Two cheap mini-amps tested: Pyle vs Topping

boing
21

Pyle puts their own name on many products, some better than others. For example, the Pyle PHE7AB headphone amp/dac is a rebadged FIIO E07, which is quite decent but often much more expensive than the Pyle.

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Another +1 for the Lepai LP2020. Iā€™ve being using one in my little kitchen system for about 6 months and itā€™s become my favourite place in the house for music listening.

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A year ago I spent a couple of days looking at all the options in these new single-chip amps. Trouble with those el-cheapo boxes is that they come with a questionable, wall-wart power supply. That may be okay if you only want to listen with 5w per channel.

For those willing to invest in (or who already own) a decent regulated 13.8vdc supply, Iā€™d recommend the Boss CX-150 (a brick made for a car) for about $30. 50w RMS per channel, very clean and sounds great even in big, quality speakers. (Donā€™t miss the decades-old Technics transistor amp I replaced with it.) An RF-busy city is no problem for it. Made to handle 2-ohm speakers, so 4 is easy.

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Thereā€™s a reason that the Lepai is the cult classic and NOT the Pyle. The Lepai is truly awesome, sadly you chose the wrong one.

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@nixiebunny: Been looking to make a class D amp myself - is your design available?

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Pyling on the Topping.

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Have to add to the Lepai accoladia. Been using a 2020A as a second zone amp for a year now, through a pair of small speakers; and even with the dial turned fairly low itā€™s plenty powerful enough to push a clean sound into a kitchen. I donā€™t doubt the Topping is superior, but ā€˜a little more expensiveā€™ and ā€˜three and a half times the priceā€™ (on Amazon UK) arenā€™t what Iā€™d call synonymous.

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Iā€™m not sure I ever want to use 20 amp speakers in any system I build.

Well, unless it run a gas/oil mix and has a folded horn.

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I have a Bifrost and Lyr I use often. Love them.

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My amplifier board is on my Bike Boom Box web page.

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Exactly. I have two mini amps by Lepai, and I am pleased with both of them. Theyā€™re not power drivers, but the tone on the smaller unit is really pleasant when coupled with my iPad and outputting to a couple KLH 2-way bookshelf units.

I wouldnā€™t assume the Lepai is the same quality as the Pyle, sounds like the Pyle is a pile.

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And at pretty close to 0K for the low impedance, liquid Helium might serve.

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WATT dammit. 20 watt.

Thatā€™s what I get for not proofreading.

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I figured, but just couldnā€™tā€¦ resist.

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Itā€™s OK.
You probably wouldnā€™t have made the mistake if you werenā€™t hadnā€™t gotten insulate at ohm.

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I had a very similar experience with a Pyle car stereo.

It was worse than useless.

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I use a audiosource amp-100 with Klipsch bookshelves.

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Iā€™m another Lapai 2020A owner, good little amp for a great price. Paired with a couple used Pioneer bookshelf speakers (10$), I couldnā€™t be happier with my 30$ sound system that fills most rooms Iā€™ve had it in.

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I assumed the Lepai was the cult classic because itā€™s one I first read about on BoingBoing.

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Rob, I have the Lepai one and love it. I used it (with a $20 DAC from Monoprice) to connect speakers to my Apple TV box. I get no buzzing or feedback. I think you should look at it closer if you decided to compare again.

Also, PYLE has a really crappy reputation among online reviewers and comments on sites like Woot. Every time PYLE stuff comes up for sale, a bunch of people go off about how their stuff is Garbage. So it wouldnā€™t surprise me to find that the PYLE amp is much crappier than the Lepai, even if they look very similar.