Fosi Audio BT30D PRO Bluetooth Stereo Amplifier – 330 Watts Of Power
Fosi Audio BT30D PRO is a $109 USD Stereo HIFI Amplifier with a 2 Channel output + a subwoofer output, it runs in class D, has volume control and a dedicated Bluetooth receiver that can receive up to SBC signals. It will be compared to other entry-level HIFI Stereo Amplifiers, including Arylic A50+ (200 USD), AIYIMA D03 Stereo HIFI Amplifier (160 USD), and Soundavo NSA-250 HIFI Stereo Amplifier / Streamer (200 USD).
Introduction
Fosi Audio is a new-ish company that mainly designs and creates entry-level products with extreme performance for their price ratio, and which can typically be found on Amazon. They made a name for themselves with extremely high performance products, for really low prices, but the Fosi Audio BT30D PRO is an entry-level product even for them, so it will be interesting to see how it stacks against pricier options. As always, it is a good idea to make your purchase from a website / place that has good warranty and support, Amazon being one of the best I know of and which I can recommend.
It should be noted that I have absolutely no affiliation with Fosi Audio. I’d like to thank Fodi Audio for providing the sample for this review. This review reflects my personal experience with the Fosi Audio BT30D PRO Stereo HIFI Amplifier. Every opinion expressed is mine and I stand by it. The purpose of this review is to help those interested in Fosi Audio BT30D PRO Bluetooth Stereo Amplifier find their next music companion.
Product Link
You can grab one from www.amazon.com here: https://amzn.to/3XFaEgX
If you’re in the UK, you can grab one from www.amazon.co.uk here: https://amzn.to/3kuxGc9
And if you’re from Europe, you can grab one from www.amazon.de here: https://amzn.to/3wluHVP
You can also check out the official website, and enter the code BT30DPRO15YTB for 15$ Off (I get nothing): https://fosiaudioshop.com/collections/2-1-channel-amplifier/products/fosi-audio-bt30d-pro-bluetooth-5-0-2-1-channel-540w-power-amplifier
Build Quality/Aesthetics
The device itself is very solid, and Fosi Audio surely knows how to deliver a nice looking machine. To dive right in, we have a complex front part with multiple analogic wheels, including a sub frequency wheel, which is used to adjust the crossover cutoff if you’re using a passive subwoofer with the BT30D PRO, and it can be set at minimum if you’re only powering active speakers. There’s a Sub Vol, which affects the passive subwoofer, if you have one connected.
There’s a Treble and a Bass slider, both of which will affect the stereo speakers, and it is extremely good sounding, to the point where I’d consider BT30D above all the other devices I tested with an EQ slider, and you can safely pump the bass and the treble to the max without introducing noise or distortions. Absolutely badass implementation of a function that everyone wants to have.
The maximum driving power is quoted to be at 165W x 2 for speakers, and 350W for the passive subwoofer. I imagine that those are at a 2 OHM load, or something like that, but still, with my KLH model Five, it gets to party-level of volume, up to 90-100dB within 10 o’clock, and I don’t know if I could use it any louder.
Using it via SBC Bluetooth sounds really good, and in fact, almost as good as the wired connection, since the wired connection is not USB, and it is an RCA connection. The Bluetooth receiver only has support for SBC, but it actually does sound good, so I see no problems with that. The unit gets moderately warm during usage.
The speaker outputs used are normal, classic speaker outputs, with no weird connectors this time around, compared to what Aryllic uses with their A50+ series. I tried to steer away from comparing Fosi Audio BT30D PRO with the likes of SMSL AO200 or Burson Funk, as the discrepancy in price is rather large, but it is similar to those, especially when it comes to the max driving power it has.
All in all, I’m really pleased with the usability of the Fosi BT30D PRO. If there’s any downside to it that I have to mention, the power converter has a physical noise to it, so it buzzes similar to how waterfalls sound like, but it is only audible if you keep your ear really close to it. Different from other Fosi Audio devices, there’s no lock in the middle for the treble and the bass slider, so your OCD might get triggered by never knowing if you’re dead on in the middle with those EQ adjustment sliders, but for how good it sounds I see very little reason to care.
Fosi Audio BT30D PRO does not have a remote, and since you have to adjust everything manually, I recommend keeping it on a desk, or somewhere you can easily reach, but happily you can simply set it at maximum and use the smartphone’s inner volume, or the DAC volume (if your DAC has variable volume), to adjust the volume. Even at maximum, there is no background noise or hissing that I could detect, and except for the sound becoming a bit overdriven, it still sounds nice.
Sound Quality
For today’s review I’ve been using a collection of speakers, including KLH model Five, Buchardt S400, NHT C3. The source list includes my Xiami Black Shark 4 Smartphone, Motorola Edge 30 Ultra, both via Bluetooth, and JDS El DAC II+ Balanced, Khadas Tone 2 PRO, SMSL DO200, and HIFIMAN EF400 for DACs. I noticed now that I kept mentioning in some other reviews that EF400 has some noise, but BT30D PRO doesn’t seem to have the issue, so it may have been the input of the other devices that was noisy instead. All in all, the Bluetooth input and the analog input sound about the same, which means that you will have about the same experience regardless of the input you’re using.
Please keep in mind that you can heavily change the bass and treble levels using the EQ wheels. The bass stays as clear and clean at maximum as it is at minimum, and I’m surprised to report that Fosi Audio BT30D PRO sounds really nice with the EQ and it has one of the most effective implementations I’ve heard to date. The bass can add around 12-15dB of bass from neutral to max. The same happens for the treble. The bass adds mostly mid bass, regardless of the subwoofer usage and crossover frequency, but that may be a limitation of all the speakers I am using as none of them can’t effectively reproduce sub bass as well as a dedicated subwoofer.
The bass of the Fosi Audio BT30D PRO is clean, detailed, powerful and impactful. At times, I feel like it sounds clearer than my Cyrus One cast in the impact and the bass, and it has a really good power, having excellent control even over the large KLH Model Five, which makes me really happy with its sound. In fact, this is the first time I’ve seen the bass drivers of the KLH Model Five move, and man do they rattle the walls of my room, especially at louder volumes. Fosi Audio has a low pricing for the BT30D PRO which may make it seem meek or shy, but it is really powerful and punchy.
The midrange is less interesting, as it has some coloration, and a slight amount of distortion, especially at louder volumes, but for the most part it is rather clean and detailed. The soundstage is large, with a good instrument separation, excellent detail and clarity. The midrange tonality has some nasal sounds in it, with the midrange tonality not being always perfectly spot on, but for the price you’re paying, you’re getting better control and max loudness than what most dedicated hifi amplifiers do up to about 500 USD.
The treble is clean, sparkly and detailed, mostly neutral. There is a bit of a metallic tinge in the treble, but I love the overall air and extension, with Fopsi Audio not going for cheap tricks like having an overly smooth treble or a blunted one to hide the resolution lack of the BT30D PRO. It has a certain level of refinement and detail that I simply wasn’t expecting from the meek Fosi Audio BT30D PRO, and the best way I can describe it is that it reminds me a lot of the Adam Audio speakers in general, the ones that have a Class D AMP inside, and my best guess is that they are using the same amplifier part. Although I keep mentioning that it has a super high power delivery, Fosi Audio BT30D PRO has the potential to sound overdrive and distort at super high volumes (above 115 dB), so it is made for a typical party and won’t turn your speakers into PA or public address.
Comparisons
Fosi Audio BT30D PRO vs Soundavo NSA-250 Streaming Amplifier (109 USD vs 200 USD) – Starting with the build and the features, Soundavo NSA-250 is a powerful streaming amplifier, with multiple features, including Ethernet, Optical, Bluetooth and Wifi, making it a much stronger multimedia center. It even has AUX input, and an Active Subwoofer output, so it works with most commercial subwoofers, while BT30D PRO works only with passive subwoofers which are rather rare. In terms of actual sound, the two are comparable, and I found Soundavo to sound similar to BT30D PRO, although NSA-250 has some background hissing, and it has more bass at default than BT30D PRO, yet the EQ options work better in BT30D PRO and are more effective. The overall detail and resolution is slightly better on BT30D PRO, with better refinement, but Soudnavo NSA-250 sounds less overdriven at loud volumes, and generally sounds better at loud volumes, while BT30D PRO shines at low and medium volumes, becoming more distorted and less controlled at loud volumes.
Fosi Audio BT30D PRO vs AIYIMA D03 (109 USD vs 160 USD) – We also have an interesting comparison between the D03 and the BT30D PRO. The thing that stands out the most here is that both have a high driving power at maximum and can easily handle all my speakers, but the sound of BT30D PRO is more clear, cleaner and more detailed, plus the EQ wheels made me return to search for the windows system-wide Equalizer APO for other amplifiers too, it simply works that well. D03 has more inputs, including USB and coaxial, and also supports Bluetooth with aptX LL and aptX HD. Basically, AIYIMA D03 is more of a complex integrated DAC / AMP, while BT30D PRO is just a power amplifier with SBC Bluetooth and will require a separate DAC like SMSL DO100.
Fosi Audio BT30D PRO vs Arylic A50+ (109 USD vs 200 USD) – Arylic A50+ has considerably more functions, better streaming support and it is generally the better streamer, but when it comes to using both as HIFI Stereo Amplifiers, Fosi BT30D PRO has much better driving power, more impact, better control, a better implemented EQ function, lower noise floor, lower background hissing, and it is generally super pleasing to use. I enjoy the overall sound of the BT30D more since I can simply turn the bass all the way up without having to worry about distortion, while with Arylic A50+, I always have to think about whether I want to test my luck or not. Also, with A50+ you can easily run out of headroom, while BT30D PRO has such a high headroom that you’re more likely to blow up your speakers than you’re to reach the power limits of the amplifier.
Value and Conclusion
Considering the price point of Fosi Audio BT30D PRO I would say that it has probably the highest price / performance ratio from all the stereo amplifiers I reviewed to date, especially thanks to its super effective treble / bass EQ analogic wheels. It may not be absolutely perfect, but it gets too darn close to perfection, and at this price point, you can’t really get anything better, even if you dig into old school vintage products, anything priced at 109 USD will be inferior to the BT30D PRO. This doesn’t mean that it would replace high-end amplifiers like Burson Funk, but it surely proves that you can have an excellent music experience even without spending everything you have.
At the end of the day, if you’re looking for a simple stereo HIFI Amplifier with bluetooth receiver function, if you need a lot of power, and if you’d like to have a really nice and well implemented EQ, all with analog volume wheels, Fosi Audio BT30D PRO is one of the best options on the market at its price point of 109 USD.
Product Link
You can grab one from www.amazon.com here: https://amzn.to/3XFaEgX
If you’re in the UK, you can grab one from www.amazon.co.uk here: https://amzn.to/3kuxGc9
And if you’re from Europe, you can grab one from www.amazon.de here: https://amzn.to/3wluHVP
You can also check out the official website, and enter the code BT30DPRO15YTB for 15$ Off (I get nothing): https://fosiaudioshop.com/collections/2-1-channel-amplifier/products/fosi-audio-bt30d-pro-bluetooth-5-0-2-1-channel-540w-power-amplifier
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Full Playlist used for this review
We listened to more songs than those named in this playlist, but those are excellent for identifying a sonic signature. I recommend trying most of the songs from this playlist, especially if you’re searching for new music! The playlists are different for Spotify, Tidal and Youtube, and based on the songs I enjoy and are available on each!
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_cjBXGmwSHSdGcwuc_bKbBDGHL4QvYBu
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5J3oloz8Riy9LxEGenOjQ0?si=979ba4f082414be7
https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/330fd544-8e5b-4839-bd35-676b2edbb3d5
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It’s not elegant but when my active sub’s amplifier died I can use this to power it.
Nice review, thanks. We use a BT30D pro for dance parties with Sony sscs-5 and a passive sub. I am surprised that you give it a ding for not having an “Active” sub out though. The unit has a preamp output which works perfectly fine for active subs. There are few devices out there in this range that have a preamp out (vs simple line-in sharing) and this is far better. The active sub volume will follow the mains volume as it should. So this offers the best of both options, not just passive.
And, of course passive sub output requires requires a second amplifier chip. The power is sufficient for the more efficient drivers. Sounds great. I doubt that active subs in the range of our passive will have an internal amp that meets this quality but with this amp you can either or both.
Super nice to hear you’re having such fun!! I have never found a passive sub but it is good to hear you’re working with one and it sounds good!
[…] be compared to other speaker amplifiers from the price range, including AIYIMA A07 PRO (89 USD), Fosi Audio BT30D PRO (109 USD), and Arylic A50+ (200 […]