ET30 VU Meter Amplifier Speaker Selector Switch Box, 2 in 2 Out Vintage Switcher, with DB Panel Display & Remote Control, for Stereo Class A, B, AB, D, Tube Amps Home Audio Component

Product is great, highly recommend! Amir at audio science review couldn't find fault with it in his testing so I bought one to try out.Using this I have been able to test for sonic differences between many different amplifiers that range in price from $150 - $4000 that prior to testing, I would have swore sounded different to my ears. When being able to immediately switch with the push of a button, with a remote, from the comfort of my couch, I found that a $4k yamaha as2100 amp with linear power supply sounded exactly the same as a $1200 Rotel 1552 MK1 class A/B with switching power supply, which sounded exactly the same as a Hegel H190 and a Marantz model 30 (Hypex class D)! All the youtube reviewers say these amps should sound significantly different but because of this unit I now know it is because the reviewers don't have a Neohipo ET30FIRST TEST: AMPLIFIER TEST: Minidsp Flex as DAC and preamp -> 3 test amplifiersSPEAKERS:1. Original Von Schweikert VR-4's ($4k circa 1995)2. $6k Polk L800'sAMPLIFIERS:1. Hegel H190 (Class AB, switching power supply)2. Marantz model 30 (Hypex class D)3. Yamaha as2100 (5 watts class A, 90 watts class AB, linear power supply)4. Rotel 1552 MK1 (Class AB, switching power supply)RESULT: No difference! No detail or tonal difference whatsoever. Nothing that we could detect.SECOND TEST: PREAMP TEST: MiniDSP -> Marantz/Hegel/Yamaha -> Rotel 1552RESULT: No difference in preamp sections!THIRD TEST: DAC TEST: Minidsp Flex - Rotel 1552 MK1 VS Hegel H190This was the only test that yielded results. The Minidsp sounds great but the imaging was extremely narrow. Hegel added breadth to the soundstage. It sounded much larger. Also, added a sense "airiness".I have learned more about audio in a week of testing out various components with this ET30 than I have in a life time of listening. Highly recommend.UPDATE:I've done more tests.FOURTH TEST: DAC SHOOTOUT:SPEAKERS:Polk Legend L800Canton (not sure model but are a very detailed $4k model from a about 5 years ago)DAC'sDenefrips Ares II ($1k)Schiit Bifrost ($850)Topping D50 ($300?)RESULTSWe could hear no differences between these DACs on either system!!!FIFTH TEST: Hegel H190 ($4k) vs Fosi audio ZA3 amp and ZD3 DAC (total $300)SPEAKERS: Von Schweikert VR-4RESULT: I could hear no difference between these two systems!!!!CONs: The Neohipo ET30 is starting to make an audible popping noise when switching between systems and the remote is starting to become less responsive but still going strong and saving me thousands of dollars as I sell my expensive equipment and replace with affordable but equally good equipment.

I bought this not as a switch box (although it does that well) - I bought it for the meters. I love old vintage meters on audio gear, but my current mancave setup is devoid of such. This one attracted me as I do not have to hook up any cables to get the meters dancing - the built-in mic picks up the sound just fine. I find the meters generally follow the bass and drums, which is perfect.The unit feels solid - nice and heavy and made of metal. There are dials/controls for bounce strength, and you can change the colors, which is awesome. Nice remote too.

Got this to allow me to switch remotely between my solid state monoblock amp and a tube amp. The switching works well and does not degrade the sound or add any noise that I can hear. I had a manual switch that I was happy with, but the ability to switch remotely from my listening chair in order to A/B the sound from two amps made the ET30 worth getting. And I have to admit that the VU meters add an old-school vibe that I enjoy.One caveat: The manual clearly states that the maximum power input supported is 300W at 2 Ohms, or 200W at 4 ohms. There is no maximum power figure given for 8 ohms, but I would guess it's on the order of 100W. My solid state monoblock amps are rated at 700W at 4 ohms. Although the switching and output still work fine, the VU meters cannot handle the higher load. They twitch slightly, but don't reflect the input signal. At first, I though the unit might be faulty, but since the VU meters work fine with my low powered tube amp, I realized (after reading the manual, duh) that the VU meters are simply overloaded with the higher signal. My solution is to switch to MIC mode when using my monoblocks, so that the VU meters display the ambient sound picked up from the speakers. This works fine. Alternatively, since the unit passes a signal even when switched off, I can just leave the unit off when using the monoblocks. Overall, I'm happy with the purchase.

I have no complaints, other than the blue color doesn't appear very blue, due to the yellow plates behind the VU meters.Other than that, this works well, and seems solid.The unit will still allow sound to be passed through when it's turned off, and that's something important I didn't see mentioned in the description, or even in the manual, so I thought it was worth mentioning here. For reference, when the unit is plugged in but is "turned off" with no meter activity, and no lights on, sound from my "B" amp posts gets through to my "2" speaker posts. I haven't messed around with different configurations or unplugging the unit. This was important to me, because I also run my TV audio through my amp/speaker setup, and I didn't want to have to turn on one more thing just to watch TV. I can just turn this on when I want to listen to music with the bouncing meters or switch over to other speakers.The meters are very configurable on swing range and sensitivity, meaning they're not going to be accurate, but what can you expect? This also means that the meter knob settings for one amp/speaker combo probably won't work well for another setup, which could be annoying, I guess.As far as the sound quality goes, I certainly can't hear any distortion or coloring of the sound that goes through this. That makes sense, since you can find a review of this unit at AudioScienceReview dot com that proves this is a transparent unit.Honestly, I got this because I wanted physically bouncing meters in my setup. Probably not worth the money just for that, but who asked you? It's my money and I can waste it however I want. It's definitely a solid A/B switcher, though, so if you're into that kind of thing, then it's definitely worth the asking price.