Treble is passable.

Everything else,high distortion,non existent after sales care.

Yet again another over hyped product,how many more of these awful products are we going to be told that they are mankinds Saviour to quality audio on the cheap,because frankly,it's not,it's just like the original sonic T,an overrated and hyped piece of,well you can guess the rest.

What's wrong?Firstly it's distorts like hell,I just can't believe the amount of distortion on vocals is present,it's horrendous,truly appalling,and that's the main grip,you just can't listen to the thing as it just distorts,and at any volume,it's the most unrealistic amplifier I've ever heard,it just doesn't sound natural,real,draw you in,no wonder it's so cheap because it's a sonic stinker.

The treble sounds OK,and that's about it.


After sales,is non existent,this company don't believe in after care,responding to emails,one of the worst I've ever known,I'd prefer to spend a bit more,get better quality sounds,and after care...avoid.

Customer Service

useless,non existent,rubbish,don't know the meaning of the word.

Similar Products Used:

too many to list

Buy this amp. If you are on a budget and looking for the best sound possible and don't need a remote or mind not having more than one input. This is for you. Perfect for using a computer as a source. But beware, this inexpensive amp will not hide imperfections in your other components and may send you down the road of upgrading your speakers, cables, and might make you consider a USB DAC for your computer. I am hearing things in songs that I didn't hear when using my old Onkyo receiver. Although this amp doesn't play super loud, it is more than enough for a medium sized room with reasonably efficient speakers. Also, you can buy two and use them as monoblock amps but you will need a preamp. www.audiomagus.com was great to deal with and they answered e-mail questions very well and very quickly too. It is surprising how good the bass is with this amp and it is great on all types of music. The amp is good enough to hear the difference between a CD and .mp4, especially in the vocals where the CD version sounds more textured. Check out the reviews at 6moons.com and stereomojo.com. I am using mine with a computer and cheap BIC speakers and am now considering a Trends digital transport and a DAC to play lossless files from my Thinkpad. This would make a great gift and I am not sure how they are selling them so cheap.

Fantastic product. If you are looking for something that amplifies the source with great fidelity and don't need room shaking loudness or a remote, then this is it. It is so much better than my old Onkyo receiver and although it doesn't play as loud, the bass quality seems better. I am hearing things that I have never heard before in songs. Currently I am using my computer as a source and have it hooked up to BIC America Venturi 62 speakers with cheap speaker wire and cheap cables from the computer to the amp. I can clearly hear the difference in the vocals when I play an mp.4 and when I play the same song from a CD. The mp.4 recording doesn't have the same texture. I couldn't hear this difference when using my older receiver. If you use reasonably efficient speakers, it will play more than loud enough to fill a normal room with sound. I have yet to make it clip. This would be perfect to use with a laptop as a source. However, now that I have this amp I am thinking about getting a DAC and using my laptop to transfer CDs ripped with lossless quality, so you see that this inexpensive amp may lead one down the road to more expensive equipment because. You can also use this intergrated amp as a monoblock amp and it can be used with battery power to sound even better, although I have yet to try this. My next step is to get a tube DAC and some better speaker wire and a better cables and then maybe some batteries to power the amp. Then I want to modify my BIC speakers or think about better speakers. The amp is tiny and seems well made and the speaker connections on the back are solid. It is amazing that it is sold at this price. Audiomagus.com is great to deal with and answer questions quickly. If you are on a budget and don't need a remote or super loud output, then this is the amp for you. Get this amp, you can't go wrong. It would make a great gift.

Customer Service

Fantastic

Soundstage, imaging, detail, SEPARATION, and a reality that is baffling. Incredible amount and quality of sound - also baffling.

Tad bit glary at the top 10% volume or so. Doesn't blast. Not unless maybe you bridge a few mono and get some really efficient speaks.

Ok, heard about the Sonic t amp on ecoustics. Everyone went nuts over this thing that was $29 - some of them some serious audiophiles, some just music lovers. While I have some equipment, I'm not real enthusiast per se. But I'm no casual listener. I love music- there's absolutely nothing casual about my listening.

Anyway, my buddy's brother starts repping for these guys, and he gets his hands on one. Eventually he brings the thing over. Kinda funny watching him pull an amp out of his bike bag. Usually if someone brings over an amp, they're pulling up the car. They don't pull it out of their bike bag after they've ridden to the beach and back. The adapter with chord wrapped around it is bigger than it is. So that was a little odd to begin with.

I heft the thing. It's nice. Little metal box, single volume knob on front with a little bump that is a light - cool blue, and plugs on the back - all gold plated and pretty nice. Has a good solid feel to it. Not heavy, not light. Some feel in the volume knob - pretty nice. I expect it to feel cheap and it doesn't. I hook it up to my cheapo JVC dvd/cd player and some PSB 50R's, a two way with a 6 inch woofer. Don't know the sensitivity - but they're nothing really special. And radio shack speaker wire and in-the-cheapo-box cables. Now I'd heard about these T-amps, but neither he nor I had any idea about what we were going to hear.

It sounded good. It sounded REALLY good. We looked at each other and we're laughing, and echoing each other, "Oh my GOD!!' I mean we are LAUGHING, because this stupid little box we hooked up - it's this tiny little thing...ha ha ha...it costs 100 bux...ha ha ha.... let's try it....sounded AMAZING. Actually, I think amazing is the wrong word. No wait, it's the right word for the wrong thing. The amp was just there...the MUSIC was amazing. That's what we were hearing. It was "That's the Way" off Zepplin III. Voice was dead center, and absolutely everything was around it. And you hear EVERYTHING. Now I'm not talking over analytical - which I HATE - but you feel like you hear exactly what's recorded - what they intended you to hear. What was amazing was their talent, the song, the recording.

We look at each other and are still laughing. "Man....this mean we gotta get rid of our amps?!" "I will if you will!" "Ok, out the window. You first..." We feel like we've been fooled all along. Him with his Adcom and Maggies, me with my recivers. And the sound is pretty solid, pretty full. Not bloated or anything, but not straining like I expected, especially at the volume it was putting out. Bass - there. Highs, airy, mids and vocals - VERY nice. But the thing is, you feel like you're listening to people playing and singing. This is very hard to express.

I run to my room to grab more cd's. We pop in Crystal Method's Vegas to compare for bass output. We played it thru my Onkyo with the bass up a little for reference. It delivered the bassy electronica just fine. Not bass pumped like my Onkyo - but way more acurate and just real. You can tell that that album is only so great for just listening.

Pop in Jimmy Hendrix's Blues to hear Hear My Train Comin' - just Jimmy and his 12 string. (And mind you, every time I have to stop a song short is torture. We didn't want to cut them short - but we had ground to cover.) So I put that in - not the most recent recording - late 60's or so - and it just sounded AWESOME. Actually, "There" is the best word. The vocals weren't that strong. And it hit me - Jimmy Hendrix's voice wasn't strong. Like a truth was revealed. Another thing hit me as we're listening. "My god - this guy had a REALLY hard life." Now here's the kicker. I've been listening to Jimmy Hendrix for 23 years. Love him, know all about him, etc. But all of the sudden, he's not "Jimmy Hendrix" any more. He's a real person who was a humongous talent and had a really hard life - it's in his voice. Not a removed indication- it is right there - obvious. He wasn't a package any more - he was revealed as a person who was playing and singing. Really, really weird. When I think about it - it kinda of hits me in the stomach. Next song comes on - one bar gets done before I switch it off. "Nice..." says my pal. That's all it takes for this thing to impress - 2 seconds.

Ted Nugent's Stranglehold: My god, incredible how well people used to craft songs back then. My lesson from that one. During the bridge, not only do you hear the notes bent and held - but musically you get why. And all the little nuances - just the crafting comes out. Some genius behind the board figured I was high and was messing with me. I can tell. And the separation of the hiss that comes and dispurses to the other side before it ends - INCREDIBLE. Now separation is something I figured most amps had tackled pretty well. Not so. The T-amp took it to a new level. And again - you hear the song, what they were DOING with it. Not just the playing, but the effect of the recording - what they were up to when they recorded, mixed, etc. I felt schooled on how to write, play, and record a good song. What else...

Tell you the truth - I don't remember that well. The whole experience was such a buzz. We hooked up my Alesis Monitor Ones to compare. More bass, different. We both notice it's a great amp for trying different speakers. Setup plays everything pretty well, and it pushes a 4 ohm load pretty solidly. And the whole time, I've got the volume up to 12 o'clock - maybe a little more, and I expect to touch this thing and burn my fingers. Nothing. Just slightly warm. Truth is, listening to this music, and looking over at this tiny little thing - it messes with your reality quite a bit. I hook up my Cerwin VS-120's to see if it'll drive them - which is novel. Sensitive, but a big 3 way with 12 inch woofers. They went pretty loud! Pumped out the Crystal Method really well. I'd say at about 90% volume, this thing maybe gets a tad glary - but not that bad. The thing isn't for blasting - it plays plenty loud and well at low, mid and mid high volume. My roomate walks in, hears music, looks at the thing, and leaves for a second. I unhook it and show it to him as he comes back. "Wow! I expected it to be heavier with all that sound it put out." He expected a toroidal with a volume knob slapped on it in a case. He thought it was going to weigh 10 pounds...

This thing is incredible. Strange something you'd buy your girlfriend because she doesn't want to see electronic components and doesn't want to spend any money is the same thing you'd get for yourself. So instead of those all in one Aiwa's that are crap, just get one of these, some bookshelves that'll do it justice, and it's over. (Would recommend a semi-forgiving speaker so you don't have to chuck all your cd's that aren't that well recorded. I think this thing is dangerous that way.)

I'm not into tweaks or mods at all - but I can see how this would be good to bridge mono. But hardly necessary.

My PSB's worked best. Will try with my Celesion Ditton 100's when I buy one. If anyone knows a semi to highly efficient knock your socks off speaker or monitor that'll blow my mind for under $600 used - hit me up. fstliferdr@yahoo.com (Meantime have my eyes open for some Celestion SL6's.)

Sorry for blathering, but can't say enough. I won't chuck my Luxman R-405 and Cerwins - I still need to crank sometimes, but I feel like I now have "IT". It's going to open up a world for me. I think 10 stars will do...

Similar Products Used:

Nothing per se. Receivers: late 80's Onkyo - 60 wpc,(somewhat thin yet clear,) a Marantz 2238 (great receiver), and a Luxman R-405 - detailed yet warm and very punchy - was my fave. Speaks: Cerwin D-5's, Cerwin VS-120's, JBL L36's, PSB 50R's, ADS L420's, Celestion Ditton 100's, and Alesis Monitor Ones.

Cheap. Modifiable. Well made. Cool looks. Limited power (I like horns). Can be battery powered for even better performance (says 6Moons).

Most countries mailorder only. Probably problems with delivery as Dutch importer has given up due to delivery problems.

This tiny little amp fits snugly in the palm of your hand and is probably cuddlier than an amplifier has the right to be. It represents the second (or even third?) generation of Class-T audio amplification, which is based on Tripath chip technology. The Sonic Frontiers T-amp apparently was the first of its kind and caused quite an uproar among respected independent audio reviewers (TNT, 6Moons), who believed it could compete with amps costing as much as $1000 - while it sold for just $40 (i think) and looked like a trashy piece of washed up plastic. I own one of these things too, and believe me, it sounds amazing, especially with its pricetag in mind.

The specific Trends amp reviewed here - Version 1.0 - is a modified version of the TA-10. Version 1.0 apparently has audiophile grade parts on board, the choice of which was inspired by modifications done by DIY enthousiasts on the internet. Actually the manufacturer encourages modification of their gear. Instructions on how to bridge it to a mono amp by switching jumpers are provided in the manual, and apparently the lay-out inside is designed with even more modification in mind. Anyway, it looks solid enough from the outside, good quality socketry, a nice potmeter and a sturdy aluminium box. The blue led is a nice touch too, and the bundled power supply unit is better than what you would expect. It just looks a little weird in your rack, this tiny grey metal case presiding over a mountain of heavy weight source equipment…

The sound: what can I say without sounding like just another drooling demented audio nut? I know the jargon, yes, but somehow writing it down makes me feel feel like a wannabe wine connaisseur. I’ll try not to sound too pompous… Right out of its little cardboard box it sounds awesome: much better than the Sonic Frontiers T-amp. The most remarkable thing is the cleanliness all through the frequency spectrum, which seems typical for the Tripath chip, since it’s a quality it shares with the SF T-amp. But there is a lot more fullness, definition and 3D out-of-the-speakers quality in this TA-10 Ver. 1.0. There’s even ‘authorative’ bass (rolling off rapidly below 50 Hz with the SF T-amp) which is elegant, powerful and very well defined. It sounds refined, spacious, lively and very ‘high end’, whatever that means – mostly astronomic pricetags as far as I can see. It’s a miracle this thing can be sold for $119 (ex shipping). I paid 129 euro including shipping from (its now defunct) Dutch distributor).

As far as audio-memory has any value, it seems to me this little box sounds as good – in most cases better – than all amps I have owned (and probably not considered high-end by those in the ‘know’): such as Eico HF-81, Decware Zen, YBA Integre, Musical Fidelity A1, A2, B2, Tom Evans’ Pioneer A300R Precision, Aura V500 Mk2 – at least one of those amps cost well over $1500. As you may notice I’ve used low power amps mainly, and that’s because I love horn speakers: I’ve been using the TA-10 with an Altec Lansing Voice Of The Theatre mutant, which seems a perfect match thanks to its sensitivity in the high 90’s. With the volume at nine o’clock things already start to rattle, so in this case the claimed 10 Watts of power (at 8 Ohm) are more than enough to cut straight to the heart of the boogie.

Similar Products Used:

Eico HF-81, Decware Zen, YBA Integre, Musical Fidelity A1, A2, B2, Tom Evans’ Pioneer A300R Precision, Aura V500 Mk2, Sonic Frontiers T-amp