IOTAVX SA3 Review! Is this the best Integrated Amplifier under $800?
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- Опубліковано 22 лип 2024
- IOTA SA3 Stereo channel Integrated Amplifier.
PA3 amp is also showed in this video.
IOTA Website:
Buy Direct Fast Shipping anywhere.
SA3:
www.iotaenterprises.co.uk/pro...
PA3: Amp only
www.iotaenterprises.co.uk/pro... - Розваги
Thank you! I love the way you present this product in details!
Hello Sid, thanks for the detailed and well explained review. I recently bought this stack of IOTAVX SA3 & PA3, I paired with KEF LS50 plus a Wharfedale SW150 Subwoofer, this combo is what I really wanted from a 2 chanel system. I prefer the IOTAVX SA3 over my Denon PMA 600ne.
Looking forward to buy the IOTAVX NP3 network player, but I will wait for a review on it 1st .
Best regards
Sid. Great review. This just tipped me over the edge. I'm purchasing!
Thanks Calvin. Great choice. I hope you enjoy it. Let me know your initial thoughts on the sound after you get it.
Nice review Sid, I just received my stack a week ago. Everything you mentioned in your review describes these amps perfectly.
Glad you like it Byron. Enjoy!
Excellent review man, I wish you the very best for your channel.
Hi Nigel. Thanks for the positive comment. I really appreciate it. I love reviewing this stuff! Cheers!
Recently bought this stack and it is excellent with my Focal Aria 926 speakers brings out the great sound from my Bluesound Node 2i.
Glad to hear you enjoy it Stuart. Must sound amazing with the Focal's
Nice review! I'm looking for an amp for my Q Acoustics 3030is because my Denon AVR isn't cutting it. I'm definitely interested in this.
One thing I like about the direct supply model is that we'll pay the UK price at the going exchange rate, rather than the US dollar amount plus a random 200-300 dollars tacked on.
Dude!
Your insight and comment regarding the controversy with Triangle Bro3 allowed me to select the white and avoid the light oak.
Now you have me convinced that IotaVX is the way to go.
Thanks 👍
It's a great Integrated amp with lots of features and nice sound. You made a smart choice. Enjoy!
Thanks for your review. I'm looking into purchasing one to replace my Nad 316 bee original version. Also, I'm a new to your channel. I'm in Fall River, Massachusetts. 🤜
Hi Leo. Thanks for subscribing. Really appreciate it. I think you’ll be pleased with the Iota. It packs quite the punch along with great features and functionality. Fall River looks like a beautiful area!
Mine is a great amp. Still on the fence about whether to get a PA3 as well ( soundroom is @ 10 ft x 10 ft driven into Klipsch R26fs). I think that even in my living room as my music room is being built, the quality is incredible. I however somewhat dislike the way the volume control is set up. A dial with 1 to 10 with points in between is what I would prefer. But it is quite impressive. Other amplifiers magnified the " shout" of the Klipsch speakers. I found that this actually cut down that effect, to a point where it is quite articulate. And the speaker choice was for me, quite decent, not being as big as " full sized" speakers yet offering more than bookshelf speakers with a 100 watt capacity. Speaking of power the way I figure the power rating is very close to advertised. The 45+45= 100 is somewhat off-putting reminding me of horsepower ratings on some cars. That being said I believe that in a larger room the power amplifier would be a good addition. I would however be inclined to hold off and see whether you want the additional power. This was in my view, the best way to improve my stereo system apart from setting the room up
Great presentation :)
thanks for the great info, been debating between this and the marantz i think im going with this too. just contacted the iota waiting for their response to finish the purchase process. now gotta sell all my other stuff to eliminate the clutter.
HI Luca. Thanks for the nice comment. I think you'll be happy with the purchase. Did you buy the the stack or just the SA3? Also what speakers are you using?
@@sidsreviews1110 I'll be buying just the amp and the Bluetooth adapter. I'll be pairing with Polk audio rti 9 floor standings or bose 501s from 1980s maybe Polk lsi bookshelf. It will depend on which one will be the best match. I'm saving my McIntosh option with B&W s. For the next stimulus check 😂😂😂
@@fb1907 Sounds good Luca. Enjoy!
@@sidsreviews1110 thank you
@@sidsreviews1110 I have a terrible news. Just opened the box of my unit. I hooked it up and I cannot get any signal from the left channel it sucks big time. I need to contact them
Sorry, I didn’t understand what you said, can you combine the power of the 2 units? How?
If you use the combo, the only power that matters is the one from the amp.. and in the case you want to bridge the integrated for one channel and the amp for the other it would be an unbalanced sound. Unless you have bi wiring post on your speakers, in that case you’ll probably be able to use the power from the integrated for the highs and the power from the amp for the lows.
Please Sid or anyone explain. Thanks great review!
Have you listen to IOTAVX AVX17. How does it perform with movies and 2 channel music.
Hello Sid Thx for a great detail video well done 👍🏻 I have a frustrated question i have a iota and a pair of triangle borea 8 and cant get clean sound from iota ( its muddy and boring ) and thinking with the bluetooth dongle playing tidal master tunes is not a good way to go is this the problem ??? Stream with like a bluesound is better sound or just a expensive nice app stream for 600 bugs 😋 A lot of cash if it dosent really improve sound that much whats your view ? thx a million for tips ?
Hi Fredrik. When you say muddy and boring, that sounds like an issue of your room or speaker placement. The size of you room needs to be decent especially with tower speakers and they need to be placed away from the walls to eliminate the muddiness. The bluetooth dongle on the IOTA will only do a bitrate of 44.1 which is CD quality but you won't get maximum sound from Tidal unless you hook up your phone with a USB cable to a DAC. Then your bitrate will increase to 96 which is MQA quality. Having said all that, I'm not sure why it would sound muddy or boring. Like I said, try moving your speakers to give them breathing room first.
sid really great review, wonderful job as i watched everyone's reviews before i bought. I heard from the british audiophile reviewers that with the pa3.... it improved everything though you lost some of detailed in high end? Did you find it true? I paired my SA3 with the Triangle b02 as fidelity reviewer recommended that combo and other ...its so amazing this combo. I agree with you that the SA3 is enough for small space. Sid I was wondering do you think the bluetooth is same level of quality as their new streamer coming out? Are you going to order one? I agree, so surprised that their bluetooth dongle sounded so good as well.
Thanks for viewing Hossett. With regards to adding the PA3 to the system , I would say you do lose a little detail to gain an overall more muscular sound. That is to be expected but I believe the loss in minimal. I pair my system with the BRO3 and it's great. Hopefully the bluetooth quality matches the new streamer. I will probably purchase it when it's available. Cheers.
The streamer doesn't have an internal Bluetooth receiver, but you can hook up the dongle to it.
Really interested in it. Looks reasonably priced, well featured, will look great with the stack, the DAC is different (Texas Instrument), I suspect better, if not different.
Folks - if your speakers are rated 8 Ohms - do try connecting the SA3 to the PA3 in 'normal' stereo mode so both pair of speaker cables in to the PA3 and the both little switches on 'stereo' - i found this configuration produced an all-round better sound-stage, with better bass depth and clarity than the 'mono' bridged mode as shown in all these videos and in the manual. If you don't really need the extra watts to your speakers - mine are 88db - then give this normal configuration a go - you may be surprised.
Awesome review....throughly enjoyed it... nice to know that you have paired the stack with the bro 3's... How long did it take to break in the speakers and the amp....? Also, do u plan to add a subwoofer in the future or are u happy with the bass performace of the bro 3's....?
Hi Elton. I actually didn't really notice any break in point to these components. If anything, maybe the speakers rolled off the treble ever so slightly after 30 hrs or so. I tried a sub for about a week just to see if it added to the speakers but honestly I don't think you need it, unless you really enjoy heavy bass. It would depend on your music taste but for me listening to mostly classic rock and top 40 dance music, I thought the low end on the Triangles were very good.
@@sidsreviews1110 thanks for the reply...how far have u pulled the speakers out from the wall and whats the degree of toe in ?? Are u planning to review the bro 3's anytime soon....?
@@eltonc1505 I have them pulled out around 2 ft from the back wall. Very slightly toed in works best for my listening. I will give them a proper review very soon!
@@sidsreviews1110 Cant wait for the review...!!!
Great review 👍 !
How does it compare with the Marantz PM6007 ?
Hi Sebastien. Thanks for the compliment. I’ve never tested the Marantz amp so I can’t comment on that.
@@sidsreviews1110 marantz pm6007 just awesome
Nice review..can I add external equaliser to the pair? And why does nobody use external equalisers anymore
Yes you can.
Hi Sid,i am in Canada also and i am going to order the iota stack.I hope i am doing the right thing.
Hi Leonidas. You'll be very happy with the stack. What speakers are you pairing with them?
Leonidas, Happy with it?
Any idea how it compares with the Yamaha s501 integrated amp?
Sorry I never tried that amp.
Do u have to pay duty to ship to Canada , DHL was the carrier to Ontario. Thanks
I didn’t pay anything and I’m n Manitoba.
Hi, I've been reading up on lower priced but at the same time good quality audio gear. I had made up my mind to go with the Emotiva TA-100, only to find out they've been discontinued and are next to impossible to find. How does the IOTAVX stack up against the Emotiva? Are they comparable or is one a superior product to the other?
Hi Russ.
I can't comment on Emotiva because I've never tried it. I can only answer on the IOTA VX and the NAD 3020v2 which I previously owned. I talk about the differences in my review. Let me know if you have any other questions. Cheers.
Thanks. I'm only a couple of provinces west of you. I've made my decision, going to go with IOTAVX.
@@russdavies9686 Good choice Russ. It's a great Amp. Let me know your thoughts on it once you break it in. Cheers.
👍
Hello Sid, do you still have your IOTA Sa3? If so, have you had any problems with it? I got mine in Jan. 2021 (and use it a lot/ like it/ great performance to price). Recently I saw a UA-cam video of a guy with IOTA's whose Cap's failed, he said they are of poor quality, with a life span of about 2000 hours (he had them replaced with better ones). Anyway, I checked my IOTA and sure enough, the Cap's are showing a similar "bulging" to that of his video."
No I sold it about a year ago. I still have the amp though. Still works fine.
@@daledrolet1332 THX for responding
Just received my second defective amplifier from IOTA. I suppose they sound very nice when they work.
What about power plug and voltage , Canada is different from Europe!
No they set the voltage to North America. All good to go.
Beware of IOTA’s “no quibble” return policy. The reason for no quibbling is that it is impossible to reach them to quibble. I have to wonder if they are really still in business or just selling off the remainder of their stock before shuttering the business.
same experience
Within a few days of getting mine I contacted iota with an issue, they still haven't responded. Not looking good.
Oh really. What’s the issue?
@@sidsreviews1110 when using the included bt module the voltage is very low and all controls become inoperable on the unit and remote
Have they responded yet?
@@sidsreviews1110 I called again yesterday and spoke with someone who apologised and said they'd send out a new bt unit to see if that sorts it out. Fingers crossed.
@@sidsreviews1110bt module received today, swapped it in & it did the trick. All good.
I bought the Iota VX and Triangle BR03s. My plan was to direct connect my Fio M11 digital audio player via 3.5mm cable to the coaxial input. I bought the correct cable. Didn't work. Iota customer service says try another cable. 2nd cable still does not work. Ship the VX back to Iota. They send me another one, but never tell me if the coaxial input was defective. 2nd unit hooked up, and it doesn't work either. What am I doing wrong? Has anyone ever tried to direct connect a DAP to this amp?
Hi Steve. I’m really just guessing here, but the 3.5 out is analog and you’re connecting it to a digital input. That tells me it wouldn’t work.
Connect it to one of the RCA inputs in the Iota and that would work.
@@sidsreviews1110 I'm going to buy a USB C to RCA cable and try that.
@@sidsreviews1110 only because I don't see a USB C to coaxial cable available
@@sidsreviews1110 or would it be smarter to go 3.5mm to RCA?
@@skiskier yes I would suggest 3.5 to rca. That will work guaranteed.
If you replace the power cables, you will experience an upgrade.
Hi Dave. What power cables do you recommend and how significant is the upgrade?
@@sidsreviews1110 Hi Sid, I just ordered $50. USD cables from Amazon. Oxygen free copper @ 10AWG braided / twisted conductors and gold plated plugs. Change was dramatic with more precise attack and sustain; more punch over the spectrum. I thought there was extended dynamic range. Give up the 18 ga. zip wire. Lose the RF induced distortion.
Paid about 800 for the stack. But then again, you can get Emotiva cheaper, other cool stuff we can't get in the EU, and a good range of subwoofers (btw, absolutely recommend a sub with a starter audiophile system). You win some, you lose some I guess.
Speaking of subs, I wish it had bass management, but anyway...
Oh yeah, paired with a set of RP-600M (on sale, could pass them up), and a SVS PB-1000. Really nice combo.
Thinking of getting the NP3 streamer as well.
That sounds like a great system paired with the RP-600m. I haven’t heard that speaker yet but hopefully I’ll try a pair at some point. Cheers!
@@sidsreviews1110 I recommend but not for tonal accuracy. Great with percussions and rythms, bit metallic with some sharp string instruments (they are new), nice and open, they work with pretty much everything, from ambient, classical to the harsh headbanging stuff. Good fun speakers and a steal at 340 euros (probably OK for 500, but there's some serious competition).
Iotavx closed !!
Oh no what happened?
@@daledrolet1332 no web site no nothing vanished
@@revamp777 Well that's...terrible
Website is up now. Must have been temporary issue.