This is a review and detailed measurements of the SMSL A100 A100 stereo amplifier. It is on kind loan from a member. I can't find it on sale anywhere but seems to have cost US 100.
I like the simply but rather elegant/symmetrical design. Same for thoughtful rear connections:
Almost every manufacturer puts both speaker outputs together making it so hard to plug in the banana plugs. Here they are spaced apart which essentially solved that problem.
Inclusion of an AC power supply is unheard of in this price class and nicely declutters your desk.
Oddly the USB input is type A. At first I thought this was for external storage but manual talks about using this with a computer. I didn't have a type A to type A cable so didn't test this and stuck with Aux analog input.
The heart of the unit is Infineon MA12070 class D amplifier.
SMSL A100 Measurements
As usual we start with our dashboard:
Distortion is actually better than 90 dB but there is rising level of noise and high order spikes which drag it down to 76 dB. This puts is slightly below average:
Edit:
Request was made to measure using USB input. I had to use a special breakout box to interface to the unit given its type A connector. Here is the dashboard:
As you see, performance is degrade fair bit. My breakout may be causing some clock jitter but then again, if async USB is implemented, this should not be the case.
Noise performance is "OK:"
Multitone shows the same problem at high frequencies:
I expected frequency response to have load dependency but thankfully, it did not:
What ringing it has is above audible band which is good.
Crosstalk is very good, beating some home amplifiers:
Power output is naturally modest:
Sensitivity to high frequency input becomes very clear as we do power sweeps:
Unit didn't need any warm up.
Conclusions
The message here is a sum of good and not so good. I really like the frequency response for a class D amplifier and inclusion of AC power supply. Distortion on the other hand rises with frequency. I like to see perfection but we don't have such an example below $350 currently. Overall I would say not a bad attempt. Strange that despite having become available late last year, it is discontinued already. Maybe there are part shortages.
I am going to recommend the SMSL A100 as a budget amplifier.
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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
I like the simply but rather elegant/symmetrical design. Same for thoughtful rear connections:
Almost every manufacturer puts both speaker outputs together making it so hard to plug in the banana plugs. Here they are spaced apart which essentially solved that problem.
Inclusion of an AC power supply is unheard of in this price class and nicely declutters your desk.
Oddly the USB input is type A. At first I thought this was for external storage but manual talks about using this with a computer. I didn't have a type A to type A cable so didn't test this and stuck with Aux analog input.
The heart of the unit is Infineon MA12070 class D amplifier.
SMSL A100 Measurements
As usual we start with our dashboard:
Distortion is actually better than 90 dB but there is rising level of noise and high order spikes which drag it down to 76 dB. This puts is slightly below average:
Edit:
Request was made to measure using USB input. I had to use a special breakout box to interface to the unit given its type A connector. Here is the dashboard:
As you see, performance is degrade fair bit. My breakout may be causing some clock jitter but then again, if async USB is implemented, this should not be the case.
Noise performance is "OK:"
Multitone shows the same problem at high frequencies:
I expected frequency response to have load dependency but thankfully, it did not:
What ringing it has is above audible band which is good.
Crosstalk is very good, beating some home amplifiers:
Power output is naturally modest:
Sensitivity to high frequency input becomes very clear as we do power sweeps:
Unit didn't need any warm up.
Conclusions
The message here is a sum of good and not so good. I really like the frequency response for a class D amplifier and inclusion of AC power supply. Distortion on the other hand rises with frequency. I like to see perfection but we don't have such an example below $350 currently. Overall I would say not a bad attempt. Strange that despite having become available late last year, it is discontinued already. Maybe there are part shortages.
I am going to recommend the SMSL A100 as a budget amplifier.
----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
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