How Do Latest Amps Measure Up In terms Of Performance?
Newest models of mini amplifiers underline the continuing trend of miniaturization of consumer products such as cell phones or computers. While the features are growing, the size of today’s consumer products is getting smaller and smaller. In the past, tube amps would be commonplace and take up a big part of the living room. Tube amps still have their fair share of fanatics. Nonetheless they have been replaced by solid-state amps for the most part.
While traditionally there would be separate pre amp and power amp stages, today’s solid-state amp merge everything into a neat package no larger than the size of a VCR. A new generation of super-miniature amplifiers, such as the Amphony Model 200 microFidelity amp, has become feasible due to new developments in audio technology regarding power efficiency. These mini amps use no more room than a deck of cards but deliver up to 50 Watts, which is plenty to drive a speaker to high volume.
In the past, audio amplifiers would possess rather low power efficiency due to the “Class-A” and “Class-AB” architecture of analog amplifiers. Analog audio amplifiers will only convert between 20% to 30% of the consumed power into audio while the left over portion is dissipated as heat. This requires that depending on the supported output power, analog audio amps have to afford substantial cooling which is accomplished by using heat sinks. These heat sinks do not allow these amplifiers to be made very small.
The “Class-D” topology of digital amplifiers provides higher efficiency than analog amps. The efficiency usually ranges between 80% and 95%. This permits digital amps to be miniaturized. One main drawback of “Class-D” amplifiers is the fact that digital “Class-D” amplifiers use a switching stage at the output which causes non-linearity and consequently some amount of distortion of the audio signal. This disadvantage has slowed the advance of digital amplifiers.
Newer amplifier types have emerged such as “Class-T” and newer “Class-D” architectures. These technologies, such as the one used in Amphony’s Model 200 provide for a feedback of the output signal to the amplifier input. This feedback permits the amplifier to compensate for nonlinearities of the output switching stage and as a result lower audio distortion to comparable levels of analog amplifiers while preserving the audio efficiency of digital amplifiers.
These new generation miniature audio amplifiers open up applications where traditional amplifiers would fail, such as speaker installations where space is premium, including in-ceiling speakers and applications that connect speakers to a cable box or DVD/MP3 player.
You can get additional details concerning mini amplifier kits as well as other amplifier product models from Amphony’s website.