2nd thoughts

Reviewer: Srajan Ebaen
Financial interests: click here
Main system: Sources: Retina 5K 27" iMac (i5, 256GB SSD, 40GB RAM, Tahoe 26), 4TB external SSD with Thunderbolt 3, Audirvana Studio, Qobuz Sublime, Gustard U26 USB bridge, LHY Audio SW-8 & SW-6 switch, Sonnet Pasithea; Preamp: Hattor Audio ARP-S; Active filter: spl Audio Crossover MkII; Power amplifiers: Vinshine/Kinki Dazzle & Audiophonics NCx500 on subwoofer; Loudspeakers: Qualio IQ [on loan]; Subwoofer: sound|kaos D15; Cables: Exact Express Flame, Furutech; Power delivery: 2 x Kinki/Vinshine Tai Hang on amps and source stack, Furutech DPS-4.1 between wall and conditioners; Equipment rack: Artesanía Audio Exoteryc double-wide 3-tier with optional glass shelves, Exoteryc amp stands; Sundry accessories: Acoustic System resonators, AudioQuest FogLifters; Room: 6 x 8m with open door behind listening seat; Room treatment: 2 x PSI Audio AVAA C214 active bass traps
1st upstairs speaker system: Source: Shanling EM7 into Soundaware D300Ref SD transport to Cen.Grand DSDAC 1.0 Deluxe with POW; Preamp/filter: Lifesaver Audio iCon 4SE & Gradient Box 2; Amplifier: Kinki Studio EX-B7 monos; Loudspeakers: sound|kaos Vox3awf; Subwoofer: sound|kaos D12 on twin Nord Acoustic NC500 monos; Cable loom: Exact Express Earth; Power delivery: Vibex Granada/Alhambra, Akiko Audio Corelli Corundum & Castello Solo; Equipment rack: Hifistay Mythology Transform X-Frame [on extended loan]; Sundry accessories: Furutech cable lifts, Furutech NFC Clear Lines; Room: ~3.5 x 8m
1st upstairs headfi system: DAC: Cen.Grand DSDAC 1.0 Deluxe with POW; Headamp: Cen.Grand Silver Fox; Headphones: Raal 1995 Magna, HifiMan Susvara
Desktop system: Source: HP Z2 workstation Win11/64; USB isolator: LHY UIP; LAN distributors: LHY AS6 Pro & SW6-SFP; Ethernet reclocker: Stack SmoothLAN; DACs: Gustard R26II & Audalytic DR70; Preamp: Topping A900; Speaker amps: Topping B200 monos; Headphone amp: Enleum AMP-23R; Loudspeakers: Virtual Hifi Viper; Headphones: Final D-8000, aune SR7000, FiiO FT7, HifiMan Susvara Unveiled
2nd upstairs headfi system: Shanling EM5; Headphones: Meze 109 Pro, Fiio FT3, HifiMan HE1000 Unveiled
2nd upstairs speaker system: Source: smsl PL200T CD transport; DAC: Shanling EM7 w. 1TB microSD; Crossover: Lifesaver Audio Gradient Box II;  Amplifiers: LAIV Crescendo Chorus monos; Loudspeakers: MonAcoustic SuperMon Mini with Dynaudio S18 subwoofer
2-channel video system: Source: Oppo BDP-105; All-in-One: Gold Note IS-1000 Deluxe; Loudspeakers: ModalAkustik MusikBoxx; Subwoofer: 2 x Zu Mission; Power delivery: Furutech eTP-8, Room: ~6x4m
Review component retail: $259 

Usually they counter initial impressions. Having second thoughts implies doubt, ambivalence, hesitation—or worse. On a wedding day, a change of heart isn't something we want to hear of. No altar jilting today. My second thoughts about the Aiyima B07 Pro reviewed a week ago simply came second; after the review had posted. I came across YouTube comments by a popular designer of speaker kits and mods; on Aiyima's companion A-70 monos. They run off this very same Texas Instruments TPA3255 class D chip. They make the same ~200W/4Ω power. This chap is notoriously hard to please. He typically finds a scathing lot wrong with production speakers from famous brands which their owners send him to check up on and improve. Yet in this video our man, quite lost for different words, keeps reiterating just how impressed he was by the puny Aiyima amps. He found them so neutral and ultra-low distortion as to essentially pass on whatever fronts them. Feed them with a fab DAC or preamp and presto—that's precisely what you'll hear. Just what in the heck the real world will precede $149/ea. micro monos with should be a very different matter of course. This triggered my 2nd thoughts; my afterthoughts.

Because it's also what my review did—precede this minuscule $259 Aiyima integrated which Amazon sells with an $849 Shanling microSD server, a $2'800 LAiV DAC and a ~€700 combo of discrete preamp and outboard linear power supply. It's neither what Aiyima's target shoppers would do; nor reviewers who specialize in this sector; nor reviewers who till fields at far higher elevations. As such any praise for the B07 Pro, about its disproportionate performance, really ought to fall on deaf ears. It's naught but a nerdy factoid; a footnote in a musty hifi Almanac with practically no real relevance. Nail. Coffin. Sledge hammer. The original 47lab Model 4706 Gaincard as a class A/B chip-amp precursor of Aiyima's class D chip amp eluded this cemetery status by charging $1'500 upon introduction; $2'750 when bundled with the 4700 Power Humpty PSU; and still more when fitted with dual-mono power supplies. It's once photos of its minimalist innards spilled that DIYers rolled up their eyes then their own Gainclones—for the proverbial pennies on the pound. Clones Audio in Hong Kong went commercial and pitched their own 25i at a super-reasonable €629 for a tank-like build. Today's Moonriver Audio still offer a variation on the venerable chip amp in a full-function integrated amplifier. But it's fair to say that the commercial Gainclone phenom lost traction once word was out en masse about how few parts for how little scratch were required to make this sound. Posh buyers couldn't be bothered to challenge their own assumptions; solder jocks wired up their own; and those in the middle soon hoofed it onto greener pastures distracted by glossy ads for discrete circuits. Real men don't drive opamps. The same should be true for the B07 Pro with its 48V/5A even optional 48V/10A laptop-brick power supply. Nobody 'serious' will take it serious. Those for whom it is a hefty purchase won't possess the right ancillaries to fully hear what they bought. The psychology of it; the positional disconnect between what we think is needed and what's perfectly sufficient; it all conspires against. Writing about the B07 Pro once more past its formal review is my feeble attempt of removing those long nails in this coffin. You still must visit your own cemetery of disbelief, seek out the grave of conflicting evidence then dare pop the lid. But at least now you've got one more reminder about where it is. Hello Amazon.

Go ahead. Become a grave robber. It's deliciously subversive. So is being able to return it to Amazon should you want to bury it again.