AIYIMA A08 PRO TPA3255 Power Amplifier Bluetooth 5.1 with VU Meter 300W+300W HiFi Class D Stereo Digital Audio Amp 2.0 Channel Amplifier for Passive Speaker Home Audio

I want to play music in my bed room so I need 2 speakers and 1 power amplifier. My friend bought Aiyima A08 some time ago so I listened to his equipment and I am quite satisfied with A08’s sound quality. Now Aiyima 08’s price has increased a lot so I want to find a cheap alternative. I know Aiyima A07 is good but it doesn’t have any DAC interface or Bluetooth receiver and I have to buy a pre-amp or a DAC to use with it. Therefore, I want to try A08 Pro, which has a reasonable price and a Bluetooth receiver. I am not sure whether I need a DAC so I borrowed my friend’s DAC that costs about $190 to have a test.The build of the A08 Pro looks nice and although it is small, it feels solid and its weight is not very light. The sound volume level meter looks pretty cool.I use Sony SSCS5 speakers and an Android cellphone to work with A08 Pro. To my surprise, A08 Pro supports LDAC codec for Bluetooth, which is the highest quality audio codec for Bluetooth. The pairing is simple and the sound quality is awesome! The sound has a lot of clarity and details. The bass is pretty powerful and treble is also nice. I feel the bass from my friend’s A08 system is a little bit stronger in bass but I don’t think it is because A08 Pro is worse but because my friend’s speakers have 6.5 inch woofers, which are larger than Sony SSCS5’s. Actually I even feel A08 Pro has louder volume than A08 so it can play high dynamic range music easily without much effort. The tone controls are pretty effective. Frankly speaking, although A08 and A08 Pro have the price difference of $60, I don’t think A08 Pro’s sound quality is any worse. When I turned the volume of the cellphone to 0 and turned the volume of A08 Pro to maximum, I could hardly hear the noise from the speakers.Then I compared the sound quality of Bluetooth LDAC input and the sound quality using USB through my friend’s DAC and A08 Pro’s Aux input. I used the same lossless music file from the same Android cellphone. Maybe my ears are not sensitive enough but I cannot tell the difference of the sound quality through A08 Pro’s Bluetooth receiver (using LDAC) and through A08 Pro’s Aux input from a $190 DAC (using USB). Since I don’t need to connect this A08 Pro to optical or coaxial digital input, I believe I don’t need a DAC at all!Summary:A08 Pro is a great amplifier that has great sound quality at a very attractive price. If you don’t need optical or coaxial digital input, you can use this without a DAC but still get awesome sound quality through Bluetooth LDAC codec.Pros:Good sound qualityLDAC codec for Bluetooth (actually I haven’t found any other similar priced amplifier that has a Bluetooth LDAC codec) which is the highest quality audio codec for BluetoothExtremely low noise.Easily upgradable through replacing the AC adapter with a higher voltage and higher current rating power supplyCons:At this price level, I almost cannot find any issue with it. Maybe in future Aiyima can set a passcode for Bluetooth so that no one nearby can “rob” my Bluetooth connection?

Spoiler alert: Disregard the price, because this little amp sounds better than some amps costing 20 to 30 times its price. Buy one. Yesterday.I read and watched the various reviews (and IT HAS A VU METER!), and I wanted to see and hear for myself, so I decided to get one.From the first moment I fired it up, expectations were met and exceeded. This amp is one of the new breed of Chinese class D amplifiers, which is to say they sound nothing like the Class D amplifiers of a year or two ago. Using the best amp chip currently available (the Texas instruments 3255), they have the ability to pump out plenty of power for the needs of 95% of listeners.It was nice that it came with a larger power supply than the one typically available with these amps. This one had a 36-Volt 6-Amp power supply (for a total theoretical output of 216 watts across both channels, or 108 watts each. At normal efficiency, I would figure actual output at about 70 to 80 watts per channel into 8 ohms), as opposed to the standard 32-Volt 5-Amp (160 watts total, figuring for about 50 watts per channel into 8 ohms). Bottom line: it has more oomph.The AUX OUT port was also a very nice feature, as it means that you can run a powered subwoofer with this amp. Keep In mind that it outputs a full range signal, not just 80 Hz and below. Most subwoofers have an internal crossover, so this should not be an issue for virtually anyone.The Bluetooth is, like many of these amps, VERY eager to be used, so once it is paired, it will grab onto your phone automatically, anytime you are near. This will be good news for some, and bad news for others. It is easily solved by turning off Bluetooth on your phone. I ran the A08 Pro with a separate preamp feeding it, but it was also cool to be able to run it with no outboard DAC, no preamp, nothing but the A08 Pro itself, using only my phone as both the source and preamp. Bluetooth had very good sound, showing just how good of a built-in DAC it has, and when in a rush, it was fine to use. For the price, the built-in DAC is superb.The sound quality is nothing short of amazing, especially considering the price. I've got some very efficient speakers (97 dB, 8 ohms), and some very inefficient speakers (80 dB, 4 ohms), and the A08 Pro sounded amazing with both of them. There was PLENTY of power for my efficient speakers (Zu Audio), but I was wanting to know if there was enough for my inefficient ones (Magnepan). I didn't need to worry. The Zu towers easily topped 100 dB cleanly, and the Magnepans went cleanly up to 90 dB. I never push my amps to clipping, and 90 dB is louder than I ever use for critical listening, so there was more than enough power for any listening scenario. There was (of course) some hum and hiss with the extremely efficient speakers, and very little with the lower efficiency ones, which is true of virtually every amp on earth. This is to be expected when always running an amp with the volume knob turned all the way up. Having said that, it certainly does reduce the hum/hiss by far if you leave the volume knob between 9 o'clock and 12 o'clock (which I'm sure most people will do), whereas I always had mine turned up to 5 o'clock/100%.The EQ controls are right on the money, cutting or increasing the frequencies that virtually ALL listeners will want to adjust, and I never found the tone knobs to be deficient in any way. In fact, I was surprised by the fact that I LOVED them and their effects on the sound. I've got a (VERY) much more expensive EQ from Schiit, and I prefer the Aiyima tone controls.How does it sound? FABULOUS. This little amp has very low damping factor, and lots of 2nd and 3rd order harmonics, so it has some very tube-like traits in how it presents the music. For those who understand this sort of nerdy terminology, in tube amp terms, it sounds more like an AB push-pull than a single ended triode (SET). The soundstage is wide, separation is great, soundstage depth is similarly great, and it gives ZERO listening fatigue. I've sat for hours, going through my music library, enjoying every song, without ever tiring of the musical presentation.In short (and especially considering the price!!!), the Aiyima A08 Pro is one of those overachievers that blow your mind and reshuffle your perception of affordable Class D amplifiers. It's one of the best amps currently available that is attainable by virtually any music lover. It works with almost any speaker, and it just sounds GREAT. What more could you want?Highly recommended. VERY highly.p.s. I'm still CRAZY about that VU meter. It NEVER gets old.