I've been working from home (no, really working) and got to listen to D2160 most of the day - it suits KEF Q100 really well (standard, with foam plug inserts). I listened all day without complaint and was often impressed - I really like it. I've listened to an Alientek (D5?) before - that's what got me interested, but from memory that was a bit constricted and muddled, so this is better. The headphone amp is not good though. In low gain mode it barely has enough to drive HD650 and sounds muffled and dreary, and in high gain mode, it demonstrates why low gain mode is better. ;-) Overall though, I'd recommend this as an all in one but for the bass noise - such a shame that left channel has noise in the bass - I don't hear it in music but it's conspicuous when listening to musical scales from about 90Hz and below. FX have said they'll get back to me and "tell me how to fix it" but so far, nothing else.
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Yes, Zaph Audio did a full test on the drivers as did Medley's Musings - both rate them highly - and it seems the output filter on the D2160 suits the impedance of these speakers.
I'm evidently a lucky guy - FX Audio have said they can't fix it but will give me a replacement if I go to their offices in southern China. Great offer eh?
I politely declined. Actually, I think they may be trying to procrastinate because I'm told that I have to file for a refund within 7 days and it's been 6. The person on their help chat thingamy seems wholly unreliable, although this may just be normal behaviour in China apparently.
Anyway, this is yet more made-in-China goods to be returned. Frustrating and costly.
I politely declined. Actually, I think they may be trying to procrastinate because I'm told that I have to file for a refund within 7 days and it's been 6. The person on their help chat thingamy seems wholly unreliable, although this may just be normal behaviour in China apparently.
Anyway, this is yet more made-in-China goods to be returned. Frustrating and costly.
Yes, I hear that - I think the US gov has woken up to China's total warfare and are fighting back by encouraging divestment. It's having an effect here too - several Taiwan companies have already made the move back home this year. Plus that social credit system makes "1984" less of a dystopian fantasy. And then there's the Muslim concentration camps. And Tibet. And a debt bomb. Good grief. Bad routing on PCBs seems like the least of China's problems eh?
Just to end the story - I got a prompt and full refund, and FX Audio paid the return shipping in full too, with no hassle. Actually, very good service. Thank you FX Audio.
So, being a sucker for punishment, I used the money to buy a barebones I.AM.D V200 (a TAS5548+TAS614LA combo, D2160 is TAS5548+TAS5614A) that has an I2S input into the TAS, and a barebones FX Audio D802 (apparently the most basic ones test best).
Christmas will be a pure (digital) festival
So, being a sucker for punishment, I used the money to buy a barebones I.AM.D V200 (a TAS5548+TAS614LA combo, D2160 is TAS5548+TAS5614A) that has an I2S input into the TAS, and a barebones FX Audio D802 (apparently the most basic ones test best).
Christmas will be a pure (digital) festival
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I was on a similar road a year-ago, trying to take advantage of Class-D, gotten Fxaudio 502Spro implementation of TPA3250, only just weeks later convincing myself digital input solution would better serve my needs due av/music sources. 
Sharing my little findings, as i did quite some comparison on Digital PWM amps:
I.AM.D V200, Fxaudio D2160 & SMSL finally landing myself on Alientek D8.
I.AM.D V200 was a close runner-up, lots of belts and whistles, digital-in, wifi streaming, bluetooth ~ recall vaguely my findings is its integration is abit buggy.
Alientek D8 using low-jitter components on its digital inputs [Wolfson for Toslink, Xmos for USB input] won me over - its overall implementation seems straight forward & neat ~ too bad analogs-in are noisy due to its onboard smps regulator.
Anyway ~ look fwd to your Xmas digital gift, do share your joy and review with all of us, when you receive it!
Sharing my little findings, as i did quite some comparison on Digital PWM amps:
I.AM.D V200, Fxaudio D2160 & SMSL finally landing myself on Alientek D8.
I.AM.D V200 was a close runner-up, lots of belts and whistles, digital-in, wifi streaming, bluetooth ~ recall vaguely my findings is its integration is abit buggy.
Alientek D8 using low-jitter components on its digital inputs [Wolfson for Toslink, Xmos for USB input] won me over - its overall implementation seems straight forward & neat ~ too bad analogs-in are noisy due to its onboard smps regulator.
Anyway ~ look fwd to your Xmas digital gift, do share your joy and review with all of us, when you receive it!
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Thanks - I will.
I expect the V200 won't sound as good as D2160 because I see pierce oscillators are used for clocks in the V200 whereas the D2160 used a tcxo. Plus the horrible CS8416 for spdif input. When I spoke to the seller, he immediately understood why I wanted an I2S input into the TAS - they know the weaknesses very well - the version with no usb at all has that. So the V200 is going to need some mods, which is fun
I expect the V200 won't sound as good as D2160 because I see pierce oscillators are used for clocks in the V200 whereas the D2160 used a tcxo. Plus the horrible CS8416 for spdif input. When I spoke to the seller, he immediately understood why I wanted an I2S input into the TAS - they know the weaknesses very well - the version with no usb at all has that. So the V200 is going to need some mods, which is fun
D8 sounds good - I don't have one but I listened to one, albeit briefly. D2160 is better tbh. I suppose a lot of this would be how one defines Hi-Fi - I grew up with cassettes being described as Hi-Fi cos they had Dolby C NR, HX Pro, and other gizmos. On paper, the STA chip underperforms in specs but in a working design with all the other compromises such as smps etc, it's not very very different from V200 etc. It measures worse, yes, but subjectively some have said they prefer the SQ. Globulelg has run limited tests on these amps to show comparative measured performance. If you pair one of these amps with reasonably efficient speakers with an impedance that matches the filter, so they run at their optimum, they are, like many class D amps, decent performers - arguably not HiFi in today's terms though - but they are inexpensive - the V200 I just bought was 480RMB and the D802 was 440RMB. I know you are working on a more advanced one - any idea what that will cost with integrated sources, remote control, etc?
And after replacing one smps reg, and a few caps, he got this:
And after replacing one smps reg, and a few caps, he got this:
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Yeah, hard to find, isn't it! You have to go the blog page and scroll down to June 2012
Zaph|Audio
Here's a pic page link, proving it is there http://www.zaphaudio.com/temp/KEF-Q100LF-TS.gif
Medley's page is down but here is the link in case it comes back
404 Not Found
Zaph|Audio
Here's a pic page link, proving it is there
http://www.zaphaudio.com/temp/KEF-Q100LF-TS.gifMedley's page is down but here is the link in case it comes back
404 Not Found
Hugh Jazz, I have no plan for remote control yet, because IOS/Android apps are involved. Simply no reason to add remote controller if iPhone is always in the pocket, right? About the cost, I guess $150 for 125Wx2 would be ok.
Regarding a good sound of formally bad amp there is no surprise, tube amps is a good example. However, it's kind of shame if today ST so stupid that can not improve THD and noise performances. My HiFiTOY mk2 is delayed because it uses my own noise-hsaper between TAS5558 and oupen-loop power stage TAS5342, and I didn't get flat THD+N vs frequency response with that. 1kHz THD+N @ 50W .00*% but at 6.3kHz .06%(S/N good enough -108dbA), and I decided to not release so far this powerDAC, because I hope to improve formal specs further. However, a big company like ST quite happy with .15% THD in 2018 and -90db S/N? NXP the almost the same near to junk level. The same time, such dynamic company as Qualcomm released digital modulator chipset which outperforms Ti. Hence, not all of the silicon companies are stupid as ST, right?
Regarding a good sound of formally bad amp there is no surprise, tube amps is a good example. However, it's kind of shame if today ST so stupid that can not improve THD and noise performances. My HiFiTOY mk2 is delayed because it uses my own noise-hsaper between TAS5558 and oupen-loop power stage TAS5342, and I didn't get flat THD+N vs frequency response with that. 1kHz THD+N @ 50W .00*% but at 6.3kHz .06%(S/N good enough -108dbA), and I decided to not release so far this powerDAC, because I hope to improve formal specs further. However, a big company like ST quite happy with .15% THD in 2018 and -90db S/N? NXP the almost the same near to junk level. The same time, such dynamic company as Qualcomm released digital modulator chipset which outperforms Ti. Hence, not all of the silicon companies are stupid as ST, right?
I think the tech is DDX which ST bought from Apogee? https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiahcHbrf7eAhVW-WEKHaOSDucQFjABegQICBAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.metatech.com.hk%2Fappnote%2Fapogee%2Fpdf%2FTestingNote.pdf&usg=AOvVaw2agNFZFPyqwuOhqZi4Smz4
Maybe they paid too much and had to get a product out of the door ;-) It's good you don't have that attitude
Maybe they paid too much and had to get a product out of the door ;-) It's good you don't have that attitude
Ah-ha Hugh, maybe we came from same era.
70-80's analog sound different, yet they sound warm and pleasant
D8 seems to be a right digit fit, with my pair of Diamonds 10.2 ~ a balance of SQ, simplicity, cost & functionality. Though I knew some spend quite a deal on better exotic gears.
Also gotten TPA3250 (Fx502Spro fitted with Opamp LM49720NA), they dont come with Spdif nor USB inputs ~ so they are resting till i am done with D8 ~ they may see daylight.
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