jokan,
We do share similar views of all things audio.
Re: "I don't think that a fuse, a nice audio grade fuse would necessarily bring about any noticeable difference being that the infineon/merus chip is very, very good to begin with"
I don't think a good fuse 'improves' the sound so much as it lessens the degradation of power. My opinion of the Infineon/Merus chip was initially very high. But in my last abode, circumstance forced me to set the speakers at standing head level! and that prevented me from discovering the SA300's utter lack of depth in the soundstage. I'm big on tonality but imaging and soundstage, among other factors has to at least be adequate.
A comment on amazon touting the AO200's soundstage and imaging gave me hope. Your comments have further persuaded me to purchase one. Besides the cooling, I do think that a good power cord and unit isolation will, again lessen deleterious influences. It's clear that the small size of the AO200 limits what can be done and it is what it is... good to hear that it's not really an issue.
Regarding Xovers, I like to see minimal parts, high quality parts and when possible, first order. I love the idea of crossoverless designs but sadly that just involves other tradeoffs. If the designer's tradeoffs match my preferences, great. If not, move on.
I too would like a pure power amplifier, the Peachtree GanFet400 and LSA GanFet power amps hold much promise. Then there's the Conrad Johnson 45 'control' power amp. (drool) but at $3k and up all are a stretch for me, especially as they demand matching ancillary gear like preamps, etc. Audio gear consists of a chain and the system is only as good as the weakest link. "this hobby costs money!" Indeed it does. "we will never, EVER achieve perfection. We strive for the best compromise, discussing everything with our wallets!" Exactly. Spec Corp of Japan is another brand of dream gear for me. Exquisite stuff and all about the music.
Heat and vibration are the mortal enemies of electronics, so I know where you're coming from in desiring amplification as cold as possible.
"Ruler flat" does not match our hearing, the Munson Curve and subjective listening demonstrate that. But reasonably ruler flat reproduction lends itself well to room correction software, which along with some passive room 'additions' can go far to tame room anomalies. Thus my Paradigm PW-Link Anthem Room Correction preamp. When funds allow and tech advances enough, I do plan on upgrading that link.
I don't have a problem with other people having different preferences in the 'sound' they like. I do have a bit of a problem with people who insist that their view is the only 'correct' view. Not that arguing is called for, simply politely disagreeing and wishing them well on their journey.
"I'm a fan of the balanced sound, the musicality of the amplifiers by infineon/merus. One of the more organic sounding amplifiers out there regardless of cost."
That hits my sweet spot as well.
Nothing against it but I'm not a fan of Bluetooth either. I too haven't much need for it.
I'm good with passing on the idea of adding a fuse on to the AO200.
"Enjoy more music and that's really my personal take on audio. As long as you get to a certain level of sound quality and musicality then I believe that everything is good."
That, in my opinion, is it in a nutshell.
Take care, live long and prosper, ;-)
Geoffrey
Music reproduction is really very difficult, a piano is a tremendous problem to reproduce convincingly with speakers, much less record. I've done some just slightly above studio/mastering work for learning, or the experience. It is truly a difficult thing to record a piano well. I think that the Broadman *spelling* speakers that use a vibrating board is very good at piano, but it lacks in a full orchestra. Another speaker that I know the creator of rather well is Kiso Acoustics. They use and destroy about 100 fostex horns that they disassemble and make new horns out of ebony, mahogany and other lumber. They also throw out ones that don't meet their standards. Meanwhile they use a tymphany woofer (I use 2 per side myself) and they're not only super inexpensive but have a very sweet midrange. Kiso Acoustics uses wood for Takamine Guitars. Hotel California with Don Henley playing his Takamine is definitely a signature sound from the first record. I listen to a lot of Pink Floyd, David Gilmour, Clapton of course, and lots of Jazz. I like some classical, but not a lot of it. Something about classical music bores me, probably because I had to practice playing the piano as a child and I hated it. I never bothered to properly read music all the time. I could play most of the more entry level stuff by ear. Still can actually. I used to play the guitar myself, but I've had a few strokes and my hands just don't move fast enough so I gave up on playing and only listen these days.
Back to the A0200. With the right speakers, the right placement, the right room treatment, the soundstage on offer far exceeds the outer limits of the width (placement) of your speakers. They can create astonishing depth also. It is absolutely crucial to get the tweeters to be at or near ear level.
It's priced too low in my opinion. I think that can be off-putting to some people who are badge snobs. And then SMSL releases a new line of amplifiers that use 8-10 year old technology, repurpose it and call it new and charge insane pricing. A modern class-D amplifier should not require a fan. Not if it designed correctly. It can run luke warm to the touch and that isn't an issue. But a fan? I take issue with that. I know it measured "well". However it shuts off once it sees a 20khz signal and needs to be repowered to reset itself. And somehow it's got a Hi-Res label, or at least I'm pretty sure it does, all three of their new amps using the same basic chip. I won't name the models, or the chipset used. But it's easy to find on the forum/site.
The A0200 has it's limitations and there is no independent data or graphs to "prove" it's potential or performance. I can only use my years of experience and say it's remarkably close to how a properly designed tube amplifier and or a class A transistor amplifier sounds, but modern. So it has the high frequency extension that is in style today. It will reproduce what is in the recording, good or bad. If you have particularly bright tweeters and sensitive hearing to the 7-10khz range, the DA-9 and A0200 is probably not a good match. but speaker wires can change that rather quickly. I have vintage cloth Western Electric 16 gauge wires, and Nordost pre-terminated speaker cables, as well as some 8 strand, 4+ 4- solid core western electric wires that are I think 24 gauge each. Those use AET (japanese company) pure copper banana connectors, but they use a stainless set screw, guessing that copper will strip too easily? I use those for my funky Sony speakers. Funky because they were originally for the last hurrah for Mini-Disc players. They made what they called a Mini-Disc-Juke. And the better set of speakers sounded alright from the factory. I gutted the crossover, replaced the tweeter cap with Mundorf, the woofer Audyn Copper. Yes, the used speakers only cost me $30 including shipping, but I spent over $400 in parts. They are 6ohm, and frankly one of my very favourite speakers. The tweeters used what sony termed Extended Definition back then, and they are. It matches and plays well with the A0200 and DA-9.
The biggest trick with audio is that ruler flat is nice if you have a studio that is equally flat. And if you are mastering. That's about the only time I enjoy speakers that are super flat. I will exclude Kii Three, and Kii BXT from that equation because those are truly remarkable loudspeakers. I first heard the Kii's in Tokyo a few years ago. Not knowing who I was talking to, I said to the gentleman so you're using DSP to do this and to do that, I can tell that much. I'm impressed at how well you managed to make the rear and side speakers disappear. The sound only appears to come from the front facing two drivers. Apparently to this day, I was the first person and only outside person to get it exactly right. So he asked how I figured it out. I spent most of the day back at the Kii demo room as the other rooms had distributors that didn't have any understanding of matching amps and speakers. I saw YG acoustics paired up to a Japanese made tube amplifier. I just kept on walking. There was no reason for me to stop and listen. The latest line of higher-end or should I say high priced JBL's sound okay, but nothing like what they used to sound like in the 70's when they really rocked. I think those old JBL's would work well with the SMSL A0200 and DA-9. I don't think they'll work well with Focal's particularly well. They're crossovers are power hungry. And their brand has nearly no signature sound, every line sound completely different to another line of their own speakers. This reminds me of 90's Bose speakers. Every pair had its own sound signature. The A0200 would struggle with the 901's for example. I only say this from experience with various brands and how they are designed. Matching your amplifier to speakers is equally important as the amplifier itself.
If you prefer a mixed bag of sound, as in truly every type of music, I think I can easily recommend the A0200. I hope you don't have 8ohm speakers and like to listen at music over 80db though. It will show the shortcomings of the amplifier if the speakers are 8ohm and low 80db/watt sensitive. In a Japanese home, it will not be a problem as the neighbours would complain at that volume anyway. I usually listen to my music at or around 70db when I play music on the louder end. I do like to play music at 90-95db though and on occasion I do for a very brief moment, like a single track only. Japanese homes/apartments which they laughably call mansion's share the same floor plan for the most part. A bedroom will have another bedroom above and below it. My downstairs neighbours are renters. They change out every year. I suspect my constant 24hrs a day music can be irritating! But I never play music loud at night. I also use my RME's PEQ to cut everything below 140hz, and then the bass is cut at 50hz again at -6db Q is 0.1 I believe. Bass just goes right through the walls above and below. Even when my room has bass traps, wall treatment including diffraction panels and absorption panels. The walls are just too thin. When I hear the upstairs children running around for an extended amount of time. I play the soundtrack from Tron Legacy at extreme volume. It makes them shut up. I never get complaints from building management or my neighbours though. It's strange!
So all that being said. The SMSL A0200 is definitely okay at playing at 2ohm loads. It's happiest with 4 or 6, but more 4 ohm than not. We're seeing a lot of 6 ohm speakers lately in the market. I suspect that the manufacturers are saving money and making first order crossovers for a lot of the bookshelf speakers out there. Which isn't an issue if they are relatively sensitive. Keep your speakers in the mid to high 80db range and your SMSL amp will thank you for it.
Remember to cycle that amplifier for a week on and unplugged several times. I urge you to check and also chart the DC-offset of the amplifier from new to a week later. Do this several times a day if possible. Always wait a minimum of 5 minutes, 10 is ideal before taking the measurements. The upper limit is 60mV. Most seem to be between 10-30mV. Mine are extremely low. I have no idea why. I've used multiple meters and they read the same. 0.4mV and 0.5-0.6mV L/R channel. Sure I did replace the paste, but that doesn't explain how my amp measures so low. I think I got extremely lucky. My DA-9 was low also, but not this low.
Definitely buy more music, or play your favourites a lot once you get your amplifier. I suggest you refrain from cranking the volume too high for a while. Keep the volume to be equivalent to the volume of a human voice speaking and not yelling or screaming. Play music that has a lot of information. That does not mean bass tracks per-say. Orchestra's are good. So is a record player by using a phono-stage and RCA level inputs. It will actually speed up the burn-in process hugely. There are sub sonics and ultrasonics in records. CD's digital music just doesn't have that sort of bandwidth, not consistently. A couple of hours with a record, days for digital music, DSD or no DSD. SACD or not, it's not got that insane bandwidth. It works particularly well for solid core power cable. I have some virgin copper, 12 gauge power cables and I had to create clamps to hold the cable in place it's so stiff it'll break sockets and wall outlets! There is a third party go-between for buying from Yahoo Auctions Japan. They'll act as an intermediary so you can purchase the parts you want, for a fee of course. My power cable comes from a private individual who makes these cables and earns his living selling his custom power, RCA, XLR cables. They are in my permanent collection. I don't use it on the A0200 as it's too light. I instead use AET for the A0200. Unfortunately with covid, it seems that a lot of the AET wires are unavailable now. The company is fine, just can't get the wires themselves.
Hope all of this gibberish helps in some way. The A0200 has its limitations but so does everything. The good thing is that it's inexpensive enough that if you are truly unhappy after extensive Burn-In, you aren't out a huge amount of money. Big enough to hurt a little, but nothing that you can't make up in a short amount of time. DA-9 vs A0200? I won't answer on the grounds of I had both but only kept the A0200. But they are sonically to my ears 95% or greater the same. I really can't say anything negative about either amplifier.
Enjoy your music, and I don't know what part of the world you're from, but have a good one!
