Sonic Impact Amp

[Duffinator]

Do any of you own this amp?

http://www.si-technologies.com/frontEnd/cm_productDetail.jsp?productID=18

Some people at audiokarma are using them to run full sized speakers in small rooms and say this amp sounds really good, great on detail but slightly lacking in the bass department. My thought is this would be a great option to power bookshelf speakers from a PC. Any thoughts?

 

[WmAx]

Any thoughts?

My thought: "junk".

Unless your speakers are 96db/watt/1 meter efficient, a 6 watt(@ 8 ohms at low distortion) amp is going to *clip a large portion of the time unless you only listen to hypercompressed top 40 music selections or only play music at low volume levels. Small bookshelf speakers are typlically in the 85db/watt/1 meter range. Bad combination.

I seem to remember some measurements on that Sonic T device; I don't even believe it had a flat response below 80Hz(my memory could be wrong, this was a while back).

Go to a thrift store and find a discarded 80's stereo reciever, or get one from ebay. Much better than this underpowered device.

-Chris

*I believe that many people do not generally notice significant clipping unless they are listening for it. If you don't care about some minor static type sound on dynamic peaks for short durations and added dynamic compression, then the T-Amp may be sutiable for your application.

 

[furrycute]

I too have read a lot of hype about this little amp. But just look at the sheer power output of this amp, it's pathetic. As has already been pointed out, with this puny amount of power, your music is going to clip. And the lack of power is probably the cause of the "lack of bass."

I wouldn't hook this amp to my main speakers. Heck I wouldn't even hook this amp to my surrounds (if I had any). I would probably hook this amp to a pair of unpowered computer speakers (they are cheap, so even if the clipping does destroy those speakers, I only lose $10).

 

[markw]

10 watts at 8 ohms with 10% distortion.

No, I didn't leave out the decimal point.

Read those specs carefully. IMNSHO, it's good for small, efficient computer speakers or other non-critical aplications.

 

[Duffinator]

Unless your speakers are 96db/watt/1 meter efficient, a 6 watt(@ 8 ohms at low distortion) amp is going to *clip a large portion of the time unless you only listen to hypercompressed top 40 music selections or only play music at low volume levels. Small bookshelf speakers are typlically in the 85db/watt/1 meter range. Bad combination.

I forgot to mention that the other people using this amp are using highly efficient speakers. I dont' need an amp but was curious if anybody on this forum has used this amp.

 

[buckyg4]

First off. Please don't listen to anyone of the folks above who are calling it junk. These people don't have a clue as they have most likely never listened to this or any other tripath based amp.

I don't personally own this amp, but have heard it with my friends Paradigm Signature S2s, which have a sensitivity of 91dB.. The sound was good, not the best I have ever heard, but better than alot of amps that I have listened to. It was very detailed, but I tend to go for a warmer sound. The sound is not going to fill a medium or large room, but if you have a smaller room and don't listen at a loud volume than for the price of a dinner this amp is more than worth it. Its easily worth 5-10 times what you would pay for it.

On the other hand there are higher wattage tripath based amps out there that sound very nice.. I've built a couple tripath based amps from kits for less than a couple hundred bucks in parts and they have sounded great.

 

[Duffinator]

Thanks Bucky, that's what I was looking for, input from someone who has listened to this amp. While this is not an amp to use for a HT it sure looks like it would work well with some small efficient speakers used with a PC. It would give you much greater flexibility when looking for speakers to use with a PC. Looks like the whole digital amp thing is starting to come together and gaining greater acceptance.

 

[WmAx]

First off. Please don't listen to anyone of the folks above who are calling it junk. These people don't have a clue as they have most likely never listened to this or any other tripath based amp.

The clues seemed obvious to me. First one is that this is a 6 watt amplifier. As such, it requires very sensitive speakers or listening within a couple of feet distance with average sensitivity speakers. If failing to fulfill these conditions, one will experience frequent high levels of clipping if using dynamic music program(as opposed to commonly hyper compressed music program material).

There is nothing special about a Tripath based amplifier. It's just another digital switching amplifier. But theparticular unit discussed here is 6 watts into 8 ohms at a reasonable level of distortion, which by default, makes this device minimally useful except within a limited set of circumstances such as those I have already mentioned.

-Chris

 

[Rob Babcock]

If you can get by with 6 Watts, the SI is pretty nice. The aesthetics are pretty low rent, but the sound is good. I think they're coming out with a bit more powerful version if they haven't already.

The Tripath is a very well implemented switching amp. I've got several "digital" amps, including a Tripath-powered Griffin Powerwave that I use with my PC.

Consider for a moment that if your speakers are around 90 dB/W/M and you sit nearfield, your power demands will rarely exceed a watt, depending of course upon what type of music you like and how loud you listen. No, I'm not happy with very low powered amps (I only sit nearfield at the computer, and those speakers are relatively low in sensitivity), but many like them.

If you do fancy the SI, check out Vinnie Rossi's Tripath flea amps at Red Wine Audio. Before Chris starts browbeating me about them, look at how nice they look. He really makes a classy looking device out of that board.

 

[Duffinator]

Rob, some interesting products at Red Wine Audio. I've been reading up on the NuForce amps and when I saw the Sonic T amp it caught my attention. The whole digital amp thing it quite new to me so I'm trying to learn as much as possible.

http://www.nuforce.com/

 

[Rob Babcock]

Right now if I had the cash I'd probably buy 3 or 5 Nuforce Ref 9's. At the moment you're not going to get "a deal" on them, it's buy them direct, period. I've been keeping my eyes peeled at Agon for a good deal on a Bel Canto eVo6i Gen II with the idea of bridging the six channels to three X 335 W.

I really love digital amps. I don't forsee buying many old-style boat anchors anymore.

 

[Rob Babcock]

BTW, although it's a bit spendier than the Clari-T, Nuforce is now selling an integated amp based on its analog switching amp module. It's called the Nuforce IA-7, and I think it's already available.

 

[buckyg4]

The clues seemed obvious to me. First one is that this is a 6 watt amplifier. As such, it requires very sensitive speakers or listening within a couple of feet distance with average sensitivity speakers. If failing to fulfill these conditions, one will experience frequent high levels of clipping if using dynamic music program(as opposed to commonly hyper compressed music program material).

There is nothing special about a Tripath based amplifier. It's just another digital switching amplifier. But theparticular unit discussed here is 6 watts into 8 ohms at a reasonable level of distortion, which by default, makes this device minimally useful except within a limited set of circumstances such as those I have already mentioned.

-Chris

Your comments are pointless and are of no help to the initiator of the thread as the initiator was looking for feedback on how it sounded. Its obvious the wattage is low and that it will not drive low sensitivity speakers, but there are alot of areas where the wattage will work.. 300 watt amps with great specs are not going to guarantee that you will be happy. I would take a high quality 20 W SET amp any day of the week over the pro audio centric amps that you tout.

 

[furrycute]

A lower powered amp is still a low powered amp. Wattage is wattage, it doesn't matter if that wattage is coming from a SET amp, a tube amp, a digital switching amp, or a regular class A amp.

Low power output means that you have a great chance of introducing clipping into your speakers.

 

[WmAx]

BTW, although it's a bit spendier than the Clari-T, Nuforce is now selling an integated amp based on its analog switching amp module. It's called the Nuforce IA-7, and I think it's already available.

I am a bit confused. Is the point now to buy a digital amp for the sake of having a digital amp? Why would one get that Nuforce IA-7, when in contrast, one can get a Behringer A500 for less than 1/5th the cost? Or if a switching amplilfier is specifically desired, check out Behringer EP1500 or EP1500, which provide very high power output capabilities, and a much lower cost than something like the Nuforce. Or is this an objective of getting something that is cosmetically *pretty* along with being a switching amplifier? If that is the case, then I guess the Nuforce is a good choice, assuming that it is a properly performing amplifier.

-Chris

 

[furrycute]

Digital amps are much cheaper to produce than conventional class A/B amps. And this financial consideration in cost savings is the primary reason why manufacturers have been pushing digital amps.

Simply put, with 1/5 the manufacturing cost of conventional amps and charging 3x the prices of conventional amps, manufacturers make a much higher profit margin on selling digital amps.

 

[mtrycrafts]

I would take a high quality 20 W SET amp any day of the week over the pro audio centric amps that you tout.

That is illogical. No such SET amps, just expensive ones. But, that doesn't mean people do not still enjoy SET amps as it is obvious that they buy them.

 

[mtrycrafts]

If you can get by with 6 Watts, the SI is pretty nice. The aesthetics are pretty low rent, but the sound is good. I think they're coming out with a bit more powerful version if they haven't already.

The Tripath is a very well implemented switching amp. I've got several "digital" amps, including a Tripath-powered Griffin Powerwave that I use with my PC.

Consider for a moment that if your speakers are around 90 dB/W/M and you sit nearfield, your power demands will rarely exceed a watt, depending of course upon what type of music you like and how loud you listen. No, I'm not happy with very low powered amps (I only sit nearfield at the computer, and those speakers are relatively low in sensitivity), but many like them.

If you do fancy the SI, check out Vinnie Rossi's Tripath flea amps at Red Wine Audio. Before Chris starts browbeating me about them, look at how nice they look. He really makes a classy looking device out of that board.

I wonder how much the output impedance on that passive preamp is? Now that is very sensitive to cable capacitance and I suppose that is one area where their "distinctive sonic signature" comes from.

Hard to argue about their artistic value though.

 

[mtrycrafts]

Rob, some interesting products at Red Wine Audio. I've been reading up on the NuForce amps and when I saw the Sonic T amp it caught my attention. The whole digital amp thing it quite new to me so I'm trying to learn as much as possible.

http://www.nuforce.com/

I don't know but their amp is a 100 watter at 8 ohms, 100 watter at 4 ohms and still a 100 watter at 2 ohms.

 

[mtrycrafts]

I don't forsee buying many old-style boat anchors anymore.

Those boat anchors may save you one day, LOL