Happy Father's Day, Randy! At 6:55 the Et (or E1 on some models) setting causes the amp to use the tone control settings. The Bx and Tx settings only work with the DSP set to Et. Otherwise the DSP curves are in place (or bypassed) and the tone settings are ignored. This is pretty typical SMSL. My A300 does the same. Hope this helps!
The smsl ad18 is incredibly powerful and very clean up until 90% volume. 80 watts x 2 along with a sub out in a super compact chassis is really appealing. Smsl makes pretty impressive mini amps. I want to hear the DAC with balanced outs that you just reviewed, it looks good especially for the price. The heat dissipation is an important point…when run at full volume on a demanding track at 4 ohms, the amp will go into protect mode and shut down.
I bought the SMSL Q5 Pro Amp/DAC (< 125 bucks) four years ago and now use it to drive a desktop near-field audio system with my new Apple Silicon Mac as the source. Small footprint, remote, Sub-out, 8 level tone control + Pre-sets and 4 input options.... combined with a pair of Pioneer BS-22s and a 10" Monoprice powered Sub.....it provides excellent fidelity and cranks in my 12x12 office. Glad to see they continue to offer a nice, budget-conscious line of Amps. Highly recommend SMSL for desktop and/or Soundbar killers.
Father's Day Specials fosiaudioshop.com I mistakenly called the Schiit Syn the Sys in this video. The a50 link hifi-express.com/products/smsl-a50-stereo-power-amplifier The a50 aliexpress s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_oFvoMN5 The a50 amzn.to/3N6D2Vy
I wonder if you could develop a graphic for products under $100, so that those of us who like CHEAPER audio, but still like decent quality. Maybe a BFB (Bang For the Buck, not the Olufsen...), or similar. Maybe it's just the cheapbastid in me...
Nice one Randy, for the last year I've been enjoying an even smaller cheaper 2x 50 watt Wuzhi Audio ZK-502D amp for my desk top system utilisising this TPA 3116 chipset I think it cost less than $20 on aliexpress, I found the trick is to use a non switching power supply, I found an old laptop charger that works sweet as, I connect it via usb to my dynadoc 3 or bt using Wharfedale 9.0 speakers, I have my Wh-S8E sub connected via speaker wires using a high level input converter.
On your recommendation I bought a little Fosi BT10 for my shed, hooked up to Wharfedale Diamond 9 speakers. Mostly I stream radio and tunes from my Tidal account. I have to say I love this little set-up.
Happy Father's day. I have one of these chipsets in another stereo that is rated 300 by 300. So I would think 100 is RMS at 2 ohms. I can get my small little room rocking with two Sony sscs5 , and a 12 inch loud speaker daisy chain off of one of these speakers with a crossover and the horn disconnected. The sound puts a smile on my face, I have to be honest. It is a pretty nice little to start off with! I can plug my hundred and ten vbuilt-in power supply as well as a 19 volt DC power supply together to get a little bit of extra clarity and bass out of it as well.not sure exactly what that means we are going to get in the circuitry and amplifiers very soon. My favorite setting is either a number two with bass and treble all the way up with these speakers. Or a number 6 on mine which I believe is a number five on there
I have to thank you for your suggestions. I bought the Fosi TB10D pro and I'm amazed that a $64 ($4 tax) amp sounds so good with my recent find of a pair of mint condition Maggie MMGs. It sounds more like a >$600 amp. Then I bought an Emotiva SE8 sub on sale and I'm happy with that because it seems to match the speed of the Maggies. I must spend more time playing with positioning speakers. I live in a dome BTW. So I wonder if the SMSL A50 might be good for a center speaker. Have you considered trying the Fosi TB10D with the standard power supply against the higher power supply with all other hookups being the same?
Happy Father's day Randy! Well I've done it, I bought the Fosi BT20A Pro thanks to you, but now I'm thinking about the Fosi Q6 DAC to pair with it as a DAC and preamp. What do you think of the Fosi DACs, or better maybe you can do a video about the Q6 DAC.
Randy, here's and idea for when you're reviewing products. You could do like '$200 Tuesdays' or '$300 Thursdays' of 'Five Bills Fridays'. For the really expensive products you could have 'Sky's the limit Saturdays'
You are 100% correct about Bluetooth being inherently midrange-focused, and that's because it was not originally designed for wideband audio, it was originally designed for speech over the phone, which on the old POTS phones ran from about 200Hz to 4kHz with a big bump around 2.5k to 3.5k for intelligibility. Every Bluetooth codec now in existence is trying to fit the entire human-audible frequency spectrum into the same amount of RF spectrum that the narrow band codecs used, and they're basically working backwards to keep that narrow band at full amplitude while adding as much of the rest of the spectrum in as much compressed data as they can figure out how to accomplish. It would be better from an audio standpoint if they just scrapped everything and started over, but that would break backwards compatibility.
These are no longer available anywhere. If you need something similar that is cheap and practical, you have to go with the A50 PRO version. This would be a great desktop edition.
It comes with a 24V 6.75A power supply, which works out to 162W, divide that by 2 and it's 81W peak power per channel, at 100$ efficiency, which is impossible. RMS power is 63% of peak, which works out to 51W per channel at 100% efficiency. At a generous 90% efficiency, which is perhaps possible with class D, you would get a maximum of about 45W per channel, which will be pretty loud in a small room without head banging levels.
That's so tiny they may have to include a choking hazard warning in the instructions! Hope you get yourself a nice afternoon siesta on this Father's day Randy!
IMHO the best application would be a soundbar alternative. For some reason amps or dac/amps dont like to include a remote on products under $150. This and a $20 spdif dac and you're all set.
I'm confused. You said there are tone controls. Where? No knobs? Are they a setting? How do you get to them? Happy FD to you! My daughters are taking me to dinner tonight:)
Very happy father’s Day. Just wondering. Why don’t some companies try and make a little 5.1 or 7.1 system in a little amplifier like the one you are reviewing.
Here's a question if you feel so inclined to weigh-in Randy, I'm looking for what would effectively be a 3 channel. Would like to find something to hook up to a TV that would have center channel into side speakers, with options for a future subwoofer. I already own a couple of large traditional receivers, and I don't want something that large for the space. Would also want Bluetooth. Know of anything like that?
Seems like an "ok" device for what it is, but for another $30 I'd get the Fosi Audio BT-20A Pro for more balanced sound. (Actually just $15 more than the a50 with the current Father's Day discount going on). Love mine in a desktop setting. I even took it to work for a retirement party last Friday and a guy had some Sony SSCS5 speakers there. It worked fine with those, I didn't even need to turn the bass up.
@@user-xg6zz8qs3q yeah, I bought the BT-20A Pro when it was on special through an affiliate link for just $80. I've been very happy with it "as is" but might play with rolling the op-amps for fun one day. I'm using mine to power some desktop Polk speakers for my computer. Works fine. Love the tone controls. Even the Bluetooth, while only SBC or AAC, still sounds pretty good in a pinch. And the connection was solid.
Yeah, I'd disassemble it first to make sure you don't accidentally hit something inside or metal shavings get into a place they shouldn't. Would be interesting to see how hot it gets run hard for say an hour.
Get the vintage amp. You’ll have enough power at least. These cheap desktop amps just can’t go very loud, especially if you have bookshelf speakers in a living room. A 40W A/B amp can power anything.
@@MissionFreiheit so it is not possible to compare the average performance of todays class D amp and popular amps from the 70 or the 80s ?(that means middle priced category amps from that era as cheaps amps must have died due to poor quality components nd and ultra high end amps remains a category on it's own and remains an expensive luxury item)
@@user-xg6zz8qs3q good point, my use case is super near field ( 1 feet away from my ears in a desktop setup) i guess i don't need much power but rather a non flat freq response amp and rather a U shaped amp to compensate for the fletcher mundson human ear freq response at low volume.
@@amanieux I have some experience with a cheap Tripath TA2024 class D amp and a Continental Edison PA9109 and a Creek 4240 amp. The cheap class D amp sounds thin with barely noticeable grain when you push the volume up. This translates to fatigue over several hours of listening. The PA9109 amp is run of the mill. The power rating and features are perfect. I just wasn’t in love with the thin/bright sound signature. The Creek 4240 is what I currently use and it hits the spot. It sounds warm and full. Trust me, for the best sound you want to have the volume below 50% so that the amp isn’t breaking a sweat. With these class D mini amps you’re always at 80%. Furthermore, cheap class D amps and A/B amps show a faint buzz if you hold the ear right up the speakers. The Creek 4240 is near silent. If you can get a NAD 3020, do it. It’s small. Has a loudness button. Sounds warm and full. And the resale value will go up over the years. Oh yeah, vintage watts are worth way more than class D watts. It has something to do with the power rating methods. So a 1970s or 1980s amp with 20W is good.
Randy, you should change you name to cheap to mid fi audioguy. That way you could expand the products you review. I've watch your from when you were just starting out ( changing opamps) and I bought a lot of the products you reviewed. Since then I got the audio fever and I've been tweaking and upgrading ever since, and would describe my system as mid fi. So I stll like your show but most of the reviews that I watch,( not all) I have moved on. Anyway I see once in a while you review some gear that is not entry level and you get some grief over it. So you should modify your name and or split your show in half from entry level to mid level. Just saying.🤓
Ciao e complimenti per i tuoi video,ti seguo dall’Italia…😅 Piccola domanda: io ho le Qacoustics 3020i abbinate ad uno Yamaha a-s301 che anche tu hai provato….secondo te,che amplificatore in classe D potrei provare senza andare a peggiorare rispetto allo Yamaha? Sarebbe solo uno sfizio per provare la classe D dato che non l’ho mai fatto… Grazie in anticipo,e continua così…💪💪💪
Non credo che Randy parli due parole di Italiano e sia in grado di leggere e capire il tuo messaggio. Io mi terrei quello che hai e lasciar perdere lo sfizio della classe D specialmente quelle pippe da due soldi dalla CIna. Salutami l"italia.
@@francescotenti193 no ma non voglio cambiare il mio,ma solo provare qualcosa di nuovo in classe D,tutto qui…😅😅😅 Per la lingua c’è il traduttore automatico,non penso faccia fatica se ne avrà voglia di rispondere…😅😅😅 Comunque te la saluto volentieri…😉
Nice little 'portable' small system amp. It certainly fills a niche. Thanks for the review and intro. Happy Father's Day to you, Sir.
Thanks, you too!
Happy Father’s Day to all the Father’s
Happy Father's Day, Randy!
At 6:55 the Et (or E1 on some models) setting causes the amp to use the tone control settings. The Bx and Tx settings only work with the DSP set to Et. Otherwise the DSP curves are in place (or bypassed) and the tone settings are ignored. This is pretty typical SMSL. My A300 does the same. Hope this helps!
The smsl ad18 is incredibly powerful and very clean up until 90% volume. 80 watts x 2 along with a sub out in a super compact chassis is really appealing. Smsl makes pretty impressive mini amps. I want to hear the DAC with balanced outs that you just reviewed, it looks good especially for the price.
The heat dissipation is an important point…when run at full volume on a demanding track at 4 ohms, the amp will go into protect mode and shut down.
Fosi bt20a pro is really good. Thanks for reviewing this product.
It's got headroom to spare. Great little amp.
I bought the SMSL Q5 Pro Amp/DAC (< 125 bucks) four years ago and now use it to drive a desktop near-field audio system with my new Apple Silicon Mac as the source. Small footprint, remote, Sub-out, 8 level tone control + Pre-sets and 4 input options.... combined with a pair of Pioneer BS-22s and a 10" Monoprice powered Sub.....it provides excellent fidelity and cranks in my 12x12 office. Glad to see they continue to offer a nice, budget-conscious line of Amps. Highly recommend SMSL for desktop and/or Soundbar killers.
Father's Day Specials fosiaudioshop.com
I mistakenly called the Schiit Syn the Sys in this video.
The a50 link hifi-express.com/products/smsl-a50-stereo-power-amplifier
The a50 aliexpress s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_oFvoMN5
The a50 amzn.to/3N6D2Vy
Happy Father's day Randy!
@Cheapaudioman-_..- fluff off faker... we all know this isn't him....
I wonder if you could develop a graphic for products under $100, so that those of us who like CHEAPER audio, but still like decent quality.
Maybe a BFB (Bang For the Buck, not the Olufsen...), or similar.
Maybe it's just the cheapbastid in me...
Nice one Randy, for the last year I've been enjoying an even smaller cheaper 2x 50 watt Wuzhi Audio ZK-502D amp for my desk top system utilisising this TPA 3116 chipset I think it cost less than $20 on aliexpress, I found the trick is to use a non switching power supply, I found an old laptop charger that works sweet as, I connect it via usb to my dynadoc 3 or bt using Wharfedale 9.0 speakers, I have my Wh-S8E sub connected via speaker wires using a high level input converter.
On your recommendation I bought a little Fosi BT10 for my shed, hooked up to Wharfedale Diamond 9 speakers. Mostly I stream radio and tunes from my Tidal account. I have to say I love this little set-up.
Great to hear!
Happy Father's day. I have one of these chipsets in another stereo that is rated 300 by 300. So I would think 100 is RMS at 2 ohms. I can get my small little room rocking with two Sony sscs5 , and a
12 inch loud speaker daisy chain off of one of these speakers with a crossover and the horn disconnected. The sound puts a smile on my face, I have to be honest. It is a pretty nice little to start off with! I can plug my hundred and ten vbuilt-in power supply as well as a 19 volt DC power supply together to get a little bit of extra clarity and bass out of it as well.not sure exactly what that means we are going to get in the circuitry and amplifiers very soon. My favorite setting is either a number two with bass and treble all the way up with these speakers. Or a number 6 on mine which I believe is a number five on there
I have to thank you for your suggestions. I bought the Fosi TB10D pro and I'm amazed that a $64 ($4 tax) amp sounds so good with my recent find of a pair of mint condition Maggie MMGs. It sounds more like a >$600 amp. Then I bought an Emotiva SE8 sub on sale and I'm happy with that because it seems to match the speed of the Maggies. I must spend more time playing with positioning speakers. I live in a dome BTW. So I wonder if the SMSL A50 might be good for a center speaker. Have you considered trying the Fosi TB10D with the standard power supply against the higher power supply with all other hookups being the same?
Happy Father's Day!
Happy Father's day Randy!
Well I've done it, I bought the Fosi BT20A Pro thanks to you, but now I'm thinking about the Fosi Q6 DAC to pair with it as a DAC and preamp. What do you think of the Fosi DACs, or better maybe you can do a video about the Q6 DAC.
I haven’t really listened to a Fosi DAC so I couldn’t say with any confidence. Thanks so much for the well wishes
That won't achieve anything. The DAC stage in the BT20 Pro is good already.
Happy fathers day
Randy, here's and idea for when you're reviewing products. You could do like '$200 Tuesdays' or '$300 Thursdays' of 'Five Bills Fridays'. For the really expensive products you could have 'Sky's the limit Saturdays'
You are 100% correct about Bluetooth being inherently midrange-focused, and that's because it was not originally designed for wideband audio, it was originally designed for speech over the phone, which on the old POTS phones ran from about 200Hz to 4kHz with a big bump around 2.5k to 3.5k for intelligibility. Every Bluetooth codec now in existence is trying to fit the entire human-audible frequency spectrum into the same amount of RF spectrum that the narrow band codecs used, and they're basically working backwards to keep that narrow band at full amplitude while adding as much of the rest of the spectrum in as much compressed data as they can figure out how to accomplish. It would be better from an audio standpoint if they just scrapped everything and started over, but that would break backwards compatibility.
These are no longer available anywhere. If you need something similar that is cheap and practical, you have to go with the A50 PRO version. This would be a great desktop edition.
It comes with a 24V 6.75A power supply, which works out to 162W, divide that by 2 and it's 81W peak power per channel, at 100$ efficiency, which is impossible. RMS power is 63% of peak, which works out to 51W per channel at 100% efficiency. At a generous 90% efficiency, which is perhaps possible with class D, you would get a maximum of about 45W per channel, which will be pretty loud in a small room without head banging levels.
It's Amazon listing describes it as a power amp. But since it has a volume control and tone controls isn't it really an integrated amp?
Yeah. Agree with you. And it has a source. There’s a lot lost in translation on these listings sometimes
Happy Father's Day to you!
I totally agree with your assessment of using bluetooth to stream audio. It never sounds as good as using the USB cable on my DX3 Pro+
Thanks Randy, I still have my 6yr old SMSL SA50 model amplifier.
I'd love to see Big D from Williston Audio put this thing on the Dyno and see what actually happens at 2 ohms. My guess is shutdown after 15 seconds.
Big D is awesome!! I love his tests!!! Here we goooooo!
That's so tiny they may have to include a choking hazard warning in the instructions! Hope you get yourself a nice afternoon siesta on this Father's day Randy!
I have a Fosi V3 on the way!
Hey, check out the new Fosi Audio V3 Power amp Randy....looks even better internally and outwards looks champion!
Nice! Might need one, or at least something like this.
You should!
IMHO the best application would be a soundbar alternative. For some reason amps or dac/amps dont like to include a remote on products under $150. This and a $20 spdif dac and you're all set.
Any sugestion power amp with 2x50w (8ohm) power output? Thanks.
Happy Fathers day Randy!
I'm confused. You said there are tone controls. Where? No knobs? Are they a setting? How do you get to them?
Happy FD to you! My daughters are taking me to dinner tonight:)
They’re digital. Within the menus
I see from the small display. Thanks again Randy. I enjoy your channel.
$106.25 in Canada.
I would have liked a speaker pairing suggestion. Sorry if I missed it.
I ran the Q 5020’s on it. Neutral speaker. I should have mentioned what would pair well with it
Very happy father’s Day. Just wondering. Why don’t some companies try and make a little 5.1 or 7.1 system in a little amplifier like the one you are reviewing.
that would be cool.
@@cheapaudioman do you think it could be done at a reasonable price. $300-500
Here's a question if you feel so inclined to weigh-in Randy, I'm looking for what would effectively be a 3 channel. Would like to find something to hook up to a TV that would have center channel into side speakers, with options for a future subwoofer. I already own a couple of large traditional receivers, and I don't want something that large for the space. Would also want Bluetooth. Know of anything like that?
Randy, happy fathers day buddy!! Your intros are just FIRE 🔥 You get better and better every day!! Thanks man, cheers.
Thank you, brother!
Seems like an "ok" device for what it is, but for another $30 I'd get the Fosi Audio BT-20A Pro for more balanced sound. (Actually just $15 more than the a50 with the current Father's Day discount going on). Love mine in a desktop setting. I even took it to work for a retirement party last Friday and a guy had some Sony SSCS5 speakers there. It worked fine with those, I didn't even need to turn the bass up.
I’m also worried that the A50 lacks power and that you’ll end up buying the BT-20 A soon after.
@@user-xg6zz8qs3q yeah, I bought the BT-20A Pro when it was on special through an affiliate link for just $80. I've been very happy with it "as is" but might play with rolling the op-amps for fun one day. I'm using mine to power some desktop Polk speakers for my computer. Works fine. Love the tone controls. Even the Bluetooth, while only SBC or AAC, still sounds pretty good in a pinch. And the connection was solid.
what a great jam in the intro part!can anybody say what that is?
BTW Happy Father’s Day!
Is this as good as the DA-8S?
How much power does it have compared to the Fosi Audio BT20A ?
I hope either the good Randy or someone else in here pays attention to this question. It would be good to know
Happy Dad's day.
Not bad at all… Especially for 60 bucks!
Units that are controlled by remote control bother me the remote is the first thing to go bad. If they have full control on the unit it is not so bad.
Could you just drill some vent holes in the top and bottom to improve cooling? Curious how hot it got. May get one and temp gun it. Hmm....
I suppose you could do that. just be careful how deep your cutting the holes
Yeah, I'd disassemble it first to make sure you don't accidentally hit something inside or metal shavings get into a place they shouldn't. Would be interesting to see how hot it gets run hard for say an hour.
Would this amp work with pioneer sp-bs22-lr speakers?
Review starts at 2:50. Looks like a tiny class D to me.
Happy Fathers Day, Randy. Would love to see a comparison of the Fosi BT20A Pro VS the new V3!
Tuesday, my friend. And happy Father’s Day to you too. The beard is a dead give away
@@cheapaudioman Thanks! Cant wait to check it out, thanks man!
how does it compares soundwise with a $60 vintage amp ?
That depends on the vintage amp. Impossible to answer your question
Get the vintage amp. You’ll have enough power at least. These cheap desktop amps just can’t go very loud, especially if you have bookshelf speakers in a living room. A 40W A/B amp can power anything.
@@MissionFreiheit so it is not possible to compare the average performance of todays class D amp and popular amps from the 70 or the 80s ?(that means middle priced category amps from that era as cheaps amps must have died due to poor quality components nd and ultra high end amps remains a category on it's own and remains an expensive luxury item)
@@user-xg6zz8qs3q good point, my use case is super near field ( 1 feet away from my ears in a desktop setup) i guess i don't need much power but rather a non flat freq response amp and rather a U shaped amp to compensate for the fletcher mundson human ear freq response at low volume.
@@amanieux I have some experience with a cheap Tripath TA2024 class D amp and a Continental Edison PA9109 and a Creek 4240 amp. The cheap class D amp sounds thin with barely noticeable grain when you push the volume up. This translates to fatigue over several hours of listening. The PA9109 amp is run of the mill. The power rating and features are perfect. I just wasn’t in love with the thin/bright sound signature. The Creek 4240 is what I currently use and it hits the spot. It sounds warm and full. Trust me, for the best sound you want to have the volume below 50% so that the amp isn’t breaking a sweat. With these class D mini amps you’re always at 80%. Furthermore, cheap class D amps and A/B amps show a faint buzz if you hold the ear right up the speakers. The Creek 4240 is near silent. If you can get a NAD 3020, do it. It’s small. Has a loudness button. Sounds warm and full. And the resale value will go up over the years. Oh yeah, vintage watts are worth way more than class D watts. It has something to do with the power rating methods. So a 1970s or 1980s amp with 20W is good.
Randy, you should change you name to cheap to mid fi audioguy. That way you could expand the products you review. I've watch your from when you were just starting out ( changing opamps) and I bought a lot of the products you reviewed. Since then I got the audio fever and I've been tweaking and upgrading ever since, and would describe my system as mid fi. So I stll like your show but most of the reviews that I watch,( not all) I have moved on. Anyway I see once in a while you review some gear that is not entry level and you get some grief over it. So you should modify your name and or split your show in half from entry level to mid level. Just saying.🤓
Thanks for the suggestion. You might be right
EEk! 360p?? really cmon at least have the video at 720 p ... :(
UA-cam is slow to process HD. It will pop up to 1080 soon. I was a little slow on the uploads today but it was shot in 1080.
@@cheapaudioman Cool Beans
Ciao e complimenti per i tuoi video,ti seguo dall’Italia…😅
Piccola domanda: io ho le Qacoustics 3020i abbinate ad uno Yamaha a-s301 che anche tu hai provato….secondo te,che amplificatore in classe D potrei provare senza andare a peggiorare rispetto allo Yamaha?
Sarebbe solo uno sfizio per provare la classe D dato che non l’ho mai fatto…
Grazie in anticipo,e continua così…💪💪💪
Non credo che Randy parli due parole di Italiano e sia in grado di leggere e capire il tuo messaggio. Io mi terrei quello che hai e lasciar perdere lo sfizio della classe D specialmente quelle pippe da due soldi dalla CIna. Salutami l"italia.
@@francescotenti193 no ma non voglio cambiare il mio,ma solo provare qualcosa di nuovo in classe D,tutto qui…😅😅😅
Per la lingua c’è il traduttore automatico,non penso faccia fatica se ne avrà voglia di rispondere…😅😅😅
Comunque te la saluto volentieri…😉
This would be perfect for my mom's record player with built in phono amp. The receiver I have it hooked up to lost a channel...
Pls clean your fingernails before making a video. ( yes you can see it)