You were asking for feedback / opinions and a preference for the 3116 happens to be the general consensus.
The TPA3116 amps are reasonably cost effective and (to date) the TA2020 amps can still be purchased from ebay and amptastic.
Audio reproduction is many things to many people. Why not buy, try and move on. At least you would be better informed in knowing what works for you.
The TPA3116 amps are reasonably cost effective and (to date) the TA2020 amps can still be purchased from ebay and amptastic.
Audio reproduction is many things to many people. Why not buy, try and move on. At least you would be better informed in knowing what works for you.
ONJ - LOL
I like STC who started it all.
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.
Even more LOL, I had to google STC in context to arrive at the answer!
And I love those threads... have been an influence on me for sure. But vastly different than what the OP was suggesting. For starters, these drivers can have rather large frequency response and distortion differences. Not just easily measured, but well into established audibility range. And you actually standardized your protocol, at least among specified groups, so that differences could be attributed to the drivers themselves and not to your microphone, mic placement, room, placement in room, source (including different songs!!!), signal chain, blah blah blah.
Whether the measurable differences in the amplifiers in question in normal conditions is even audible in the best of circumstances is still quite contested. And then you're going to play different songs, different speakers, different mic, different room, different audio processing/compression/who knows, and attribute some perceptual difference to the amp? Why not the CD player? Or speaker wire? Or any of a million other factors??
We can agree partially to that, but the situation presented has too many variables to know which one is more affecting the overall sound. If, maybe, if it were the same speaker, the same room, same microphone, same exact recording position, same song, only variable being the amp, then it would have been a valid comparison. Even then I don't think the changes from different (and relatively good) amps are bigger than the sound degradation on youtube.
hi xrk971, I figured the breeze was very bad implementation. its actually the worst amp ive ever had. even my mom's 70's realistic receiver was actually better! even my mom, after living for a couple of weeks with the breeze complained about her sound: she prefered the sound of the realistic! lol and she couldnt care less about sound!
between the smsl 36a, sure tpa3116d2, Ybdz or audiobah, what is the best unit in your opinion?
thanks a lot!
between the smsl 36a, sure tpa3116d2, Ybdz or audiobah, what is the best unit in your opinion?
thanks a lot!
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I have the smsl and the ybdz, but have heard others say good things about the audiobah and sure. If you are ok with 25w/ch you really can't go wrong with the SMSL 36A pro. Basically guaranteed to sound very good. If you are a little more adventurous, try the new micro sized Sanwu Blue 3118D2 PBTL - one of the best sounding amps I now have. Need two units for stereo. They are $7 to $9 ea. The SMSL 36a pro also uses the 3118D2 chip.
More info on Sanwu Blue PBTL here:
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/class-d/219730-tpa3118d2-25.html
Here is my 4 channel at 60w/ch Sanwu Blue PBTL amp:
More info on Sanwu Blue PBTL here:
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/class-d/219730-tpa3118d2-25.html
Here is my 4 channel at 60w/ch Sanwu Blue PBTL amp:
Have not heard the 60, which is just a TPA3116D2 with a heatsink. However, some extras are added which you may or may not like. The volume knob is not a pot but an optical encoder that tells a circuit with an input op amp to set the volume via preamp gain. The volume always automatically goes to zero when amp is power cycled, so you have to futz with volume knob to bring it back to where you had it set previously. Not good for use in active systems like miniDSP driving it. Also extra noise and complexity of an op amp stage.
I've lived through the T-amp days, and even built a number of T-amp kits (low power, but very high quality kits). They were 41Hz kits, which were considered among the best.
Since then I bought a more powerful T-amp (ok, but not as nice as my kit), and two TPA-3116D2 amps, SMSL and Breeze, both 2.0 stereo amps, not the 2.1 amps.
The TPA amps are good - as good as my best small 41Hz kit. The SMSL arrived first, and was in use when the Breeze arrived. The Breeze is clearly better sounding to me.
Fast forward a couple of months... I could not resist, and started to tweak the Breeze. Nothing drastic - supply caps, then bypassed the volume control and replaced the input coupling caps. Again, not crazy mods, the most expensive caps were around USD$3.
I'm pretty amazed with the sound of modded Breeze amp. Transparency is very high, and bass was a real surprise after the input caps were changed.
Since then I bought a more powerful T-amp (ok, but not as nice as my kit), and two TPA-3116D2 amps, SMSL and Breeze, both 2.0 stereo amps, not the 2.1 amps.
The TPA amps are good - as good as my best small 41Hz kit. The SMSL arrived first, and was in use when the Breeze arrived. The Breeze is clearly better sounding to me.
Fast forward a couple of months... I could not resist, and started to tweak the Breeze. Nothing drastic - supply caps, then bypassed the volume control and replaced the input coupling caps. Again, not crazy mods, the most expensive caps were around USD$3.
I'm pretty amazed with the sound of modded Breeze amp. Transparency is very high, and bass was a real surprise after the input caps were changed.
The SMSL I have is the SMSL60. Yes, the volume control is a bit of a hassle.
IMHO the thing which the Breeze has over the others is the output inductors, which appear to be much higher current models compared to the SMSL and others. It's very similar to the ones I wound for the 41Hz kit Amp3.
IMHO the thing which the Breeze has over the others is the output inductors, which appear to be much higher current models compared to the SMSL and others. It's very similar to the ones I wound for the 41Hz kit Amp3.
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