What's the impedance of the volume pot ? This impedance is part of the load of the input......so it should be good to know the load difference afterv the modification and correct it if necessary ...........putting a resistor of the same value as the pot ( in // as done when using the pot ) will restore the initial impedance of the amp ! Getting RID of those ( bad industrial ) connectors by soldering the wiring directly to the pcb and using better quality wiring will be another upload as well as installing better RCA plugs . Have a nice day and thank you for the upload.
Good idea about measurement, I'll try do that tomorrow. Yes I think I was mentioning this in the video (and surely in the comments) that I'd like to solder some nice silver plated, Teflon coated OCC wires directly to PCB. This is a very nice and accessible build to try f.e. bridging power caps with MKPs with low ESR or other things one would like to test and evaluate with own ears. Thank you!
@@quma001 hi very good indeed Another good idea is to check the bias I do not know if they provide some values and info about the procedure Nice amp indeed
Anyone has the schematics of this clone? Maybe isn’t A1 at first look. Before mod (20h), dark and not detailed. After, espectacular without pots. It needs to be modded 😅
Having two separate sounds good. This has also great modding potential as I would replace signal carrying wires with silver plated teflon coated solid cores: I would solder them to the boards. But its great straght out of the box!
I purchased both, the DartZeel D5 Pro clone and the MF A1 clone. As both continue to “burn in” -here are my first impressions. (For reference, I have about 25 receivers/amps in my collection; my reference amp is a vintage Marantz 2252b that you can purchase for ~$USD 1600. This Marantz is exceptionally musical, open and clear. My reference speakers include an 8 foot tall set of Voigt Pipes and and Open Baffle’ (18 inch bass driver, 12 inch mid and two asd1001 tweeters): Compared to the Marantz both the the D5 and A1 are significantly more veiled ~40% less “open-transparent-clear” (mid range and tweeters). The D5 is about 10% better than the A1 - making the A1 clone the better purchase. I would say that both offer relative value, given the price. Sonically they both compare well to the Schiit Vidar. They are not giant killers. I would be looking at both as platforms for experimentation e.g. replace capacitors etc. Please share your experience with these!
That's not exactly fair to compare them to 1600usd Marantz:) Yes they have great modding potential and when compared to something with similar or even somewhat bigger price they win hands down. For me the interesting thing is that these basically scratch the surface of the clones market, as there are copies of different brands going for as much as 2k USD. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for nice video, could you show amplifiers boards more in details? I am curious if these boards are available as kit to diy on aliexpress.... Also I wanted to comment your statement about volume attenuation. If you see schematic of many amps, preamps, volume pot always work this way- it attenuates signal coming to the device. Here we have just power amplifier with passive attenuation, but if you take preamplifier, most of the builds have same attenuator before (or after) the amplification stage. Almost always preamp or power amp has preset gain. Also, regulating signal voltage in dac or computer is bad idea, it decreases audio signal resolution and quality, best preamp is passive ladder stepped resistive network with or without unity gain buffer after. See elekit tu-8500 beloved by many DIY kit/preamp. It is just passive attenuator and tube buffer with unity (no amplification) gain
Hi! There are many diy mf clone sets available but these seem to be different, I was looking for them separately but couldn't find any. As for volume setting via attenuation I prefer to have it at the end of chain. About the source volume setup: current TOTL DACs are doing this really, really good: I have yet to try preamp that will do that better than my Gustard X26PRO. Also, many of the TOTL converters use analog volume control as the last output stage. But for cheaper or a bit older (5y?) equipment you're right. And yes, volume control on PC or streamer is the last desperate resort because of loss of source resolution right at the start of the chain!
Exactly, use preamp and just bypass these. It does sound a little better and you do not have to set balance each time you wat to change volume. I got JC2 based simple and very clean preamp lined for a review that works very very well with this MF clone.
I'm recording these with my phone and then it goes through RU-vid compression. And the most of the viewers watch it on mobile. That's recipe for shitty sound with a hint of additional shittines :)
Thats a sticker they slap on. No idea why, no idea why Krell specifically. It can be easily removed and I plan to replace it with something nicer and more true.
Wow! and thank you! I am hoping that you will not have any problems with this amp. If you do not then I may consider purchasing. The other clone you reviewed which got your high approval was the DartZeel NHB 108 D5. Now, that amp really peaked my interest but I discovered that a few customers had (minor) problems. I am not electrically inclined enough to fix these minor (DartZeel) challenges but I could certainly rewire the volume controls as indicated here for the A1 clone. My speakers are the Elac DBR62 rated at 6 ohms. I am wondering if the A1 clone can handle this impedance? I do not listen to my music loud but mostly low to mid low volume. In any case, I love your videos and again, thank you!!!
May I know what are the minor problems from the Dartzeel? I am quite interested in the Dartzeel but now have to kiv first since you mentioned there are minor problems faced by others.
Hi Charles - I have the Dartzeel clone and I am blown away by it. it is a significant improvement on my previous exposure VIII stereo power amplifier in all aspects - power, transparency, speed, grunt for the low level. The only downside I see is that it runs quite warm and the idle power consumption is quite high when compared with modern designs - but hey, the first stage is pure Class A otherwise it runs in Class AB so it's a tradeoff I happily make allowances for the gorgeous sound and delicacy with serious power. Did you hear of any other issues? As far as I am aware it is quietly building a solid reputation for itself. I hope it lasts like my Exposure did (38 years and counting!) all the best, Rob in Switzerland
Thanks! Ive reviewed D5 Pro (just to make sure) - I havent heard about any issues with D5 Pro, though Ive read that there are some people that had problems with 1:1 DartZeel clones (golden cases, eyes and nose button). My D5 Pro runs strong and solid, during burn in it made 3 weeks in a row - like a MF clone - with no problems. MF clone will have no problems with your Elacs, take a look at my video on modding DB52, these can me modded in similar way (removing mesh on treble driver and dampening of the speaker basket)
@@johan5660 Hi Johan, I replied to your questions yesterday but I see they are not posted. Sorry but I'll try again. Most of my concerns were generated by customer review/comments on the AliExpress listing for the Dartzeel amp. You can read through them for yourself. One comment that really concerned me was relevant to the "inrush limiter something or other". I have no idea what that means but the customer indicated that he did get a prompt replacement. I have access to an excellent audio technician up here in Canada. If I do have a challenge with the amp I am sure he can fix it. Hope this helps.
@@RobWhittlestone Hi Rob, Thanks for the commentary. I've been chasing the class A sound for sometime but have yet to own anything that is dedicated to just A (electronically). I do wonder just home much of the Dartzeel's first stage runs in A before the hand-off to B. I listen to low to moderate volumes so I imagine that the DZ will run primarily in A. In any case, your commentary further peaks my interest so much appreciated. The heat issue is not an issue for me because I live in Canada on the side of a mountain in North Vancouver. Summer starts soon but I am still having to heat my home on occasion. Cheers, Charles
FM300A is on its way here so I am yet to hear it. For other two I prefer to have both of them then to be forced to choose just one. MF clone is way cheaper and I see it as something so cheap that I want to have it here anyway.
Can you compare the sound to a similar price class d 3255 amp, something from Aiyima or fosi? From memory even though they quote crazy high wattage their actual is more 20-30w without clipping. So is actually maybe a good comparison against this one. Keep the videos coming. Thanks.
I don’t have the MF clone, but I do have a Sugden A21 SE, which is a very good pure Class-A amplifier. I also have a Fosi Audio V3, and the Sugden destroys it in every way. The Fosi sounds shrill, in comparison.
Yes I can and in short - this is better across the board. Id say they its not ever fair to do that comparison. D class went a long way and I own a couple of popular 3255 based amps, but this is way better (though 3-4x more expensive even being a clone)
It's not like it needs modding, it's great straight from the box. But it can be better. Bypassing the pots, using real preamp, later maybe soldering some nice silver plated solid cores between RCAs and PCBs, that would be my choices
Actually this is set of two monoblocks in one case. There is no way to connect them in series, but you can use two for biamping thus dedicating whole power of one to one speaker
@@maxrider2887 if you can control volume with Wiim then you don't have to have pre, though digital control on the player will be inferior to analog one. IMHO exception from this rule is control by DAC chip, as for all DACs I have and had it was always very good too. So for pre check this one out: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-eS4fGOBiMZs.htmlsi=KR2M-CfE-81i84fI
@@izzy1798 volume wise it's the same because you need to set it up with pre or DAC. My ears tell me it's a tiny bit clearer and transparent, and the most important thing is you don't have to setup balance by ear everytime you change the volume
@hifi zone If my budget is upto USD2K for the fake integrated or power amp, which one will you recommend? Are there anything better than Dartzeel pro, that is without any problems, sound better than Dartzeel pro?
For that kind of money we have accuphase clones in range. At the moment my choice would be DartZeel and some pre. I have two ready for testing and I've ordered some more power amps and pres, but for now my recommendation is D5PRO
@@k4syxThank you for your advice. I will wait for all your pre & power amp tests and review. I can spare a few more months before I proceed to purchase. Thank you very much for your great efforts in helping people like me. 👍👍👍
