I am evaluating using Proxmox instead of VMware (free license) for my VMs. I am writing down some of my thoughts for later reference. I have not used Proxmox so these thoughts are based on my research.

Proxmox pros and cons

• Comes with backup and restore even for the free license
• Easier management
• Supports zfs, and some support for zfs encryption
• Can be configured to support LUKS (some work involved)
• Does not work with Synology Active Backup for Business
• ZFS or BTRFS is more performant in terms of snapshots (but the snapshots cannot be backed up)

VMware pros and cons

• Can run off USB drive (deprecated in future versions)
• Difficult to set up backup in free version
• Does not support encryption

My current pain points with VMware

• Web GUI is a pain
• I am worried about screwing up the VMs while using the Web GUI (such as forgetting to enter/exit maintenance mode)
• Difficult to back up the USB flash drive
• Setting up backup (changed block tracking, SSH, etc.) for a new host is a pain and error prone
• Less confidence the restore would work
• No encryption

Summary

For my use case, I already have VMware set up and working, with integrated Active Backup. I like the fact I can install an ESXi host on a USB drive, which makes restoring to a new host easier. Also, if I migrate to Proxmox I might have to reconfigure my Windows VM, etc. On the other hand, the VMware GUI is a pain, and I am always worried I might make a mistake and screw up my VMs. Also my VMs are not encrypted.

I have been hosting VMs on my ESXi hosts for 7 years. During this time I have tried different setups. I am comparing the pros and cons of each setup. I am using the free license, with its limitations.

Initially I was hosting VMs in the internal SSD of the host, without a good backup strategy. I quickly scrapped this method.

My next setup was putting my VM directories in my Synology share, exposing it via NFS. This simplifies my backup plan, as all VM directories are automatically backed up weeks along with other NAS data (assuming HyperBackup recognizes all the changes). The downside is that whenever my NAS goes down, my VMs go down as well. They were also slower because my NAS had RAID 5 HDDs.

Another issue is that I am not backing up the host USB, so when the USB dies, it takes some work to reconfigure everything.

I didn't want my VMs to be tied to the NAS, especially some of them need to continue functioning when my NAS reboots. So I migrated them back to the internal SSD of the host, but set up Active Backup for Business to back up the VMs. There are a few configurations to be done to enable the backup, and I am never quite sure if I can restore the VMs successfully.

Pros and cons of using NAS storage

• No need to set up backup
• But not sure if HyperBackup actually recognize all the changes
• Testing on another host is easy
• BTRFS allows more testing options
• Need to manually reconfigure each VM when restoring to a different host, or when the host dies
• VMs are shut down when the NAS is shut down. I have some docker containers I need running independent of NAS
• I am reluctant to update NAS
• Using more NAS bandwidth and more IOPS

Pros and cons of using internal SSD

• Faster VM startup, and I can actually use swaps for each VM
• Setting up backup is not straightforward
• Backup only runs once a day, thus I will lose the data in between
• I rarely test VM restore, so I am not confident it would work
• Restoring VMs take a long time
• ABB takes care of the configuration, so restoration is straightforward
• I can restart NAS without worrying about VMs
• NAS is not a single point of failure
• Active Backup is proprietary, and I have trouble migrating it between NASes

Summary

While using internal SSD has its downsides, it is a more robust solution overall, as it reduces interdependency between devices. The key is to test restoration to ensure it works.

I have been using Synology's Active Backup for Business to back up my VMware VMs. I wanted to test whether I can restore these backups to a new ESXi host if my current one dies, so I tested a restore process the other day.

My Setups

My active ESXi host:

• ESXi 5.5 free license
• boot off USB flash
• HP EliteDesk Mini
• 32 GB RAM, 250 GB SSD vmfs storage, 1 NIC
• backed up using Change Block Tracking (CBT)

I use another HP EliteDesk Mini for restoration. I fresh installed ESXi 7.0 on it, to prepare to restoring the VMs.

My restoration ESXi host:

• ESXi 7.0 on trial license (freshly installed)
• boot off USB flash
• HP EliteDesk Mini
• 16 GB RAM, 250 GB SSD vmfs storage, 1 NIC

Restoration Steps

Here are the steps I took:

• Log into Synology and open Active Backup for Business (ABB)
• Under Virtual Machine > VMware vSphere, click on Manage Hypervisor
• Add the new ESXi host to the hypervisor list (so ABB can restore to it)
• Back on the main ABB menu, click on the VM I want to restore (in this case docker5), and click restore

• It displays the list of restorable versions, pick the version to restore
• You can restore to HyperV or vSphere, pick vSphere
• You can choose Instant Resetore or Full VM Restore, I picked Full Restore
• Important: pick Restore to a new location
• uncheck Regenerate a MAC address, this allows DHCP to hand the new VM the same IP so the new VM can take over seamlessly
• pick the new host to restore to
• pick a name for the restore job. This will also be the name of the newly created VM. Don't pick the same name as the old VM, just in case you restore to the existing host.
• don't start the VM after restore, otherwise it would conflict with the existing VM

The first time I ran the restore, it failed, because my new host was in maintenance mode. The second time I ran it, it succeeded:

• It creates the appropriate directory for the new VM, and likely the appropriate vmdk files
• It then restores the backup to that directory
• For restoring my 20 GB VM on an SSD, the VM directory creation took about 2 minutes, and the restoration took another 30 minutes. Maybe my NAS drives were slow. Prepare for a few hours of downtime if you have a few VMs to restore.
• When restoration is done, the ABB app will show restore success

After restoration success

• Shut down the old VM
• Start up the new VM
• Test to see if it works

Thoughts

The restore went pretty smoothly. I was able to simply install a new ESXi host, and ABB took care of the restoration, as well as the VM configuration. I restored both my docker VM and my Windows VM, and both worked.

Compared this to manual restoration, where I usually had to reconfigure each VM, such as CPU, RAM, and especially NIC (and probably other minute settings). ABB took away a bit of moving parts and uncertainties. (Restoring HyperV was even worse)

The restoration took hours though.

I am recording some power consumption figures for electronic equipment.

Measured using Kill-A-Watt. Devices that fall below Kill-A-Watt's sensitivity threshold are measured alongside other devices to calculate their actual power usage.

*note: Idle watt measures the power consumption when a device is idle. Some devices can optionally be turned off, in which case we also measure the power consumption when turned off (phantom power draw)

Honeywell HPA300 Air Purifier: low speed 36w, medium speed 63w, high speed 82w

Honeywell 18155 SilentComfort Air Purifier: low speed 34w, medium speed 47w, high speed 71w

Winix 5500-2 Air Purifier: low speed 6w, medium speed 8w, high speed 12w

I was performing frequency response measurement on my speakers, and there was a significant dip at around 110Hz range. Surprised, I repeated the measurement multiple times, with the same result.

My initial thought was that my speakers had uneven frequency response, but eventually figured out it was due to room reflection. It's surprising how severe the interference was.

I am going to summarize some of the typical room interferences below. My listening position is about 8 ft (~2.5 m) away, but the interferences I outline will still apply to many different situations.

Ceiling bounce

Each woofer is 8 ft away from me, and 5 ft away from the ceiling. With calculation, the ceiling bounce travels a total of 12.81 ft. The difference between 12.81 ft and 8 ft is 4.81 ft. 4.81 ft is half the wavelength of a 117Hz sound wave. So the ceiling null is around 117Hz.

If you sit a little further away or with taller ceilings, the room null would be slightly lower frequency, and vice versa. But you can expect it to be around this range.

This is the most significant interference for me.

Floor bounce

Typically the woofers would be slightly closer to the floor than to the ceiling, so the floor bounce would be slightly higher frequency.

Let's say each woofer is 8 ft away from me and 3 ft away from the floor. This would equate to 10 ft floor bounce travel. So the floor null is around 281Hz.

Again if you sit further away or you have taller speaker stands, your floor null would be of lower frequency, and vice versa. But it would be near that range.

Floor null is not an issue for me because it is obstructed.

Back wall bounce

This one is a little harder to calculate because we have to decide whether the cancelation comes from the woofer or the back of the speaker.

Let's assume the cancelation comes from the woofer itself. Assuming you place the speakers about 1 ft from the back wall, the woofers would be about 1.7 ft from the back wall. The back wall bounce would travel 3.4 extra ft, and the back wall null would be around 165Hz.

Back wall null is less significant for me than the ceiling null.

Side wall bounce

There is more variable to side wall bounce, because the distance between your speakers and the side walls can vary quite a bit. The two speakers may be different distance to the two side walls as well.

Summary

We don't have to rush out and buy room treatment, but it's nice to have a general idea of typical room interference frequencies

At 8 ft listening position:

• Ceiling null  ~117Hz
• Floor null   ~280Hz

Speakers placed 1 ft away from wall:

• Back wall null ~165Hz

Further distance means lower frequency

Sample Calculations

Assume each woofer is 8 ft from listening position, and 5 ft from the ceiling, the direct ceiling bounce would reflect a equidistance (4 ft from woofer and 4 ft from listener)

• distance from woofer to ceiling = sqrt(4x4 + 5x5) = 6.40
• distance from ceiling to listener = sqrt(4x4 + 5x5) = 6.40
• total distance of ceiling bounce = 12.80
• extra distance the ceiling bounce travels = 12.8 - 8 = 4.8
• Cancelation happens when 2 sound waves are exactly half wavelength apart
• 4.8 ft is half the distance of a 9.6 ft wave, which is 117Hz
• Ceiling bounces at different angles would travel slightly longer distance, thus at slightly lower frequency
• So the sum of ceiling nulls would actually skew slightly below 117Hz.

We have been using the Hatch Rest Sound Machine (1st gen, Bluetooth version) for a while now. It's somewhat a peculiar design.

First of all, all the buttons are on the bottom of the device, so they are very hard to access. If you want to dim the light, you'll have to turn the device upside down to access the light buttons.

It also only comes with a few noise tracks. Some of them sound like trains, some of them sound like stream, some of them sound like rain. We only found one track that sounded like the typical white noise, and that's the only track we are using.

It does have a dimmable night light feature, of various colors.

You can connect Hatch to your phone via Bluetooth, and program your favorite settings. For each favorite setting, you get to pick which noise track at what volume, plus the light color at what brightness. Once you have configured the favorites, you can toggle between them by tapping the top of the Hatch device.

And that's how we use our Hatch device. We configured a few favorites of different volume levels, calibrated using a sound level meter, for different sleep situations. We then simply toggle between the favorites.

Pros:

• Has dimmable night light feature
• Ability to configure favorites
• Ability to toggle between favorites by tapping the top

Cons:

• All the buttons are at the bottom of the device
• Requires phone to configure the device
• Not a wide selection of tracks

Final Thoughts

Once you figure out how to configure the favorites, and stick to toggling between them, the Hatch Rest is a decent device. We are used to it by now, and it's sort of nice to have the device memorize all our desirable settings.

For those that like to adjust tracks or volumes on the go, this is probably not a good device, as it's quite inconvenient to have all the buttons at the bottom.

Where to Buy

• Hatch Rest Baby Sound Machine (1st gen) on Amazon

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I saw these two items on America's Test Kitchen, and decided to give them a try.

And they both work very well!!

Pot Brush

This pot brush has well spaced bristles, and it does work much better than the brush it replaced. Some stuck on food comes off pretty easily, much to my surprise. It is good at dislodging stubborn stuck on pieces that are larger in size.

Sponge

I always assumed 3M or Scotch have this sponge business figured out, but looks like O-Cedar outdoes it again. It is good at removing fine pieces covering the pot, such as quinoa or chicken foam.

How I use them

For some reason, when we cook chicken or other food in instant pot, they tend to stick to the pot, and don't come off in the dishwasher. Now I use the pot brush to dislodge the large hard pieces, then use the sponge to remove the smaller stuck-ons. It takes one extra minute before I run the dishwasher, but I no longer have to deal with dried on food.

Where to Buy

• O-Cedar Rinse Fresh Pot & Pan Brush on Amazon
• O-Cedar Scrubbing Sponge on Amazon

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We've been storing breast milk in mason jars. They are easy to clean and don't impart flavors. They are not easy to pour out of though. I was on a quest to find mason jar lids that seal tightly and pours well.

I lucked out. I found these County Line lids. They are well made, seal very well, and pour very well. They came in a nice package, and no weird plastic smell or anything. I feel quite safe using these lids for food storage.

One tip: these lids are very leak proof, and don't have to be screwed in too tightly to be not leak. I have a tendency to screw in lids very tightly due to all the leaky lids I have experienced before. They can be a little hard to unscrew if screwed in too hard.

Not really much else to say. Sometimes when you see a nice product, you recognize it. Instead of worrying about whether the plastic is safe to use for food, etc.

Where to Buy

• Wide mouth version on Amazon
• Regular mouth version on Amazon

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It's winter now. For cold climate households humidifiers come in handy in keeping humidity in check. I'll share some of my experience.

Types of humidifiers (and vaporizers)

There are 3 major types of humidifiers I am familiar with:

• Vaporizers - or warm steam humidifiers, such as Vicks Vaporizer. They work by boiling the water to create steam. Some are marketed for cold relief, but they are quite effective in adding humidity to the rooms as well.
• Ultrasonic humidifiers - these generate ultrasonic vibrations to expel moisture into the air.
• Evaporative humidifiers - these use mesh filters to soak up water, then use airflow to evaporate moisture into the air.

I have used all three types of humidifiers.

Pros and cons of types of humidifiers

Vaporizers boil water to humidify the room, so they are quite energy inefficient. Other types of humidifiers add cold moisture to the air, while vaporizers add warm moisture, so it's a minor plus. But practically speaking I don't find it make much difference. Steaming water also distills it, so it can be more hygienic, but hot steam can also be a safety hazard.

The rudimentary vaporizers tend to leave black flake residue in the water, these are harmless and I find the vaporizers easy to clean overall. Most of them don't have humidistat, and it's difficult to control the amount of steam produced. The more advanced models do offer humidistat controls.

• Produces black flakes in water
• Easy to rinse and clean
• Does not produce mineral dust in the air
• No filters required
• Energy hog
• Produces warm moisture instead of cold moisture
• Hot steam can be a hazard
• Difficult to control humidity with cheap models

Ultrasonic humidifiers generate vibrations to expel water particles into the air. They tend to be very efficient and quiet. This process produces a pleasant looking white cool mist. It also expels the dissolved solids along with the water, resulting in white dust coatings on the furniture.

Manufacturers typically recommend using distilled water to avoid generating white dust, which can add to the running cost. You can also buy demineralization cartridges, but they don't work as well.

• Quiet and efficient
• Easy to clean
• No filters needed
• Produce white dust
• Distilled water or demineralization cartridges recommended

Evaporative humidifiers use filters to soak up water, then circulate air through the filters to add humidity. The circulating fans may or may not be noisy. I run them at low speed at night and they are decently quiet for me. Because they use evaporation to introduce humidity, they do not leave white dust on furniture like ultrasonic humidifiers do.

They use filters. Replacing these filters periodically can be expensive. The filters can get dirty quickly, resulting in more frequent maintenance. Silver anti-bacterial cartridges can be used to keep filters clean longer.

Maintaining filters may involve soaking them in vinegar, making the process more involved.

• Quite efficient as well
• Some fan noise depending on the models and speed
• Filters required, which can get expensive to replace
• Filters get slimy, requiring frequent cleaning and maintenance
• Each maintenance can also be more involved than the other types of humidifiers
• Does not produce white dust

Some Features to Evaluate

• Does it allow speed control
• Does it have a humidistat (turns off when desired humidity is reached)
• Is it reliable
• Does it leak water
• Is it easy to fill (top fill might be desirable)
• Does it take up too much space

My Own Setup

We currently run a Honeywell Tower Humidifier for the whole house, and supplement it with a LEVOIT Dual200S for the baby's room.

For the whole house
We use Honeywell Tower (evaporative) Humidifier to humidify the whole house. Ultrasonic humidifiers would have been the most convenient and efficient to humidify a large space, but we didn't want to deal with the white dust issue. Vaporizers would be too expensive to run. We opted for the evaporative model even though it requires more maintenance. On the plus side, it has a humidistat, and is powerful enough for the whole house. We like this humidifier because:

• It has a humidistat, and stops when the desired humidity is reached
• It can humidify the whole house effectively
• It holds 1.5 gallons of water
• The vertical design saves space

For the baby's room
We use LEVOIT Dual200S ultrasonic humidifier to humidify the baby's room. We didn't want to use a vaporizer because the steam can be a safety hazard. We also didn't go with an evaporative model because we didn't want to deal with the maintenance for yet another evaporative humidifier. To minimize white dust, we only run it sparingly to make up for any humidity shortfall from the main unit. We like this humidifier because:

• It has a humidistat, avoiding over-humidifying the baby's room
• It is small and quiet
• It is easy to maintain

Where to Buy

• Honeywell Top Fill Tower Humidifier on Amazon $90
• LEVOIT Dual200S on Amazon $52

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I bought Brother MFC-J4335DW printer late 2021 (around $160). My old printer wouldn't print any more, and I needed a printer that could print as well as scan.

To be honest, I was shocked at the dearth of sub-$200 printers with decent scanning capabilities. At the end I had to compromise some of the requirements on on scanning, and I bought this printer.

Reliable and Economical

I have used it for more than a year now. It has been very reliable. No print issues; no paper jams. It features Inkvestment-tank (3000 page yield), so I have not needed to replace ink yet. The auto-feeder works fine, and I have no problem photocopying a small stack of paper.

Print speed and quality

In terms of printing, it is one of the faster printers in this price range. It prints at around 15 ppm, and there is very little delay for the first page. In practical terms it actually exceeded my need for speed. The normal print quality is decent.

If you need even higher print quality, it slows down considerably. Quite a bit slower than the HP printer I returned. So if you tend to print with fine quality setting, you might want to consider a different printer.

It supports double sided printing. I use this feature a lot, and haven't run into any issues yet.

Scanning

You cannot scan to network shares, nor to a thumb drive. The easiest way to scan is to control it via the mobile phone app. The phone app is somewhat intuitive, but I cannot figure out a way to save the result into a document or download folder. The auto document feeder is decent, so I can scan a small stack of documents without problem.

Summary

Pros:

• Very generous ink and cheap printing cost
• Reliable and no paper jams
• Very fast printing speed
• Easy to configure printer
• Decent auto document feeder

Cons:

• I cannot save scanned documents
• Slow print speed at fine settings

I have used this printer for more than a year, and I have not run into any issues, nor have I replaced the ink cartridges yet. Overall I am quite happy with it. The bummer is that I cannot save my scanned documents.

Where to Buy

• Brother MFC-J4335DW on Amazon $180

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WiiM Mini is a $90 streamer that is capable of satisfying most streaming needs at high fidelity. That's all I have to say about that.

...

What? Not convinced? Oh, okay.

You see, WiiM Mini supports many major streaming services, and is able to output the music lossless via its optical output. Which means, your DAC will get a bit perfect rendition of the music. And that's as much as you can ask a music streamer as far as sound quality goes.

There are many streamers out there, but most of them are either very expensive, or have bad sound quality, or both. Many of them also do not support Amazon Music. The cheap streamers tend to have a bad DAC, resulting in bad music. The various software implementation pitfalls means that there is no guarantee an expensive stream would get you a good result.

WiiM Mini is created by Linkplay. Linkplay provides the underlying technology for many music streamers, so they have a technical advantage in terms of overcoming some of these streaming hurdles. With WiiM, they are able to avoid some of the typical software pitfalls, and achieve lossless streaming.

WiiM Mini has 2 outputs: 3.5mm aux or optical. The internal DAC is just okay, resulting in somewhat lackluster aux output. However, the optical output delegates the rendering to the external DAC of your choice, thus bypassing the internal DAC completely.

As mentioned before, not many streamers support Amazon Music. WiiM Mini is one of the few exceptions. Linkplay seems to have done extensive research on Alexa Cast. WiiM Mini can act as a Amazon Music casting target, supports multi-room streaming, and can be controlled via Alexa.

In terms of music quality, WiiM Mini is pretty much perfect, because you cannot beat lossless streaming. However, it has some drawbacks in terms of features.

It does not support wired network, only WiFi. You might run into stutters or difficulties if the home WiFi is not good enough. It does not come with a remote, so everything has to be controlled via the phone (or via Alexa). To get the best sound quality a competent external DAC is needed, which adds another $100 or $200 to the expense.

Also, it only supports casting from Amazon Music, Spotify, and Tidal. If you are using Qobuz or Deezer, you would have to use the WiiM app, which streams the music through your phone.

It uses about 1 watt when running, quite efficient. You can compare power usage with other components here.

Pros:

• Lossless streaming, no loss of fidelity via resampling
• Supports Amazon Music
• Supports Tidal Connect and Spotify Connect
• Has optical output, which bypasses typical internal DAC problems
• Supports Airplay 2 (I have not used it personally)
• Also supports Bluetooth

Cons:

• No remote
• lackluster internal DAC, thus lackluster aux output
• External DAC adds to expense
• no ethernet port, WiFi only

Alternatives

• WiiM Pro is the upgraded version that supported wired connection and Chromecast audio protocol, plus having optical and coaxial outputs
• Phorus PR5 is not as capable, but if you prefer a streamer with better internal DAC and only uses Spotify, you can check it out

Where to Buy

• WiiM Mini on Amazon ($90)
• WiiM Pro on Amazon ($150)

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Ah, Phorus PR5. Such an awkward looking streamer, controlled by a crappy app. I hesitate to recommend it to anybody, yet I use it myself.

You see, Phorus PR5 is primarily controlled by the DTS Play-Fi app. The Play-Fi app streams music from Amazon/Tidal/Qobuz onto your phone, and then casts it to the Phorus PR5 streamer. Your phone acts as a middleman for the streaming process. Play-Fi casts to Phorus via WiFi, which allows better stream quality than Bluetooth.

The problem is, DTS Play-Fi is a crappy piece of software. There are significant pauses between songs, and it gets worse if you skip tracks. You can tell by the 3.2/5 review ratings on the Android app store. Every once in a while I try to update my app to see if the situation has improved, but currently it still has usability issues.

So why do I use it myself? Because it's one of the few streams that has a good DAC built in, and it has a full 2V output. It also supports Spotify Connect, so there is no need to use DTS Play-Fi when streaming Spotify.

Which means, it is a very competent device when I stream Spotify. The built-in Wolfson DAC and the full 2V output provides great sound quality compared to some other similar streamer setup. I can skip tracks and control volume all via Phorus PR5.

It is also very cheap, typically selling for $30. Overall, because of its limited scope of usage, it's somewhat a gamble.

It uses about 3 watts when running. It's decent considering it acts as both a streamer and a DAC. Compare power usage with other components here.

Pros:

• Good implementation of Wolfson DAC
• Supports Spotify Connect
• Track control and volume control all in one device

Cons:

• Ugly and bulky
• Usability issues for streaming services other than Spotify
• No digital output
• Software can be glitchy sometimes

Final Thoughts

If you are interested in a Spotify streamer with good sound quality out of box, Phorus PR5 is worth consideration. If you are willing to spend more money for a more capable streamer, see WiiM Mini.

Where to Buy

• Phorus PR5 on Amazon ($30)

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I notice SMSL DA-6 is currently (2023-01-20) on sale on Amazon for $50. It is well reviewed. It accepts RCA (analog) connection only, but has well laid out inputs and outputs. It also comes with a remote.

What attracts me is that it has a remote control, and has a well rated analog input. Analog inputs are still the most flexible connections. There are many mini amplifiers that accept analog inputs, but most of them do not have remote controls.

I have been using the device for the past week. The sound quality is quite good. I am still evaluating whether the sound quality is of the level of Aiyima A07. I am overall satisfied.

Its power consumption is also miniscule. Just like Loxjie, it draws almost no power when turned off. I am planning to hook it up to my secondary system, so the low phantom power draw perfectly suits this purpose. View electronics power consumption here.

According to some Amazon reviews, this device seems have reliability issues. There aren't many reviews yet, and I haven't run into any issues. But we'll see.

Pros:

• Good sound quality
• Decent remote control
• Very power efficient
• Attractive and well laid out inputs/outputs

Cons:

• Reviews are very sparse for this product, and some users run into reliability issues

Final Thoughts

SMSL DA-6 is quite an attractive product, with good sound quality to boot. If you are looking for a good mini amplifier with a remote, it is a good choice. I have used it without issues, it can still be a gamble due to lack of Amazon reviews.

Where to Buy

• SMSL DA-6 on Amazon ($50 as of this article) or black version
• Aiyima A07 on Amazon ($65 as of this article)

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As many might know, SMSL, Loxjie and Sabaj are owned by the same parent company.

In general, their products tend to have high build quality. Their products tend to have higher polish than other Chinese manufacturers. Functionalities are better thought out and more usable as well.

I always assumed their products would have better sound quality and reliability as well. That may be partially true, but I have run into a few that are not very good.

For example, I bought two SMSL SA-50 Plus amplifiers. These amplifiers are useful to me because they accept optical inputs. However, their sound quality was not very good. In fact worse than typical TPA3116 amplifiers obtainable for $30. The one I occasionally used also went kaput within less than a year.

I also have a SMSL A12 amplifier, which accepts USB input. The USB input has subpar sound quality. After some research, I realized this is true for many SMSL amplifiers. SMSL might consider the USB input as a throw-in feature, but consumers are not made aware of it. Many consumers that intend to use the USB input would be disappointed.

I have also written about Loxjie A30, a higher end product offering from the group. While a very competent amplifier, the analog input suffers degraded sound quality when the volume is turned up.

At the end of the day, I still buy SMSL products, but I no longer assume that the polished end result represents better reliability or better sound quality. I evaluate each product individually one its own merit.

Where to Buy

• SMSL A12 on Amazon
• Loxjie A30 on Amazon

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I've been using Loxjie A30 stereo amplifier for more than a year now. Here is my simple review:

Overall, it's a very competent amplifier. When using the optical input, the sound is very transparent. It's more transparent than entry level A/B amplifiers such as Sony STR-DH190, for example. I used it to drive Christmas music in my main living area (400 sq ft), and I enjoyed the sound.

It's not my daily driver though. I prefer my DIY TPA3255 amplifier over it, as it has better treble. In terms of bass, Sony STR-DH190 has deeper bass. But I am overall very satisfied with its sound quality.

The optical DAC inside Loxjie A30 is also very good. I don't feel the need to use an external DAC with it.

While Loxjie A30 comes with optical, coaxial, USB, Bluetooth and analog inputs, not all the inputs have the same sound quality. Only optical and coaxial inputs have the high quality you expect out this amplifier. USB input is a little worse in quality. The major flaw is that the analog input deteriorates in quality as you turn up the volume. In practice I use the optical input exclusively.

I am also impressed with the power consumption. It uses only 1 or 2 watts when running. When turned off, it uses virtually no power at all. For comparison, most other cheaper class D amplifiers use 2 to 4 watts phantom power even when turned off.

Pros:

• Very competent amplifier, with transparent sound
• Good DAC for the optical and coaxial input
• Decent remote control
• Very power efficient

Cons:

• Expensive
• Sound quality of some inputs not as great, especially the analog input

Final Thoughts

I only use my Loxjie A30 with the optical input, as I consider the other inputs not as good in sound quality. However, the internal optical DAC is of high quality, so if you need something that accepts an optical input, Loxjie A30 will be very capable, and saves you the extra expense of an external DAC. Using the optical input, it's a very competent amplifier.

Where to Buy

• Loxjie A30 on Amazon

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