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Such as the Fosi or Nobsound (*s*****)?
I want a small amp next to my computer - and one that doesn't take up as much room as the current Denon Mini system.
Will only had the Mac as a source.
Are the AC power units still liable to kill?
Yes I have - the Nobsound ones are actually pretty good, especially the Class D ones. Can't go wrong for the money to be honest
Yep - I have a Nobsound sat on my desk now!
Plugged into the back of my Mac and connected to a pair of Wharfedale Diamond 220 speakers.
I run the 'Boom 2' app to tweek the sound to my liking.
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/boom2-volume-boost-equalizer/id948176063?mt=12
I've just bought a Nobsound to power a passive sub.
Not set it up yet but seems pretty solidly built if that helps.
Nobsound on Bluetooth here.
Remarkable little thing. Would be a bargain at 4x the price.
I've got a nobsound in my car instead of a stereo, objectively it's a bit crap.
You will need some sort of app at the source to correct the EQ to make to sound half decent (I used neutralizer).
You will need a power supply at the higher end of the voltage range as class D means it can't output higher than the input voltage (it's also about as low down the list of circuit designs as you can go for sound quality) , so a 24v power supply is 4x more power than a 12v, 16x more than 6V etc. You can hack it to wire a bigger PSU directly to the board inside if you don't have the right DC plug spare, just use the continuity function on a multimeter to figure out which pin on the board is which.
On the upside, it cost £12 (plus the 12-24V DC-DC power supply), and once you've sorted the EQ out it doesn't sound bad. You can't get better for the money, because you can't really get anything else for the money.
But it's not Hi-Fi. It won't be as good as the Denon.
The "valve" variants are also shown to be faked, the valves are just glorified filament bulbs on the circuit.
I was about to ask about the "Valve" versions.
Wish I could find them at 12 GBP - the are all now 45 GBP plus...
Wish I could find them at 12 GBP – the are all now 45 GBP plus…
There's still some on ebay <£30, I might have got mine direct from china.
I've not bought all of them to test this hypothesis, but it shouldn't matter whether you buy the smallest, or the ones for £10-£20 more in big aluminium cases. Class-D amps don't "amplify" the incoming power, which is why they're so efficient, which is why they don't need a big metal heat sinking box.
In the simplest terms you put your 9-24V in, and the amplifier reduces that to the level of the output it wants. Which is very efficient.
Input voltage x volume contoll (0-100%) x audio input = output
Whereas the circuit in your nice Denon Hi-Fi is doing something like:
audio input x volume control multiplier (say 0-30db) = audio output
And it's trying to add power which is hugely inefficient but gives a better result with quality components.
I've got a couple of them, one's a bare board and the other is branded "Miniamp1" and is in an enclosure with some unnecessary LEDs on the front. The Miniamp1 is currently being used to drive a pair of Monitor Audio speakers and a subwoofer, which it does fine using a power brick from an old HP printer as a power supply (no, I don't necessarily trust the cheap unbranded switched power supplies). Inside they all seem to use the same TPA3116D2 chips.
If you want to connect a high-level subwoofer beware the bridged outputs; my sub quite happily tried to amplify the offset voltages until I put some hefty capacitors in the circuit!
Had a "kentiger" mini chinese amp in our old caravan which lacked a stereo. Had Bluetooth built in. Was awesome for £12. Really impressive.
I use a LEPY LP2020A. It's really rather good. Powers a pair of Gale bookshelf speakers with my phone playing Spotify. Very good sound quality and as said, they run cool.
I’ve got a nobsound in my car instead of a stereo, objectively it’s a bit crap.
You will need some sort of app at the source to correct the EQ to make to sound half decent (I used neutralizer).
This surprises me. I should probably check exactly what model I have, but my nobsound is completely neutral sounding, and that’s something that I’m quite insistent on. It has a button labelled “bass” and I when I first got it I clicked that until the lovely Chinese voice says “off” or something and it’s been sounding neutral ever since
These little class D amps are famously neutral, and mine sounds fine. Cars, on the other hand, are acoustically dreadful so it doesn't surprise me that you'd need some sort of equalisation.
Have one of these in the garage, hooked up to my old hifi speakers. Didn’t come with a power supply, used an old laptop one - seems to take a big range of voltages so anything that fits the plug will probably work. Sounds good to me, takes up next to no space.
If you've got some cheaper speakers then yes the little chip amps are great. SMSL and Topping are two brands to search for.
the nobsound amps are pretty good but you need to spend at least £5/m on speaker cable to get the best from them.
I've run a Tangent Ampster BT which I must say is excellent - BT for phone, Line In for computer and optical in from Laptop via Toslink. Switch on signal from computer is automatic too. Only 25W and not Class D.
Now running a Sonos Amp (125W Class D) as I wanted more oomph for the speakers (JR149 11 Ohm sat on the desk). This has Airplay for the laptop but there is a lag for meetings.
Ampster sat under the monitor - Sonos Amp is on a shelf elsewhere.
had 50w cheapo running off my pc since thing since my yamaha reciever went pop about 8 years ago and it's been great, the only thing i miss is the headphone socket.
the nobsound amps are pretty good but you need to spend at least £5/m on speaker cable to get the best from them.
TBH, I was intending to use coat hangers ....