This amp has no watts!

In this video I review an amp that, amazingly, has no watts. It's the Arylic BP50 and, despite its lack of watts, you may like it. With audio demonstration!
Buy the BP50 directly from Arylic - bit.ly/4c6nJI7
Browse similar amplifiers on Amazon - amzn.to/49B3ReH
Pedants may note that 'watts' is all lower-case, but it wouldn't look so good in the thumbnail. And my old physics teacher would say that it is always 'watt', no matter how many of them you have.
DAVID MELLOR'S MUSIC
David Mellor's music on Bandcamp - davidmellor.bandcamp.com/
David Mellor's music on Spotify - open.spotify.com/artist/6OkaD...
Available on all good streaming services
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Disclaimer: Videos on this channel may include affiliate links and may feature software that has been received free of charge with an NFR (not for resale) licence, equipment that has been loaned or donated by a manufacturer or distributer, or equipment that has been bought for less than full retail price.

[@maidsandmuses]

Not watty, but still witty.

[@amcluesent]

Energy is being transferred along the cables, so even pre-amps deliver some fraction of Watts (Joules per second)

[@Synthematix]

I use the preamp of my Sony jb930 minidisc recorder apparently they’re the best you can get. Just remove the disc and press the record button and you’re good to go

[@juancardona3312]

Thank you for the video, David.

[@AudioMasterclass]

You're welcome.

[@74900kdw]

The term Pre-Amplifier means loosely before the amplifier. It is not meant to indicate it is amplifying anything. It's meant to indicate exactly what it does do. Before or pre the amplifier it creates a signal for the amplifier to amplify.

[@AudioMasterclass]

That would be an interesting definition. However, going forward, I'll be using the term as I did in this video.

[@seedney]

@@AudioMasterclassif in IT we have Switches and routers. Why in audio equipment we have some pre something? It’s weird. We don’t say prekeyboard for our PC xD so switches or singal routers would be better ;-)

[@74900kdw]

It's not an interesting definition it is the definition. I may not be an AudioMasterclass professor but I know my definition is correct.@@AudioMasterclass

[@74900kdw]

A keyboard would be pre CPU not pre keyboard. ;-)@@seedney

[@adotopp1865]

A pre amplifier used to increase the signal of the phono input and the radio tuner.

[@heinzr9734]

Thanks for this, again, insightful video. I have an off topic question, at 7:29 you mention sensible changes to your Quad 306 amp which I also use with a lot of joy (together with a 34 pre). My units are original with the exeption of new electrolytic caps in the PSU and all the small ones in the 34 (because of their age). I have found nothing about a Quad 306 on your channel but I am curious what you did further on than just quitting the on-off switch (and perhaps the speaker plugs). I am not asking for an alteration of the given input sensitivity. Thanks a lot and keep on doing your fantastic work. Greetings to your virtual team as well.

[@AudioMasterclass]

I used my 306 for micro PA back in the 1980s/90s. A power switch is one more thing to go wrong. The only addition is two 20 dB attenuators on the inputs for my Yamaha NS10M Studio monitors.

[@heinzr9734]

@@AudioMasterclass Thank you very much for your kind reply!

[@AudioMasterclass]

No prob. For clarity, one attenuator per input.@@heinzr9734

[@grumpy9478]

maybe the best 12 min audio hardware review I've seen on YT - clear & to-the-point. even snide side comments are informative. thx,

[@a.h.d.h.2803]

I had an Arylic device too; the S 50 Pro Plus also a switcher/preamp. The software that the Arylic S Pro Plus comes with, I find nice and intuitive. Also, I experienced that I could control the WIIM Pro Plus with the software of the Arylic S 50 Pro Plus. Besides; both apps. ,- the WIIM Home app as well as the 4Streamer app of the Arylic-, look very similar to one and other.

[@adotopp1865]

'vinyls' replay has got so much attention paid to it that, I think it's got better than it was in the 1970's when I started with it. Today I have absolutely click and pop free listening of a double LP. I listened to Brian Eno (Film music 1976-2020) with fantastic engaging full big wide room filling sound. I've also got a decent CD player I like too!

[@Tyco072]

I always thought that preamps contain the first one or more amplification stages and the power amplifiers contain only the last 1 or 2 power stages. If preamps contain only switches and tone controls without adding any amplification, why is it always claimed that the separated amps (pre+power) are always better than integrated amps? Since 1988 I have the Pioneer A-333 integrated amp, and it sounds still very good to me. Actually for my listening I would not need a power amp at all, since I listen always with headphones. I don't need a phono preamp too. But I don't find a good headphone amp with tone controls, loudness control, possibly with a good DAC too. A 1W headphone amp could be made in class A without problems. To use a 50+50W amp to drive only headphones is a just a waste.

[@sguttag]

Honestly, a preamp is legitimately called as such if it has preamplifiers in it (like you identified with the phono section) and/or has a user-facing volume control. The preamp may be able to output at a level higher than the source material, even at line level, and therefore can be consider a preamp as it pre-amplifies the input signal to get it to the level of the power amplifier, which is normally set to a fixed level of amplification, unlike a preamp. The switcher side of a most preamps is not a necessary feature of a preamp but is often associated with preamps (as are tone controls and other general routing).

[@jimhines5145]

Great and very detailed review. Thank you! This box is not something I would ever have the need to purchase. Interesting product however. I actually hate bluetooth audio (but I do use it when needed). Sure, A2DP is apparently hi-res, but it really isn't, technically.

[@thexfile.]

It's a DAC with multiple inputs and bluetooth.

[@AudioMasterclass]

And a turntable preamp.

[@matereo]

The OA5s are awesome still to this day, if they are placed properly. If you wish to modernise and have almost the same the Larsen line is the offspring of the Carlsson/Sonab OA lines

[@seymourclearly]

I think the phono input would be for moving magnet cartridges as those investing in a moving coil cartridge are likely using more expensive equipment/seperate phono stage

[@adotopp1865]

I had a switchable phonostage on my integrated amp. The turntable would work in either mm or MC with both types of cartridges. One had a bit more gain than the other

[@Havreflan]

I appreciate the authenticity of your content. Cheers!

[@lerssilarsson6414]

A blast from the past: "Sound section of the AOpen AX4B-533 Tube Motherboard".

[@AudioMasterclass]

People forget that entire computers used to run on tubes. With CRTs for memory. Here's a link to the tube motherboard - ixbtlabs.com/articles2/aopentube/

[@lerssilarsson6414]

@@AudioMasterclass What goes around comes around: Wikipedia(Ferroelectric RAM).

[@tellthemborissentyou]

If you don't have a turntable you are missing out on some of the clearest, most perfect extraneous noises available- both random and regular.

[@humblestever24]

An owners manual not a download - that's impressive.

[@AudioMasterclass]

To be fair, most of the equipment I've reviewed lately have physical manuals. This one however is the best so far.

[@AntonyRosano]

Your reviews are a hoot, being able to ironically describe a new product that suits the needs of new music users as well as you do is a gift of few. My old ears still rejoice so much with my faithful Luxman C-03B preamplifier and I think I can do without this Arylic but keeping up to date is useful to understand what tools the new music users use. A big hello.

[@adotopp1865]

Nice video. Isn't this basically like a car radio, a chip amp? I built a chip amp following instructions given in hi-fi world. 'Its easy' it said.

[@rhodaborrocks1654]

Well, it has a phono stage so it does contain some amplification, I on the other hand have a little box here proudly labelled "Passive Pre Amp" and it contains no active electronics at all, it has a rocker switch to select between two inputs, one goes straight through, and the other goes via a potentiometer or variable attenuator controlled by a knob next to the rocker switch. I wondered why I'd actually paid money for this thing but then I remembered that the actual preamplifier I used at the time was rather short of inputs, it catered for a turntable, a tape deck and a radio tuner, so when a CD player joined the party I had to resort to plug swapping .. So, enter the "Passive Pre Amp", which has another label beneath that which gives a clue, "CD Control Unit", the idea being that the output from the CD player was more than enough to stir the air up nicely, indeed to avoid rattling my wife's ornaments off the shelf onto the floor, which was entertaining in itself but caused my good lady much anguish, it needed a way to reduce the volume somewhat and that's where this little box came in, so, useful it was but pre-amp it was not.

[@AudioMasterclass]

I'm tempted to look at Google and see how much an audiophile might pay for such a device but I should probably have my Weetabix for breakfast first.

[@razisn]

Doesn't it have any gain? If it does provide some voltage gain (and it uses output buffers, I might add) then it is a good old (active) preamp in my book. Whether that gain (if there) is required or not is a different discussion.

[@RaymondReeves-db8dr]

David. In defense of what should be a little gem but sadly for me wasn't, passive pre amps are marketed as preamps not switchers, even though passive line level preamps with attenuators have no amplification abilities, they are still labeled and sold as pre amps. Typically, line level input switchers do not include any form of amplification or volume control. The fact that this unit has a true volume control might have something to do with it being sold as a pre amp. This product on review more than qualifies as being called a preamp, this is because of the phono stage's amplification section, plus the volume control knob for all the other inputs they all have to be processed through it before reaching the main amplifier. This makes it a pre amp in the true sense. Thus; the term pre amp need not refer to what it does, but more to where you place it in your audio system, before main amplifier comes to mind! I had one of these BP50's for one day only before sending it back. I can honestly say that it was a solid piece of junk. It had several serious issues such as: Crosstalk on all inputs, emitting loud thumps when selecting any of the inputs, as well as producing loud clicks when any signal was paused or restarted. Some of these same faults seem to be endemic in other cheap Chinese audio products, the Aiyima T9 comes to mind ! Even sending it back to Germany for a refund has become a problem because the German customs didn't read the declaration label that I had correctly filled in and they have since returned it back to me. On a plus note the flat EQ setting was very flat, possibly too flat. No, I can better describe it as being dull and lifeless.

[@michael_177]

lol the remote wobble edit got me. "wobblewobblewobblewobble" 😂

[@EricIolo]

Thank you for the review! What do you use on your skin? Looks amazing!! I am getting on a bit nearly 60, and would like to look younger like you!

[@AudioMasterclass]

In my thumbnails it’s Photoshop’s camera raw filter. In my videos, just plain soap.

[@Sildenafil_Damages_Eye_Retina]

Does a coat hanger sound just as good as monster cable, on all sound systems, or just the system they done a blind A/B test?

[@AudioMasterclass]

An audiophile might say that if the coat hanger sounds as good as the Monster cable then the other elements of the system are insufficiently resolving. Personally, I prefer wooden coat hangers.

[@Sildenafil_Damages_Eye_Retina]

@@AudioMasterclass Those snake oil coat hangers.

[@klausjones9012]

If there is some kind of buffer/line driver, even with zero gain, one could actually call it a pre amp. Guess I have to buy one and take a peak. Anyway, thanks for your fun videos.

[@AudioMasterclass]

Another commenter mentions a variable attenuator, which I suppose one could call a preamp with negative gain. If there's no gain, then I'd just call it a buffer.

[@andrewallison70]

A total misunderstanding of the word 'pre', the dictionary definition of the word 'pre' previous to; before., therefore before the power amp, always made sense to me.

[@evenblackercrow4476]

This a useful topic focus--because I do have vinyl(s)--for the artwork. *Chinglish is the best.

[@nagyandras8857]

My god. Its a PRE AMP. It goes BEFORE the power amp. Thats why this yay is a pre amplifier. And its still a good idea to have one. I prefer to have a beeeefy REAL power amp , that is Just a voltage follower. No voltage gain or amplifier okay ? Thr voltage amplification and input selection and tone controlls etc are in the pre-amp. And I prefer that to run on battery power. No more main's noise. Allso they used to be dc coupled. Only the power amp had dc blocking. And I like that setup.

[@DPSingh-px4xu]

Sorry Sir I have been patiently waiting for class but as soon as I saw you do that thing called unboxing I skipped the class...I'll be back

[@stevengagnon4777]

Save some money get a pair of Bose 301s series II or III ( Large Advent fried egg tweeters in front first order cross over at 2600 hertz and an adjustable L-Pad) put a pair of small directional speakers with good vocals just inside on a separate amp with volume control. Maybe a small sub and a couple of small coaxial speakers in a paint can (give it it's own amp too) on the other side of the room aimed at the ceiling. Put on Brian Eno's On Land and enjoy. You won't need much power so the amplifier can be small ( mine are all 80s Mosfet integrated so there are volume controls to get the right blend) just need a good preamp. My budget was gone so I used what I had available.

[@AudioMasterclass]

I suspect you may be an audiophile.

[@stevengagnon4777]

@@AudioMasterclass Thank You ! Need to cut all those edges and ledges off the 301s. Would liketo lower the crossover too but that will require a different rear tweeter. That's a puzzle yet. Those fried eggs are not cheap and a better 3 inch 4 olm cone tweeter of is made of unubtainium. .

[@mimofi]

A device intended to perform activities prior to amplification incl. switching and tone etc needs a name and I personally find pre amplification sounds spot on and more complete than switcher.. Maybe prioramplier vs. preamplifier? I am not serious on that last bit 😂. Sorry, on this one this time I have to disagree with you 😊 (but I often agree so that's ok).

[@fabiosantesarti4081]

Ok, it's a SWITCHER !!! 😁

[@knifeswitch5973]

There will be a “creepy unboxing” genre hitting the kids soon. Mark my words

[@AudioMasterclass]

It won't be me.

[@toonertik]

Damm.. I got to get one of them.. I don't need one.. just want that unboxing hit with all that "stuff"

[@AudioMasterclass]

Can't have too much stuff.

[@toonertik]

@@AudioMasterclass Tell me about it.. I went mutitrack modular a few years ago.. never enough "stuff" ;-)))

[@EElgar1857]

The device that comes before the power amp has been called a "pre-amp" for generations now, so maybe they don't dare call it anything else. 😁

[@paulstubbs7678]

An interesting box, breath some new life into your old power amp & speakers. To a lot of young ones old HiFi is kind of lost on them as they cannot easily connect their phones and use Spotify etc. The only thing I saw missing was a network socket, and maybe a few extra analogue in's as I have way more the one analogue source.

[@AudioMasterclass]

Audio over ethernet is definitely a thing professionally. The jury seems to be out on whether it will catch on in the home.

[@paulstubbs7678]

@@AudioMasterclassMuch better that blutooth with it's limited bandwidth and countless compression schemes used through all it's iterations. These days when you connect over blutooth, while you may have the latest codec avaliable, you have no idea what one it's actually using.

[@AudioMasterclass]

And if you are using the latest lossless codec, can you be sure that there's no RF noise that's making it drop into lossy?@@paulstubbs7678

[@paulstubbs7678]

@@AudioMasterclass Exactly, if you value your audio, then avoid blutooth

[@josepessoa8543]

Can we call it a passive preamp?

[@AudioMasterclass]

Quick, trademark that! You're onto something.

[@andygrenn680]

Watts Up!

[@clicks59]

No balanced outputs?

[@martineyles]

Do you use monoblocs next to each speaker?

[@clicks59]

@@martineyles powered studio monitors.

[@duncan-rmi]

do you need that 816 quite so close or are you just showing it off? 😂

[@AudioMasterclass]

It's a 416 and I place it how I like it.

[@earthoid]

Tone settings are almost always useless to me, and I especially don't understand how anyone could like the Pop or Vocal setting.

[@everTriumph]

What!!!

[@chocomalk]

Where's audio Phil with the definitive review of the sound quality?

[@AudioMasterclass]

Phil's busy upgrading his power supply with twenty more hamster wheels.

[@martineyles]

​@@AudioMasterclassHe's finally found a way to isolate his system from the dirty mains power then!

[@AudioMasterclass]

@@martineyles Yes, the question is now whether his system sounds better before or after mucking out.

[@LyleFrancisDelp]

What, what, What?!?!?!?!?!?!

[@G8YTZ]

Wot?

[@neilburns5244]

They spelt 'acrylic' wrong

[@danmar007]

What does it have? Horsepower?

[@AudioMasterclass]

Miniature Pinscher power.

[@dkmi]

Volts. It's a preamp. Stupid title to get us to click on it to see what the hell it is.

[@AudioMasterclass]

Oh, you need the joke explaining. It's a fun comparison between this preamp and the power amps I've reviewed recently that have outlandish claims of how many watts they produce. Gettit?

[@stevesutcliffe5805]

We have a KURO, same reasons plus it heats the room. On that theme for 25 years my power amp is a Marshall 9200 driving ancient pro-ac EBS monitors. Maybe Arylic were thinking of me? Maybe I need therapy? Phil !!?

[@dkmi]

@@AudioMasterclassI get it now.

[@curtiscroulet8715]

If it doesn't say anything about moving-coil, then you should assume that it's moving-magnet only.

[@AudioMasterclass]

Moving magnet and moving coil are quoted, as I said, in the marketing material and manual.

[@audioreparaciones8956]

Watt?

[@northa4021]

A watt is a joule per second

[@diegocanale1124]

No watt wattsoever 😂

[@georgebliss964]

Not much in the way of switching for analogue line in with only one connection.

[@AudioMasterclass]

This is a point I intend to address in a future video. Although this item has seven inputs, if you had seven devices they would all have to have different outputs to match the BP50's inputs.

[@sandongabundunga9052]

Hello, are you there? Yes, who are you? What's your name? Watt's my name. Yes, what's your name My name is John Watt. John what? Yes. Are you Jones? No. I'm Knott. Will you tell me your name then? Will Knott. Why not? My name is Knott Not what? Not Watt, Knott. What?

[@clarkejones8090]

I quite liiked the music.

[@carlingtonme]

You couldn't borrow a turntable and test the phono preamp....hate to tell you but records are now 21st century💥

[@AudioMasterclass]

I could borrow a turntable but I don’t have any vinyls.

[@Voidoid77]

Of course it hasn't got any watts! *It's MADE FROM ACRYLIC** eejits, the lot o' ye!! **When was the last time you played your favourite album on your woolly jumper, eh?** EXACTLY!!

[@martineyles]

No input for your FM radio (at least not if you're using your CD player's own DAC) and no tape loop. Hardly worthy of being called a switcher.

[@rienpost3145]

Wouldn't it be nice if manufacturers finally got rid of these useless pop/rock/jazz presets. They never made any sense at all.

[@martineyles]

At least you knew what you were getting when you selected Megabass!

[@vo2maximus177]

Of course it's a preamp, it's pre your power amp. Duh.