Small power amp to use with DAC for Stax Energizer?

[vapman]

I have a Stax SRD-7 energizer which piggy-backs on a stereo power amp's powered signal. My only power amps are really big and heavy (Son of Ampzilla and a NAD amp) and I was hoping to find a smaller power amp to use with my E-MU USB DAC for providing some power. It wants at least 5W signal, so I figure there must be something small out there that would work nicely. I saw things like a $10 Lepai 20w power amp on Amazon, and used to have a Lepai 2020A+ which I recapped, but I figured there must be a better option out there. not looking to spend a ton, just thought a $10 power amp couldn't possibly sound that great.
 
i don't need a typical headphone amp unless it had normal speaker wire terminal style outputs... I think a small low-power amp is more suited for this job, however I gave the 2020A away and I'm willing to spend a little more for something that sounds nicer than the 2020A did!

 

[obobskivich]

Have heard none of these but have come across them in various posts/articles/etc over the years - might at least put you in the right direction:

- TEAC NP-H750
- TEAC AI-501DA
- Emotiva Mini-X A100
- NAD D7050
- AudioSource AMP50

Years ago I used a JVC shelf-system receiver (long out of production) to drive my Koss energizer (E/10). The JVC is ~20W/ch, which is below what the E/10 suggested iirc (iirc it suggested 50wpc), but it still worked pretty well. Switching to a more powerful amplifier didn't seem to make a difference either. Not sure how this aligns with STAX energizers or not. Having a headphone jack on the front of the unit was also helpful because I could make a single connection from DAC/source and switch between the headphone jack and the energizer output depending on which cans I was using. You may try looking for older compact "executive system" receivers/amps (e.g. Denon, Technics, JVC, Sony etc all probably made such gear back in the day - I remember these things being fairly popular at a time).

 

[labrat]

 

[Armaegis]

I used to have the FiiO A1; decent but there are better, and it's discontinued anyways and not that common.
 
Topping makes a bunch of options around the $100 mark. Pick and choose depending on the options and features you want.
 
Trends Audio if you're in EU.
 
Firestone makes a bunch if you're in Asia.
 
Discontinued, but you can find some used Nuforce Icon/DIA amps which sound nice and are very small in size.
 
Spending more, the NAD D3020 is a very nice all-in-one unit.

 

[vapman]

Thanks for the replies so far - but I'm not looking for a new DAC. I really love my E-MU. I am just looking for something to power the SRD-7 with, as it requires a power amplifier of at least 5 watts to power itself.
I am thinking about just dealing with using my NAD 3155 when I want to use the SRD-7, and I'll buy one of those $10 completed Class D boards from China on eBay. I'm not seeing much in the way of inexpensive but small stereo power amps.

 

[labrat]

 

[vapman]

   
None of the responses have been about DAC's.
Don't you understand the difference between a DAC or an AMP (amplifier)?

there were a few dac/amp combos mentioned in this thread if you noticed. I was merely pointing out I wasn't in the market for one of those style units. There are many other noted which are suitable but either larger or higher priced than I wanted.

 

[labrat]

 

[vapman]

I looked at all the options posted. I liked the Mini-X a lot but was hoping to spend less than $50 as this is merely a stopgap solution until I end up buying a Stax amp with normal bias output.
My NAD works perfectly for the job but it's ridiculous to carry it around wherever I want to use my laptop, plus uses a ton of power+heat.
Topping stuff looked fine but I figured I might as well DIY, then I got lazy and found the pre-built boards.
I also found a lot of class D or T complete chipamps that were under $60.
I'm looking at power amp options only as I don't need or want another preamp.

 

[Armaegis]

Stretch your budget to $70, here you go: http://www.amphony.com/products/mini-amplifier.htm

 

[vapman]

  Stretch your budget to $70, here you go: http://www.amphony.com/products/mini-amplifier.htm

this looks perfect. thank you!

 

[Armaegis]

Glad I could help man =)
 
I've never heard it, but I don't think I've ever seen anything smaller than that. Y'know, it's small enough you could potentially mount it inside the stax transformer.

 

[vapman]

I can't find too much info about it either but it looks like it's worth taking a chance on. That would be a fun job. but the Stax unit is really weird and runs on static electricity entirely, so I think that shielding is probably gonna stay where it is

 

[obobskivich]

mckickflip: I think the AudioSource I mentioned should be pretty cheap too (if you wanted to see another option), and if not there's probably a Dayton or OSD Audio clone of it that is.

For Class D stuff I know there's "Sure Electronics" that makes a lot of project boards and components.

 

[vapman]

mckickflip: I think the AudioSource I mentioned should be pretty cheap too (if you wanted to see another option), and if not there's probably a Dayton or OSD Audio clone of it that is.

For Class D stuff I know there's "Sure Electronics" that makes a lot of project boards and components.

For some reason i thought that AudioSource was a lot more expensive than it was. I guess I'll be picking between one of these two but leaning towards the tiny one.