🔥IS THE FOSI V3 MONO BLOCK GOOD?!?!? 

Just a real take on yet ANOTHER ultra-budget CLASS D amp from FOSI THE WORLDS ONLY NON-PROFIT CHARITY REVIEWER!! 100% OF PROCEEDS GO TO YOUTH MUSICAL PROGRAMS OVER $8,000 DONATED TO CHARITY 🔥😍💪 FOSI V3 MONO - fosiaudio.com/pages/monoblock... #bestdac #bestamplifier #hifi NEW WEBSITE - abxaudiophiles.org/

Great vid. I love that you raise the discussion to think about your whole system before jumping in on something that may or may not be worth it.

Feeding these amps with a MiniDSP Flex 2X4 is a great option balanced. Gives you Dirac, biamp & crossover, and balanced throughput for a great price.

There actually are a few very well reviewed dacs - thinking SMSL - Fiio - Topping - that are $200-300, with balanced outs, a decent preamp output stage and remote. If I were getting started, would be a super fun way to go with these insane little dudes👍🏼

Nice! Humble wage earners appreciate the budget reviews!

Great vid. I have the smsl dl200 pre/headphone/dac with balanced output.

The pre-amp that folks could use to take advantage of the V3 mono's XLR inputs: the Schiit Magnius (yes, a headphone amp, but it works well as a pre-amp). As for DACs with XLR, there are a ton out there right now, but maybe the best (though it lacks I2S input, which stinks) is the SMLS D6-s. It is $199, but I'm not sure you really need anything better -- unless you need I2S, which means you are then spending a lot more on say a SMSL D300 or something. Based on ASR's review of the V3 mono, I don't think these small amps will be the problem in your system's chain. I suspect the limitations on resolution, soundstage, and other will be found in your DAC, your preamp, your streamer, and your speakers.

The SMSL M300SE DAC has balanced out and so does the Zen DAC from ifi . The SMSL is $130 and ifi is under $200

try the DOUK T8 pro as a tube pre-amp for $129 , very nice with balanced and rca

Cool amps for a secondary stereo. Fosi may take my money when their hypex model releases..

These interest me because of the balanced input. I can hook these up to my rca pre amp as well as my digital mixer. Heck could even connect it through a Dante adapter. Looking forward to testing these, though I have a difficult load for them. Acoustat x... 😂

Very very Honest review!!!

Hi I got on to kickstarter and ordered this. But then I got me thinking. I have a Denon x3800 AVR and a 7.1.4 setup so need a amp to run all channels. I was thinking that the Fosi mono blocks could power my fronts better then the Denon. I have JBL 4349 fronts. Is that a good option for me? Will the fosi´s be better then my Denon AVR? Thanks!

They are multiplying like locusts! I am wondering If you noticed any signficant noise floor or other strange noises coming from these amplifiers? Other reviewers thought the one power supply was a bad idea, somewhat defeated the purpose of Monoblocks & alot of them experienced a variety of noises from subtle to obnoxious. One said when he contacted Fosi, they told him they were going to 'fix' the issue. I guess they have come a long way, I bought one of their amps in this price range about 3 years ago. I used it maybe 4 or 5 times & one channel made a snapping sound & died. Also, smelled Ozone. I returned it to Amazon & said no more inexpensice Chi Fi!

Thanks James

man I totally agree with you.

It's maybe a good amp, but doesn't worth its price. Buying a TPA3255 amp with $140 is insane. TPA3255 module only worth $15. Then the case worths over $100? What so called PFFB is just a few caps and resistors suggested in the TI datasheet.

Well done James. Pro's and con's.

I think the Eversolo streamer/dac/pre is the perfect partner for these. I'm not hearing the 'grain' you mention on these, I've had this in direct comparison with my Naim Nait XS2/Flatcap XS and the Fosi monos retain all the punch and tonal depth BUT with more detail and a much wider soundstage than the Naims which cost £2700. It's a no-brainer.

A Lot of DACs have XLR almost all the CHI-FI units good review

You can imagine being in that meeting, let’s make some class D mono blocks with balanced inputs. Why? Well because I over ordered on the balanced XLR’s. Yes but are there any pre amps to match these monos, I don’t know. That’s it then let’s make it.

FWIW ... PFFB == Post Filter FeedBack ... what it does is to take a sample of the actual speaker voltage and feed it back into the input stage as a means to correct distortion and amplitude errors. Yes, when done correctly it works well enough ... but it is hardly the game changer everyone wants it to be. Personal opinion ... Aiyima A07 (original version), still king of the hill. Recent production runs have included a steady stream of improvements, too.

These are measuring amazing, have not heard these though, but I would question if it's not that the amps are so revealing so that its something else in the systems that is causing the harschness in the upper range, that the amps are just amplifing it?

2 amps and 2 power supplies means more cables, then a pre/dac. Or just get a Loxjie-a40 and be done? 🤔

I am mainly hearing talk about money, cost, budget, cheap vs expensive and so on... nothing more than one could read on the Kickstarter page. I never had a class D amp and have no experience with op amps. But I still bought into the Kickstarter campaign to see what it is all about. They will be challenging an Atoll IN300 which I love. Let's see, not much ventured.

Wonder if you're running midfi speakers with biamp ability you could run these on bass duty and leave the rest to your main amps?

Does it over heat like my fosi v3

lots of things, SML headphone DAC for example if you want to use it and it is only $180 ish

I just ordered 2 of these from Kickstarter! How long did it take to get delivered?

Why balanced out? It is balanced in... And the use of balanced in is when having the mono block amp near the speaker, and your preamp and sources at a distance more than a few meters (I need 5 m to right side and 8 meter to left mono block amp) then you prefer feeding it over that longer distance via a balanced signal path. As these sounds better than its prize suggest some will pair it with more expensive gear, and then balanced also makes sense, making it more versatile.

Aune s9c pro works very well with the za3's

Okay ... a couple of last points ... 1) Power supplies. Everyone wants the 48 volt supplies... it's the "more power" thing talking a bit too loudly. The TPA3255 chip will work nicely on 48 volts... with a much better cooling solution than these fully enclosed cases can provide. After lots of bench testing on these mini-amps I've reached the conclusion that the best compromise between heat, power and longevity is going to come from a 36 volt supply rated for 5 or 6 amps. These are commonly available brick style supplies that you can get economically from just about any online vendor. At 36 volts you will reliably get about 75 watts RMS per channel on 8 ohms or 140 on 4 ohms with very low distortion. The whole thing will run only slightly warm and you won't be troubled by the power supply going into overcurrent panics or the amplifier triggering into protection. So for the V3Mono setup I suggest 2 x 36 volt 5 amp supplies, one for each amplifier. Fosi has an option for 32 volt supplies which should also be suitable for most home uses. There you would get about 50 watts on 8 ohms and 100 on 4. 2) Op-Amps Up front... I'm no fan of the NE5532 chips most of these designs use as the default. First of all the NE5532 is one of the most counterfeited chips on the market right now, supply chains are heavily polluted with them. Now, why someone would fake a $0.50 part is beyond me but it is a real issue. What I do, pretty much every time, is replace the socketed NE5532s with RC4558 chips, which are also a $0.50 part. At least then I know I won't have an amplifier failing because of fake parts. But, beyond that initial swap, there is almost no advantage whatsoever in putting in expensive and exotic parts. I've been unable to find any differences in performance or behaviour with bench testing and, despite reports to the contrary, I've never heard any sonic improvement either. Putting a hand full of $70.00 op-amps into a $100 amplifier just doesn't make sense on any level.

I bought a pair with the 2 gan psus. Curious how it will compare to the SMSL VMV A1 10W+10W Class A amp. Cheap enough to give it a try! I have my SMSL VMV D1 since 2019 and I am using a Luminous Audio Technology Axiom II Walker Mod passive pre-amp balanced in with 2 balanced outs. Works fine!

Nice review, but you make it sound like they only have balanced outputs. You make no mention of the RCA single ended option they have for output……there are tons of budget preamp options out there. 🔊🔊

Audioscience reviewed them, they are more powerful then the v3, & over 300 watts in 2 ohms, & frequency response doesn’t change like the older models

Mine came with 2 48v 5 amp power blocks.

They are better than my ultra HIGHEND amplifier in class AB for 12000 euros.

Now you only need a diy pair of the b&w Nautilus 😂

Nice little amps, but they're not true monoblocks as they share a power supply.

I thought the Eversolo A6 or A8 can be used a pre amp as I thought they have volume control and have XLR out. I haven't owned Eversolo products and would have to review model numbers to be 100% certain.

will this enhance overall sonics with LRS?

What a funny guy. Which source can give balanced input to the fosi mono v3? Such a thing has to be expensive! You just need a usb dac with balanced out. Rasp pi with moode audio and you even have parametric equalisation. Expesive? No!

'fake' XLR's rather than balanced surely.

Topping pre90

As an experiment I'll be using a NAD M10 as a front end to a pair of the V3 mono. The NAD M10 is nCore powered with about the same amount of grunt, I'm curious to see if there is any difference worth writing home about. The Fosi deal includes a pair of Muse02 op amps. I may even go there and change them as well at some point. I also wonder if anyone is really contemplating replacing their zillion dollar big macs with a pair of the V3. I strongly suspect that its a good option at its price point for a whole range of non golden eared applications and maybe even a competitor for Purifi based amplification at about a third of the price. Have you an opinion on that hypothesis?