after having picked up a pair of Advent 5002's, the wife decided she wanted to use them for a small 2 channel HT setup.

my first thought was to get another $30 T-Amp, and since i have both the T-Amp and Super T, i hooked the Advents up to the Super T just to see how they sounded. despite the speakers being in need of a refoam, they sounded great on the Super T.

now i find myself wanting the Super T instead of the regular T-Amp. by chance i happened across another Class T amp, the Trends Audio TA-10, retail $129, roughly $10 less than the original Super T from PartsExpress, and now i see a new Super T that goes for $159. both amps come with their own AC adapter and sport similar spec's, though the TA-10 seems to be a little more versatile and is made with DIY tweaking in mind.

the Super T is an easy choice for me, its a known commodity that is a stellar performer, but i find the TA-10 quite interesting. its slightly less exspensive and, even though i am not one for anything beyond the basic DIY, the TA-10 allows for easier upgrades. just to try it out i might opt for the TA-10.

anyone have any insight on the TA-10?

Scott,

Both look like real winners.

I'll mail you a lottery ticket- if you win, buy both, and do a shootout.

Both seem excellent, and either will suit the purpose it seems, but there's something to be said for the longevity of the Sonic T product, and at the same time the upstart that's based their product on the T, with an effort to improve it.

did you read the 6 Moons article on it?

Excerpts from the 6moons site article by David Kan...

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/trends/ta10.html


"Officially launched on May 9, 2006, Trends Audio (of Hong Kong) had the unfair advantage of studying the Super T-amp for more than 6 months and their TA-10 obviously had the upper hand of improving on already proven formula. Those refinements include better cooling for the amplification chip by means of mini heat sinks and solder slog, shorter signal paths, improved grounding/shielding, higher grade components/parts and lower gain factor to achieve lower distortion power."

"Built around exactly the same Tripath TA2024 Class-T audio amplification IC, the TA-10 landed in my palm in a dark silver aluminium chassis measuring only 4½" long. Can you imagine how short the signal paths are? It weighs only 1.1 pound, light as a sterling silver tinkle bell, yet tough as an oyster shell."

"However, it's what's inside that really gets audiophile hearts aflutter once they see the air-core inductors and other goodies. The air core inductors in this case play a significant role as a low pass filter (LPF) which is the critical component to filter those high frequency generated in the Pulse Width Modulated (PWM) switching from the output signals. Apparently, air cores perform better than the cheaper magnetic cores."

"Speaking of gain factor earlier, the TA-10 remains faithful to the original Tripath design and keeps it at 12 times. The other more ambitious T-amp pushes for higher gain of up to 21.6 times. While it seems to be louder than the TA-10, the distortion is obvious when you dial up the volume. You probably notice some discussion about that on audio forum pages like audiocircle.com."

"Bias adjustment for a digital amp?"

"Unscrew four screws and remove the top. There are two mini potentiometers for adjusting output bias and to obtain optimum sound while minimizing the power-on transients which are inherent in the Tripath chip or rather, most Class-D amps such as NuForce. According to Ricky Leung, Trends Audio's chief designer, adjusting bias is important for Tripath amps."

"Too high a DC bias voltage will increase the background noise, reduce the actual signal-to-noise ratio and degrade the sound performance. And, it may also be harmful to speakers, reducing their life expectancy, especially for low impedance speakers. So it is advisable to check every now and then to offset the DC bias voltage between the +ve & -ve terminals of each channel to (or close to) zero."


"The dB and CD jigsaw puzzle"

"Judging from the amp's small output power and small power supply, the choice of loudspeakers seems limited. But is that so? To get my bearings on the whole thing, I started with common sense, which I believe should be a pair of high-efficiency speakers. I first set up the TA-10 with the 94dB/8 ohm Loth-X BS-1 (the same speakers that 6moons reader David Dye used with his Sonic Impact T-amp) and the Restek Radiant CD player as source. Although I'd been warned by Jeff's article that these T-amps could be flabbergasting, I was still flabbergasted. By its effortless and relaxed layering and soundstage reproduction abilities. By its purity and transparency of sound. Above all, by its priceless presentation of music. If you blindfolded me and told me that this amp cost $1,000, I'd dare not dispute you. In fact, I don't care. For this kind of money, to get this kind of music reproduction, I feel contented and thankful straight from the bottom of my heart. I care not whatever audiophile sonic attributes you throw at me. I just enjoy my music, thank you very much!"

"Klipsch clicks"


"Next came a pair of vintage speakers that appeared to be a mismatch in size but turned out to be heaven's mate in sound - the Klipsch La Scala...The look of the TA-10 sitting amidst these two gigantic boxes denoted absurdity in the truest sense of the word...The La Scala is perhaps one of the most perplexing, unexplainable mysteries in the audiophile world. When I looked at its specs on paper, I almost didn't want to listen. Who is willing to waste time on a frequency response of 53Hz to 17,000Hz +/-4 dB these days? But when the music came through those horns, I was flabbergasted for the second time. These big boxes could image. Not only that, they made sound in such a warm, airy, expansive and relaxed manner that the listener became totally absorbed in the music...TA-10 owners-to-be should seriously consider the Klipsch La Scala if they can afford the necessary space. Price is not so much a concern since pre-owned La Scalas frequently show up online for $2,000 and the lowest price I've seen there recently was a mere $1,000...Those with a deeper pocket can always consider brand-new production La Scala II, which is a bit bigger, much heavier (175 lb. comparing to 123 lb.) and 1dB more sensitive (105dB).

"For days, I couldn't shake the Klipsch sound out of my head. I knew I had no room for a pair of La Scalas but I kept searching the web for Klipsch. Then destiny took its course. I hit upon another Klipsch. The Klipsch Synergy F2 floorstanders were offered at half price (C$520 shipping included) during Pre-Boxing Week sale at a local electronic chain store....it matched the TA-10 perfectly. Since the F2 is bi-wirable, I used two TA-10s, one per channel....With the Klipsch, the TA-10 opened up even more and the soundstage became deeper. Piano trios became more three-dimensional and instrumentations in complex orchestral tuttis more articulated."

"When the Philips recording was played on the TA-10 + Klipsch F2 system, the image of the instruments seemed to be somehow drifting and shifting. This is not readily audible if you are not listening with a specific purpose in mind. I didn't know what prompted me but I took out my polarity -*test*-('")er, reloaded the Restek with the polarity -*test*-('")ing CD that came with the handheld -*test*-('")er and checked the pulsing signals coming through the Klipsch drivers. Then I realized that the output signals from the TA-10 were indeed inverted. I checked the Tripath website for T-2024 specs and confirmed that the IC indeed operates inverted. Just for experiment's sake, I reversed the speaker cable polarity and the Philips recording sounded perfect."

"Is inverted phase/polarity a big issue? (They are actually two different things but a phase invert button on a DAC or preamp offers a quick fix for both.) Because of all the variables and uncontrollable factors (recordings could be mixing tracks of normal and inverted phase for example), this is almost a non or so-what issue. There's a 50/50 chance that a CD is recorded in inverted phase. And the likelihood that you can tell one from the other is close to zero unless you have the right tools. Through this exercise, I realized that the NuForce amps too are inverted. Their designer Jason Lim confirmed it and stated that their amps sound better that way. I've owned his Reference 9 and Reference 9 SE for almost a year. The 9 has been connected to a Deltec DAC with a phase inversion switch which has been unknowingly switched to inverted and therefore should sound normal. The 9 SE has been connected to normal phase gear and should theoretically produce inverted-phase music all the time. You know what? I didn't know a thing until now and even now that I know, the musical enjoyment I've been getting from my NuForce amps has not diminished one wit. For my own peace of mind though, I reconnected all my TA-10s and NuForce amps in absolute polarity by either reversing the speaker cables or by means of the DAC's phase inverter...",

"Never try to open your TA-10 or NuForce amps and reverse the internal speaker connecting wires. You might reverse the whole circuitry and ground wiring and damage the amplification chip."

"AC/DC or battery powered?"

"After quick-fixing the TA-10 back into absolute phase by reversing the speaker polarity, there was still one additional tweak to further enhance soundstage and imaging: battery power. While experimenting with batteries, I had good and bad luck. Good luck was finding a pair of Xantrex Powerpack 300 EP booster batteries for a half price deal (C$60). Bad luck was picking up the wrong cigarette lighter plug to coaxial DC connector cable by Sony which was labelled 'negative grounded' but was in fact positive grounded. In a split second after I turned on the TA-10, I smelled burning and smoke started to mushroom out as soon as I opened the tightly clamped aluminium shell. The Tripath chip was burnt to death. So my advice on battery power: Observe DC polarity and don't trust Sony cables."

"Sonic Impact's Super-T Amp seems to be equipped with polarity reversal protection and ships with battery-power cables."

"The benefit of running the TA-10s on batteries was tremendous. The localization of musical instruments and vocals was improved drastically and instantly. When running on AC/DC adapters, the first violin and cello on the Rossini/Philips CD were grouped together on the left and the double-bass and second violin were grouped together on the right. Although the violins were more forward and the lower strings were more backward, there were still some overlapping and there was a wider gap between both groups. When running on batteries, the four pieces of instruments became evenly distributed and dispersed with minimal overlapping. In playing back concerto recordings, the improvement became equally pronounced as the soloists became more sharply focused and the orchestral counterparts articulated with remarkable details."

"Modifications anyone?"

"Trend Audio is perhaps the one hifi manufacturer who encourages customers to modify their products...After exchanging a few e-mails with Ricky Leung the designer, I knew that he's genuinely passionate about getting the best from the Tripath T-2024 chip. There are quite a few modification ideas floating around the Internet. But here are some tips from the horse's mouth:

► The most sensitive parts to affect sonic quality should be the input capacitors (Ci). Changes in these caps can make the sound very different (mainly in resolution and soundstaging). Try your favorite kind of caps between 1uF to 3uF as long as they can fit.

► Another part is the electrolytic power filtering caps Csw+ (mainly for dynamic and power).
► Battery-power is the quickest, simplest way to improve sonic quality. Be careful to observe polarity and voltage.


Starting January 1, 2007, all TA-10s have been shipped with upgraded capacitors while the price has gone up from $99 to $119. Technically speaking, the model designation became TA-10.1. Fortunately, all my TA-10s are TA-10.1s. David Ho of Trends Audio was kind enough to make sure the second loaner (for replacing the first one I fried) and my pre-Christmas shipment were upgraded. The upgrade was a quite a big progress considering (1) the input coupling caps were upgraded from 2.2 uF ERO MKT to 2.2 uF BENNIC XPP metalized polypropylene film capacitors, and (2) the power filtering caps were upgraded from 220 uF ELNA electrolytic to 1,500 uF SANYO WG high frequency, low ESR electrolytic. All these, according to Trends Audio, were for "higher resolution, better sound stage and more dynamic, more punching solid bass." Check the retail prices of these caps and you'll know you couldn't possibly perform the upgrade yourself with $20. No wonder even Michael Mardis, the Hawaiian TA-10 master modifier, in his response to my e-mails advised that "you may not need to swap those." (The TA-10 featured on his website is the earlier model.)...for the solder-itchy, Mr. Mardis has surfed through the PCB to come up with sound suggestions like rerouting the input copper trace path with hard wires, replacing the volume pot with a Panasonic 50K pot (part number EVJ-Y10F03D54) and adding copper shields to the air-core inductors for better RFI rejection."

"Conclusion"

""The TA-10 is ... underpriced and overserved. It is your ticket to start a wonderful musical journey. Beginning with one simple TA-10, a pair of high-efficient speakers and a basic CD player, it takes you to the heart of music in no time. Add a battery and you're on the express ride to audiophile-grade performance. Navigate into 3-channel or 5-channel or even upgrade with a preamp as you see fit. No other components allow such ease of expandability at such a low price."


"On the other side of the price spectrum, another Class-T integrated amp, the $3,200 Bel Canto eVo 2i, was summed up by Srajan as "crystalline transparency; a tube-like midrange purity, naturalness of timbre and monster soundstaging without the bloom of valves; wonderful bass; and very extended yet silky treble that's never grating or dull but just right." I found myself being titillated by the same sensation with this humbly priced TA-10. While the NuForce Class-D is my best answer to power hungry speakers in terms of efficiency and sound quality, the Trends Audio Class-T is the same for high-efficiency speakers."



"Trends Audio TA-10 has honed the performance of Class-T technology to a true audiophile level and then cracked the $120 price barrier. Prior to this, the company was a complete stranger to the audiophile world. Being a subsidiary of ITOK Media Ltd. which was established in 1996 as a VCD and DVD encoding service provider to the film and music industries, hifi equipment is their newest endeavour. If you are looking for Trends Audio's credentials in the audiophile business, this is it, the TA-10. And it's a very impressive one."

You might also want to look at the Winsome Labs Mouse amplifier. Also T-class but with a lot more power and headroom, although pricier. It's getting good reviews elsewhere and I've heard it at the So Cal Audiokarma meet, very impressive. http://winsome-labs.com/

the Winsome is more than i want to spend for this venture. the Super T or TA-10 would be splurging as it is when i can get the regular T-Amp for $40 to my door. if things work out i am leaning towards the TA-10 just to see how it compares to the Super T. otherwise i'll more than likely end up getting the regular T-Amp.

quick update:

i went with the TA-10.1, even though i didnt want to spend $140, i did want to see how the Trends Audio compared to the the Super T. for its primary use (in the 2-channel HT setup) the TA-10.1 does a surprisingly good job when it comes to movies. reproduction of the sound effects are excellent with plenty of slam and kick (i'm surprised the Advent 5002's do such a good job here as well). volume levels wont get to ear-shattering levels but they are more than adequate in this room. the Super T in the same setup doesnt quite have the balls of the TA-10.1. though it can match the volume level, the dynamics in the effects are not quite on par with the TA-10.1.

next i'll be trying the TA-10.1 against the Super T in dedicated music rig (the ADS L710/L810 stack bedroom system).

Price per watt is pretty high. What's the attraction for you?

in the right environment with the right speakers (either a small room or high efficiency speakers) the sound quality is nothing less than incredible. i dont know of any amp at this price point that sounds as good as the TA-10.1 or the Super T.

Hey, Paul and Scott.

I got the mini-T based on the enthusiasm shown for the technology here.
However, I still haven't tried it out, partially because I didn't want to dink with AA batteries. I have a box full of ac/dc converters, but the power input on the amp was not clearly marked and I didn't want to experience that burningsmoking sensation described by Paul.

Am I looking for a converter with the positive center and negative outer ring?

Also, people mentioned I can use an integrated amp as a preamp until I stumble onto a preamp I want, or am willing to drop a coupla bills on a Hafler 110 or such. But I don't know anything about setting jumpers and such. Does anyone have a link to a site describing the process of setting up an integrated amp as a preamp?

thanks, dennis

Hey Dennis,
for T-amp, take alook at : http://www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/t-amp_tweaks_e.html

or : http://www.sound-thinking.org/index.php?showtopic=787 and try to find Sonic T links.

If your integrated amp has a preamp output sure you can use it has a preamp.

i dont know if this helps, but this is the converter i use.
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cf...tnumber=300-953


if your integrated has pre-out connectors, it can be used as a preamp. just connect a pair of RCA interconnects to the pre-out on the integrated and to the input on the T-Amp.

You might want to consider this...

Radio shack Accurian T-amp

Originally retailing for $149.00, if you can find one since it's discontinued, it's only $15. They'll look at you funny and tell you that you need the transmitter to get it to work, but just smile, and tell you that You're waiting for Aliens to contact you on it.

Then take it home, and take the top off by unscrewing the center screw and the 4 screws hidden under the rubber feet. Pop the top off and disconnect the two wire connectors hooking into the top board. You can then take the top board out, or leave it in as you please. Button it up, hook your input to the line out jacks, (the jacks are wired up in parallel, so they can act as either input or output) hook up your speakers, and fire it up.

Especially for the money, this is a great deal. You get an integrated 25 WPC T-amp that sounds great and doesn't break the bank...Call your local Rat Shack and see if they can dig one up for you....

cool. i never heard of this one, if i can find one i'll try it out.

yep, there are a handful available in my area. i'll be picking one up today.

Great! Lemme know how you like it. Between me and my buddies Macaltec and Cableguy, we sucked up everyone we could find in the local area. You might want to do the same. They make great gifts.

I also happened to luck into the transmitter for $20, and I'll tell you what, it works fantastic! I have it running the 3rd pair of speakers in my garage system, a set of Insignia's on the back wall high up, and they sound better than I've ever heard them. Great bass! And the sound quality is as clear as a bell. However, they appear to now be unobtainium. I saw one go on e-pray last week for over $100.... I'm going to pick up my 4th receiver tomorrow... Shipped all the way from the NC coast, free...

Nice little thing.
It's made by ST&T and it's a good candidate for tweaking.
Here's a link to ST&T spec. sheet (pdf file)