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Gear / Technical Help => Playback Forum => Topic started by: Nick's Picks on December 15, 2009, 08:13:24 AM
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I put this in place of my Stingray yesterday as I was boxed up and being shipped to her new owner...
made a RCA > 3.5mm cable, and ran directly out of my Squeezebox into the T amp. Volume at about 50%..., and holy shit, it actually drove my Tylers to a moderate listening volume. But what impressed me was how good it sounded. Big soundstage, great imaging and depth..., bass impact.
sure, it didn't sound as nice as a $2k tube integrated...but it sounded A LOT better than you'd think a $19.00 amp would.
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I'm blown away by how good these Class T Amps sound!
Picked one made by Muse based on the TA2024 chip, $40 shipped, from eBay at 15Wx2 @ 4 ohms/10Wx2 @ 8ohms. This thing is tiny! Was so impressed, I picked up another based on the TA2021 chip (about $85 shipped), aka Topping TA21. This one is rated for 25Wx2 @ 4 ohms/14Wx2 @ 8ohms.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Headphone-Amplifier-Class-T-Amp-TA2021-25WX2-Adapter_W0QQitemZ250548343820QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item3a55d8540c
Using it to drive a set of Klipsch KG 2.5's in my office/computer room. Nice clean sound!
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I use one in my office system. Love it.
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Parts express sells the PCB for this amp, w/the gain control for $18. Its a single channel 15w board.
I would imagine that if you had two of these, and built them into a small monitor enclosure w/a set of full range high-efficiency drivers like the Tascams...Vifas, or any other that is rated from 50Hz > 20kHz (or there abouts)..., and you'd have a very nice sounding little pair of active monitors.
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I use one in my office system. Love it.
Hey can you turn that down...
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Some of the class d stuff is really good for not much dough, some is good for a lot of cash.
I'm constantly impressed by the quality of sound out of my Panasonic XR-55 with class d amps, especially the eq section (simple shelving bass & treble controls) which is one of the more transparent eqs I've ever used. Just incredible that I only payed something like $230 for it 5 years ago. Not sure what chips it uses but it has 7x100W channels, automatically bridges 2 pairs for stereo or uses 4 seperately in a bi-amp config with the correct hook up, which is how I run it for stereo.
I only wish it had pre-ins for all 7 amp channels to use them any way you like with ganged tone and volume control across the lot- it only has 5. And I wish I bought a second one.
I've used a friend's T-amp and it sounded great but just didn't have enough headroom to push the dynamics for most of my speakers. Great for portable stuff though. I'd like to have a quality portable surround playback system I can haul to backyard parties and such to play my surround recordings and I've thought of building some active 2-ways housed in PVC pipe, powered by these and DVD batts. Looks like my imaginary wireless network for feeding all 5 from a laptop or netbook for playback now exists but needs to fall in price: Radiient Roomcaster Early Adapter Kit. (http://www.radiient.com/index.php/products/thx-roomcaster-products-for-the-consumer) My completely wireless portable fantasy project now enters the realm of possibility.
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I agree about the Sonic Impact T-amp. We use one of the 2nd gen amps in our living room system and it's great. I'm going to pick up another T-amp for our nursery as well.
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http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=300-385
check it out. looks like an easy board for tweaking (replacing the cheap caps ..etc).
I"m going to order a few and see if I can't design myself a pair of monitors for mixing that work better than my (not that disappointing sounding) Edirol MA-10Ds
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Gee, I didn't know that Hong Kong was assembling & selling these with high quality components. I almost wish I didn't see this. I thought I'd have to buy the parts and assemble one myself. Now, I'm going to have to buy one. :laugh:
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I have a Sonic Impact T-amp in my bedroom, along with a cheap DVD player (for CD playback) and my old Cambridge Soundworks speakers. Perfect.
I've tried the T-amp in the main system, and it was impressive there as well.
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but it sounded A LOT better than you'd think a $19.00 amp would.
and where can someone pick one up for $20. I may be looking to put together a wicked budget system in the near future, and this looks like it could certainly fit the bill.
thanks,
Jason
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but it sounded A LOT better than you'd think a $19.00 amp would.
and where can someone pick one up for $20. I may be looking to put together a wicked budget system in the near future, and this looks like it could certainly fit the bill.
thanks,
Jason
I think they went for that initially years ago. Now Dayton makes them. PartsExpress has the Dayton version for $44.
http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=300-380&FTR=dayton%20dta-1&CFID=5147068&CFTOKEN=56782318 (http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=300-380&FTR=dayton%20dta-1&CFID=5147068&CFTOKEN=56782318)
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The $20 one people are referring to is this:
http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=300-385
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but it sounded A LOT better than you'd think a $19.00 amp would.
and where can someone pick one up for $20. I may be looking to put together a wicked budget system in the near future, and this looks like it could certainly fit the bill.
thanks,
Jason
I think they went for that initially years ago. Now Dayton makes them. PartsExpress has the Dayton version for $44.
http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=300-380&FTR=dayton%20dta-1&CFID=5147068&CFTOKEN=56782318 (http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=300-380&FTR=dayton%20dta-1&CFID=5147068&CFTOKEN=56782318)
The Sonic Impact didn't come with a power supply, the Dayton does. So the cost is about the same for the original retail versions. Higher amperage is key for this design, batteries can be better for bass response.
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the kingrex stuff is damn good >:D
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borrowed ToddR's some time back and was floored at what that little thing could do with my 88db efficient B&W's in my medium sized room.
for a small room or office it would be great
what are people using for speakers with it? Craig I'd be interested in knowing what you use in your office. I'm imagining my boss yelling at me through the wall ;)
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If you can run anything in the 90db + sensitivity range...you're stylin.
depends on how much volume you like.
remember the rule of watts vs. sensitivity. Every added decibel requires a doubling of power.
So if your speakers are rated as 90db sensitivity....It works like this :
90db at 1m with 1w of power.
91db with 2w
92db with 4w
93db with 8w
94db with 16w
95db with 32w, and that would be the end of what the T amp has.
so if you like to listen at concert volume with impact and pressurisation, you'll need some efficient speakers. Ideally, a set of 94db rated speakers would kick ass.
but that said, you were able to drive 88db B&Ws. I was able to drive 89db Tylo reff system...though not to any great dynamics..., but enough.
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interesting, what level is considered low sensitivity? ive seen quality speakers that rate an 85db, is that poor?
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yes.
doesn't mean they sound bad. Just means they need a shit ton of power if you want to listen at 100+db volume wise. (think live concert...at its absolute loudest from the SBD area..say 50' from a PA is pushing about 130db at a crazy crescendo peak), but mostly kept in the 100-110db range.
or..., they need that power just to drive them properly as they were designed to sound (at less than concert volume).
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so my ML's are 92db, does it make a differnce in the topend? meaning if i give a sensitive speaker a shit-ton of juice will it have and adverse effect compared to a speaker rated at 85db?
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Great little amps for the price, I love mine.
remember the rule of watts vs. sensitivity. Every added decibel requires a doubling of power.
Minor correction here, its 3dB that requires a doubling of power. Thus:
So if your speakers are rated as 90db sensitivity....It works like this :
90db at 1m with 1w of power.
93db with 2w
96db with 4w
99db with 8w
102db with 16w
105db with 32w, and that would be the end of what the T amp has.
Do you really listen to stuff at true concert level SPLs at home? Your neighbors must love you...or be very far away.
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i do, neighbors dont complain but my wife does sometimes.
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I live in the woods, I could run a jet engine in my living room w/o complaints.
efficent speakers being fed a lot of power..., yes, it can be a bad thing. that is why speakes have that "power rating" spec that says they perform best between X and XX amount of power.
basically, you need less gain to get the same volume that low powered amp would require.
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My old tamP sings when plugged into my heresies (klipsch), but their efficiency is in the 90db range (which is what makes them such a Good fit with a set low wattage tube amp).
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A few comments on the thread:
Yes, overall, I like the t-amps quite a bit. I recently got a cheap t-amp for like $20 for background listening in the living room and it works great and has a very small footprint.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190359475356
For several years, I've owned a Trends TA-10.1:
http://www.tnt-audio.com/ampli/trends_ta10_e.html
http://www.sixmoons.com/audioreviews/trends/ta10.html
http://www.trendsaudio.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=37&Itemid=28
To be fair, this is the one Tim borrowed, and it is quite a bit more expensive than the Sonic T-amp, though both are based on the same tripath chip. The Trends though is supposed to have much better capacitors, air core inductors, etc, and is supposed to be a better design. I think the Trends amp sounds great, though I haven't tried a head-to-head with the cheap Lepai amp.
On SPLs: Also, remember that the SPL you get from your stereo drops by 6db with each doubling in distance. Here's a handy calculator:
http://myhometheater.homestead.com/splcalculator.html
So I've got my Trends set up as my playback amp for my desktop/home office playback, together with my Soliloquy Sat 5 speakers. The Sat5's are pretty inefficient at 87db, and the Trends TA10 only provides 15w/ch. But for my desktop setup, I'm only 2-3 feet away from the Sat5's. To get the same SPLs out of these speakers at 10 feet as I do with them set up at 3 feet, I'd need a 160 watts/ch amp.
Bottom line, the t-amp may not have enough oomph to drive a whole room unless you have very efficient speakers, but even with pretty inefficient speakers the t-amps do fine for your PC playback system.
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How do the T amps do with low impedance loads?
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Good question, the sonic impact and Dayton are spec'd at both 4 and 8 ohms though.
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Silly question, but does anyone know where to get one of these without having to deal with the Customs Duties? In other words, I know they are all made in China but is there a USA distributor of this Sonic Impact T-Amp (or relative equivalent)?
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Silly question, but does anyone know where to get one of these without having to deal with the Customs Duties? In other words, I know they are all made in China but is there a USA distributor of this Sonic Impact T-Amp (or relative equivalent)?
The Dayton amp from Parts Express should work for you.
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Silly question, but does anyone know where to get one of these without having to deal with the Customs Duties? In other words, I know they are all made in China but is there a USA distributor of this Sonic Impact T-Amp (or relative equivalent)?
The Dayton amp from Parts Express should work for you.
yes, and the link posted earlier in the thread, it's on sale for $34 (down from $45), through the end of February.
I think they went for that initially years ago. Now Dayton makes them. PartsExpress has the Dayton version for $44.
http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=300-380&FTR=dayton%20dta-1&CFID=5147068&CFTOKEN=56782318 (http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=300-380&FTR=dayton%20dta-1&CFID=5147068&CFTOKEN=56782318)
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you can buy the PCB and volume / power knob from Parts Exp. for under twenty. stuff it in a project box...viola.
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There are numerous T-amps available on ebay. I've bought one t-amp from ebay, one from obadimports.com, and have also bought numerous pieces of audio electronics and electronics in general from ebay coming from china/hongkong and I've never had to deal with customs.
I don't know if it has random enforcement or if the onus is on me and I've been unknowingly skipping it, but it never has been a problem.
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Thanks for the replies. I guess I didn't realize that the Dayton was basically the same thing. I'll probably go that route.