Plugged my RPi audio out directly to a Lepai 2020A+ wired into ceiling speakers of unknown quality, impedance, sensitivity, and age. worked as well as any other audio source I had plugged into that amp/speaker combo.
I experienced no issues with popping or buzzing during or between songs. the volumio output appeared to automatically include a volume ramp up time at the start of output to address that potential concern. speakers and amp performed at least as well as can be expected.
Volume control was a little non-linear in Volumio - but that is quite possibly a fault on the Amp power supply ( I have not checked to see if the power supply provided from Lepai was even sufficient for the maximum rated power output of the amp which can be a concern with Lepai from what I am reading )
I may wind up going over to a I2S DAC at some point, but I just wanted to get an operational system and thought I would commend on the ease of setup and decent performance from the Amp I had sitting there.
Yep the volume control of volumio is just not right. I’m trying to fix it.
As for the Lepai I got one for me recently, (want to use it to power 2 monacor sound exciters) . And it sounds good for what it costs.
Anyway, since I’m affected by a rare and incurable audiophilia histerica syndrome. I’ll be soon opening it up and modding, know these kind of amps very good and changing few components makes a big difference (but by bye bang\buck ratio…)
What I’ve read, the big power cap is the biggest bang for the buck change you can make, as well as making sure that you have a reasonable power supply for it. If I were truly a tinkerer I’d ditch the entire preamp section. It sounds fine to my ears, but I’ve read that the preamp is weak and I believe. I definitely prefer to enable the bass and treble controls and tweak them a bit, which I don’t think I’d have to do it the preamp were awesome.
Still, what do you want for a $20 amp? It sound pretty nice as long as you keep it in perspective.