S.M.S.L AD18 Audio HiFi Stereo Amplifier with Bluetooth 4.2 Supports Apt-X,USB DSP Full Digital Power Amplifier 2.1 Small 80Wx2 Class D Amplifier with Subwoofer Output

This caught my eye as I was looking to create a budget desktop system There's no floor noise at all, and its EQ choices & bass/treble controls make it easy to adjust the output to suit your gear. I played around with it and found it was quite easy to dial in the sound on a pair of Nuemi BS5 bookshelfs (wide & wonderful) and a set of vintage JBL 2800 floor spkrs (oh what fun to hear those old boxes blast off again)! The speaker volume at 10 is ample, at 15 I'm shutting the door, at 20 I'm just begging for trouble...Bluetooth/NFC works great, and I love that it has a headphone jack on the front, but it might not deliver enough power for high impedance cans. Nice to get that 24 bit/96khz output from Amazon HD Music. Yeah, the remote is probably the weakest part of this pkg (extremely basic and the IR requires line of sight) , but I prefer it over the multi-task button on the amp for scrolling through the settings. Got it on sale for $124.00 and its now hooked up to a pair of Mission MS-50's (Facebook Marketplace for $25 bucks), a new Monoprice 8" sub ($79) via USB to my PC. I consider $250.00 quite a bargain for such a sweet sounding system (incl banana plugs, 14 gauge wire & $16 for the pair of stands I made from Home Depot parts). Just over $300 total if I swapped the smaller Missions for the bigger Nuemis. Not an audiophile, but I enjoy good sounding music and highly recommend this compact, well built 2.1 dac/amp as the centerpiece of a budget audio system!1/02/23 UPDATE: After a year and a half, this little 24-bit DAC/AMP still works great & sounds amazing as a desktop driver! While it allows one to tweak the EQ settings a bit, for the most part I prefer the dynamics of the SDB setting for general listening. Love swapping speakers around to see how it sounds on each set, and thus far it has not disappointed. Bought a 32-bit dongle DAC for an old laptop and for comparison, tried it on the USB port of my desktop. Plugged in a few low-impedance headphones/IEMs, yet I preferred the SMSL sound signature. Highly recommended...For all-in-one units, the Loxjie A-30 DAC/AMP is probably the closest competitor, and I hear its superior for headphone use & might be worth the extra dough...7/15/24: Still going strong. Now paired with Micca OoO's on desktop along with lil Monoprice sub. Mahvelous...

This amp has been my COVID special. Its on almost all the time everyday. I use it with BT from my iPad or iPhone in the morning for some quick news or a podcast. Once I get my coffee going I switch into some music via the Coax connection while I read my email. Then I flip on the TV monitor to catch the rest of the news through the optical 2 connection, which also works fine for mirroring the President's Corona Briefings. I bought an HDMI adapter for the iPad and found I get a better picture and sound than mirroring. I'll use that for movies. I don't use the tone controls very much but they boost the realism for an action movie from one of the services. The bass response is powerful enough to rattle the walls. I never had a class D amp before, this was a surprise. I have no problem with the sound quality, sounds just like my class A amps, and it's so incredibly flexible it makes a great attachment point for all my electronic devices on the long days of sheltering in place.OK, it's been 6 months and I can't tell you how impressed I am with this powerful little Amp . In the meantime I've noticed a few things. As good as the BT sounds from my phone or iPad, the coaxial connection blows it away. So much so that I only use BT for non-audiophile applications, or if I'm too lazy to plug the powered Doc into the iPad. I'm using an old Blue Circle Thingee (which was very well regarded in it's day) as my USB to Coax converter because my Peach Tree X1 is on another system. I tried an original HiFace. I didn't think it would work because it needs a driver, and it didn't. I'm going to pick up a better USB to coax converter because even with the Blue Circle I can easily hear the difference between an ALAC or 320 internet radio broadcasts and standard lower bit rate broadcast and I know a better converter is going to sound even better. For Speakers, I recycled a 3 piece Polk Satellite system from an old surround hook up and am using it for nearfield listening... and every time I listen to it it blows me away. Clear crisp bass notes and well a articulated treble. These speakers didn't sound this good when I had them connected to an 80W per Ch class A amp, (also in nearfield). I'm impressed. The only other thing I'll mention is that using the Coaxial input sounds sounds better than using the USB input. I haven't tried headphones so I can't comment on the headphone amp.So now it’s 10 months and everything is working well. I have it on a lot during the day and then again at night. After a long session, I noticed that it was warm to the touch but not hot. Never the less, with all the failures that have occurred, I’m looking around for a replacement in case my unit fails too. It’s too bad that these units fail because I really like it. The Blue Circle Thingy has been replaced with a Douk Audio U2 XMOS XU208 USB to COAX converter. Very nice upgrade. Sounds fantastic.One of the things I’ve discovered is that my iPad Pro can Bluetooth video to the TV. Not nearly as good as mirroring, which is not as good as HDMI. I ended up buy a UNI dock for the iPad which allows me to connect a wired mouse, (Bluetooth keyboard) , USB to COAX converter, thumb drives for the file system and a HDMI cable, and charge the iPad at the same time. The only downside to this arrangement is that every once in a while I forget to plug in the 60W Anker charger and the iPad batter runs down until I notice that it’s not charging and plug the charger in. Maybe I should leave it plugged in all the time.... Anyway, back to a Netflix movie... I’ll update this if it fails.It’s now 2024. The S.M.S.L AD18 never failed. I moved it to another room along with the satellite speakers and the subwoofer and it’s no longer Nearfield. My new Nearfield set up is now an RME ADI-2 DAC, 2 Genlec 8010A Powered Studio Monitors and a Genlec 7340A Powered Subwoofer. - Very Nice - The question is always, Does it sound $3000. Better? I think so, but the SMSL AD 18 is very hard to beat and the speakers are different and in another room, so it’s hard to make a valid comparison. What I do know is that the AD18 can EQ my satellites to a very close approximation of the much more expensive rig. ( But the connections have to be wired, and you need the higher Specs of the Douk USB to COAX to do it. The Bluetooth sound is acceptable, but not outstanding )

When I got the go-ahead to get a stereo system in the living room, I knew I could stretch the limits a bit with the speakers but I probably couldn’t get some fantastically large and heavy Class A or AB amplifier. Luckily I watch Z Reviews on YouTube and already had this small integrated amplifier in mind. With an 8 ohm load in a living room, the SMSL AD18 is the little integrated amp that could, does, and exceeds my expectations at a super affordable price!Honestly, I kind of wanted it to fall flat to give me an excuse to upgrade to something like a PS Audio Sprout and Klipsch RP series towers. But, the SMSL AD18 delivers enough clean power to drive my efficient floor standing Klipsch R-620F, as well as moderately efficient designs to loud levels. Because I have a toddler, I also needed the system to be able to play quietly, which it does well! Even at low volumes there is an appreciable and enjoyable sound.Things that could be better and really keep the SMSL AD18 from more stars: 1) this is a Bluetooth 4.2 integrated amplifier, not a 5.0, 2) the remote doesn’t have the ability to control the attached devices, and 3) the volume could use more steps.Overall I am very happy and would recommend the SMSL AD18 for anyone wanting to power their speakers to enjoy music while maintaining a smol unit with lots of Wife Acceptance Factor which you can then spend on speakers.