Dayton Audio HTA20BT Hybrid Stereo Tube Amplifier with Bluetooth 4.2 USB Aux in Headphone Sub Out

Update: have had this for almost 2.5 years and it’s still great and going strong.i bought this thing on a whim. was just looking for a small amplifier to drive some speakers in my bedroom. wanted something small that had a few inputs and a bluetooth connection and could drive speakers to a decent volume and sound ok for bedroom listening. i'll start by saying my main living room rig is a mcintosh c28 preamp, mcintosh 2205 amp and proac studio 100 speakers playing back from an mcintosh cd player, a vpi turntable and a mac mini server with a schiit audio DAC. my office system is an acurus cd changer, acurus preamp, acurus 250 amp and rogers ls3/5a speakers. i like good audio. i've owned all sorts of high end audio rigs at home and at my recording studios. i was honestly blown away when i hooked up this dayton audio amp to a few sets of bookshelf sized speakers. this thing sounds fantastic. clean, powerful, great imaging, nice depth, top end is smooth thanks to the tube preamp section, and has plenty of power to drive all of my speakers to great volume...more than i'd ever need. i have hooked it up to my old favorite pair of tannoy pbm5 studio monitors, a pair of hafler monitors, my rogers ls3/5a, and currently...a set of my yamaha ns10 studio monitors which are known for being harsh with the wrong amp. with the dayton, the ns10's sound fantastic. truly. i'm actually thinking of buying another one of these just to drive my other pair of ns10's in my studio. it is that clean and yet warm sounding. the tubes round off the edgy high end of the ns10's tweeters. the mono subwoofer output is great too, i currently have it feeding a small powered yamaha sub to just round off the low end octave.this little rig in my bedroom sounds...frankly...amazing. ns10's and a powered sub and when listening to cd's, or streaming audio from amazon or itunes or spotify or even youtube from my phone...sounds amazing through this dayton amp. for less than 150 bucks, this is a no brainer.i'm probably going to get a few more of them, one for my studio ns10's that i use for an extra mixing reference, and maybe one to drive a set of b&w mini pods that i have out in my garage. being able to just hook up this little amp and send music from an iphone or ipad via blue tooth....is so convenient...and easy...and it sounds fantastic.if you are wondering about this thing...don't. just get it. it's that good. does it replace my mcintosh rig ? no. but it sounds so freaking good, i honestly would not be completely bummed if it was my main rig. it can get pretty loud, certainly enough to fill a decent sized room...and it sounds really nice for a digital amp. the two preamp tubes do add a bit of warmth to the signal, i may experiment with various tubes later, but the stock tubes sound fine. they don't distort or sound crunch, just sort of add a smoothness to the top end and a warmth and roundness to the bass.only things i can think of to maybe improve this thing would be a simple set of tone controls to make adjustments for various speakers. if i could add a touch of top end when i'm using my tannoys, or a bit less top end on the ns10's...that would be the only thing i could see to improve the overall tone and sound and presentation this amp provides.it's small, but mighty. looks pretty cool. the controls feel solid. the connectors are all quality and i've found nothing wrong with this thing at all. truly. it's that good.this weekend i am sending my mcintosh c28 in to get recapped, and i think i'm going to setup this dayton with my main proac speakers and listen to some vinyl and higher quality digital files to see how it performs next to an audiophile level system. i'll edit this review when i do with the results.for now i'll just say...for $140.00 this amp is absolutely incredible. truly.

This little amplifier has the warmth associated with tube equipment from the 1950s to the present day. Great sound doesn’t have to be 100 of thousands of dollars. This amp is 15 watts per channel and I have yet to find any speakers it can’t handle. It even comes with a built in subwoofer Jack. The sound is smooth and never harsh sounding. Even if you push this amp into clipping it holds its own. Quality built nice looking unit. If you feel the need for tone controls which by the way most professional audio engineers tend to stay away from. They want to hear the music the way the artist who made it Intended it to be heard. You wii have to go a step up in price. But not a lt of money. $100 more about you all the gadgets you’re going to have. Let’s face it most people purchase “bookshelf” speakers expecting them to reproduce the lower musical spectrum. It’s a false assumption. In the 1960s bookshelf speakers had 12” base drivers. Today these little bookshelf speakers have 4” to 6” bass drivers. They just can't move enough air. There are some laws of physics you just can’t get around. Oh, but wait a minute. Today you can buy an expensive subwoofer to go along with your bookshelf speakers. And there are small amps or large amps that sound fantastic! I wish they would’ve had this when I was in college in the 1970s. It’s easy to put together a superb sounding system without the big layout of cash as in the past. This little tube amplifier by Dayton Audio will surprise you. The only drawback that I can find on this amplifier is that the on off button is on the back of the amplifier. It seems as though the engineers could’ve figured out a way to put the switch on the front. Given the cost of the unit and it’s low price it is a steal! Pick up one. You won’t be disappointed.

Orig comments March 2020 - Great product but after 2 weeks annoying popping sounds should I return or how can i fix ?Update Feb 14 2021 This amp is a blast and once you let the tubes burn in the sound is incredible! I have them hooked up to Klipsch Heresy II’s and they sound almost better vs hooked up to my Luxman power amp. BT works well no more popping sound, I also wish it had tone control but I use iPhone’ Music EQ on R&B setting and it’s very pleasant. Sound separation is very good and it’s a steal at $150 - I may try to use an older JVC cd/amp that has a subwoofer just to trst it but nothing beats the Klipsch speakers. While my Sonos and separate Bose is great for home theater - this is great for enjoying music. It’s a must buy!

The fit & finish is great for the price with an all metal body(the transformer cover is plastic), and the knobs feel great. The main reason I even gave this a look initially was the fact that it has a sub out(most other tube amps are just stereo), and I have an old active subwoofer that I wanted to get some use out of. I paired it with two Dayton Audio B452 airs and a Sony Subwoofer and it sounds wonderful even with the stock Chinese tubes(although I plan to get some different types to try out).It has two aux in's, a USB port for usb sticks, and bluetooth(connected a computer and record player via BT as a test). Tried them all out, and they work great as one would expect. It also has a headphone jack output on the back for quieter listening sessions at night or when loud music isn't the best thing. Just a great little hybrid tube amp all around. It lacks tone controls, but you could pair one of the tube preamps with tone controls with it just fine through one of the AUX inputs. I would definitely recommend this to others as well. I just wish Dayton Audio would do more branded tube gear like this in the future.