This started as a good tread but turn a bit commercial. I wish more people would add their own experience here.
For me, I tried a few, tripath ta2024, ta2022 chips, TI purepath, TI tas5613 and others.
All of them I did a lot of tweaks. The tripath are very musical chips, and that is why a lot of people like them, including me.
Ti purepath are the 1st gen evaluation board, can't get much bass out it, I don't think I did a good job with the variable voltage power supply.
I even tried a Sony s-master, noisy amp.
The tas5613 is the latest and is the one I am currently using. After some extensive tweak, I found the bass and the treble are a bit better than the Ta2022, the rhythm and pace are better too. But the sound is not a warm as the tripath. However, I find the tas5613 has a better balance and I like the sound more. I got this amp as a complete amp but I did a lot of tweaks (actually no more than the other amps I had).
Is there any other tas56xx user here that could give a comment?
For me, I tried a few, tripath ta2024, ta2022 chips, TI purepath, TI tas5613 and others.
All of them I did a lot of tweaks. The tripath are very musical chips, and that is why a lot of people like them, including me.
Ti purepath are the 1st gen evaluation board, can't get much bass out it, I don't think I did a good job with the variable voltage power supply.
I even tried a Sony s-master, noisy amp.
The tas5613 is the latest and is the one I am currently using. After some extensive tweak, I found the bass and the treble are a bit better than the Ta2022, the rhythm and pace are better too. But the sound is not a warm as the tripath. However, I find the tas5613 has a better balance and I like the sound more. I got this amp as a complete amp but I did a lot of tweaks (actually no more than the other amps I had).
Is there any other tas56xx user here that could give a comment?
This is an old thread but i thought i should add my impressions of the S.M.S.L. SA-36A TA2020 based amp.
In general i find the build quality to be very good for what i paid and how big it is.
The binding posts are a little on the small side but how else are you going to cram four binding posts on this little box? They are adequate.
I ended up with the black faceplate version (silver being out of stock) and while there are two blue LEDs behind the volume knob you'd be hard pressed to notice without turning off the lights. I rank this at a solid "meh".
The volume pot is a small one but seems to track just fine, i don't notice an imbalance between channels.
I have had the board out and i find that all the soldering work is entirely competent and there is nothing that would give you any impression that it is less than a totally professional build.
It has a pair of multi-turn trimpots in the input section that i surmise are used to even out channel imbalance, but i have not fiddled with them.
I appreciate a lot that it has protection relays.
I don't really mind that it didn't come with a power brick. 12v bricks are easy enough to come by.
My one qualm was that for my application (a pair of very efficient 3.5" pioneer 8ohm fullrange speakers and a Sony ECR-500 transformer box (with 4ohm primaries)) out of the box it simply did not have enough gain for use with portable sources.
It is built with 20k resistors on both sides of the feedback loop as per the datasheet. I had to replace the feedback resistors with 40k but this was not a major chore. Just a little annoying because i went out of my way to pick a small tripath amp with good coupling caps and a volume knob specifically because i didn't want to have to use a preamp with it, and if i hadn't had the skills to identify and replace the feedback resistors myself i would have had to use a preamp or some other source.
That wouldn't be a problem if you plan to use a computer source or regular stereo components, I suppose.
It now drives my tiny fullrange speakers and my 30 year old uni-electret headphones to pleasing levels with an mp3 player as the source. I use this rig at my desk at work.
It sounded a little rough at first but after a couple hours the sound signature smoothed out and it sounds quite good now.
In general i find the build quality to be very good for what i paid and how big it is.
The binding posts are a little on the small side but how else are you going to cram four binding posts on this little box? They are adequate.
I ended up with the black faceplate version (silver being out of stock) and while there are two blue LEDs behind the volume knob you'd be hard pressed to notice without turning off the lights. I rank this at a solid "meh".
The volume pot is a small one but seems to track just fine, i don't notice an imbalance between channels.
I have had the board out and i find that all the soldering work is entirely competent and there is nothing that would give you any impression that it is less than a totally professional build.
It has a pair of multi-turn trimpots in the input section that i surmise are used to even out channel imbalance, but i have not fiddled with them.
I appreciate a lot that it has protection relays.
I don't really mind that it didn't come with a power brick. 12v bricks are easy enough to come by.
My one qualm was that for my application (a pair of very efficient 3.5" pioneer 8ohm fullrange speakers and a Sony ECR-500 transformer box (with 4ohm primaries)) out of the box it simply did not have enough gain for use with portable sources.
It is built with 20k resistors on both sides of the feedback loop as per the datasheet. I had to replace the feedback resistors with 40k but this was not a major chore. Just a little annoying because i went out of my way to pick a small tripath amp with good coupling caps and a volume knob specifically because i didn't want to have to use a preamp with it, and if i hadn't had the skills to identify and replace the feedback resistors myself i would have had to use a preamp or some other source.
That wouldn't be a problem if you plan to use a computer source or regular stereo components, I suppose.
It now drives my tiny fullrange speakers and my 30 year old uni-electret headphones to pleasing levels with an mp3 player as the source. I use this rig at my desk at work.
It sounded a little rough at first but after a couple hours the sound signature smoothed out and it sounds quite good now.
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To TCX:
Hello TCX, what result you have at listening on the amps you bought?
I was very curious. (since long time)
Regards
Roberto
Hello TCX, what result you have at listening on the amps you bought?
I was very curious. (since long time)
Regards
Roberto
I use the Topping TP21
After doing some research on T-Amps, I decided to go with the TA2021 chip and after seeing the internal photos of quality components, I chose the Topping TP21 amp. When I first received the amp, I immediately tossed the cheap AC adapter and powered the amp with an IPH RSP-512T DC regulated power supply to ensure accurate, quality output. For my system, I am running digital optical directly from my iMac into a Topping D2 DAC, then into a YiXin MDS-623 tube buffer (2-6N3), and finally into the Topping TP21 amp. The system is powering a pair of high efficiency custom 2-way monitors from fritzspeakers. After nearly a year of use, I can easily say the TP21 has far exceeded my expectations for a $100 amp. The sound quality is simply stunning. And with the tube buffer on the front end, there is a wonderful warm bass texture that is hard to describe. I encourage anyone using T-Amps to try adding a tube buffer/preamp on the front end; you will be pleasantly surprised. If you want to see/hear my T-Amp rig in action, just go to youtube and search for "topping tp21 t-amp stereo system".
Over the years I have owned several tube amp systems including McIntosh, Audible Illusions, Jolida, Golden Tube, and others powering large speaker systems such as Klipschorns, Magnepans, etc. I must admit, however, after my experience with the Topping TP21, I am totally sold on T-Amps powering high efficiency speakers. I have since sold my large tube system and am presently putting a T-Amp system together that will include a tube preamp feeding a pair of PopPulse T150 amps in a 150 wpc mono block configuration.
After doing some research on T-Amps, I decided to go with the TA2021 chip and after seeing the internal photos of quality components, I chose the Topping TP21 amp. When I first received the amp, I immediately tossed the cheap AC adapter and powered the amp with an IPH RSP-512T DC regulated power supply to ensure accurate, quality output. For my system, I am running digital optical directly from my iMac into a Topping D2 DAC, then into a YiXin MDS-623 tube buffer (2-6N3), and finally into the Topping TP21 amp. The system is powering a pair of high efficiency custom 2-way monitors from fritzspeakers. After nearly a year of use, I can easily say the TP21 has far exceeded my expectations for a $100 amp. The sound quality is simply stunning. And with the tube buffer on the front end, there is a wonderful warm bass texture that is hard to describe. I encourage anyone using T-Amps to try adding a tube buffer/preamp on the front end; you will be pleasantly surprised. If you want to see/hear my T-Amp rig in action, just go to youtube and search for "topping tp21 t-amp stereo system".
Over the years I have owned several tube amp systems including McIntosh, Audible Illusions, Jolida, Golden Tube, and others powering large speaker systems such as Klipschorns, Magnepans, etc. I must admit, however, after my experience with the Topping TP21, I am totally sold on T-Amps powering high efficiency speakers. I have since sold my large tube system and am presently putting a T-Amp system together that will include a tube preamp feeding a pair of PopPulse T150 amps in a 150 wpc mono block configuration.
I tried a pair of Amphony 100s in monoblock to each speaker, along with my Grant Fidelity CD2 buffer. It did seem to smooth out some of the sharper characteristics of the digital amps, yet at the same time, details were diminished and the dynamic impact not as prominent! I do like the use of the buffer on many vocal renditions but for percussion I prefer to be without it! Granted my digital amps are cheap as can be at $40.00 a pair, but gives better details then my AVR! I have been using a pair of SLS studio Monitors and a Transmission Line MTM tower, but I am very interested in affordable DIY products from both Bruno and Roberto as they seem to be producing great stuff and I am all for energy efficient ultra low distortion musical Digital amps. I do like the Idea of integrated digital that controls low frequency and lower mid frequency and Tube amplification that control mid and high frequency music. This seems very complicated especially for experienced DIY. Gary Dodd uses buffers in the Virtue Sensation and Ice modules with success, so who knows?
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