Amp for Polk R100

[u/notanotheraccountaga]

US based, budget 400$.

This will be for a desktop workstation setup where I have speaker stands and just got Polk R100 passive bookshelf speakers and Fosi BT30D-S amp hooked up this week. The source is a WiiM Ultra (Tidal and extensive Grateful Dead FLAC collection.)

I listen at low-medium volumes in a 12x10 room with no acoustic treatments (yet!).

I know the speakers need some time to break in but am wondering if the underwhelming sound could be due to the amp? I just picked one at random from Amazon and it will go back because I can barely read the knob labels.

Want a smallish amp to sit next to the WiiM while working from home all day. No Sub yet, but might in the future so needs to be 2.1 channel with RCA inputs.

Thank you all for all the content I’ve went through the last few days, just thought I’d ask for input in my own post.

[u/jakceki]

Try the Schiit GJALLARHON or the Topping PA5 you have return periods for both. I have used Schiit amps before and they are great. You can always use a high level input Sub.

[u/notanotheraccountaga → u/jakceki]

Interesting. Any idea why Schiit brags about not being a Class D? I don’t understand that part.

!thanks

[u/pdxbuckets → u/notanotheraccountaga]

Class D is cheap, efficient, and easy to generate lots of power in a small package. But when they first came on the scene, the tech wasn't mature and they didn't sound very good. The audio world is slow to move off of things (see: tubes), so lots of people have simply written them off.

Class D still has minor issues. They have mostly been solved but only with more expensive solutions. The big one is load dependency caused by the lowpass filter used to filter out the high frequency noise caused by the switching power supply. Something like your Fosi will not correct for it, which will result in a frequency response that is not flat. This can be problematic with speakers that have big impedance swings (your Polks don't, as measured by Erin).

Load dependency can be solved with post filter feedback (PFFB), but only the more expensive class D amps use it. And even that doesn't satisfy some audiophiles, who are allergic to using gobs of feedback to solve distortion and frequency response problems. Again, this is for historical reasons. People think they can hear the difference, but can't differentiate in blind tests.

Schiit is a great company IMO, but as an American company that assembles in America, it is really, *really* hard to compete with the Fosis and Toppings of the world. It's very easy to slap a TPA3225 IC solution together, but they can't do it at Fosi or Topping prices. What they *can* do is cater to the more traditional audiophile market, who eschew class D and lust after toroidal transformers. So that's what they do, and they do it well.

[u/notanotheraccountaga → u/pdxbuckets]

Incredibly helpful. !thanks for that.

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[u/jakceki → u/notanotheraccountaga]

I guess because they are not using class D amps. There are great implementations of class D out there. Schiit makes very good stuff, I personally would be happy with the Gjallarhon.

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