Emotiva Audio BasX A-150 Stereo Power Amplifier

For the price of just $229, this a fantastic stereo amplifier with a variable volume control. Keep in mind that if you have more than one audio source, you will still need a preamplifier or source switch. The unit is very well built with a steel chassis and solid aluminum face plate. While the unit is low-height profile and just 8.5 inches wide, it is 15 inches deep, which means you will have to find adequate space as if you had a full size stereo component. With a massive power supply and built-in fan, I thought the unit might run hot and be noisy. Instead, I have found the unit to be dead quiet and run cool. The volume control is a tactile delight, turning smoothly without predetermined volume steps. I thought I might not like the blue LED light behind the volume control, but now I find the color and brightness level to be tasteful and unassuming. With up to 80 watts per channel with 4 ohm speakers, the amplifier has enough power to sweetly and crisply articulate mids and high notes, while expressing bass notes deeply, fully, and with authority. I'm using the amplifier for a desktop system, using Jean Marie Reynaud Twin MkIII speakers and the Marantz HD-DAC1. Listening to Jesse Cook through Tidal's streaming service, the entire combination delivers a rich, detailed, yet rounded analog-like experience--no "digititis". The sound stage is wide and airy. Even at low volume, the music is warm and enveloping. In contrast, while being a decent unit that I purchased at Amazon, the Audioengine N22 Desktop Amplifier sounds thinner and more digital like. The N22's sound stage is relatively flatter, more two-dimensional than the Emotiva's. The N22 does have a much smaller footprint, which might be perfect for most desktop setups, but it simply cannot compete with the Emotiva amp's musicality. One advantage that the N22 has over the Emotiva is sub-woofer outputs. Though I enjoy using a sub-woofer, I find that I do not need the sub-woofer any longer with the Emotiva, as the bass the amp produces is so much deeper and fuller than the N22's. What's more, the Emotiva has a far superior volume control and chassis than the N22's, as the latter is made from wood with a grittier-feeling volume control. So for just $30 more than the N22, the Emotiva BasX A-100 stereo amplifier delivers an outstanding value with an altogether different league of true audiophile performance.

The Emotiva BasX A-100 RCA 2 Channel Stereo/Headphone Amp is as good an example of entry-level Audiophile equipment you are likely to ever come across at this price point. A world of sound difference from the RCA/Headphone outputs of AV Equipment in the same price range. Deeper lows, richer mids, and highs with more sparkle. More separation and greater soundstage. Voices are much more detailed and live sounding. At least this is my experience with the Emotiva and an Onkyo C-7030 CD Player, a pair of Polk Audio RTI A1 Bookshelf Speakers, as well as several pair of headphones including the Sennheiser HD 600's and the HD 650's, and a pair of Fostex Planar T50RP Mk3's. Suddenly the Polks sound more like Monitors than a cheap set of PC speakers. I won't be in any hurry to replace them. The Sennheisers went from sounding pretty darn good to Great. The Sennheiser Veil has been lifted. Wow! And now I know why so many love the Planars. So clear and yet so powerful now that they are being properly powered. And, the Emotiva doesn't even break a sweat. Even after several hours of listening to some Led Zeppelin the Emotiva never got hot at all. The fan never had a reason to turn on. Awesome build quality. Awesome sound quality. Great Price.

There is a distinct noise in my headphones (HIFIMAN HE-400I) when I plug them to Emotiva Audio BasX A-100 stereo flex whereas there must be full silence when the music is not playing. When I then plug mу HIFIMAN HE-400I directly to TEAC DAC there is no noise at all and everything is fine. The interconnect cable between my DAC and Emotiva is very cheap and might be the reason but I doubt it. In general the amp is worth its price.

This thing just sounds amazing and is built like a tank. It is a bit bulky but most of that bulk is power supply filtering and large high quality audio components. Creates almost no heat when operating as a headphone amplifier and is always cool to the touch. No discernible background hiss/noise with the appropriate jumper configuration and headphones. I've tried this with and without the jumpers installed and each configuration is good for different headphones. My Hifiman HE560 is great with the jumpers installed due to headphones low sensitivity and I don't hear any background hiss/noise created by the amp. It also has more than enough power on tap. The usable volume level with these headphones is with the knob between zero and half way up (half way is really loud). Without removing the jumpers my Pioneer HDJ2000, which is a higher sensitivity headphone, has an obvious audible noise/hiss created by the amp. You also do not get much use of the volume knob with higher sensitivity headphones (quarter of the way up is really loud). All of this is fixed with the jumpers removed. Once you remove the jumpers you can run your higher sensitivity headphones with no hiss/noise and get the same audio quality with plenty of power. Oh yea, almost forgot, this thing isn't just a headphone amp. I have not yet tried the speaker outs of this unit but if the headphone out sound quality is any indication of its speaker performance, the headphone out is taken from the speaker outs without the jumpers installed, I have no worries. I Highly recommend this unit if you have low sensitivity headphones that need lots of power or if you have a desktop setup with passive speakers but you also want to use higher sensitivity headphones. I would NOT recommend this as a dedicated headphone amp to use only with higher sensitivity headphones. If you're not also using speakers the gobs of power would be wasted and there are better options out there for high sensitivity headphones that cost less and produce comparable sound.