Edwards Audio IA1 Integrated Amplifier - Cheap As Chips, And Just as Tasty
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 23 เม.ย. 2023
- There aren't many true hi-fi bargains these days, but this dinky little integrated amplifier is one of them. In this episode, Mike and David try the new Edwards Audio IA1 - which costs less than a pair of half-decent interconnects, yet is genuinely enjoyable to listen to.
Better still, it is designed and manufactured in the UK at the company's new Wiltshire factory - just down the road from where David is based. How many genuinely homegrown bargain-basement integrateds can you name?
Each episode of Hi-Fi Riff features Mike and David's unedited, unexpurgated views about all manner of weird and wonderful hi-fi designs.
Business executive Mike has a wealth of knowledge from previous hi-fi retail experience, and David has written about hi-fi for thirty years. Now Editor-in-Chief of StereoNET, he's picked up a few things along the way.
So relax and enjoy some one-take hi-fi riffing - and please leave your comments below. And don’t forget to hit the Subscribe button, this one goes up to eleven!
The eighties-tastic title tune is called ‘UFO/Mike’s Jumper’, and used with the express permission of our old pal and rights holder Simon Lythe.
Follow us on Instagram - / hifiriff - เพลง
![[ไฮไลต์] แบดมินตันชาย SHI Yu Qi (จีน) vs วิว กุลวุฒิ (ไทย) รอบ 8 คน | โอลิมปิก 2024](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/f7z7taforOM/mqdefault.jpg)
Very appealing. I have always really been drawn to this sort of no frills design- which I think is impressive.
I love your channel, by the way. I expect to see you " live" , in pastures, on roof tops , in the shade of a cathedral. Wherever that might be, it is always interesting to me and I'm grateful for your channel!
@@timothyfreeseha4056 Thanks Tim, you're most kind. This was our first ever 'outside broadcast', 33 miles west of Mike's house, and in another county! We were expecting video and sound woes, but it all went to plan. Maybe the cider helped!
Thank you. It is really good that you are highlighting smaller brands like this. I recently purchased an MM phono stage and I hadn’t factored in Edwards as there wasn’t much information out there. This looks like a great alternative to the standard Marantz or NAD for entry level integrateds. All good but I feel you’d get better sound from this as the trade off of the additional functionality you get from the big brands (I’m pretty much repeating what you said in your review 😂).
I had a NAD C320BEE for 20 years. A cracking budget amp. As much as I love my Brio, I miss the NAD.
WoW lads I thought you'd completely blown your budget on a new leather suite and new A/V room 😂😮😊 Really is fantastic that made in the UK Hi-Fi is alive and well in 2023 😀👍👍 I know you have mentioned it but it's always substance over style that matters most in anything including Hi-Fi especially at the budget end , also I think it's fantastic that the amp has upgraded options both for the owner and the manufacturer who will benefit from upgrading the amp well done lads shinning a light on small independent UK 🇬🇧 Hi-Fi company's 😀👍👍
Our budget just about covers a beer in the HI-Fi pub at the end of the filming session :-) Mike
Another great Riff, thank you. Ive seen a lot of the Edwards products on internet, but had no idea about the history of the name, so thanks for another interesting piece of education for me.
I note you have relocated to Mr Price's abode for some Riffs... Has Mike's shed finally been filled with so many Exposure amps that you have no room left to film?
Sad but true! Mike
Lovely to see english manufacture
Isn't it just? Good for Kevin Edwards, I say.
An amp of this power, little NVA's, Nait 1 included, will drive LS3/5a's when used as intended for near field listening. I use a 9 wpc 300B SE valve amp, no issues.
Another cracking review. I didn't know they were based in Bassett, another great Wiltshire hifi business!
From turnips to tech, in just 100 years. Go Wiltshire!
I like the look of it.
I have one. It sound remarkably good
It certainly does... Kevin Edwards has always had sound pair of ears!
Mike
Wow the background is so bright and cheery! And are you using a new camera?
Love it! Thanks for all your time doing these for our amusement. I absolutely love the channel.
Thanks Jordan. It's the same camera, but in a different room with better light. We're using a new Audio-Technica microphone, too. Onwards and upwards!
The red version is stunning
This was worth a watch just to hear Gorgeous George Galloway quoted in a hifi review, but the dial has moved on budget kit thanks to Class D and China. I have just acquired a Fosi audio BT20A Pro for about £85 with vouchers. I usually use an Allnic Audio 300b amp or a Kinki Studio EX1 Class AB with Staccato op amps, feeding Zingali Overture 4 speakers. Now I'm not suggesting that the Fosi approaches those other amps in finesse or quality but, you know, it is absolutely listenable and enjoyable. Add a Wiim Pro streamer at £150 and a modest pair of speakers, and you have a heck of British national frustration about just outside the country's capital a starter system.
Having said that, it is great to have a bespoke British product at this price.
Thanks for your comments, Jim. I think we risk comparing tea with coffee, here. The type of buyer who gets this will typically purchase it from a dealer after having auditioned it, possibly as part of a starter system - either coming back to separates hi-fi or upgrading from a Sonos. They will want to try before they buy, want a full UK warranty and maybe other dealer facilities.
The 'Chi-Fi' you mention comes with none of this, but is obviously cheaper. Try returning a faulty product to Shenzhen and/or trying to get a niggling problem like hum resolved through direct sales from 6,000 miles away! So with respect, you're simply not comparing like with like - as far as the average hi-fi buyer is concerned, at least.
@David Julian Price Hi David. I agree entirely with most of your points, but I don't think you can ignore the disruptive revolution represented by chifi, and some of the concerns about support are less of an issue now a lot of the companies are selling via Amazon. There is no doubt, however, that chifi, particularly in terms of desktop products, dacs, headphone amps and streamers have revolutionised budget hifi and lowered the price of entry to this hobby for many people. There is still a sniffiness about chifi in audiophilia, which ignores this. Yes, there is a lot of junk, but there are also a great many gems. Where else, for example, can you get a class A 300b amp, which actually sounds great for about £700 ? In my case, having heard how good that sounded in my system, it led me to buy a £6000 amp and enter the world of higher end 300b tube amps. It has never been a better time to be into hifi, and we should embrace it. There is room for cheap and cheerful chifi, bespoke British products and the high end all at once.
Out of the shed, into the living room!!!
Luxury!
It's a glorious log cabin I'll have you know!
@@mikeyevs It sure is. It's even got a bar and a fridge!
One of the reasons people may not have heard of Microdisney is up until around the untimely death of Cathal Coghlan their LPs weren't on streaming services for some reason. That Peel Sessions still isn't...I'm off to Discogs before everyone else.
David introduced me to them with a song on a mix tape he made for me in 1984, the song was called Patrick Moore says you can't sleep here".
Still one of my very fav tracks.
I saw them once live at Tufnell Park Tavern in London in 1986!
Mike
The Peel Sessions is a great CD. It's a collection of several sessions that the band did for John Peel (obviously) but in my mind the special thing is that they had good, unmessed-around-with recording and production quality courtesy of BBC Maida Vale studios.
One of the sad things about the band was that their audio quality was variable. The first singles were poor, the first album good but not great, and the following ones sounded overblown in terms of production - like they were chasing a wider audience that really wasn't there, for them.
The Peel Sessions is just a good honest production, and has many of their excellent songs, from 1983 to 1985. I taped each session live off air from the John Peel show at the time, but it was done via a £30 Akai tuner I bought at Richer Sounds - so my original tapes aren't great sounding!
Not too sure if I've missed it but when you review components such as this I think it would be really useful if you can put a link to the company's website 😀 👍
Good idea! :-) Mike
Gents, is it true that the old Cable Talk Talk 3 cables were the same as the Exposure speaker cables? I still remember the statement "Warranty void if Exposure speaker cable not used" splattered on rhe back of my Exposure amp. The thing is the local Exposure dealers never sold the Exposure speaker cables.
I do suspect this is the case, although I don't imagine Kevin Edwards would agree. I have miles of Exposure cable and it bears a remarkable resemblance! Mike
Don't forget Rega io😃
Had a look in Edwards webpage, quite a few amps and a pre/power. Great for a startup system. I like the new room, does this mean the end of the shed, has the lawnmower taken up residence?
Mike, he's being rude about your hi-fi hut!
@@MrVinylista 😂😂
@@MrVinylista I know... my log cabin is palatial and certainly would never house a lawnmower (although some of the Hi-Fi products in there are a little agricultural).
@@mikeyevs You've got more hi-fi in there than Lasky's, Tottenham Court Road, circa 1979!
I have this amp. Really nice performer with my pro-ject turntable. The remote control is absolutely useless however.
Often the way sadly. 😢
Hmm. Just as I was about to complete the purchase of a Rega Io i learn about this. Any thoughts on the differences/or a preference? Thanks.
I imagine that they sound pretty similar
Couple of things what is the op amps and are they socketed? Is there much room in the case for discreet buffer valve opamp section what is the transformers VA? is it a standard or can you ask for a higher output? Is there a 40 watts version per channel?
Is it easy for me to contact him by phone?