TPA 3116 vs the tripaths

[schnitzle]

Hi Schnitzle,
How are you finding the sound from the board ?

First I think I have to say the build quality seems to be bad on my board. I had to resolder one of the legs of what I think is a voltage regulator to stop the amp from not wanting to start and/or randomly resetting.
That said, all inputs seem to work fine and deliver clear and quite noise-free audio. Bluetooth relatively the hissiest.
The usb audio sink sounds fine but there is something strange: both using pulseaudio and alsa I get 'full volume' with the master at about -60dB. The volume buttons on the board only work for line and bt. It says on the board two spots can be used to switch 26/32dB gain but I don't want to try that now. Also because line in isn't too sensitive at all.
Switching between inputs is semi-automatic. Usb overrides other inputs. Short push of the power button allows switching between line and bt. It likes to give a few annoying bt beeps as things time out when you start using line but at a polite level. I can use the buttons on the board to control my media player on the pc when using usb.
I use a 16V, 4.5A laptop psu. Pioneer cs-e320 loudspeakers.

Edit: The usb audio works fine after a reboot, the hair trigger gain is no more.

 

[hifix]

Sorry to hear about the board quality.
Its nice to see alot more features being integrated into the boards now.

 

[den_HR]

Short push of the power button allows switching between line and bt. It likes to give a few annoying bt beeps as things time out when you start using line but at a polite level. I can use the buttons on the board to control my media player on the pc when using usb.

So, no Chinese lady announcement in broken Engrish when you change inputs? That's good to hear
Is the Bluetooth sound of acceptable quality? You mentioned hiss... Is it noticeable/acceptable?
This one could actually be usable for my purpose - if the only audible signals when changing sources is a beep (not loud)....

Most of the Bluetooth amps you can find have relatively poor BT audio quality, and/or have annoying Chinese lady anouncing input change (very loud)... BT is not implemented very well on most of the boards, seems to have issues with common power supply interference. Drmord on DIY forum provided several steps in solving BT issues on a couple of such boards (e.g. Sanwu one) - but it seems that those boards still have the unavoidable Chinese (angry) female voice announcements

 

[Raynald]

So, no Chinese lady announcement in broken Engrish when you change inputs? That's good to hear
Is the Bluetooth sound of acceptable quality? You mentioned hiss... Is it noticeable/acceptable?
This one could actually be usable for my purpose - if the only audible signals when changing sources is a beep (not loud)....

Most of the Bluetooth amps you can find have relatively poor BT audio quality, and/or have annoying Chinese lady anouncing input change (very loud)... BT is not implemented very well on most of the boards, seems to have issues with common power supply interference. Drmord on DIY forum provided several steps in solving BT issues on a couple of such boards (e.g. Sanwu one) - but it seems that those boards still have the unavoidable Chinese (angry) female voice announcements

I discovered that is why the mute button on the remote is so useful!

 

[airbus]

photo of speakers attached

 

[hifix]

Wow! Thanks for sharing. I dont recall seeing anything like it before.
Is that a ported design ?

 

[schnitzle]

@Den: I just listened to the bluetooth a bit, I was interested primarily in the usb audio sink myself.
I used a linux laptop so I could not try aptx. I have a couple of other bluetooth audio devices: cheap 5 euro speaker, more upmarket creative speaker, sanwu class-d board with bt, gembird dongle. Connecting with thisone is easy, the link is as stable as any other device. Regarding noise it's only bested by the gembird. After dialing in the volume on the board an open link gives a tiny bit of whiteish noise (no whine or hum). Imagine having a cd back in the day and copying it to your fancy 3-head nakamichi with dolby c working correctly: there's still some noise but you really need your ear near a tweeter during a quiet moment to register it.
@hifix: I haven't really replied to your question about the sound of the board. The day I was distracted by having to fix the bad solder joint and configuring the new audio device on my pc.
I have had a few hours listening now. I swapped the Pioneers for a pair of Mission 760i. I've listened to different types of music ranging from linn's classical stream to bassy hip-hop. A lot of spoken word too. I tried listening at very low volumes and driving the missions to their limit. I used a 90 sec 30-18kHz sine sweep.
I grew up using stk-based japanese integrated amplifiers and my most used amps now are an old sony with a big stk and a small stm chipamp that's class ab, not d.
I like this board. I think I can use it daily. Noise level is low enough, it is stable, I can discern no artefacts.

Edit: I've listened to the beep again. It is only one beep and it is not loud. The problem is it's not a 'status has changed' confirmation beep you might expect shortly after switching inputs.
I think it's 'I've stopped waiting for you to reconnect' and it takes about 2 minutes to happen.

Edit2: Wait. The button does not switch sources. Line is only heard if nothing else is connected. Bt mutes line, usb mutes bt and line.
And I can still connect with bt after the beep.

 

[hifix]

Thanks for the feedback Schnitzle,

I'm still using one of the older boards with no added features.
In retrospect, i didnt consider that it might be in my main rig for this long.
Good to hear that the amplifier is a candidate for a daily.

 

[schnitzle]

I switched the gain to 26dB from 32. Very quiet now.

 

[airbus]

Wow! Thanks for sharing. I dont recall seeing anything like it before.
Is that a ported design ?

Yes, the port's in the back. Probably wasn't worth it to do pyramids. I was trying to make sense of Harry Olson's paper on enclosure shapes and the Wilson WATT Puppy was quite popular at the time.
They sound good, but I'm not sure the enclosures helped that much. They may have even caused some problems.

 

[Gnesen]

I just received this Nobsound dual 3116 amp with NE5532P preamp section:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07548PWQQ/


And am running it with this 24V 6A power supply:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0721W1ZXF

It’s still too early to give a definitive review, but I like it so far. One thing for certain is it runs very quiet without any source connected — I only get a slight hiss from the speakers at near full volume, unlike some other chip amps I’ve tried. It’s also completely silent when switching on/off. An Amazon Echo Dot has been the only source used so far.

 

[CKDC]

Plug in some good sperkers and you would have a pretty nice setup!

 

[Gnesen]

Plug in some good sperkers and you would have a pretty nice setup!

Ha! I saw that too before buying it. I can confirm that the back plate on mine is labeled 'SPERKERS'. I also wonder why the label on the front explicitly says 'Treble and Bass Power Amplifier'. At least they spelled 'bass' correctly. Function over form, I guess. Spelling aside, it really does seem to be a solid amp.

 

[airbus]

Is the nobsound identical to the Breeze Audio? They certainly appear to be.

 

[Gnesen]

Is the nobsound identical to the Breeze Audio? They certainly appear to be.

The cases sure look the same, but I think the innards are different on the new Nobsound (two TPA 3116 chips with a separate preamp chip). Though an older Nobsound with a single TPA 3116 looks exactly like the Breeze on the inside.

Nobsound single-TPA 3116: https://www.amazon.com/Nobsound-TPA3116-Channel-Digital-Amplifier/dp/B00WTOAC1M

Breeze: https://www.aliexpress.com/store/pr...ial-washed-zero-profit/911703_1988580406.html

And the newer version of the Nobsound that I just got:

 

[bubba42]

Gnesen got it. Plus the dual chip model has 2x the possible power output.

My single-chip is more power than I need, even with only a 12V power supply, possibly due to 98db speakers. (or is it sperkers?)

 

[Raynald]

Is the nobsound identical to the Breeze Audio? They certainly appear to be.

The names Douk Audio, Nobsound and Breeze Audio often seem to be associated with the same gear. Anyone know the exact relationships?

 

[CKDC]

The names Douk Audio, Nobsound and Breeze Audio often seem to be associated with the same gear. Anyone know the exact relationships?

FWIW, I think this is a great question.

Thank you for asking.

Who are these guys?

And who produces these chip boards we like so much and why do they do it?

 

[Poultrygeist]

There are many mysteries of the orient.

Chinese audio seems to be a great shell game of many vendors selling much of the same gear under different names.

 

[bubba42]

I don't think these Chinese audio sources are vendors in quite the same way as we think of them. I think that many products are produced in a region, then sold under many different names through a few different channels. Douk seems to be one of the bigger sales channels and Nobsound seems to be one of the more common names, but you will see the same thing under different names from different sellers.