What electronic audio products you want tested most

[Sal1950]

I have two AVRs here waiting to be tested.

Good to see amplifier testing still leads. I feel like I have been testing nothing but amplifiers in the last few months!

But you have 2 Home Theater front ends listed, AVRs and Processors, which add up to 534, a close second.
I keep hoping your going to test something in the inexpensive range that equals or betters the Marantz AV10
I'm happy with my Denon but could sleep better with the AV 10

 

[cavedriver]

More "vintage" amplifiers please, like Adcom GFA's, Classe, Pass, any claimed "pure class A" or "hybrid A with A/B over a certain output" amps. But also, any "reputedly good" SET tube amps, such as certain 300B amps like the Elekit or any of the Audio Note's or Coincident. Also, any of the "high end" amps that use tubes like the Von Schweikerts. And yes, before someone says it again, I know someone needs to send the amp to Amir to actually get it tested, and no, I don't have any of these amps to send him but I'm sure some of us do.

 

[NADKEF listener]

Russia being the last friend standing, was rewarded with 0% tariffs. Perhaps time to test more Russian hifi gear. Like the Sonus Victor!

 

[namrata]

Audio

Sennheiser TeamConnect Ceiling 2​

$6,449.00

Shure MXA920 Ceiling Array Microphone​

$5,475.00

 

[Audionaut]

The TPA3255 amplifiers have been tested by many companies in various iterations.

It would be nice if the other amplifier chips were tested more.
Infineon MA5332MS, for example, but also other Infineon audio solutions with GaN technology.

In my opinion, DACs are a story told when 20 Euro dongles deliver high-end performance.

 

[EJ3]

The TPA3255 amplifiers have been tested by many companies in various iterations.

It would be nice if the other amplifier chips were tested more.
Infineon MA5332MS, for example, but also other Infineon audio solutions with GaN technology.

View attachment 450305

In my opinion, DACs are a story told when 20 Euro dongles deliver high-end performance.

Not everyone wants that form factor. That, in fact, includes every person that I personally know and interact with. And I am a more than average gregarious person.
I'm guessing that you live in a city.
I unfortunately live near one but so far I haven't succumbed to their annexing (stealing money via taxation for nothing that I need) my property.

 

[Audionaut]

Not everyone wants that form factor. That, in fact, includes every person that I personally know and interact with. And I am a more than average gregarious person.
I'm guessing that you live in a city.

I don't understand the connection.
I don't think that I have limitations of space.

 

[EJ3]

I don't understand the connection.

I do not want a dongle sitting on my stereo and myself and no one else that I know (some of who are City folks, want that either.
No one that I know is so attached to their phone that they use it seriously for music. But many city folks are.
Therefore, here, that is the way it is. Now perhaps young folks do. My son doesn't & he lives in a city of 38 million (not in the USA), so I do not know about in other areas.
& I don't care about what others do or how they do things as long as it doesn't affect me. Sometimes I learn new things from others and utilize them.
But I live where there is no cell phone signal for many reasons. I have friends that are moving further away because they do not want the city encroaching on them in their lifetime. One day, I will likely also be doing that.
I find it odd that you do not understand the connection.

 

[Audionaut]

I find it odd that you do not understand the connection

I find it odd to see any connection there.
I was referring to the technical performance and price of a DAC dongle, not its size.

But I also have different DAC dongles, different hi-fi systems, surround setups, projectors and TVs in different houses in the country and in the city.

So I don't think that only city dwellers use dongles. In any case, I try out everything I find interesting.

 

[cavedriver]

The TPA3255 amplifiers have been tested by many companies in various iterations.

It would be nice if the other amplifier chips were tested more.
Infineon MA5332MS, for example, but also other Infineon audio solutions with GaN technology.

View attachment 450305

In my opinion, DACs are a story told when 20 Euro dongles deliver high-end performance.

Cool graph- makes me want to see amps with those IRS24xx chips producing over 1000 wpc. If they can be cheaply made into cleaner amps than the likes of Crown I could see some great applications for DIY subs and such. Come to think of it, would like to see more plate amps and Crown amps measured to see if they really stay below levels of distortion and so on that can be detected in bass and sub-bass applications.
EDIT: Note that Amir has measured at least three Crown amps, with the most powerful being the 4002 that did generate plenty of power, but at a rather high noise floor that ought to be improved on.

 

[cavedriver]

Not everyone wants that form factor. That, in fact, includes every person that I personally know and interact with. And I am a more than average gregarious person.
I'm guessing that you live in a city.
I unfortunately live near one but so far I haven't succumbed to their annexing (stealing money via taxation for nothing that I need) my property.

I didn't see where he made any comment about form factor preferences- the point is that measuring most DAC's is now pointless when even the tiniest and cheapest DACs produce immeasurably low levels of noise. Buy whatever form factor suits your system. I don't think anyone cares. Also feel free to overspend on it if you are attached to the aesthetics or perceived value, it's all up to you. Making assertions about buyers and demographics is so far from the science it's kind of insulting.

 

[EJ3]

I find it odd to see any connection there.
I was referring to the technical performance and price of a DAC dongle, not its size.

But I also have different DAC dongles, different hi-fi systems, surround setups, projectors and TVs in different houses in the country and in the city.

So I don't think that only city dwellers use dongles. In any case, I try out everything I find interesting.

I also try out things that I find interesting, as do the people that I know.
Technically all the form factors are capable of being great, as far as DAC's are concerned.
Unfortunately that does not mean that they are all great.
I'm very glad we have Amir to help with those decisions.
We also have a place in a City of 38 million. I think that the last time I was there was in 2007. My wife is there at the moment. I was supposed to leave & go there for a month a few weeks ago but both medical & legal issues popped up, so we might not be together for our anniversary (June 15). In 20 years, one of us has been somewhere else all but 3 times. Within a 2 hour drive of that place we have a place in the country over their also. My wive will be checking on it's completion on the 18th.
I was hoping to start a new trend for us of being together on our anniversaries since we are now both retired (this is the first one since she retired [I am in forced retirement due to an accident {not my fault, hence the Dr. & legal issues}]). She is trying to get a flight back to here in time, so...
Here, we live on a river & the area population is 128 per square mile in this area. I could be OK with more. I guess that we are extremists (almost no population & way to much population). My preferred home is on an island where we have a condo there leased out in the Western Pacific that has a population of about 175,000.
But my very healthy year old mother is here & I am an only child, so we will be based here for some years.

 

[dr0ss]

I don't think that I have limitations of space.

You have even more glass in that room than we do in our big glassed-in space; how do you deal with room effects on sound quality? (We've basically given up, just buy decent components and accept that they would sound miles better in a completely different space.)

But I live where there is no cell phone signal for many reasons.

Aren't you in suburban Charleston? I ate dinner last year at an oyster joint on James Island, practically everyone in the place was glued to their cell phone. Service seemed miles better than I'm used to in our summer house on the opposite coast.

With respect, it is very weird to craft a "rugged individualist" narrative around amp and DAC form factors. The heavy lifting in all good DACs is being done by a chip the size of a postage stamp. If you want to get a local carpenter to build a crate in which to insert a DAC to make it bigger, that's your right as a free American. I think it is in the Declaration of Independence.

 

[Audionaut]

You have even more glass in that room than we do in our big glassed-in space; how do you deal with room effects on sound quality?

Not at all
This is just the conservatory and there is no hi-fi system there.

 

[EJ3]

You have even more glass in that room than we do in our big glassed-in space; how do you deal with room effects on sound quality? (We've basically given up, just buy decent components and accept that they would sound miles better in a completely different space.)


Aren't you in suburban Charleston? I ate dinner last year at an oyster joint on James Island, practically everyone in the place was glued to their cell phone. Service seemed miles better than I'm used to in our summer house on the opposite coast.

With respect, it is very weird to craft a "rugged individualist" narrative around amp and DAC form factors. The heavy lifting in all good DACs is being done by a chip the size of a postage stamp. If you want to get a local carpenter to build a crate in which to insert a DAC to make it bigger, that's your right as a free American. I think it is in the Declaration of Independence.

We have a home there (on James Island that is not in the City of Chas) that I grew up in since my parents designed and built it with friends help in 1964. We also have 2 homes within an hour or so drive. One of which is on property my family bought in 1957 on a fresh water river. That is where there is not a good enough cell phone signal to use the phone indoors & outdoors you need to be in a certain spot on the deck & standing just so.
That is my preferred place to stay (not in Charleston County), it is also the last place on the power grid in that area.
We also have a condo on a Western Pacific Island within 15 degrees of the equator.
And a home in the country in Europe and 2 condos (1 country & one city) in Asia.
Any other questions that are not your business?

 

[DVinylfan]

Cool. This room is so large one needs binoculars to look around it

 

[dr0ss]

Any other questions that are not your business?

Honestly, nobody wants to know about your cell reception, real estate holdings, mother's health, or hatred of cities and dongles, and I'm not sure why you raised them in response to Audionaut's interesting post or cavedriver's followups. This is an audio forum, and a thread about testing audio products. The cell reception thing just struck me because your address is right there in your sig and when I was recently there I didn't experience it.

 

[dr0ss]

This is just the conservatory and there is no hi-fi system there.

You're lucky then. Our living room has two walls of glass, and no hope of extremely accurate sound, despite the fact that we're using a DAC that is nearly perfect despite its low price and urban-friendly(?) form factor.

 

[EJ3]

Honestly, nobody wants to know about your cell reception, real estate holdings, mother's health, or hatred of cities and dongles, and I'm not sure why you raised them in response to Audionaut's interesting post or cavedriver's followups. This is an audio forum, and a thread about testing audio products. The cell reception thing just struck me because your address is right there in your sig and when I was recently there I didn't experience it.

I did enjoy the boar hunting on Oʻahu, I miss that.

Honestly, then why did you ask a question about my cell phone reception, questioning my experience?
"Aren't you in suburban Charleston? I ate dinner last year at an oyster joint on James Island, practically everyone in the place was glued to their cell phone. Service seemed miles better than I'm used to in our summer house on the opposite coast."
I politely answered it, even though YOU took it out of the audio realm.

At my mother's house on James Island, there is an upstairs bedroom that does not get a cell phone signal.
Or maybe you have never heard of or understand the Fresnel effect.
I can run a WiFi signal with 2 watts of RF transceivers at each end 60 miles (if their are no obstructions).

And what makes you think I stated things that I did not just make up out of thin air (or half truths or some combination there of).
I know that no one particularly wants to know my stuff, experiences, what I own & where.
Which is why I did not tell the truth, the whole truth & nothing but the truth, so help me God. Or maybe I did.

I did like boar the boar hunting. It was an interesting challenge. Different than the way we do it here.

Perhaps we should get back to Audio, where we may or may not agree on something but at least we will be on subject.

Moderators, I'm sorry that I was led of subject & participated in continuing to be of subject.
@drOss says that we shouldn't be on the subject that he started & I whole heartedly agree. No more from me about this.

 

[dr0ss]

Infineon MA5332MS, for example

Some Infineon-based amps, mainly based on the 12070, have been discussed quite a bit in this forum. As their big drawback has been power, the MA5332MS is an interesting alternative. However, I think that amps have largely been solved like the DACs have been solved, and since manufacturers have established designs and productions for amps based on chips like the 3255 it is hard to imagine they have much to gain by retooling and creating yet another amp with infinitesimally better specs (and possibly no better sound.

That said, the major difference in this between amps and DACs is that the former has to drive a speaker, which adds a big reactive load to the amp output. Two amps which are identical (and linear) into a measuring device might behave differently in the real world with a given speaker. DACs, on the other hand, are mainly used to drive a line-level load with relatively well-established parameters. (This doesn't apply to dongles, which also serve as amps for headphones, so have the same reactive load issue.)

Meanwhile, I conclude from the chunk of thread between your post and mine that there are people out there with better Scotch than I have; I have to rectify that pronto.