Review on 🔊 AIYIMA A05 TPA3221 Power Amplifier: 100W+100W Bluetooth QCC3034 APTX 2.0 HiFi Stereo Class D AMP for Passive Speaker by Jill Foster

PRODUCT DETAILS: AIYIMA A05 TPA3116 Bluetooth 5.0 Stereo Audio Amplifier 100W x 2 (ASIN: B0887VX6H1). UPDATE 12/07/2020 I have no problems at all with this amp. It's been about four months and I've been running this amp from 8:15am to 12pm. Since this amp is clearly working fine, I can back off and use one of my other Class D micro amps until I can get a subwoofer to use with it. --- Original Review Below --- QUICK REVIEW ✅ FEATURE (10 out of 10): No issues with Bluetooth or music playback. There is an output for an active subwoofer. Bluetooth is protected from Wi-Fi interference. ✅ DESIGN (10 out of 10): excellent, with high friction grips and click volume. What do you expect from a class D amplifier with Texas Instruments 3116D2 amplifier chips. Also, to get 200W of continuous power, you need 2 ohm speakers. OVERALL RATING: 8.75 DETAILED REVIEW I started with this amp when it first came out and put the other Class D amp aside. I had three sets of class D amps, each driven by a Texas Instrument 3116D2 amp chip. How I tested: I tested it with two bookshelf speakers. One pair is a Chinese brand which is pretty impressive at $60 a pair and the other set are Klipsch R-51M reference bookshelf speakers which are amazing but cost close to $250. (RMS) and 325 peaks with a sensitivity of 93 dB. Chinese speakers are 6 ohms impedance, 30 watts continuous power, and I can't even find other specs for them. Both sets of speakers sounded very good at different volumes and styles of music. I've never heard amp distortion like clipping. On the one hand, this is a quality amp package that appears to be of a higher quality for the Class D amps popular here at Revain. Sounds flat, with good stereo implementation, and fairly quiet (very faint hiss when volume is cranked to 100% with no music playing). The channels were smooth, with low noise and no radio interference on the Bluetooth connection. The power buttons, knobs, rear speaker mounts, and overall exterior build quality are all designed to tight tolerances. Then again, the 200W power rating is mysterious unless it's just peak power. If it is a peak, "peak power" should be specified. Technically that's all I want to say, because the eyes are starting to cloud over from the technical discussions. You can read more about power in my NEGATIVE, SPECIFICATIONS section if you like that kind of thing. ✅ FEATURES There was no radio interference between WiFi and Bluetooth. All (three) class D amp kits I currently have have some issues with Bluetooth and WiFi interference. I had to move these boosters over a meter away from my WiFi router. Otherwise, I had a slight music stutter every time I visited a webpage when using Bluetooth. The Aiyima amp does not have this. I tested the 12-inch unit from my router and it didn't stutter once. Good job on that front. Bluetooth arrived on my Windows 10 machine as Aiyima Audio, another nice touch as some devices show up with a kind of generic name. The Aiyima amp has a switch that allows you to just turn on Bluetooth without the amp being on, and then the next step of the switch turns on the amp. I don't know why that is, but I assume the speakers don't shake when you unplug them. It's nothing important. I just left the amp on and didn't notice any knocking when turning the speakers on or off. The amplifier turns itself off after about 10 seconds without a signal. For example, if you pause music playback, the amplifier will turn off after about 10 seconds. This is a very nice feature that alone can prevent power on/off spikes. This amplifier has a passive subwoofer output, which means you can use a powered subwoofer with it. None of my other Class D amps have this ability. When I listened to music of different volumes and genres, I didn't notice any clipping or distortion from the amp. It was smooth and clean and the stereo separation was excellent. ✅ DESIGN It has inset high friction handles which is nice. The volume knob has high friction and is a clicker knob, which is another nice touch. It has a switch to turn on/off BT and amp. ✅ PREPARATION, FINISHING AND QUALITY Everything was perfectly aligned with the body and all buttons worked smoothly. The rear speaker mounts are good and my Nakamichi banana plugs are almost fully inserted. I tested the amp for "hiss" by turning the volume up to 100% with no music playing and the hiss was very minimal. (Hiss is a hiss-like distortion.) At 40% on the volume control, there was no hiss. ❌ FUNCTION Bass can be a little hot when tuned to a flat scale. No problem. Just turn back a bit. In fact, this is not a minus. ❌ DESIGN The front is screen printed, but that's my personal opinion. I'd rather have it all black.❌ VALUE You can get the same output power into 4 and 8 ohms for less with a single 3116D2 amplifier chip. Unless you use 2 ohm speakers and upgrade your power supply, you won't see any extra power at 4-8 ohms.❌ SPECIFICATIONS The amplifier comes with a 24V/4.5A power supply for which you 200W peak power get split second, but this power supply can't deliver 200W continuous power into 2 ohms or any ohms. The amplifier is supplied with a 24V/4.5A power supply. According to Ohm's law, a 24V/4.5A amplifier will output: @ 8 ohms: 72W total @ 4 ohms: 81W total @ 2 Ohms: 40.5 overall fantastic (for me), superficially well built, high friction, recessed knobs and a clicker volume knob, Bluetooth, WiFi RFI safe and has worked great with two different sets of speakers for the last few days of testing. The rear speaker brackets almost completely fit my Nakamichi banana plugs. This amplifier also has a passive subwoofer output connection, which means you can use a powered subwoofer with it. This product lived up to expectations and the build quality exceeded them; Due to strange performance claims, the power delivery was not what I expected.