Pretty new to the world of hi-fi and I have a question regarding cheap amps like the Fosi V3, and this question might be a bit short sighted or obvious to some of you who know more than me.
Essentially, what would be the benefit or how does an amp from a company like Cambridge Audio or Pro-Ject or even Schiit compete with amps from Fosi with lower power output, even when tested by resources like ASR?
To add to this, I understand that power is not everything, but even when it comes to signal to noise ratio and other measurements, it seems that some of these cheap chinese amps are still outperforming claimed measurements by other brands. And so with that being said, what reason would someone have for going for an AXA25 over the Fosi V3 or similar amp.
(I wish I could phrase this question better, but it’s hard to put this into words as a noob).
There’s plenty more to it than just “higher power output.” The cheap class D Chinese amps, even if they sound decent and have enough power, are just cheap products. The variations in volume from the knob will likely be limited, a lot have no tone controls at all, most have one input, most have no record output, they have terrible remotes that interfere with other extremely common products sometimes, etc.
A properly designed stereo integrated amplifier or receiver will walk all over those cheap amps in the usability side. You’ll just never really know if you don’t eventually go that route which plenty don’t these days. The cheap amps can be quite decent in sound, remarkable for the price even at times. But they really do kind of suck as a main amp in a living space, IMO.