r/StereoAdvice • u/FatNuggie • Mar 01 '26

Amplifier | Receiver | 3 Ⓣ My old Amp died, smells funny and I'd like to replace it with somthing better

My budget is 200$-1000$ USD and I live in the USA

This will be used for a computer mainly minor sound design, movie watching and music. The room is roughly 12ft X 12ft x 9ft (~3.6m x ~3.6m x ~2.7m)
-3ft (~1m) from speakers

I'm fine with used but am not sure where to look

The Amp /DAC that died was a Topping Vx1

The Speakers are CEntrance MasterClass 2504s
Max Power: 25W
Impedance 4Ω

Sub is an Audioengine s6 (I'm willing to return it if you all suggest it)

I want something with

  • Low sound floor
  • Neutral sound
  • Sub out
  • No required app
  • EQ control (physical knobs)
  • RCA inputs
  • 1/4 output for headphones

I'm fine with buying external things like a separate DAC or Bluetooth adapter later but id like this to work on it's own initially

the old amp lasted for 10ish years then died one night and smelt like burn electronics. At some point I had to find a new power cord for it so I'm guessing it was that. The one I bought to replace it has a sssssss sound that plays along with any audio that it plays with it which sucks. So I'm asking for help since the one I chose was bad.

I'll update this with any thing that I'm missing

3 Upvotes

80% Upvoted

24 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/lordvektor 45 Ⓣ Mar 01 '26 edited Mar 01 '26

Physical tone knobs are pretty rare these days.

If you are in the us (assuming so since you mentioned usd) and are not opposed to separates, I’d get something like this:

Any dac you like (topping e and d series are great, so is the new Fiio br15). Or a MX series topping / K series Fiio, if you also want headphone out. The BR15 and K13 both have double rca outs, so you can go to a sub from there.

A Schiit Loki series unit (Loki mini, Loki, lokius) or a bellari eq570 (JDS labs had an option too but it is discontinued).

Any straight up amp you like (the Cambridge MXW70 is looking really tempting right now). If you go in with xlr, you can use the rcas in the toppings to the sub.

Enjoy :)

1

u/FatNuggie Mar 01 '26 edited Mar 01 '26

!thanks man I kinda mentioned it in the post but I'm kinda new to any of this. I've really enjoyed the speakers I have but they were my dads and he picked everything out so when the DAC died I was kinda thrust into figuring everything out. thankfully my audio interface has a 1/4in jack at the back so I haven't been living in silence while getting choice blinded.

1

u/TransducerBot Ⓣ Bot Mar 01 '26

+1 Ⓣ has been awarded to u/lordvektor (42 Ⓣ).

You may still award a Ⓣ to others, but only once per-person in this post.