Why it Could've been the PERFECT CHEAP AMP but it's not!

[@Ratboy1]

Per Texas Instruments: Gallium nitride (GaN) is a wide bandgap semiconductor that enables higher power density and more efficiency than traditional silicon metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) and insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs). GaN processes power more efficiently than silicon-only solutions, reducing power loss by 80% in power converters and minimizing the need for added cooling components. By packing more power into smaller spaces, GaN lets you design smaller, lighter systems.

[@NeilBlanchard]

GaN = gallium nitride = *much* higher switching frequency = much more efficient and much cleaner power with lower noise. I think the main benefit of PFFB is the tonal balance is less affected by the impedance of the speakers? Without PFFB, some lower impedance speakers lose bass and lower midrange, I think?

[@Artcore103]

almost. it's not that they lose bass/treble, it's the high high treble, close to 20khz typically, that is boosted or cut (load dependent) based on the speaker impedance. the effect is usually minimal anyway, but is technically a flaw.

[@NeilBlanchard]

@Artcore103 thank you for the clarification. They sound hard/shrill/grainy in the treble, which is the common criticism of Class D.

[@dicmccoy]

​@@NeilBlanchardThat is a distortion in the output choke caused by the magnetic material used. Fix that, and the inherent grit/harshness is gone.

[@Artcore103]

@@NeilBlanchard common criticism yes, but r3t4rded criticism. Certain crappy/cheap/old class d amps may sound that way, but it has absolutely nothing to do with class d itself. The best amplifiers in the world are class d these days, utterly unbeatable. Class d rocks, there's nothing inherently wrong with it as a typology. Don't be biased because of ignorant 70 year old audiophiles. It got a bad rap because of some junk in the past, or bad examples of Chinese junk (btw I wouldn't call Fosi or aiyima junk, they're decent to good depending on a couple things). Today I would buy nothing else. Show me a better value or a better amp objectively at ANY price vs a hypex Ncore/ncoreX/Nilai or purifi or starkrimson type amp. There is none. Amplifier design has essentially been perfected, they are near perfect amplifiers - perfect beyond the limits of human audibility, and crazy powerful. If anyone spends more on an amp than one of the above options, they're either ignorant or just plain dumb, and they chose incorrectly. If your budget is ~600 or more, there is no other rational choice. There are only a handful of valid power amp options in the entire world, and I've listed them all, maybe there's one or two more tops, that's it, I can not emphasize this enough - every other decision is objectively WRONG and stupid and misinformed. If your budget is under 600 things are different and there are more options, but I'd say the best options are actually Tripath amps, tk2050 and ta3020 based amps. But the tpa3255 stuff is good, with the beefier 48v power supplies and an opamp swap. These options are superior to the "real" monoprice amp he mentions, or a cheap Emotiva amp or similar. No cheap class ab amp is as good. And with Tripath, you can get a real 200w/ch into 8 ohms, unlike the tpa3255 stuff.

[@k4syx]

I have reviewed one of these, it's quite good, opamp changing is also easy but there is little room for bigger discrete class a stuff, I think I've measured available space in my vid. HOWEVER, so far, there is only one king of tpa3255 hill and that's a set of zero zone monoblocks with dedicated power supply that's as large as these monos. I was stunned by the sound quality and it stays the reference point for all my other tpa3255 review videos (and some other "serious" amps too)

[@buckaroobonsi555]

GaN stands for Gallium Nitride it is a material in used to make the semiconductors. It is much more effecient than silicone. So a GaN switchinging powersupply can be much smaller than one based around silicone semiconductors!

[@yolo_burrito]

Silicon*

[@annebokma4637]

​@@yolo_burritosurely you know how impressive silicone can perform. It is just bigger 😂

[@mansolomd]

Just completed my first FunFi setup with 2 ZA3s connected to the ZD3. Source is the Wiim ProPlus. I feel I made the right choices. Very enjoyable so far. My Marantz amp is quite sad though sitting on a bookshelf.

[@Etheoma]

Someone has already have going to have said this already, but GaN is Gallium nitride rather than silicon as a semiconductor in this use case it would be the power ICs, it can stand higher temperatures and has a larger band gap meaning it's more efficient so it's a double whammy you can make it smaller because it's more resistant to higher temperatures and it's more efficient so it gives off less heat so you can reduce the size even more. Also it's more resistant to high voltages and frequencies which isn't particularly relevant for the application in question, that's more for microwave radio frequency amplifiers, microwaves ovens and high voltage switching for usage in the grid. Not having to deal with magnetrons in ovens is well worth it.

[@jukingeo]

Skunkie Designs reviewed one of these and really liked it. She took it apart too and it looks pretty well designed. I did end up buying the Fosi ZA3 though and I like the sound from that.

[@clarencehoover6748]

11:46 A: “The Price is Right” hosted by Bob Barker.

[@Ratboy1]

Very well done. Fun & informative. 👍🏼

[@D1N02]

Still think the ZA3 looks best

[@MJ-ge6jz]

Having a THD of 0.01% is audiophile quality levels. And more head is very good!

[@lijay1]

😂

[@ginom407]

Great Stuff Randy!!! Thank You for what you do! 👍👍👍

[@welderfixer]

Please correct me if I am wrong, but isn't the "low pass filter" adjustment used for "sub out" RCA port? Seems like a nice feature for someone that would like to add a small subwoofer. I do think that the adjustment would be better if it was able to go down to 80hz. Another thought is does that control actually work as a true "crossover" to limit the bass to the speakers or just a "low pass filter" to the "sub out" port? The Aiyima website didn't explain that on the A70 page. Maybe the owner's manual does.

[@hedgesdesagun4025]

Got a little bit confused about your statements on high pass filtering but otherwise amazing stuff with what you do. Always informative and fun. Cheers Randy!

[@WireHedd]

Love the Goonies pencil cup on your desk Randy. The review was cool too.

[@JoshColletta]

I'm one of those freaks who prefers stereo subs (useful for modern pop and EDM), so I know this idea is going to have a very niche-within-a-niche appeal, but... I would love to see this model altered to be a 1.1 pseudo-monoblock with a parametric crossover. What I mean by that is that one channel would be for one of the main speakers, and the other would be for a subwoofer. The crossover would be a variable high pass for the main channel and low pass for the sub channel, and they could use a simple balance control circuit to set the level between the two. This way you wouldn't have to buy a separate crossover box like I plan to have to do for my dream system, and you still get the benefit of monoblocks separating the channels for a cleaner and more powerful sound. Sort of a makeshift bi-amp setup for each stereo channel.

[@TekGuy56]

IJust so you know, Aiyima makes the A70 mono amplifier for those wanting a monoblock version and a pair of those are $100 cheaper than would be a pair of this amplifier. Adding a mono switch to this amplifier would be redundant. What would be helpful in my opinion is to have case options so that we could have our favorite gear in full size form factors. They do it with computers so why not with audio components?

[@bobbartola9496]

Hi, I have a Rogersound labs ia255.1 driving my Sony desktop speakers that was originally targeted for my ham radio. The sound is good BUT I cannot use a class-D amp on the radio room. The switching of the amplifier jams my receiver! I can see the switching noise on the output ports on my oscilloscope. To make it work I would need to mount it in a Mu metal box with low pass filters on the input, output, and DC in ports....and use a linear power supply. Looks like I will go back to using an analog amp. Thank You for your info, like your videos!

[@joelcarson4602]

Yeah, very high sensitivity inputs and random RF noise can't be ideal for your HAM Shack equipment.

[@cheapaudioman]

very interesting info. I love this community. talk about something most would never know. I can barely spell O scope

[@Shl0kk]

Already got it with a 48V 10A power supply 😎

[@RedSinter]

😂 Well, Randy I couldn't agree more, with everything...get rid of the useless Low Pass and that weird switch, make it able to be a Mono Block, hopefully they put the Op Amps on the top board...and I'm in...what he said. I wonder when the Chinese Audio and or any American made counter point will actually if possible chip wise make a single chassis Dual Mono. As in see HK receivers 75-78 basically.

[@justincox553]

Love the channel! I also have a question from this video. What would be the advantage of running this amp through a WiiM Ultra. Doesn’t the WiiM Ultra already have enough power?

[@jerry24790]

Some active subs don't have a low pass filter, so that one could be handy, especially some cheaper subs

[@welshnutterz]

If that was an adjustable highpass from 50hz to say 150hz it would of been a sale from me. Shame 😢

[@zounds13]

Q: What possible use is a low-pass filter? A: None, it's pointless. RSL does it right, this Aiyima does not.

[@Aaron48219]

11:39 "Where they guess the prices" The Price Is Right and Bob Barker. My gosh man, you're my age. How do you not remember that? That crossover is even too high for a low-pass with a sub. It makes no sense. I'd say a bandpass crossover of some kind, but it would need another dial for the higher cutoff frequency. *Don't forget to get your pets spayed and neutered today!* Also, Plinko was the best game on the show.

[@chemicallust77]

The gain switch is definitely a good feature...keep it, it would be useful when running it from a laptop or similar lower power device. The filter is pretty much useless though

[@annebokma4637]

I have a dumb washing machine. It is two floors up. I used a smartplug to plug it in. As soon as it is done the power usage goes down and I know I don't climb to steep dutch stairs for nada. 😂

[@tonyc.london8985]

Love your KZbin videos I don't understand all the technical jargon all I need to know is the amp any good the speakers any good and that's exactly what you tell me bought a amp recommended for some second-hand speakers I had brilliant

[@adsph]

Looks pretty good. Thanks Randy.

[@MetalGreggNY75]

Randy, you were thinking of The Price Is Right w/ Bob Barker.

[@jeff3575davison]

The Price is Right, originally hosted by Bob Barker, but you're too young to remember him. guess prices, win prizes then at the end of the show, trade them all in (if contestant wanted) for the goodies behind door #1, door #2 or door #3.

[@KillerKlipsch]

Aiyima sides vents are RED not orange, I think you might be color blind.

[@thedraftdoctor1]

yep that's def red

[@johnnixon2504]

I’m pretty sure they checked for color blindness in his old old job

[@KillerKlipsch]

@@johnnixon2504 What did he do?

[@johnnixon2504]

Electrical diagrams and safety diagrams were involved.

[@KillerKlipsch]

@@johnnixon2504 Yeah, I would imagine you would have to know the difference between orange and Red, especially on diagrams concerning safety, however, I do not care if he's blind. Im here for his wit and excellent audio advice, he has yet to lead me astray.

[@Rick_Dunaway]

What's the best way to run more than one of these small amps using a single source? A cheap headphone amp/distributor or what? I have a Tilear xzd-a1 that I'm using currently but I need a master volume and more than 4 outputs. Needs to have some type of added gain and use RCA connections. Thanks everyone for your input/help!

[@Artcore103]

the a70 doesn't have enough power to be used as a subwoofer amplifier anyway. the filter as I understand it is for the subwoofer output, not the mains output. "Sub Out: 20Hz~150Hz/600Hz(-3dB) (adjustable output cutoff frequency)" Those are very stupid low pass frequencies for a sub out... 600 hz is absolutely absurd, and 150 is also trash, but it doesn't matter, because your sub is going to have it's own low pass filter, so it's quite fine and usable. as far as I can tell from their specs page, it doesn't mention any high passing of the mains output, which kinda sucks.

[@bpalpha]

Are people using two different volume controls when bridging something like the ZA3? That's funky. Also, I bought a used Denon 5 disc changer and everything seems to work on it! My Sony 5 disc changer went berserk so I pulled it.

[@Audiodreamer192-24]

You mentioned the binding posts…. I’m surprised those kind of amps don’t come with spring clips lol.

[@Evolved_ue7]

For £250 you can have a Yamaha R-S202D Bluetooth DAB radio receiver with a solid 40 50wpc well built last years, sounds great .. Why buy this ? OR any cheap class D amps it probably won't last a year ..

[@buckaroobonsi555]

The low pass is usefull to a lot of people. Not everyone is running a powered subwoofer. Those low cost powered subwoofers suck! They normaly have a garbage sub woofer combined with a garbage amp, in a garbage enclosure! They are like speakers for people that hate sound. I have flour standing speakers that have 2 x8", 1x 3" mid and 1 tweeter in each baffle. The Emotiva BasX TA1 I replaced my 32 year old reciever and amp with can not drive them as well even though it is rated for the same output as my older amp. So using the bass managment to high pass to the floor speakers and the sub output into my old amp gives hope that I did not waste my money on the Emotiva BasX TA1. There is a reason why Emotiva gave you a switchable high pass with a dedicated Linkawitz 90Hz bass output to drive into another amp. This means you can bi amp or have dedicated high end high quality subwoofers hooked to a high quality amplifier that is dedicated to just bass. Some of the Emotiva gear allows you to choose full range, high pass, low pass etc....I would love it if all amps had the ability to be switched from one mode to the next and adjustable on the bass side. Low frequencies @ or bellow 100Hz means they can not be located and are omnidirectional. This means you can put the subs any place in the room and their location will not be obvious or affect sound staging. Once you get about 100Hz then it becomes directional. That is why Emotiva chose a fixed freq. of 90Hz on their sub output on the BasX TA1. The problem is the filter does not go low enough if it stops at 150hz it needs to go down bellow 100hz!

[@MrRourk]

Fierce Competition is a good thing :)

[@bigmike5785]

I know what you're doing with that little price is right bit...take my comment.

[@michaeldl49]

Can any of these new amps come with a 3.1 or 5.1 surround sound? A central speaker or surround sound improves the movie experience. I'm talking about new products like WiiM or Aiyima, not the expensive Marantz, Denon, etc. If you do, please make a video.

[@pseudorandomletters]

The game show mentioned at 11:32 is The Price is Right with host Bob Barker

[@SuperWooba]

It needs a hi pass and a low pass so you can stack them like bricks and use them for subs and highs.

[@ivoslavik1710]

I own Aiyima A07 Max which is quite thin on bass despite many positive reviews. So be careful what you are buying.

[@jazzabana]

I bet old aiyima a08 (with onboard power supply) with a nice aftermarket power cable would beat all of them. I have an aiyima a08 (with a power cable that came with smsl vmv d1se, audioquest and even more expensive ones) and had v3 and they simply belonged to a different tier.🤷‍♂️

[@thelowprofile9767]

Those complaining of hifi being reviewed on this channel are not really cheap can now rejoice. 😊

[@mccririck01]

You can get burgundy spray paint but it may have a different name.

[@johnstump2433]

Why is that? Am I missing something here?

[@mccririck01]

@@johnstump2433 No

[@josecintron85]

size doesn't matter, what matters is how you use it...

[@airsickgrove]

Price Is Right, back in the day it was hosted by Bob "don't forget to spay and neuter your cats and dogs" Barker.

[@Ratboy1]

"The Price Is Right"

[@randybehenna3763]

Sweet another review from the man that’s real …….. how many big dollar systems are sold compared to less expensive ones yup the truth right here on this channel

[@Brian_Romska]

I don’t get it…

[@randybehenna3763]

@ sorry if I don’t know how to explain everything I think or believe I just like the way he explains his feelings thoughts what he believes us with limited budget could buy and enjoy if that triggers something I am sorry I will not make another comment or statement have a great day

[@JuanGarcia-kv7yv]

Dude the Proce is Right

[@graelstream2353]

Hello~! I recently got into the hobby, I mostly use it on gaming open world games and got me the new audio technica x apos refine ath r70x. My brother got me the old schiit hel+, I was wondering if this would be compatible with the Schiit hel+?

[@evil_twit]

I use my wifi enabled washer/dryer per app almost daily. Funny world. 77.

[@ethimself5064]

Looks like it has some oomph to it

[@djl8710]

If you were on a budget and tight on space you would buy a pair of powered speakers like PreSonos or whatever. This complete disregard for powered speakers on this channel is unwarranted.

[@cheapaudioman]

I've done videos on powered speakers before and have plans on bringing some very well regarded ones in

[@unewb]

Personally I find cheap powered speakers pretty lame. Kali makes the best ones, same old story.

[@Audiodreamer192-24]

@@unewbI’m not a fan of powered speakers either.

[@skankhunt420]

For 180 bucks, i'd take a look at the Douk Audio T6 Pro 👀

[@stevezeidman7224]

Another cheap winner!

[@bradthurkle7217]

The show was ( the new price is right)

[@bradthurkle7217]

Sorry the price is right. We had it here to in Australia👍🏻. Great video mate. These little amps are cool. I bought an al cheapo one about 6 years ago. Was a 12volt one with the power adapter. Claimed it did 200watta a channel at 6oms but no way it did that but was lot of fun and still have it. Comes in handy for testing speakers ect.

[@tristandesade8635]

First comment ever!🎉

[@user-a33kixd2wq41]

bru5 with dsp and tpa3255 is better

[@Eron55555]

No high pass.. Boooooo

[@jamesatkins8344]

I've never understood why your anal over POWERED SUBS VS NON POWERED SUBS ?

[@junkmangeorge6363]

27 seconds in, on the box, 2X300 watt. Why even bother unboxing it? Consign to the landfill.

[@stephenhall3515]

Self-indulgent rambling references to US popular entertainment are annoying to we peasants who live in Europe, Africa, China etc, etc, etc. The acceptable 'relaxed' style is getting too close to American ego-tripping and is plain lazy. Endeavor to resume normal service.

[@Brian_Romska]

Surely Randy’s ramblings are part of the reason to watch, he doesn’t like to be called Shirley though…