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Customer Review
- Reviewed in Canada on January 14, 2022This replaces my review of the original A07.
The Aiyima A07 Premium is not just a new tag on an old amplifier. It is a full redesign of the original A07, keeping it's best attributes and improving on others.
The first major improvement is with the heat problem. Older versions relied on heat sinks inside the case, which tended to act like heaters. The new Premium version is using the case itself as a heat sink. Heat doesn't accumulate and after hours of slightly too loud listening, the amp stayed cool, becoming only slightly warm to touch. Much better.
The second improvement is a little more "techy" but still important. Class D amplifiers rely upon a filter at their outputs to separate the amplified audio signal from the high frequency PWM carrier. This is done by a combination of a coil and a couple of capacitors. But there was always some interaction between the large metal heat sink in the original design and the output coils. This affected sound quality just enough to be noticed. With this new design, they've kept the heavy duty coils and used improved capacitors in the output filter, and with no large heatsink the problem of interaction is solved. The difference in clarity and dynamics is immediately apparent when listening.
The next improvement is the increase in the Bulk supply capacitors. These are now up to 3300uf from 1000 in the original designs. And yes you can definitely hear the difference. The bass now sounds effortless and much fuller. The slight bass roll off in the older design is gone.
Aiyima wisely kept the separate power switch and their internal power supply design, using a 3 level regulation scheme that makes sure the Op-Amps are fed only clean, ripple free power.
New features are: A detented audio taper volume control, offset binding posts for speaker leads and a pre-out that is controlled by the volume control. All of which make the A07 Premium a good choice for Home Theatre PC duties.
A couple of cons:
While you can still swap Op-Amps in this version, it is a bit harder since the input capacitors are very close to the sockets. This means you won't likely fit exotic discrete op-amps, but any of the plastic chip style ones will still fit. It's just a bit harder to get them in and out.
The new heat spreader can create a "hot spot" on the bottom of the casing. This could result in discoloration of some furniture finishes over time. Make sure there's lots of free-air around the amplifier.
Is it fair to say I like this new design?
YES ... I will be more than happy to recommend it to my friends and clients.
This replaces my review of the original A07.
The Aiyima A07 Premium is not just a new tag on an old amplifier. It is a full redesign of the original A07, keeping it's best attributes and improving on others.
The first major improvement is with the heat problem. Older versions relied on heat sinks inside the case, which tended to act like heaters. The new Premium version is using the case itself as a heat sink. Heat doesn't accumulate and after hours of slightly too loud listening, the amp stayed cool, becoming only slightly warm to touch. Much better.
The second improvement is a little more "techy" but still important. Class D amplifiers rely upon a filter at their outputs to separate the amplified audio signal from the high frequency PWM carrier. This is done by a combination of a coil and a couple of capacitors. But there was always some interaction between the large metal heat sink in the original design and the output coils. This affected sound quality just enough to be noticed. With this new design, they've kept the heavy duty coils and used improved capacitors in the output filter, and with no large heatsink the problem of interaction is solved. The difference in clarity and dynamics is immediately apparent when listening.
The next improvement is the increase in the Bulk supply capacitors. These are now up to 3300uf from 1000 in the original designs. And yes you can definitely hear the difference. The bass now sounds effortless and much fuller. The slight bass roll off in the older design is gone.
Aiyima wisely kept the separate power switch and their internal power supply design, using a 3 level regulation scheme that makes sure the Op-Amps are fed only clean, ripple free power.
New features are: A detented audio taper volume control, offset binding posts for speaker leads and a pre-out that is controlled by the volume control. All of which make the A07 Premium a good choice for Home Theatre PC duties.
A couple of cons:
While you can still swap Op-Amps in this version, it is a bit harder since the input capacitors are very close to the sockets. This means you won't likely fit exotic discrete op-amps, but any of the plastic chip style ones will still fit. It's just a bit harder to get them in and out.
The new heat spreader can create a "hot spot" on the bottom of the casing. This could result in discoloration of some furniture finishes over time. Make sure there's lots of free-air around the amplifier.
Is it fair to say I like this new design?
YES ... I will be more than happy to recommend it to my friends and clients.Images in this review
