Which TPA3255 amp do you recommend?

[maty]

 

[daniboun]

Hi amigos,

As promised, the teardown is now online :

Breeze TPA3255 XLR Balanced Amplifier TearDown : DIP8 Op Amps.

Hi amigos ) As promised, I am sharing some spec and pictures about the new Breeze Audio TPA3255 amplifier. This is the only full balanced finished amp that I found for less than $200 ) The amp comes in an black aluminum case of modest size but seems robust however. In the front plate you will...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[twistgripper]

Can anyone recommend a decent budget Subwoofer board or assembled amp based on TPA3255?
I'm looking for something acceptable for an Infinity 12" sealed sub (4ohm) I'm building - for music mainly in a smaller room. but I like to crank it up occasionally. target 200w rms or better, 150w absolute minimum.

I've tried a tpa3116 based board with 24v/5a psu, but it was not enough power, overload protection and distortion kicked in pretty early above normal listening volumes. not good enough.

I don't like spending much on audio gear, budgeting up to approx $250 CAD but less is always better.

My "short list" options i have narrowed down: (advice appreciated)
1. I have a BIC America F12 12" subwoofer I can use the amp from it (Bash amp rated 150w rms/475 peak (roughly $200 opportunity cost as i could not sell it then)
2. Considered buying a Dayton SPA250, nice clean well rated amp 156w@8ohms 1% thd, 252w@4ohms 1% thd (cost around $250 CAD)
3. try a TPA3255 based amp + 48v 10a power supply - For the TPA3255 - is this likely my best value? BRZHIFI 600w assembled approx $170CAD

Of the 3 options, Id love to play around with a tpa3255 and save some $$ at the same time. I'm no electronics whiz but i am competent enought to take a basic board and power supply, cobble together a mounting plate and assemble it all.

Recommendations?

PS so much great info on this thread, thank you for all those contributing!

 

[Guerilla]

Absolutely No reason to buy such nice amplifier for subwoofer duty. Maybe get Behringer amp or second hand stereo car amplifier paired with old Xbox 14 volt powersupply. Get one of those multipowersocketthings that senses draw to turn on Amp automatically. My English sucks btw
Cheers!

 

[twistgripper]

Absolutely No reason to buy such nice amplifier for subwoofer duty. Maybe get Behringer amp or second hand stereo car amplifier paired with old Xbox 14 volt powersupply. Get one of those multipowersocketthings that senses draw to turn on Amp automatically. My English sucks btw
Cheers!

While I don't know much about "Behringer" amps, a quick google showed they are very expensive, cheapest being a 1000 watt for $400+. and I want to keep things compact, as this is a PC setup.

As for pc PSU and car amp....while it can be done, it creates several problems for me:

Power ratings: both PC power supply makers and car audio amp makers often greatly exaggerate their power ratings...so I cannot trust the ratings
- If I'm aiming for a solid 200w rms/400w+ peak, do i need a 1500w psu and 1000w car amp? who knows? My old car amp is likely underpowered and class ab.
- have to muck around to get 14.4v, and disable protections...i want a more plug and play solution
- I want ability to bypass crossover for receiver use (car amp may or may not have that)
- a big old pc psu bolted to the side of my subwoofer and a car amp would be rather bulky and ugly. and its sealed so putting them in the enclosure could bring heat issues.

If my budget was close to $0, i'd probably give it a try, but I don't want the hassle, and I dont mind spending a bit for a more simple/elegant solution.

 

[Guerilla]

@twistgripper Cool!
I would consider keeping your BIC as second sub, if you have room for it close to listening position.

Behringer has some cheap inuke DSP amps. New versions not so ugly.

About ampmodules; For sub Its mostly about power at the frequensy where your Infinity Will draw the most. I put L25D instead of the original ampmodules of my Denon poa2200 since it fits Its 70volt PSU. Works great. L25D sounds very good, but Its not important to have great detail in midd or high since it wont play it while driving the basses.
I dont know which class D chip is most bang for the bucks for 3? Ohms atm.
You could find a very pretty defective amplifier and stuff it with modules that thrive at Its voltage. I did out of coinsedence since one channels would make amp turn off. I sold the good channel cheap as a donor to a Guy who was very happy for that.
Car amps have the nice feature that they are designed for low ohm drive that is ofte needed for subs also their enclosures most ofte works fine as cooling.
Consider checking if the parameters of your Infinity allows an aperiodic vent. Like Variovent from scanspeak. That is like best of two worlds from bass reflex and sealed.
Cheers!

 

[Guerilla]

If you visit Denmark some time I Will sell you a very powerfull car Amp for 5 dollars. And a very pretty one for 30 dollars
Cheers!

 

[10khz-lpf]

Hello, I hope this is the right place to ask this.
I have a pair of TPA3255 amp boards on the way from Aliexpress.
I see a lot of people are using Mean Well LRS power supplies, I was a little surprised by this because I thought SMPS wasn't advised.
Is there some reason Mean Well LSR seems to be used frequently instead of some basic DIY linear power supply?

 

[Bruce Morgen]

SMPS wasn't advised

By who and according to what measurement(s)? That sounds like typical, unsubstantiated audiophool folklore to me.

 

[daniboun]

Hello, I hope this is the right place to ask this.
I have a pair of TPA3255 amp boards on the way from Aliexpress.
I see a lot of people are using Mean Well LRS power supplies, I was a little surprised by this because I thought SMPS wasn't advised.
Is there some reason Mean Well LSR seems to be used frequently instead of some basic DIY linear power supply?

Hi.
On another topic I compared a Meanwell and a Connex R300RS, in particular with a Topping PA5 which uses a TPA325X. Both of these PSUs have an excellent Ripple. Linear power supplies are very expensive, hence the use of SMPS.

From experience I can tell you that the Connex SMPS 300RS is a safe bet!

http://connexelectronic.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/SMPS300R.pdf

 

[Guerilla]

By who and according to what measurement(s)? That sounds like typical, unsubstantiated audiophool folklore to me.

Lets keep it less agressive. Just my opinion.
Cheers!

 

[somebodyelse]

Mean Well get recommended as they have built up a reputation for making decently implemented supplies at reasonable prices, and not catching fire unexpectedly. The catching fiire part has been an issue with some of the cheaper 3d printers which use similarly rated supplies, and where manufacturers have been trying to cut costs a little too far. Connex also have a decent reputation.

 

[10khz-lpf]

By who and according to what measurement(s)? That sounds like typical, unsubstantiated audiophool folklore to me.

If you want to act so belligerent on a public forum, the onus is on you to provide some backup for your claims. To counter your post, If any old SMPS of any brand and specification worked without issue, and the only thing that mattered was the magical number of volts, we'd all be using LED driver power supplies on our stereos. ;-)

My understanding, which is nothing too crazy, is that linear is optimal but comes at a disadvantage of poor efficiency. I also understand that SMPS is perfectly fine when they are chosen correctly for their applications.

Hi.
On another topic I compared a Meanwell and a Connex R300RS, in particular with a Topping PA5 which uses a TPA325X. Both of these PSUs have an excellent Ripple. Linear power supplies are very expensive, hence the use of SMPS.

From experience I can tell you that the Connex SMPS 300RS is a safe bet!

http://connexelectronic.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/SMPS300R.pdf

Thank you and I will consider this. Though I already have the Mean Well in my Mouser cart just in case.

Additionally, consider there is a seemingly endless supply of HD24-4.8-A+ on eBay for about half the cost of the Mean Well, which is linear and 60% efficiency vs switching and 89% efficiency, and the surplus supply I just mentioned will require at the least an external fuse and DC breakout cable. I already have one but if I would benefit from the greater wattage of this Connex (thank you again) or the Mean Well (it has a 9.8A output vs. the 4.8A of my linear), considering I am a fairly quiet listener driving a pair of 100W full range speakers. The 24v i am aware is at the low end of the input voltage for the TPA3255, and I would be worried about losing some dynamics going on the lowest end of the input voltage range (I think I read here that someone liked 28.5v?)


For reference, I am a user of a FX Audio D802C since 2018, a FDA which I ended up going with 24v as a middle ground because with that amp the overall THD decreased as you lowered the input voltage (stock PSU was 32V, range 12-32V), but so did the maximum possible output wattage. So the TPA3255 is the first Class D amp I am going to use in a long time and I do not want to waste both the cost of electricity and sacrifice output potential by sticking with the same 24v linear I used on the FDA. Again, I could probably be fine with 50W max speakers, I'm not a particularly loud listener, but I know input voltage as it relates to dynamic potential is not a direct comparison between Class D and PCM-PWM.

 

[somebodyelse]

If you want to act so belligerent on a public forum, the onus is on you to provide some backup for your claims. To counter your post, If any old SMPS of any brand and specification worked without issue, and the only thing that mattered was the magical number of volts, we'd all be using LED driver power supplies on our stereos. ;-)

My understanding, which is nothing too crazy, is that linear is optimal but comes at a disadvantage of poor efficiency. I also understand that SMPS is perfectly fine when they are chosen correctly for their applications.

Take your pick from the amps at the better end of the measurement spectrum here - many are using SMPS including the Benchmark AHB2, Modulus-286 (using a Connex for that one IIRC, but has used Mean Well in others) and most of the Hypex and Purifi based models. You'll also find them in DACs and headphone amps if you check the internal photos.
Edit: what I mean is it's implementation that matters, not whether it's linear or switching. There are plenty of well implemented amps using SMPS, and plenty using linear PSUs. The PSU type thing is much like the obsession some have about amplifier class - it's the implementation and performance that counts as you can do any of them well or badly.

 

[daniboun]

Here a good example of the measurements of the stock SMPS from the PA5 (38V / 4A)

Topping PA5 Review (Amplifier)

Has anyone tried powering a He6 of any variant off the Pa5? @JohnYang1997

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[Smitty2k1]

So I'm looking for a power amp to attach to the pre-outs of my AVR for the front L/R. What's the suggested model these days, or DIY? For DIY do you need anything besides the TPA3255, a PSU, the case, and the connectors?

Looking to spend around $200 and other options are the Topping PA3s or something used on eBay.

 

[Bruce Morgen]

My understanding, which is nothing too crazy, is that linear is optimal but comes at a disadvantage of poor efficiency.

Please explain why "linear is optimal." BTW, I use generic industrial SMPSs, -- the same type as used for LED lighting -- with no audible performance issues. Aiyima recommends and offers one from Meanwell to get maximum performance from their popular, Amir-praised A07 -- and Topping explicitly recommends a common cellphone wall wart for their DACs. DC is DC, assuming adequate current sourcing and filtering in the PSU. Even assuming competent implementation, linear power supplies are woefully inefficient in terms of cost (bigger, much more expensive transformers), size (bigger transformer and filter caps), heat emitted, and power consumption, especially at idle. That's why even the top-rated Class G Benchmark AHB2 is powered via SMPS -- there's really no down side.

 

[10khz-lpf]

I appreciate the links @daniboun and @somebodyelse
Without getting too off topic I only really know vintage power amps like Class A & Class AB. It's only when I got my D802C about 4 years ago that I finally moved away from using vintage receivers and power amps. So again I appreciate your assistance very much since it is a lot of good information I wouldn't have known to find or look for.

So I'm looking for a power amp to attach to the pre-outs of my AVR for the front L/R. What's the suggested model these days, or DIY? For DIY do you need anything besides the TPA3255, a PSU, the case, and the connectors?

Looking to spend around $200 and other options are the Topping PA3s or something used on eBay.

Not sure what TPA3255 board you were looking at, but the Shui Yuan board I have on the way has a mute switch on the board. If you want to avoid pops at power on or power off, you could wire a simple toggle switch to that. I thought about adding relays for this purpose, but I didn't want to have to route the audio through those in order for it to mute and unmute automatically, just a thought.
If it's going to live inside a case, consider desoldering the screw terminals and solder your connectors directly to those pads on the PCB.
If you don't care about the mute switch, then no, nothing you didn't mention is needed.

 

[10khz-lpf]

Please explain why "linear is optimal." BTW, I use generic industrial SMPSs, -- the same type as used for LED lighting -- with no audible performance issues. Aiyima recommends and offers one from Meanwell to get maximum performance from their popular, Amir-praised A07 -- and Topping explicitly recommends a common cellphone wall wart for their DACs. DC is DC, assuming adequate current sourcing and filtering in the PSU. Even assuming competent implementation, linear power supplies are woefully inefficient in terms of cost (bigger, much more expensive transformers), size (bigger transformer and filter caps), heat emitted, and power consumption, especially at idle. That's why even the top-rated Class G Benchmark AHB2 is powered via SMPS -- there's really no down side.

For my own DACs I do use a regular old USB charger plus an ADUM3160 isolator and I have been doing this for years and find it to be a wonderful setup.

I should have said ideal instead of optimal, in the same sense an "ideal" power supply is 100% efficient. With that said, I really only know vintage receivers and the like and am very new to this world of modern power amps.

On the vintage audio communities the people there will laugh at you if you ever considered putting a modern SMPS in something vintage, with an attitude that any SMPS will die after a few years and a properly maintained 50 year old linear PSU will never die, so even though I've done a fair amount of replacing really bad old power supplies with small (>45W) Mean Wells, I always thought that was an arrogant opinion. Though I must admit I was very surprised combing through this thread and I thought I would be seeing a lot of people comparing linear to switching performance on the TPA3255 and did not see that. It made me realize I must be behind the times and need to "catch up".

Apologies for the rambling, to be honest I am still most interested in learning why these modern SMPS seem to perform and measure so well - and if there is something I can learn from them to make my vintage Class AB gear shine in a new way.

 

[laudio]

Every put a modern class D amp in a chassis that has a linear supply and large toroidal? Think noise. Linear supplies aren't all they are cracked up to be with some of the modern D amps and SMPS is usually recommended.