QLS - QA100 Digital Amplifier

[shawngibson]

I recently purchased the QLS - QA100 amplifier. I was looking for a very simple fully digital stereo amplifier to use with a Squeezebox for streaming music.

 

The QA100 sounds great - I am very pleased with the sound quality. Here is a summary:

 

Pros: Good sound quality, simple - fully digital, high quality SPDIF cable, low power consumption (although it would be nice to have the specification for this from QLS)

 

Suggestions for improvement.

- auto on/off and auto input sensing - since I am using the amplifier for streaming music wirelessly I am interested in features that allow the amplifier to be controlled remotely - like the features on the AudioSource AMP-100

- sub out for subwoofer

- 2 sets of speaker outputs for A/B switching

- Built-in, unswitched rear panel AC outlet - for powering a Squeezebox/transport

[freeheel]

My thoughts on the QA 100.

 

I had heard about this amp from an audiophile buddy who heard about it word of mouth in much the same way. Because I don't think QLS advertises at all.

 

My friend has been a source of advice and knowledge for a decade or so yet I was skeptical when he told me of an amp he purchased whose sonic quality amazed him. High praise considering his pension for top of the line audio componentry.

 

My system consists of a filtered power via a Furman Elite 15 pfi into a Belcanto 300 series USB integrated amp w DAC. Source is a MacBook Air fed via USB directly into the Belcanto.

 

Speakers are Golden Ear Triton II’s w custom speaker cabling and power cords commensurate with the system all around.

 

I was satisfied with the Belcanto which I’ve been using for the better part of the last ten years. After much discussion I reluctantly purchased the QA 100 $389. and accompanying QA01 USB to SPDIF converter $69. I know what your thinking, I was the same. It arrived promptly from China and Clark at QLS was a pleasure to deal with.

 

Upon arrival the box was so light I thought for a minute that they forgot to ship the amp. It is truly small and quite light.

 

With out any break in I could immediately here that this was going to be a keeper. Sonically compared to the Belcanto several things are apparent. Bass is tighter and in comparison the Belcanto seems muddy. I find that midrange is clearer and the soundstage is more open. I was amazed that this little digital amp was driving the Triton II’s with such ease.

 

I have been a critical listener since the 80’s having the philosophy that anyone can buy sonic quality with enough room on your American Express card but finding a diamond in the rough like the QA 100 is in my opinion akin to finding that $9 bottle of wine that crushes the status brands.

 

It has always been my goal to reach that part of the equipment (or anything else for that matter) purchase curve where you’d have to part with cash geometrically to produce only arithmetic sonic results. I found it and more in this product.

 

My taste in music does lend itself to digital amps. I have over the years owned very high end tube equipment both amps and pre-amps but I prefer the signature of digital and my music is sourced digitally now as well.

 

So skeptical as you may be of a product from a company you’ve not heard of the QA 100 delivers. If you hate it put it in your bedroom or give it to your kid but you wont.

 

Now at 100 hours or so it has come into its own. I cant wait to take it down to my audio store and run it against their multi thousand dollar amps that in my opinion this thing smokes.

[tgb]

hi

quite surprising this thread. ... from 2013 !

a few weeks ago i bought a QA100 (in fact 2 amps to run biamp).

and i confirm that old post above!

i should have read and test that QA100 in 2013... i would have saved quite some money I've lost in buy/sell hifi boxes in the meantime.

My advice is to test these cheap fully digital amplifiers (FDA). Test, listen... and you will resell your current pricey setup (but keep your pricey speakers of course! )

Rgds

[Qhwoeprktiyns]

hi

quite surprising this thread. ... from 2013 !

a few weeks ago i bought a QA100 (in fact 2 amps to run biamp).

and i confirm that old post above!

i should have read and test that QA100 in 2013... i would have saved quite some money I've lost in buy/sell hifi boxes in the meantime.

My advice is to test these cheap fully digital amplifiers (FDA). Test, listen... and you will resell your current pricey setup (but keep your pricey speakers of course! )

Rgds

 

I think earlier models had some shortcomings, and gave FDAs bad press. These newer, and cheaper, models from China are really impressive.

 

I do not see myself going back to a setup with separate DAC+preamp+amplifier. Just a waste of money IMO. These amps really challenge common wisdom and for this reason many people will probably be hesitant to try them.

[gmgraves]

I think earlier models had some shortcomings, and gave FDAs bad press. These newer, and cheaper, models from China are really impressive.

 

I do not see myself going back to a setup with separate DAC+preamp+amplifier. Just a waste of money IMO. These amps really challenge common wisdom and for this reason many people will probably be hesitant to try them.

 

While the Q1 is a good amp, it might not have enough power for many speakers. In that case, the biggest "bargain" in relatively high-power audio amplifiers today is the Behringer NU-1000. This class D powerhouse produces 150 Watts RMS into 8 Ohms and sounds superb. The best part is that from most retailers, it's only US$150.00! The only downsides to the amp is that it doesn't have 5-way binding posts for traditional spade lugs or banana plugs for the speaker outputs and uses only "Speakon" connectors which most of us will have to buy from some dealer such as Parts Express and make-up the cables ourselves with the Speakon on one end and a pair of bananas on the other. The other downside is that the inputs are only XLRs or TRS. Luckily, adapters to RCA jacks from either are cheap and readily available from most everywhere. I daresay that most of us have some of these adapters in our junk box somewhere, and the Speakons are cheap. The amp only weighs 7 pounds (!) so having one around as a spare is pretty much a no brainer. I bought a pair 10 ft "Silverback" 12 Ga speaker cables from Sewell:

 

http://tinyurl.com/puaxx7y

 

and cut the Bananas off of one end and replaced them with a pair of two-pole Speakons:

 

Neutrik NL2FX Speakon Connector 2 Pole Cable Mount

 

This gave me a cheap set (~US$20.00 each) of high-quality speaker cables (oxygen-free copper, 290 strand, 12 Gauge wire, really high-quality, tight fitting bananas)

 

Just buy one of these amps! You won't be sorry!

[tgb]

hi gmgraves,

i just read info about the Behringer you mentioned. It hs analog inputs!

it has SMPS, but it is not a FDA.

The FDA we are talking about have only digital inputs (usb/aes/bnc/rca/toslink), with amplification step based on PWM.

Rgds

[gmgraves]

hi gmgraves,

i just read info about the Behringer you mentioned. It hs analog inputs!

it has SMPS, but it is not a FDA.

The FDA we are talking about have only digital inputs (usb/aes/bnc/rca/toslink), with amplification step based on PWM.

Rgds

 

 

Yes, I'm aware of that. I brought it up only as an inexpensive route to higher power. Obviously, one needs a DAC and some kind of control stage such as a preamplifier to go with it.

[mehdir]

This post is quite old but I am planning to buy my first integrated amplifier and don't know which one from the following to buy

1- A-S301 - Stereo Amplifiers - Yamaha - Australia

or

2-QLS - QA100 amplifier

I searched the second one and found this page. I would appreciate if you could assist me with this. Thank you.

[sphinxsix]

I'm anxiously awaiting the moment when the Chinese will beat Wilson Audio Alexandria with their $ 300 (preferably plastic) speakers ..

[sphinxsix]

I forgot to add - I'd be greatly impressed if they were a matchbox size

[tgb]

Hi Mehdir,

The Yamaha you mention is a "standard" amplifier, with analogic inputs, and digital inputs (which are treated through the internal DAC).

The QA100 is a "FDA" (Full Digital Amplifier), no analog input, only digital inputs. As it is a FDA, there is no DAC inside because digital inputs are "converted to sound" at the end of the amplification process thru PWM.

 

QA100 vs Yamaha ?

1. roughtly same price.

2. I just can say that :

- you can't find anyone that sold his over 3kEur hifi gear (DAC + "standard" stereo amp (like the Yamaha)) to replace it with this Yamaha or other like this one

- you can find many that sold their over 3KEur hifi gear to repalce them (DAC + standard stereo amp) by this QA-100 or other FDA (V200, D310, D802 etc...)

 

Some seller of QA100 : Shop QA100 online Gallery - Buy QA100 for unbeatable low prices on AliExpress.com

check with them if product is really available. I've read that QA100 could be out of stock from some sellers because the new version of the QA100, the QA-160, is coming and expected from August. QA-160 should be a bit more expensive than QA100, roughly 500USD (I'm not 100% sure about that price). As QA100 is quite old, maybe it worth waiting for feedback regarding this QA160.

Just my 2 cents

Rgds

[mehdir]

Hi Tgb,

 

Thanks for the comments. So in this case, I guess it id better for me to order a QA 100. I would like to able to connect my smarTV to this unit through Toslink optical and use also be able to use my mobile phone and Bluethooth to case music to QA 100. I know for TV, there is no problem but how I can use Bluetooth in this device?

 

Do you think this device is necessary to be purchased with QA 100

 

Musiland Pure Sound card PC ASIO 32bit / 384kHz digital output PC HIFI PCM / Dolby Digital / DTS digital output on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group

 

I would greatly appreciate your advice on this.

 

Regards,

Mehdi

[sphinxsix]

@ mehdir

Don't get offended by my jokes. I know the Chinese can make audio gear. I once tested a Chinese $1500 CD player I actually wanted to buy. Good luck with your purchase!

[tgb]

hi mehdir,

Bluetooth is known to be not qualitative vs wifi.

I would advise a simple chromecast audio (CCA) to stream music from your phone/computer (you need a wifi acces point of course, 5GHz band is better than the 2.4). Then plug the CCA to the QA100 using a mini-toslink/toslink cable. The CCA is a top-notch interface thru its toslink output.

For the TV sound, why not using a toslink>RCA interface like this one : Free shipping 1pcs bi directional Optical spdif toslink to coaxial or coaxial to toslink audio converter with power adapter on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group ? I don't know that product, it could work

The Musiland interface you mention is to use to interface a computer to the QA100. I d'ont know the Musiland, and can't say any thing about its quality. Go and see reviews vs usb interfaces on this forum or on head-fi to check what is the cheap & top quality interface at the moment ! My Breeze DU-U8 was a top rated interface when I bought it roughly 1yr ago, but this ranking is changing really quickly !

Rgds

[mehdir]

Hi,

 

Thanks for the advice but in the link you included there no RCA port but optical to optical. Am I right?

In this case, I need to connect the TV Toslink first to this adapter and get an output for amplifier's coaxial input.

There are a lot to learn to make an informed purchase in audio space and this forum helped me a ot. Thanks guys.

[airguitar]

If you want to dip into the world of FDA's on the cheap try the Topping VX2 - very impressive - the Google CCA is feeding into it right now and it's driving a pair of B&W CDM-2's.

[Philippe Bill]

My thoughts on the QA 100.

 

With out any break in I could immediately here that this was going to be a keeper. Sonically compared to the Belcanto several things are apparent. Bass is tighter and in comparison the Belcanto seems muddy. I find that midrange is clearer and the soundstage is more open. I was amazed that this little digital amp was driving the Triton II’s with such ease..

 

the new version of the QA100, the QA690, is coming !