Cheap Amp Destroys Most “Audiophile Amps”?! (silly clickbait title)
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- Опубліковано 7 лют 2025
- The Best $89 Audiophile Amplifier On The Planet?
Buy This Amp: amzn.to/3EuB1Sn
Sparkos: bit.ly/4hxyENu
Burson Vivid: bit.ly/415lQry
A while back, I checked out some budget-friendly desktop amps, wondering if any could earn the New Record Day stamp of approval. Most sounded decent but had a forward, aggressive soundstage that didn't quite sit right with me. But then… I tried the **Douk Audio A5**.
This little Class D amp packs a punch-up to *300W per channel* (depending on the power supply), with a built-in **high-pass filter**, **op-amp rolling**, and a clean, engaging sound. But is it perfect? Not quite. Those tiny speaker terminals? A joke. And at higher volumes, the A5 starts to lose some of its magic.
Still, for **$80**, it might just be the best-sounding budget amp out there. I’ll break down its performance, quirks, and even compare different op-amps to see how they shape the sound.
🎧 *Headphones on for the sound clips!* Let me know what you hear in the comments below!
💬 *What’s your take?* Does the A5 impress, or is it just another budget amp? Let’s talk!
📌 *Affiliate Links*
🔗 Douk Audio A5 - amzn.to/42NS7EW
🔗 [3.5mm-to-RCA Adapter - amzn.to/4aXIwO0
📢 **Disclaimer**: Douk Audio sent me this amp for an honest review. No fluff, no bias-just my real thoughts. Affiliate links help support the channel at no extra cost to you.
👀 *Watch till the end for my final verdict!*
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At last! You are coming to the dark side! Great vid, Ronald
Who else suspects Randy is secretly a Sith Lord?
@@BruceCross I think he's a SCHIIT LORD.. it's a joke Randy
@ Ha!
Hahahaha 😂
I’m running the Fosi v3 with rolled op amps and a tube preamp. In my near field setup, it’s perfect. You get all the benefits from the chip amp plus the added natural sound from the tube. I cannot ask for more
What tube amp please?
@@mikecees2230 I'm running the Xduoo MT-603 as a preamp, and while the stock tube it came with was great I swapped it out for the Ray Tubes 12AU7 CORE Vacuum Tube. Which to me sounds a bit better.
@@BobbyO-ko4dk thank you
Run an open FR driver on top of the box and a woofer in the box and you will get more!. With point source and dipole sound you won't be able to tell if some sounds are from outside or from the speakers. You will be hearing voices and stuff in your room (and get frightened a few times) when it's from the speakers. 😂
I sort of fell into this by accident. I've been using these little digital amps for a while now in an active DSP 3-way system. so I wanted to try out tubes, and found some simple tube pre-amps on Amazon several years back that I thought simply looked sexy and solid. my amps are amp-boards so there is no case or volume knob, they are acting as simply power amps. like you said, turn them all the way up and use the tube pre-amp for signal volume. the difference in sound stage was staggering. like the difference between 3D sound and Elton John's "solid walls of sound" lol! it was ridiculous, so this does work for sure. and the fun part is I can switch tubes to get different voicing. they shipped with Chinese J6 pretty standard tubes, I tried some higher end Russian equivalents, and settled on Western Electric because they are more flat and I feel all-music accurate. but dude, the sound stage is amazing! get a set and play with it! it's sort of the analog equivalent of swapping OP AMPS for real. or for that matter DAC chips. I apologize for the long comment but I really mean it lol.
Thanks. What tube preamps?
I love that "Randy" intro had me rolling dude! Oh and I routinely listen into the 90's and beyond lol.
it's absolutely nuts how much difference I can hear among the three op amps - and that's on a stereo - not headphones - and with a fan and air purifier running in the background! Great video!
Glad you liked it!
I remember a time when the sales tax on 1 meter “audio-snob grade” interconnects was more than $90. The 3255 does seem to be getting a lot of love these days; it’s even the power amp stage of miniDSP SHD Power, which is a use case wherein powered subs will often be deployed, so the main amp would have a lot less heavy lifting.
Sounded surprisingly good with the Sparkos. I'm looking at my garage now . . .
The Burson sounded the best but not sure if 170 dollars is worth the upgrade. The original op amps sounded more then good enough
There are numerous low cost op-amps you can try. I often use RC4558s ($0.50 each) when I find a counterfeit 5532 in these fun-fi amps and they sound very nice... kind of mellow and laid back.
@@Douglas_Blake😂😂😂
pink noise for the sound clips would be great to hear any tone differences, it's a lot easier to pin point over a track most of have never heard.
@@nickburklow5212 IINM, it was Erin who demonstrated that very effectively recently.
Tx for mentioning ear preservation. I am also not into 85+ db. It’s painful to me, and that pain has likely extended my excellent hearing into my seventies.
Glad you agree!
First song, the word "headed" sounds the least harsh with the Burson Vivid. On the other songs, the Burson also made the strings sound the most realistic. I think the attack and decay of the strings is what made the difference between the Op amps.
Now we just need this in monoblocks. Also, try using a DIP-8 Op-Amp Socket Extender to connect the Staccatos. They'll hang outside of the case but if you don't care how it looks, only how it sounds, it might be a good solution.
Thats why God gave us the dremel tool.
I liked the V7's the best. The sparkos were a little too airy and the stock didnt have enough. V7 was a good balance.
Cool, I think I like the sparkos the most.
@@NewrecorddayAgree on the Sparkos. Would the Tube connectors even fit, it looks a little tight for space?
Not enough room unfortunately
@ That’s a shame. While I’ve not built or tweaked anything recently enough to justify trying them out, my previous experience with the Eichmann cable pods and RCA Bullet plugs was very satisfying; they were just a bit costly and honestly a pain to solder - very low melting point, and easily deformed. I’m more than inclined to believe in Danny’s points about keeping the mass of any connector’s conductive material as low as possible, and the elimination of ferrous in the signal path.
@@Newrecordday What if you mount them externally, i.e. on pig tails?
Ron, I don't think you tried hard enough to get the Staccato to fit. How about you send them over and let this Douk Audio lover try.
Also, my mom stopped over for coffee ☕️ and I agree it sounds great even better on her Jitterbug phone than my iPhone.
Haha!
Great tip about the zip tie - but aren't you doubling the price of the unit by adding a pair of Sparkos or Burson opamps?
Thank you so much for this. Great to hear the differences on the op amps.
Happy to help!
Okay got to admit, Sparkos sounded best on my system. Almost as good as my tube preamp 😏. Thanks for the video.
The Douk Audio ST-01 Pro with upgraded tubes still sounds damn good ... With its little TPA-3250 chip and GE JAN 3654W tubes... For less cost ...
@@peterbaugh51that sparko cost double as the amp itself....
Your affiliate link brings me to a $100 amplifier, so the whole premise of it being "the best $80 amplifier on earth" goes right out the window.
You do realize I’m not in control of Amazon pricing right?
@@Newrecorddaywhat?! I thought this was the Jeff Bezos audio review channel!
Both Op Amp swaps are a very noticable improvement to the stock. I aspects of both but likely would go with the Sparkos. I already ordered mine before this video. It's oing to replace my desktop amp for that system. Looking forward to it arrving even more now.
My MTMs are powered by my Emotiva A2 switched to 100 hz high pass and the lows go to a Schiit preamp then to Fosi V3s to run my four 15" woofers. The preamp allows me to dial in the woofers per John Hunter's Rel video. Subs fill out the very bottom. I like it LOUD! Otherwise, two 15" woofers would work fine.
Sit-down and grab a cup of Matcha!!! 😁😁😁😁 Audio technology is growing incredibly fast. I never imagined that so many audio-devices, DACs and amplifiers would become so cheap and good. Thanks for the video.
I have been pairing my reliable AiyimaA8pro with the Douk E6 direct heat tube preamp and the result is absolutely mind boggling and leave my jaws dropped all the time! So I would imagine the pairing of this Douk amp with its sibling E6! Wait till you insert the now getting famous Douk U4 (a.k.a. PJ Miolai) as BT device for streaming...... Man , it can rivals any streammer /DAC and CDP costing up to 25k USD, no joke and I have many converters who were flabbergasted by its sheer performance!
Great review of what seems to be a very good product. As for the op-amps, here are my impressions:
Original: a bit flat
Burson: well rounded, pleasant
Sparkos: exceptionally detailed
Which one would I prefer? Depends on the speakers and my mood, but for everyday listening, I suspect that the Bursons would be easiest to live with. I would love to see a mono version of this.
With a high power adapter this Texas 3255 will deliver higher power. I choosed MeanWell 48V adapter with all safety approvals in correct UL, CSA and European registers. Stay away from the cheapest adapters. Check wellknown companies in your area with correct safety approvals and high reliability.
Sparkos for ppl who like that electrostatic speaker sound. Airy and detailed, love it.
I would like a digital input e.g. AES/Coax - not something you see on most amps but only companies that produce active loudspeakers seem to do - the difference is clear!
WOW those Vivid 7’s were the gold
I am surprised!!! I like the sound clips of the stock op amps the best (tonality). I would never have guessed it. The Burson sounded unnaturally dynamic. Like a party speaker. It has great clarity, but felt very V curved in tonality. I expected to like the Sparkos the most. was woefully disappointed on how muffled they sounded (at lead on my system,).
Interesting!
I wish most recordings would state what their near filed monitors were at the time of mixing and even what they were mastered on - when I had my record mastered at Abbey road the mastering engineer put everything through a KT360 Graphic EQ - said that it made the sound more "unified"
On New Record Day you should snag the Pink Floyd 50th anniversary Dark Side of the Moon album. It sounds quite delicious! Let's hear your review of the recording.
Thanks for the video. I’ve been enjoying my A5 for a little while, and I agree with your statements. Now I’m curious about the tube preamp idea. I have a Fosi P3 sitting around and will give it a shot.
Let me know what you think!
If it is quiet enough, it might be a good candidate for a bi-amped system to drive a compression driver. With the typical 108 db/W sensitivity, I would not worry about it running out of breath....
Love Spakos op-amps. Have them in my XDuO Pro and OMG my portable headphone rig sounds damn near as good as my 10X priced system at home. Their stuff is killer!
Yeah Sparkos is legit.
Would like to see a review of the 3e Audio A7 or A5 and a small comparison. The 3e should be even better. They also have monos. And Watt is doubling from 8 to 2 Ohm, thats a very good sign. The Duke has sadly Not that much Specs/ Data online. A little sad that you did not try a 48v10a Power supply. Really hard to hear a difference between the OP amps, maybe the Stock was a Bit worse in the HF, maybe. Nice Video.
Wow, I had no idea, that these Sparkos are so good
Agree!
I suddenly remembered how to spell “listening fatigue”😂
10:17 Another idea I came up with, to make piezo tweeters sound better is to rap some standard speaker wire around a pencil, ten times. It's an inductor, mitigating the super highs. Mayby try it with class D amps.
Love your content. Keep it up!
Appreciate it!
Burson Vivid v7 - 100 points
Sparkos SS3602 - 80 points
Stock amps (NE5532) - 70 points
The differences are more noticeable in the last clips
I performed the listening on my second audio system (the cheap one, with a PC running OPTIMIZED Windows 11 for multimedia -hard and soft-, JRiver MC 64 bits, WDM Driver, Firefox).
Two years hybrid integrated Magnat MA 900 improved by me. The latest: changing the JJ 12AT7 tubes for Psvane 12AT7 Art Series (SPECTACULAR improvement, it is a must).
KEF Q100 5.25" coaxial. Internally improved by me + rePhase (convolution filter) + ...
Listening at just over 1m. In Direct OFF mode (with the tubes preamplifying). I have conducted the test with the valves preamplifying, which softens the sound and makes it more musical. MAYBE in 100% solid-state, the Sparkos might be a better option.
- Greetings from Tarragona (SPAIN/EU) -
I prefer the sparkos the most. Thanks.
@@Newrecordday Yes, with 100% solid state. Try with a tube preamp as me.
Frankly, in your sound demos the stock opamps sounded the most vivid and involving.
That’s good news for you!
Sparkos sounded best on my system. To my ear...
I agree
Power supply issues will throttle the performance of those little amps. Look at that tiny power connector and you want to squeeze all that power from a dubious power brick down a thin cable and through that connector? If you put that amp in a bigger box with a proper supply, you would hear a big difference.
Actually no. Yes there is current limiting going on. But the sound quality will remain consistent no matter what supply you hook up (within safe ranges). If you set the amplifier to produce about 5 watts and turn the power supply up and down, it remains stable at 5 watts and the sound quality does not change.
Keep in mind that with normally dynamic music at average (mid 70db) listening levels you probably won't average more than 4 or 5 watts, maybe 20 on peaks.
@@Douglas_Blake In the review the sound quality was said to be good up to about 74db with those speakers, then it dropped off. You would need very sensitive speakers to manage with 5 Watts. Even the contacts in those little jacks are going to cause sonic issues with current surges and voltage drops across the thin supply cables. An amplifier is a circuit to modulate a power supply with a signal, to deliver that power reliably to the load, so the the quality of the supply is crucial to the performance, not just some after thought to tuck away under the rack. If power supplies were that insignificant regarding sound quality, there is an awful lot of redundant hardware in the audio realm.
@@mfr58
Okay.
Wow. Great review.
4:40 I might have missed but i dont think randy said anything bout the cable being so close. If i was looking at this that might be a deciding factor. Good point out either way
Sparkos sounded best, more spacious and airy. Can't say if they sound good enough, you would have to compare them to something else ten times the price. If you used the 32v power brick they will bottom out pretty soon depending on the speaker load (I've driven a little Fosi TB10D to party levels with some Quadral Maxi 440 speakers. Plenty of Dynamics). 48v 10a will get them up to 300 watts, so that will give you some more oomph, but the chip better be cooled well enough. Still class AB almost always will have more current on tap for dynamics. Two Burson or Sparkos op amps will make the three times the price. Add a decent power brick and it is four times.
Agree about the sparkos.
The amp dyno data is available, and the standard TPA3255 design all these amps use, if given a 48v 10a supply, are all good for approximately 80w into 8 ohms and 160 into 4 ohms, per channel, at 1% thd, ish.
For you "current" obsessed people, I think you need to revisit Ohm's law... Power (watts) IS current x volts... at a given power output, which is 100% based on the VOLTAGE the amp is putting out and the IMPEDANCE of the speaker (frequency dependent of course), the current is a known and fixed variable - there is no amp that can put out more or less current when the voltage is known and the impedance is known. "high current" is simply a marketing term that hints at an amplifier having a power supply, and mosfets, that are simply capable of scaling their current output UP with lower impedance speakers... If the amplifier is good for 60v output for example (audio amplifiers are VOLTAGE source devices), a "high current" amp is simply one that can handle 60v at 4, or perhaps even less, ohms, and not merely at 8 ohms. With the 5A power supply for example, as seen in the video, you'll notice that power does NOT scale much or at all as impedance drops, but with the 10a it does, pretty much linearly. That is it - there's nothing more to the current thing than that, nothing at all. If you see an amplifier's 4 ohm POWER (watts) rating (knowing the THD of course) then you know how much current it can produce. If the cheap amp says 160w @ 4 ohms, then you can get the most expensive "uber high current" amp on the market - and if it's also rated at 160w at 4 ohms, guess what, they're capable of exactly the same thing. If the spec rating is accurate, that tells 100% of the story here. That's why 3rd party testers are important for power testing.
I would check out this one, which AFAIK I believe MAY be the current champ of tpa3255 amps - the design matters quite a lot, the SNR/SINAD can differ significantly between the available designs.
3e audio
www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/3e-audio-tpa3255-260-2-29a-amplifier-review.50208/
Only a minority of the tpa3255 amps have PFFB, including the douk a100, and this 3e, and the fosi v3 mono for example. This is for load dependency, maybe not a big deal, I don't know if it has any other effects on the sound or measurements outside of the load dependent frequency response at the top of the frequency spectrum, but it's certainly a nice to have and is a feature that cost them something to add, that exists on higher end class D amplifiers like hypex etc.
I would be curious to know how this amp compares to the RSL IA 255.1. That amplifier also has a built-in crossover along with a subwoofer output. The crossover is set to 90 Hz, which is a little annoying, but probably OK for most small near field set ups. It also includes a USB-C DAC. It is getting a little long in the tooth so wondering if the A5 would sound better.
I Laughed out loud. I Hope Randy does not give you a copyright strike.
I hope he does. That would be hilarious.
It's just a tribute
Interesting video.
You could buy some extension cables that would allow you to connect those too large op amps to the unit.
Also note that the power supply that came w the unit doesn't produce the stated "400wpc @ 4Ohms" Just a nit.
But the big question... remember your FOSI experience where you were using it to burn in some speakers and you fried the amp?
Did you try it with this unit?
Don't get me wrong. This would work for small office / dorm / etc ... without a hitch.
Just trying to find the constraints... or areas where one would want to tinker w it.
Thx
Just curious, forget the 90 and up db range…..you didn’t hear a mid high to high frequency emphasis? That’s what I heard in the only class d I ever tried, a Fosi V3. Sensitive to speakers rising impedance up in that range
Just got mine off of eBay from Douk Audio for only $79
That’s a great deal!
Is it from China, delivered in March? Otherwise it is 89 dollars.
Hey Ron it's 2025 how about a new line up of test tracks. These are passed getting tired. Keep up the good work. Looking forward to hearing the new NRD speakers in the room. Maybe with the new tracks.
Love your playlist Ron. Any way to get the name of these tunes? Thanks for the review. You rock!
I think these types of amps should put a LP option. At least for the output.
It does make me laugh when people say amplifiers don’t make a difference, DACs don’t make a difference, preamps don’t, cables don’t…
I have a solid state class a preamp on fosi v3 monos with burson ops. A class A tube or SS with the op amp upgrade puts the 3255 on the level
Obviously, the high-pass filter (controlled on front panel) affects the frequency of the speaker output, but does the aux output bypass that filter?
The aux out is full range. You'd need to adjust your sub filter. Look at Rick Ruiz Audio review, he mentions this
@@jonathannieto8377 That's how I would expect a low pass filter to work on an amp or preamp. It is a lot easier to filter a line level signal than to adjust speaker level output (far less distortion, even with simple components). I wish every pre-amp or integrated amp had a low pass filter for speaker output.
You did not say if you ran other speakers. I picked up 4 of the LGK 3 inch speakers like you have in your speakers and put them in a box. They did not overly impress me. OK speaker but heavy cone for the size and small magnet gives a slightly over damped response. They should do well with a brighter sounding amp but low level details is not so great. So the A5 might be a good match with the LGK speaker but I would like to see how you like the A5 with brighter and lighter cone speakers. You missed the fact that the A5 has post coils feedback. It might help reduce over brightness on some speakers but many have not liked it. Will get a A5 just for fun.
The LGK has a mass of 2.5 grams and one if the cleanest spectral decays I’ve ever seen in any driver I’ve ever measured. So yeah, not sure what’s going on there… 😏
@@Newrecordday One way to look at it is tubes V transistor amps. We all know tubes have high distortion yet on a lot of music they sound great, in fact some of the best mic preamps of all time have a tube as the first gain stage and are super expensive. The LGK has a nice clean response and does not do anything wrong. Its polite, and to me boring. Perhaps in the proper setup they may come to life more. I do need to break them in and I only ran one amp in my first test. Ill set up a break in boxes and run them in and try a few different amps and a purpose built box for them. I'm planning a 5.5" woofer in a small box with the LGK. The A5 might be good in this setup if I can get a small sub amp the size of the A5
02:10 Well, I have here a Fosi Audio TB10D which also claims this ridicilous power output of 300w. I did measure it and it came out as 62w per channel at 4 ohms. I conclude that these are china-watts which are only one fifth of a regular watt.
I do hate knowing the op amps to role cost more than the entire amp itself....
I get it.
Look at the bright side , you end up with pocket change invested , with these and the FOSI I suggest getting the 48 volt 6 amp meanwell power supply , these little chi-fi bricks will perform great .
For the record ... Some of you may notice a bunch of my comments missing. They were posted in a run-in with a rather dull minded troll. He's gone so I deleted my responses to him, so that you can read comments in peace.
Sorry about the mess.
Always appreciate your commentary.
Nitpicking here but please don't say you have no bias. We all have bias. If you say you have none that just means you are whofully ignorant of them, which isn't a good look. No your biases and act accordingly, I say. Great review. Was curious about these little guys.
That’s true, I should have chosen a better way to say that. I think my brain wanted to say “motive” but my mouth started running.
Nitpicking here, but you need to "know" your biases and act accordingly...
@@rickn9836 oooh got me….
Everyone has bias unless they're running class C operation. Personally, my bias is at 0.3v while most people run at 0.6v. It's my inner germanium.
@@rickn9836if you don’t no me by know you will never,knever, no kme.
Know body puts baby in the corner.
You need pink noise comparisons its really Hard to Tell on music.
and it's $99.99 on your amazon link just a few hours after this video was posted.
He needs cheapaudioman money!
Gonna buy me a sparkly speed boat.
How does the A5 compare to the A100 sound wise? Im guessing the A100 still has that more forward presentation.
Correct - and that’s about it.
I have some thinking to do. My Marantz 2330 in my vintage based system needs a full rebuild and that's at least $750. I don't want to spend that right now. So maybe one of these with a pre-amp or the Gryphon integrated clone on AliExpress? Decisions, decisions.
I tried listening with my headphones instead of my iPhone, but now I'm finding your reviewed amp just sounds like the internal amp which drives my headphones. I've always found it has a very aggressive soundstage with overly forward imaging and bad placement and positioning, sterile and dry and edgy, especially at the Fingledorp cross-over. But that's my problem. Maybe I'll try running the signal through a tube pre-amp, as you discuss, to offset the headphone amp's distortion with counteracting pre-amp distortion.
With stock OP amps it sounds a bit too forward for me. Burson makes it smooth, Sparkos makes it smooth too but with a tad more control and precision.
The Burson sounded more analog to my ears.
$90 not $80. I'm gonna look into this
Prices have gone up in the last week. Was $79 a week ago.
Great review and cool product. Vivid sounded best to me. But what do I know? Maybe the 3602 on the last one. I do t know
Great review! This is not bad at all... The Burson is better, but the Sparkos is the better one. Even n my speaker setup a clear difference.
Yeah I really like how the sparkos sounds in this amp. Thanks for watching!
@Newrecordday One question: the polish opamp doesn't fit. Is it the height or width of the opamp?
Width
What about using a Linear Power Supply instead of the provided SMPS?
Dude I gotta know what songs those clips are recorded from, especially the first three?
Can these be bridged for a monobloc configuration!?
Actual power ....
48 volts ... 200w/ch on 4 ohms, 100w/ch on 8 ohms with less than 0.1% distortion
36 volts ... 130 and 70 watts
32 volts ... 100 and 50 watts
The ceiling at about 90db is actually the chip's internal safeties cutting in to limit current.
Also at 48 volts with a 5 amp supply you will run into the power supply's internal current limiting.
Hello 🤠 A VIVID OP-Amp costs the same as the Class D Amp shown here and you need 2 of them! I use a Bayerdynamic Dt990Pro headphone and only hear a small difference.
But what is the "king" of all these tiny amps? Fosi or Douk Audio or what? And have you ever heard a Class A amp? Example: "JL Hood 1969" or "Musical A1 Clone" compared to the Class D amps? The price is about the same. I don't think you have 🙂
Ron, your buddy Danny from GR suggests just creating high pass filters with caps, and mentions that since most of the signal range is running through the caps they should be REALLY good quality. Makes total sense, but unfortunately I just don't have the knowledge, tools, skill, or patience to create my own, so I've been looking for a good, "cheap" way to high pass my Ascend Acoustics Sierra-1 v2 bookshelves on my 2.1 desktop system and this feature on the Douk excites me!
QUESTION: do you know what type of high pass filter the Douk A5 is (digital or analog? Linkwitz-Riley? whatever...) and more importantly if it's good quality? Would Danny or you approve vs other ways of doing a high pass filter? Part of the reason I want to is so I can switch from my soundcard (that does crossover digitally) to a high quality external DAC (which won't have the crossover), so I don't want to hamper that pristine DAC output by screwing up the signal path with a high pass filtering system that isn't up to par. Would VERY much appreciate your thoughts here because I didn't hear anything about that feature quality in the video, and other than op amps and volume it's like the ONE thing that could affect sound quality. Thanks - awesome review!
What about a Schiit Gjallarhorn
????? I mean for nearfield not investing in those gorgeus but pricy opamps?????? I know that the output power is an issue. 10w in 8 ohms. Second question, iwich preamp you recommend? Thanks andd greetings from Argentina
Okay, is the aux out fixed or variable with the volume control?
This OpAmp swapping surely changes the sound, but we're just adding unnecessary components.
Ideally you'd have a signal source with symmetric output and feed directly into the TPA3255. That would circumvent the stock cheap OpAmp and cheap Potentiometer, and the problem of cheap ferrite core output inductors would still be there. Sure, the PFFB will partly cover the sins of those inductor's distortion, but at higher signal level all feedback breaks apart and the inductors get saturated.
Just look at the output inductors that Hypex use in their NCore designs. Much bigger, much more capable of transmitting high power.
3e audio makes affordable TPA3255 boards that also use much higher class inductors. But I think they don't sell complete amps.
My amplifier uses a 6 pin op amp. Not 8. Four on one side, two on the other. NcX500 and Eigentakt both have this configuration. Does Burson offer such an opamp? And if so what is it called?
stock op amps are a bit too forward in the upper mids. V7 Vivid smooths that out a bit with dynamics. Sparkos 3602 smooths that out a bit more but at the slight expense of dynamics. My 2 cents. if I bought this I would need to upgrade op amps.
Completely agree
How hot would 48v 10a get? My V3 gets pretty warm with 48v 5a.
if you add $110 opamp to this $90 amp, then you must compare it to a $200 amp, which sounds the best ?
I have LS50 meta connected to a smsl da-9 to my pc? will there be a difference with near-field listening?
Did you ever get a replacement for that fosi monoblock and died on you?
Yeah I’ll chat about those soon
great review.. Congratulation for 100k sub.. 🎉 hifi regards from your 100k subscribers 👋 from Germany
Thank you very much!
Fosi Audio ZA3 mono pair with Vivid 7 Op amps sounds better than amp cost up to 2k and above.
I didn’t have that same experience. I don’t care for those amps all that much. And they burn up really easy.
@Newrecordday well I don't care for your amps too. Been using mine for 7 months now all good 👍🏾
actualy erin also burned his fosi v3 mono, but not the fosi za3, @newrecordday have you tried the za3? or just the v3 mono?
yea.. no, maybe when your on a very tight budget and like passive gear - otherwise i would prefer actives speakers or save money and buy something more reliable.
😅@grab s cup of, what is this matcha.😅
I gave the video a like for the 🍵
I thought the Burson had the most body and presented wood tones with a bit more authority. I couldn't recommend anyone subject their ears to that upper mid no matter how you chip it. Something in the chain just broke it.
To my ears, the Vivid V7 opamps have better bass dynamics, transient attack and separation than the Sparkos.
Have to agree, especially on my Drop 58x Jubilee phones.
Very entertaining intro.
Send manufacturer this feedback: they need to offer a version bundled with a 48V/10A power supply. Call it 'pro' or whatever...the product description is somewhat misleading when they give specs based on that power supply but it is not the supplied one.
Ugg you din't ,emtion the variable nature of the high pass.I would like Douk to put this in another box have real speaker terminals and have a dual RCA sub out and chrge up what they need to ($50?).At this point the better sub out @ 90Hrz of RSL seems a better %100 amp.It's always something man
Me and my odd ears but the stock op amp sounded the best to me.
Wow... 96% of YOUR reference?! So how would this stack up to something like the little Emotiva BasX A2M amp, could it be even BETTER?!?!
Could be!
Hold on now. you are saying that if we use a 48V/10A adapter, this thing can run speakers up to 185w X 2 in 8 ohms?
Why would anyone ever buy any huge power amps again??
Current. That would be the reason from what I can tell.
You won't get 185 watts on 8 ohms, without a very large bag of distortion and heat followed by a protection shutdown.
The more realistic rating is 100w x 2 on 8ohms with about 0.1% distortion.
But then... 200 watts is not to be sniffed at... It's pretty impressive given it's size and price.
@@Douglas_Blake ok, just confused about what they posted on their page, so I don't understand why they did that if we are basically gonna stay close to 65w anyway. but, yes that is good for that size.
@@Rockit66
The power ratings for the TPA3255 are always the same, no matter who solders it to a PC board.
The 300+300 figure we see all the time is not inaccurate. It is the TPA3255's absolute maximum output ... you might be able to get that *once* without destroying the chip.
Grab a copy of the "TPA3255 Data Sheet" and right on the front page you will find an accurate power vs distortion graph. That sharp "knee" in the graph is the onset of clipping, so a lot of the ratings you see are at 1% or even 10% distortion. Power vs Supply Voltage is also presented on page 12 (figure 17).
These are the numbers you can trust and I've verified them on my bench as well.
Pink noise is the best way for us to differentiate tonal differences!
For what it cost willing to try it out on mt desk top neerfield listing for so cheep if not happy with the sound i can return it to amazon. No lose situation. I am going to try it out speaker recommendations? I have a pair of klipsch rp 600 m they can be harsh witth the wrong amplifier what do you think of this paring with this amp new record day?
buy some speakers like Abacus Cbox 4 or Neumann KH80 / 120. They made for nearfield (works also with bigger distances) and are so much more precise & detailed than a Klipsch. When you compare a neumann against a klipsch you propably hear that Klipsch sounds trash. Its harsh because the crossover, tuning & freq response is compeltly off at the klipsch speakers
@@vtkz Where do you come up with these brands? Literally never heard of those speakers.
I own a Yamaha A501 and have always found it just a little flAT THROUGH MY 4 Wharfedale 220's...... I am seriously considering buying this and a pre to see if it can make me listen to music more... I have found myself listening less and less as the effort to use the Yamaha is just too much for the outcome sometimes.
Sorry to say tda7293 diy class ab amp sounds better than those tpa3255 chip amps. Give it a try.