CE Pro October 2023 - 56

CE Products
FIELD TEST | EDITOR'S PICK | NEW PRODUCTS
Affordable New Solutions from OSD Audio,
Spears & Munsil, Poly
Mini-Field Tests of OSD Audio's DACXA100
Integrated Amp, plus Poly's WFH
Voyager Free 60+ friendly earbuds, and
latest Spears & Munsil calibration disc
package. By Robert Archer
THANKFULLY, the talk of
chip shortages, back-ordered
products and
supply-chain issues are
fading, and the electronics
industry is back in business
of providing fun and functionality
to peoples' lives.
Now with the channel back
in full swing it is once again
impossible to keep up with
the barrage of new products
hitting the custom integration
market.
Looking at a few of the
more affordable solutions
to be introduced over the
past couple months, it
made sense to combine
these into mini-Field Tests
for the range of products.
OSD Audio has introduced
a wallet-friendly integrated
amplifier that includes a
built-in DAC. Poly, a name
that people are familiar with
due to the brand's popularity
in the conferencing
category, has introduced a
set of conferencing earbuds.
And the latest Spears &
Munsil video calibration disc
package is now available.
56 | CE Pro October 2023
Here are some observations
about this trio of
products and some of the
ways integrators can use
these solutions to support
their clients' AV wishes.
OSD Audio
DAC-XA100 Turns
Up the Value
Carrying a street price of
about $200, the DACXA100
delivers an unbelievable
amount of value for
users wanting an integrated
amp that serves several
purposes. I can see integrators
using the integrated
amp in situations that
include driving soundbars
or pairs of speakers in AV
systems, as a solution in a
secondary room such as a
kid's room or home office,
or possibly a complement
to a dorm room and computer-based
setup.
OSD specifies the DACXA100's
Class A/B amplifier
to generate 50 watts into
an 8-ohm load or 60 watts
into a 4-ohm load. The
amp also utilizes priority
OSD Audio's new DAC-XA100 handled itself well driving
entry-level and higher-performance loudspeakers.
input switching that is said
to allow the amp to easily
select the proper source
when a source component
is powered up.
Supporting high-resolution
audio, the DACXA100
also has a built-in
24-bit/192kHz USB type
A input, and rear mounted
bass and treble controls.
In addition, the amp can
be setup to run in a bridge
mode, and it offers A/B
speaker switching options.
I set up the DAC-XA100
with a similarly highly affordable
set of OSD Audio
MB-5 bookshelf speakers
and later a pair of RBH 641SE
floorstanding speakers.
For sources, I ran an analog
RCA-to-3.5mm cable with
an Apple Lightning Adapter
to connect my iPhone 13
Pro and a USB cable to a
MacBook Air. Both sources
allowed me to easily access
my Apple Music account.
Listening to the amp with
the $99 per pair MB5 speakers
was a fine experience. Admittedly
this extremely inexpensive
combination of speakers
and amp had its limitations,
but as a desktop system or if
used to upgrade the sound of
a basic AV system the combination
serves its role perfectly
well by delivering a wide
soundstage and a surprising
amount of low end.
Stepping up to the
discontinued RBH 641-SEs,
this small floorstanding
speaker offers a wider
frequency response than
the MB5s, but they are
5dB less sensitive than the
affordable 90dB-sensitive
OSD speakers. Both sets of
speakers do require amps
capable of driving 4-ohm
loads and I found the DACXA100
more than capable
of driving both speaker pairs
loudly without any issue.
Switching from the analog
input to the USB input
in tandem with the RBH
speakers, I did find the amp
sprang to life. The veil that
I could hear had lifted and
the RBH speakers had more
cepro.com
http://www.cepro.com
CE Pro October 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of CE Pro October 2023
