I didnt see any reviews on aiyima’s new a08 amp on amazon, and after many rave reviews and measurements including ASR showing that aiyima knows what they are doing with chip amps using the same chip (3255) from TI, but this has a build in PSU which in theory could be better than a cheap brick you buy from ebay since the a07 is voltage and current limited. here is my review from amazon with pics.
So i took delivery of the Aiyima a08 amp/dac combo, after hearing a seeing the great reviews and measurements of the A07 amp by aiyima and the main problem with that amp is that the power supply is limited by whatever you can find on ebay and this a08 is basically the all in one version with a high quality built in power supply that is more beefy than what you would normally find on ebay to pair with the older a07. this has added usb and bluetooth connections and built in DAC which i didnt test since i have a modi + DAC with RCA.
The chip amp inside is the texas instruments TPA3255, which is also in the A07 amp. I do not think it makes "300’ watts claimed, however in comparison to the A04 amp i had before also made by aiyima but with an older chip, frankly this blows it away. i did an A/B comparison of A04 and A08 with both JBL stage a130 and emotiva B1+ and its night and day. the woofer control is amazing on the 08 where i thought the JBL was a bloated speaker and a warm speaker , turns out the a04 just wasnt doing it justice. It brought the performance of the JBL to new hights . id say a solid 15% improvement just from the amp change. highs are more clear and mids and lows are more coherent and clearly blended with no bloat or bloom like before no siblance either although im using a tube pre amp (saga +) but even in passive its clear but not sharp.
I do not think you can find an amp for 100$ that competes with this. The power on the 87db efficient speakers is enough to rattle the dishes in the other room and i didnt dare go full volume. It doesnt get hot at all and there are no buzzing or static sounds at all. bluetooth is just a bonus and i havent tested it. doesnt come with anything but a nice long power cord. I also think it looks kinda cool and industrial. might be awkward to fit into a desk set up like mine.
overall i think it will blow a lot of people away i dont see any reviews. but compared to the emotiva a-100 or stereo receiver it frankly isnt even close. the power and clarity is just next level with this amp. could easily use it as a main room system amp for home theater and get much better specs than most receivers under 1000$ and it has Bluetooth and USB input . I do not see a remote but that would be the only added bonus, it also has 4 OP amps that can be changed if you want.
Would love to see a discussion from anyone who uses any other chip amps or has plans on getting this one.
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I like to see a review of these amps specially the D05.
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Its on amazon, Dac amp $169 looks exactly like a fosi audio unit. Wish someone would review it. Getting fed up waiting for a loxjie a30 to pop back up.
Is that nice? First time to hear it.
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according to Aiyima the A08 is a more powerful and better measuring unit in every way for less money. @shenzhenaudio
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hi, do you know the amperage and the rating (volts) of the internal power supply?
i do not. i tried to take it apart the day before i sold it because i no longer needed a high quality small amp, and it is very difficult to take apart you need tiny tools to un do the knobs and things however i would say its about average. it did not seem to have an insane amount of power in comparison to the smaller units . it was plenty but i would say 60 to 100 watts max at 4 ohms. maybe 34 volts or something
I have a Aiyima A08. Connect speakers, connect E30 DAC to RCA Inputs, no music playing, turn up the volume and start to hear (faintly) noise at around 9 o’clock, gets louder and nasty at around 1-2 o’clock. Is this normal? Same test on my Audiolab amp and it’s dead silent all the way to max volume.
(fyi, same results when E30 is powered via Laptop USB or Li-Ion Battery Powerbank)
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What kind of packaging did the amp come in ? Got mine from amazon.
if both amps act the same its probably the source (DAC) or a bad cable somewhere. could be whtaver USB or source device as well. try different set of RCA otherwise might wanna return DAC.
I bought mine from Amazon.com (Aiyima store)
Like I said, did the exact same test with same cables, E30 Dac and speakers…on my Audiolab and dead silent. I have since heard on another forum, someone with A07 and E30 Dac and his setup is dead silent all the way to max volume.
Silent for me too so far i thought it had hiss but it turned out to be the recording.
Hit Pause or Stop on the music, then crank up the volume with no music playing. Any noise or dead silent to max volume?
oh i thought you meant there was no sound and it was making sound only at high volume. if you mean it makes sound while no music is playing yes these cheap class D amps do not have great gain ratio so it ramps up volume quite quickly. if your source is a PC or other source that isnt optical, it could be ground loop Hum. try using optical cable for DAC to see if the noise goes away. i remember my aiyima a08 starting to hiss around 4pm on the dial with no music this is normal when using USB because of the noise of the PC power supply passing through USB, which is why many people use optical if you dont use above 192k music. also gain could be set to high on DAC and the output voltage on the DAC could be set too high for the amp and it is clipping or distorting from the high input voltage from the DAC. i will say my Ncore amp is dead quiet at full volume even with a aiyima tube pre amp. but that could be because its a laptop source and not a noisy PC.
E30 is powered via USB from a Li-Ion battery pack. Like I was saying, same setup on my Audiolab and it’s dead silent. Others with A07 tested and dead silent. So it seems to be something with A08 or maybe mine is worse? When I do play music, it starts to distort at around 1 o’clock on the dial. If I use my Audiolab in Pre Amp mode and A08 for power the noise starts at 8 o’clock on the dial and ramps up quicker.
I just thought to see Amazon reviews and a couple others experiencing the same. I also read that one guy said he had A07, then tried A08, then went back to A07 since it didn’t have this issue.
interesting . my a08 did not have this issue. could be a power supply issue as well. might wanna try and get it replaced through amazon. mine was quite a good amp. or just go for the other infineon chip amps on amazon with the refund. mine did distort sometimes though so maybe there is a problem, i always equated it to a very high input signal from my tube pre amp and USB ground loop but maybe it wasnt and there is a problem, i got the sabaj version and it was perfect and had remote. seems better built as well. SMSL makes a decent newer one with dual chips might be able to find a deal.
Ya, been checking out the A0200, DA-9, SABAJ with Infineon. From reading around forums, DIY community… they say the TPA3255 amps sound a bit better than those. I definitely like the look of the other ones. But I’ll take SQ first. See what happens with Aiyima, maybe try another A08 or maybe ask for A07 instead?
well see if they offer refund and just go for sabaj or SMSL they are just better made than aiyima products although ive had many aiyima and have been good. the A04 i found did not sound good a bit warm and loose for a class D. the sabaj sounded better to me than the a07 either way i would make sure to get a good power supply if you can. makes a decent difference they need current if you want to listen above average or so on bookshelf speakers. idk i think the move to dual mono infineon will sound better than aiyima a07 but it is cheaper. i just hope the a08 isnt flawed i would check for more reviews on it , mine worked fine and its one of the first reviews on amazon however it did buzz a bit sometimes depending on the incoming voltage from my DAC or PC humm. so might go with smsl or sabaj since they have remotes and tone controls. ask for full refund of amazon credit and they usually do it instantly although these may be different if coming from china.
