Budget Desktop Speaker Amps

Sovrce Gear
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I’m in the market for a budget desktop speaker amp. I have a set of Fluance S6X speakers sitting in my closet since my Klipsch RP600Ms took over home theater duties. I usually listen to headphones at my desk, but sometimes I want to have speakers and I figured why not pull them out and use them. So now I’m looking for a very budget amp for them and I figured I would start this thread and see what ones you all might have tried in the past and what you recommend.

It doesn’t have to include a DAC since I have a separate one already, but I’m OK with those kinds of all-in-one recs as well if they make sense.

I’ve been looking at the Topping PA3 and MX3, Emotiva BasX A-100, SMSL AD18 and similar. Trying to keep it around the $100 mark (used or new) if possible but I don’t want this thread to be limited by that budget so it can be helpful to more folks.

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My A-100 has developed some bad crackle on the volume pot, so when adjusting the volume, I need to stop whatever it is playing.

I intend to take a deep look inside to maybe fix it? Will be a couple of weeks before that happens though.

Edit: The SMSL AD18 seems to have their PSU bricks die at some point.

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Not sure what the size of your desk is, but I own an A-100 and it works great, but it’s very long and it probably wouldn’t fit on my desk personally. (I have it set up with some speakers in the dining room.)

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Yeah, this also happened to my SMSL DA-8S. For what it’s worth, I bought a relatively inexpensive replacement brick from AliExpress and it works fine now, but yeah, far from ideal.

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A bit outside your price point, but I have one of these on my desk, and have been generally impressed with it.

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http://www.vista-audio.com/products/Spark/index.htm

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I have not made desktop speaker amp a huge priority. I am using an SMSL SA-300 amp only, not the DAC. I did it because it was inexpensive, has enough power for my budget speakers (Neumi BS5s) and it has a sub out for convivence sake that allows me to connect up my ELAC 10".

I think if it were not for the convenience of the sub out, and that it takes up very little desktop space that I would prefer using something along the lines of the Vista Spark vs the SA-300. But for now it is what it is. Eventually I will get a rack or shelves and start moving most gear off the desk and keeping things compact in size will be less of a concern.

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I had this guy once and I remember it being pretty good at the price. Lots of power. Had no issues with it.

After that I got a Sprout100. That thing is fantastic. Even has a pretty good headphone out.

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This is basically where I’m at. I’ve got a budget set of speakers gathering dust and a desk with no speakers on it. Looking for something to just be “good enough” for occasional use. I would like to have an option to throw a sub into the system as well so maybe I should keep that in mind as a qualification.

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I was also on the search for a compact amp for my RP-600m for my desktop and kept my eye out for Vista Spark and Sprout 100 integrated. Landed on the Vista Spark.

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What made you go with the Vista Spark?

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I probably wanted the Sprout more, but the Vista Spark popped up on the used market first. I also wanted something warmer in tone for my RP600m

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Although I haven’t heard it personally, the Burson Funk could also be a good option…

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Smsl ad18 is good bang for buck and will handle it all as an inexpensive solution. Mine has been working non-stop for 3 years in my kitchen set-up. It simply works and does the job.
Having said this my choice would be something nicer if i could afford it, aka vista spark for. A situation where i did not need the AD18 features. Basically to prevent upgrade-itis….:stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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Sometimes a prophylactic is the wisest choice in this hobby. You may be onto something.

Although if I get a nicer amp then upgrade-itis will most likely manifest on the speakers instead. So I’m most likely doomed either way.

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Going to echo this for the A-100, it’s not really for desktops and I have mine on some shelves next to my desk. Additionally depending on the speakers you have it can be loud giving you not very much of the volume pot to use. I have a passive volume pot in front of it and just leave it set. Having said all that it does have a nice full sound, I like the aesthetics a lot more than most modern form factor desk amps and I like it a lot. If you have the space I’d personally recommend it :slightly_smiling_face:

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If you want small and huge bang for the buck, I vote Monoprice Liquid Spark. This got pushed out of my main system a while ago and I had a buyer for it, but I backed out. It has a really nice sound and I would just blow the $100.00 on nothing.
Now my office system is PC to SMSL SU-8 to Liquid Spark to Vanatoo T-0’s. It is really a nice sounding system and pretty affordable.

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So I see that you can use the Liquid Spark as a preamp, but I didn’t think you could use it for passive speakers.

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Been using the pa3 now for a couple of years and has been really dependable. Just has noise at about 4: o’clock but really not that bad and fairly clean otherwise.

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I vacillated over posting this one.
This is the other speaker Amp on my desktop, it’s an elekit TU-8150, mine has upgraded resistors and is modified with an additional switch on the front panel to change the modes the tube is running in rather than using internal jumpers.
It’s also a decent headphone amp for high impedance headphones.
But it’s only ~3W into 8 Ohms, so you need to pick the right speaker.
Unfortunately I think it’s discontinued now.

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The Vanatoo’s are active speakers.