SONIC IMPACT 5065 PORTABLE CLASS-T DIGITAL AUDIO AMPLIFIER

by Sonic Impact

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 7 x 6.2 x 5 inches ; 1.6 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• ASIN: B0014KRVQQ
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #36,896 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: August 14, 2008

Product Description

10-19-2007 - Brand New Item. Description - SONIC IMPACT 5065 PORTABLE CLASS-T DIGITAL AUDIO AMPLIFIER

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Still in a class of its own..., May 2, 2008

By 

Eduardo Nietzsche (Houston) - See all my reviews

This successor to the original T-Amp now costs about twice as much, but comes with an AC adapter and adapter cables which easily makes up for it, especially if you consider that this updated version has a much nicer-looking case and volume knob. My only gripe is that you are still stuck with those annoying spring-clip speaker connections instead of having real binding posts, but oh well, it's still an excellent value and at this pricepoint has no peers.

I bought one of these for my nephew, along with a cheap pair of bookshelf speakers (Polk Monitor 30s for about a hundred bucks), and hooked it up to his computer since like most kids nowadays he mainly listens to MP3s (sigh!). It's still heads and shoulders far better sounding a combination than any 2.0 or 2.1 computer speakers, and has plenty of power for his small bedroom.

A little word about power ratings. Sonic Impact lists this baby thusly: *Power output: 2 x 9 watts (4 ohms @ 0.04% THD + N), 2 x 15 watts (4 ohms @ 10% THD + N), 2 x 10 watts (8 ohms @ 10% THD+N).

First, ignore the 4 ohms specs since only car speakers are 4 ohms, the vast majority of home speakers are 8 ohms. Second, notice the THD (Total Harmonic Distortion) numbers. You do NOT want to listen to music at 10% THD, that's going to sound very distorted, like a boombox cranked up too high. So seeing as how with a 4 ohm load this amp does 15 wpc at 10% THD and drops down to 9 wpc at 0.04% THD, we can safely assume that using the same proportion we will get 6 clean watts per channel for an 8 ohm load at 0.04% THD.

Now, perhaps 6 watts per channel sounds ridiculously paltry in light of how most traditional mass-market receivers and amps claim to run at around 100 watts per channel. You'd assume that this means this T-Amp therefore must be a pathetic weakling barely capable of putting out higher volumes than a whisper, right? WRONG.

Firstly, remember that all watts-per-channel specs especially those by mass-market makes like Sony, Onkyo, Pioneer, Yamaha, etc. tend to be grossly exaggerated purely for marketing reasons. An alleged "100 wpc" Sony receiver may in reality only put out about 35wpc! Marantz and Harman Kardon are the only large manufacturers that have honest power specs, along with smaller audiophile brands like NAD, Rotel, etc.

Secondly, in terms of actual volume, watts per channel have a LOGARITHMIC not PROPORTIONAL relation---meaning that a true "100 wpc" amp is NOT twice as loud as a "50 wpc" amp! The actual difference in volume is just 3 decibels, in fact! Which means that a true "100 wpc" amp will only give you say 6-8 decibels more volume than this humble little T-Amp!

Now where the 100 wpc amp has the advantage is that it will be able to power larger speakers with lower sensitivity and lower impedance much better: louder and cleaner. However with the typical inexpensive 8 ohm, 88-91 db sensitivity speaker, that 100wpc amp will not be dramatically more powerful than this little 6 wpc T-Amp, unless you are the type who truly blasts music to wall-shaking volumes, say at 85-100db. The T-Amp will be plenty adequate for normal, comfortable but room-filling volumes of 70-80db which is where most people listen most of the time anyway.

Now if you ARE one of those music-blasters, you can still be very happy with the T-Amp if you pair it with some high-sensitivity speakers, such as Klipsch speakers that have 95 or higher sensitivity.

The reason this T-Amp is such a spectacular value is because at typical 70-80db listening levels, it offers a sound quality that used to be available only from big, heavy traditional amplifiers that cost around $1000 and up: wide soundstage, crystalline clarity and detail without harshness or brightness, shockingly quick tight bass, and best of all, a nice full midrange. Do a Google search for "Sonic Impact T-Amp" and read all the rave reviews from audiophile websites like 6moons.

I personally own the Trends Audio T-Amp which costs about a hundred fifty but has nicer features like real binding posts and (in my opinion) a more refined sound, and there other more expensive T-Amps which use the same technology but offer a little more power or better build quality and features. But as a great basic starter amp at sixty bucks, this Sonic Impact still has no rival.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Good Mini Portable Amp, December 29, 2007

By 

William Bagley (Ashland, Oregon) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

The Sonic Impact Amp seems to be the only mini amp that is below $100. It fills an important but small niche. It allows a person to choose good quality small speakers that are not the usual computer speakers. I like that it can be powered by batteries, but have yet to test how well they do. I hooked up two Sony mini speakers to the amp and found that they sounded better than the larger stereo amp that they were wired into before. The detail was excellent. I could hear one of the singers rustle the page she was reading. While the speakers had something to do with this quality level, this level of detail was not brought out by the previous amp. While doubt that this little amp could power a room filling subwoofer, I found it powerful enough to drive small speakers and bring out their sound quality. I am happy with my purchase.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Only product in it's class, if you need it, this is it., April 29, 2008

By 

Todd_623 (Detroit, MI) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

Shares the same strong battery life, quality, and amazing output capabilities of it's predecessor. Packaged in a more compact and uniform enclosure.

If you are not familiar with the Sonic T amps, these little buggers will put out an honest 10-15 watts into 4 ohms (less on battery, more on AC) with crystal clear sound quality, and amazing (really) 12+ hour battery life running off 8 AA batteries. For spec junkies 10-15 watts of real, clean output is more than enough for just about any audio task short of thumping bass. Consider most car stereos have less or similar output levels.

I use these amps to power small portable speaker boxes with 2 6.5" car speakers in them. It makes for portable solution that plays loud enough for a large outside gathering, with good enough sound quality for all day listening, and the amazing battery life to boot. People are always amazed it is possible.

Alternate uses include pairing up with a decent set of bookshelf speakers to make a PC speaker system that will put all others to shame, or having basically a portable amp for ipods, laptops, or speaker testing.

Unfortunately (or fortunately for some) it also comes packed with adapter cables and an AC adapter now. The AC adapter, especially, is a costly item to purchase on it's own and it makes sense why it was bundled. But many people have or don't need these pack-ins and I would have preferred to have the option of a lower purchase price without them. I suspect the problem is that if you price out a 1 amp AC adapter and RCA splitters, you can end up with a $25 tab pretty easily. So Sonic has done most people a service / savings by packing them in and raising the base price.

It's an expensive product that remains in a class by itself. If you need it, you pretty much have to buy it.