you for your recommendation ! I did not really considered the Wiim amp pro until you mentioned it, but I looked quickly at the Wiim amp. The testing results and reviews about these amp are really good from what I see, and they are some tempting functions, but I would prefer an integrated pre-amp and (i forgot to mention it) a jack output.

 

[GXAlan]

The Kin amp is interesting, but I am surprised no one has reviewed it yet.

• Power Output: 2 x 100w RMS @ THD=1%
• Total Harmonic Distortion: <0.1% @ 30K Filter / 1W
• Signal to Noise Ratio: >86dB
• Outputs: Subwoofer Out 20-220Hz @3dB

The amplifier specs aren’t SOTA but for $600 US from a Canadian company with warranty, it’s pretty interesting. The subwoofer output makes it a lot more feature packed than the WiiM Amp, but the lack of HDMI ARC and PEQ are the big differences. It also doesn’t seem to have the usual streaming capability — it just has Bluetooth.

If there is a in-home return window you might be able to drop ship one from the U.S. to @amirm to test and then have him forward it to you after testing. Not sure how the cost of shipping will work out to be and if you need super fast turnaround, you need to coordinate with him to check his schedule.

 

[JoJo_Bean]

The Kin amp is interesting, but I am surprised no one has reviewed it yet.

• Power Output: 2 x 100w RMS @ THD=1%
• Total Harmonic Distortion: <0.1% @ 30K Filter / 1W
• Signal to Noise Ratio: >86dB
• Outputs: Subwoofer Out 20-220Hz @3dB

The amplifier specs aren’t SOTA but for $600 US from a Canadian company with warranty, it’s pretty interesting. The subwoofer output makes it a lot more feature packed than the WiiM Amp, but the lack of HDMI ARC and PEQ are the big differences. It also doesn’t seem to have the usual streaming capability — it just has Bluetooth.

If there is a in-home return window you might be able to drop ship one from the U.S. to @amirm to test and then have him forward it to you after testing. Not sure how the cost of shipping will work out to be and if you need super fast turnaround, you need to coordinate with him to check his schedule.

Thank you for your answer !

I agree the specs are not SOTA but I assume it's better than it looks, because their spec is not that detailed, and for example their single value for the SNR stands for several ouputs.

However, I was a bit chicken due to lack of third party exhaustive review and I decided to go a totally different way with a NAD c316b22 v2 which has a rather small footprint and everything else I was looking for excepting the DAC and wireless capabilities, but for that I added a Wiim mini I plan to connect via RCA aux inputs of the NAD. The Wiim is not the best I know but it will do for now. I think the NAD is a great foundation to build on, and I like the fact it's class A/B. If I'm not satisfied with the Wiim mini I will upgrade later.

Thank you again you all for your insights !

 

[RoA]

They don't state what impedance the rated output of 100W relates to. Looking at the speaker terminals they are labelled as 4ohm. So you may have 50w/ch into 8ohm. Agree with the little NAD, many good reviews.

 

[Jim Taylor]

. I think the NAD is a great foundation to build on, and I like the fact it's class A/B.

The 3020 D is Class D, not Class A/B. "Whereas the original 3020 used a conventional output stage, based on a complementary pair of 2N2055/MJ2955 bipolar transistors, the D 3020, as its name implies, is a class-D design, and so produces ultrasonic noise that would overload the Audio Precision's input circuitry."

NAD D 3020 integrated amplifier Measurements

Sidebar 2: Measurements

www.stereophile.com