Review on 🔊 Kinter MA170+ 2-Channel Auto Home Cycle Arcade DIY Mini Amplifier - 18W, Bass Treble, RCA Input, Black - Includes 12V 3A Power Supply by Taffy Taylor

inexpensive beautiful sound. Looks really nice. (You'll have to get to the innards to turn off the backlight if it bothers you.) I was surprised by a few reviews that suggested the amp suddenly stopped working. To avoid connecting my amp to this group, I found two problem areas: The design uses a single chip to power both channels.1. First, this chip MUST have a heatsink or its lifespan will suffer. The chip dissipates this heat through its backside and must be in close contact with a heatsink (metal for heat dissipation). This design uses a thick but loose metal U-clip at the top of the chip package. If the two screws are pressing the clip against the side of the case, the chip is still not secured in the U-clamp. As a result, the back of the chip only lightly touches the clip, which is pressed against the sidewall. There is no solid chip contact and overheating is possible. The louder the sound, the more heat is needed to dissipate the chip.2. The very design of the stereo amplifier chip does not allow the use of a traditional 3-wire headphone plug (if desired). Note: Neither left nor right ground (negative speaker terminals) share a common connection point. The same applies to the positive poles. Whether it's speakers or headphones, the left and right channels need a separate, independent pair of wires (total 4 wires for two channels). An amplifier chip actively drives BOTH left channel wires and BOTH right channel wires.