SABAJ A3 Home Audio Amplifier, 80Wx2, OLED Display, Bluetooth 4.2, USB/DSP/Optical Input, 192 kHz, Remote Control, Black (A3-Black)

My primary system is a pair of Q Acoustics 3050i speakers connected to a Marantz PM6006 amplifier (speaker cables: Van den Hul - The Clearwater). The system is being driven from an Audioquest Dragonfly DAC connected to a Macbook. I listen to 24bit/96kHz hi-res jazz and classical music in most of the time. I found the Sabaj A3 amp on a random Amazon search and decided to give it a try. I was not expecting too much, but had a secret hope, that I find something acceptable.When I got the package from Amazon, I couldn't wait opening it up. I was not surprised on the small size of the amp itself, I had an idea about what to expect from a class D product. However it is really heavy, compared to its size. The aluminium housing feels premium, so as the digital volume knob. Connecting the USB cable to the amp, and connecting the power cord to the power supply did not really feel that premium, but not something you should consider at this price range. You connect it once, and leave it as it is. Really pleasing, that there is EU and UK power cord in the box. By the way the power supply is very similar in size to the amp itself.Before connecting the A3 to the Q Acoustics, and connecting the USB cable to my macbook, to use the amp as a direct USB DAC, I gave a reference listen to my system listed above. As a first try, I have chosen Patricia Barber's Café Blue, which is a phenomenal recording with outstanding details, dynamics and stage. Compared to the Marantz the Sabaj felt much less lively and airy in the highs, and a bit more bass heavy. The stage is a tiny bit more blurred (really not much), the position of the instruments is bit less focused, but still easy to find them. The amount of bass is almost distracting, but the Q Acoustics 3050i can easily become boomy anyways, however the Marantz can handle that way much nicer.Switching over to the all time favourite Jazz at the Pawnshop 24/192kHz master, the live atmosphere is something, that becomes quite digital and dead at the beginning, but then the drums give some spin-up to the performance, and the mid-range helps for the whole track to survive. There are points, where it becomes really interesting and easy to listen to. All the solos throughout the track are getting well focused, but never too much, it is always in nice balance with the rest of the band. The piano is missing some shine from the top, but overall works nicely together with the bass and the drums. The clarinet is something, that can definitely profit from the nice and detailed midrange.After feeling the strengths and the weaknesses of the amp I decided to stop with my own music taste, and turn to more popular tones. Daft Punk is my choice (24bit/96kHz FLAC), and I immediately realised, that this is the style that really fits for this small amp. There is good punch, being tiny bit bass heavy is giving a good feel to the track, and the speedy and well detailed mid range gives a real spin to the listener's ears. Really good news for those living in a flat with thin walls, that the tonal balance and the punch is really good even at low volumes, so no need to break the windows to feel the beat. This is something that class D amps are usually quite good at. I did not try the amp at high volumes, but I felt no struggle at all at any decent volumes during listening.Changing the connection to bluetooth, the amp was still working really nicely. Stable connection, and listenable performance. Well, listenable. If you want to listen to some music by sitting down and giving the time to it, don't do it on a bluetooth connected device, as the bluetooth connection becomes the limit of enjoyment immediately. Missing the top end shine and sparkling becomes even worse. Please use bluetooth only if you want to listen to some music from the living room, while cooking in the kitchen, and don't want to step back every time to jump to the next track.The paperwhite dot matrix display of the amp looks better than on the product images, it has an adjustable, decent brightness, that makes it readable even from a few meters distance. The handling with the remote or with the amp knobs and buttons is something you can get in a few minutes. The remote control has definitely got a cheap feeling, but the amp sitting on your shelf is going to be something that you will be asked about by your friends popping over.Overall the shine and the liveness at the top end is definitely missing from the sound, sometimes missing a bit too much. But for this price tag? It is more than acceptable, I was expecting much worse. I would definitely recommend this amp for someone who wants to start building an entry level system. Pair it with a budget speaker (like my all time favourite Monitor Audio Bronze 2), or get some cheap second hand JPWs or Missions, and you are done. See, if this system makes you hungry, and you want to upgrade. To get a real quality jump, you will need at least an additional £200 though.As it could be found out from my earlier comparison, I wouldn't swap my PM6006, but might be getting one Sabaj A3 for the living room to provide some daytime background music at an acceptable quality through my Wharfedale bookshelf speakers. With variability of the available ports I can connect my TV on optical, a spare old laptop on usb, and my phone on bluetooth, getting a real all in one media center using just the physical space of a 2.5" external notebook hdd (probably two on top of each other).Before the PM6006 I had a vintage Rotel RA-820BX3, that (probably because of its age) had a very similar overall sound. I got it for just a few pounds more expensive than the Sabaj A3. It's a shame I did not find this before getting the 820, would have been abetter choice overall. (However I would never ever get rid of my Rotel RA-11 in my other set-up, that's a masterpiece).

I bought this as a replacement for one of those £20 chinese items which struggled in my TV / Living room setup.My old amp would reset to FM every time it was switched off by a smart plug, it also became harsh if pushed to drive my Wharfedale Diamond speakers loud. This amp copes very well. It drives the Diamonds with ease and smoothly. Good all round frequency response and no hum whatsoever. The input, volume and equaliser settings stay as you've set them each time it's turned on. The Optical input also means I can do away with my analog converter so one more less thing to hide behind the TV. As an experiment I tried it driving my B&W DM110 hi-fi speakers which it did to very high levels without distorting. Remote is simple but works well.Worth the extra £££ as more capable and higher quality compared to most of the mini amps on the market.

I bought this after buying a new tv with only optical output.I switched to digital amps a while back, buying Lepai T-class amps to power speakers around the house. I was very impressed by the sound quality of the Lepai amps and, at around £25, they're great value.This amp is on another level!I'm no audiofile, but the sound is noticeably bettee, delivering on detail and power. The bass surprised me too, my speakers have never felt so punchy.Functionally it's good too. The display is clear and simple. Bluetooth and optical input work perfectly. I've not tried the USB or 3.5mm jack yet. It has equalizer settings which is a bonus for different input types.The remote feels well made and looks good, similar to the firestick's. Others have mentioned problems with this. I initially put some old batteries in the remote and it occasionally glitched. After adding new ones the remote works fine.Very pleased. I'm going to buy a few more of these!UPDATE: very occasionally, the remote stops working if left on for a long time, restarting the amp fixes this. Still very happy with this amp, perfect!

This is a great little amp with a surprising number of features (EQ control, optical, USB and Bluetooth inputs, banana plug capable outputs, decent display with brightness control, and more). No complaints on the sound quality so far, in as much as I can tell through decades-old Wharfedale speakers. The power consumption is also pretty low when there's no input signal, which is good to see -- barely any point in turning it off.The remote has been changed since the photos -- I think the new one looks much nicer and easier to use than the one pictured.I had previously tried the Sabaj A2 and had problems with it (buzzing noise) and did not expect much from the A3, but the A3 is apparently completely different internally, and turned out to be vastly superior in every way.My only very minor complaint is that I'd prefer more-granular control over the volume and EQ settings. My living room only needs the volume set to about 12, and there's a noticeable step in volume between 11 and 12. Similarly my speakers want about +1dB on the bass, but the amp only lets me choose +0 or +2dB. But for me this is a very minor issue, especially considering the price.

This little amp seems well built but gives off a constant hiss (regardless of volume setting) as soon as a signal is present on the optical input, which is what I needed it for. No Bluetooth antenna in the package either, but I wasn't going to use that anyway. Dug out one of my big old analogue amps instead and returned this for a refund. Only got £81 of the £90 I had paid - unusual for Amazon, but can't be bothered to complain.