TeacAI-301DA-BK Integrated Amplifier with Bluetooth USB and DAC (Black)

I have had this amp for about a month now. It seems to be a solid well built unit. Feels substantial and weighty in your hands and fit and finish are equally satisfactory. I set this up on a PC running windows 10 using the digital USB input. The setup was straight forward I followed the instructions on Teac's website for installing the USB drivers and it worked flawlessly. I have also tried the Bluetooth wireless input as well, sound quality is average and setup was very easy for this input. I haven't connected anything to the other inputs yet as I am very pleased with the performance of the digital USB input. I have it connected to a pair of Klipsch bookshelf speakers and subwoofer. The soundstage is impressive for an amp with this wattage rating. The bass is solid and tight. The mids and highs are a little forward in my opinion but not terrible by any means. I have played a variety of file types (FLAC, MP3, DSF and DFF) with no issues thus far. In fact if you install the free TEAC player you will be able to play any of these file types in any order you like without any issues. To my ear there is a definite and noticeable difference to detail and depth of some music when played back in DSD versus Hi Res FLAC. It also has a remote that is again of solid build quality and seems to work at least from the 10-12 foot range that I have tested it. It does require line of sight to work. And there are some buttons on it that are not for this particular unit. While I find this remote better than the remotes that have the membrane type buttons that aren't much bigger than a credit card. It seems to me that the buttons are small compared to the size of the remote itself but they do work perfectly. My biggest dislike thus far of this unit is that when using windows media player there can be inadvertent gaps of several seconds in the playback even when not using the computer for anything else. I suspect this is because of the way that windows media player handles the music file in memory. I have not experienced this problem when using the TEAC player even during times when multi tasking. However the TEAC player is very basic and limited to simple play, pause, stop etc. so it can't replace the windows media player or any other comparable player if you have a large server based library that you keep your music on. I have not had any of the noises on my unit that have been mentioned on other reviews at any volume level. I almost went with another brand AMP/DAC based on that information but I am happy to report it is not present in my setup. To summarize if you are looking to setup a 2.1 system with a PC, TV or game console and you already have some speakers laying around that are underutilized this amp would be a solid buy. I would also say you will find it difficult to match the performance and feature set of this amp without spending more money.ProsExcellent build QualitySolid DSD playbackSound stage Punches well above the rated outputMany input optionsSmall size ideal for desktop useConsMinor glitch at least with my PC during windows media player playbackNot inexpensive you can buy a lower end AV receiver in this price range

Awesome DAC. Owned it for half a year now, and I enjoy using it to drive my 100 W speakers quite often. It has more than enough power to really crank it up for an entire home to hear. Lot of connectivity options and the remote is mega convenient tooIt seems others have mentioned, but the driver for the USB seems to be buggy for windows. After extended listening, the sound quality may abruptly become strongly distorted and extremely static-like. This can be resolved by turning the DAC off and on. When setting it up back in July, the drivers were the latest version. I may go check again sometime soon. I have not experienced this via bluetooth, only via USBOther than that inconvenience, it is a fantastic DAC. Sound quality is A+ 99% of the time

I wanted to replace my old, large multi-component stereo system and floor-standing speakers with something more compact, without sacrificing sound quality. The TEAC AI-301 fits the bill perfectly. It is amazingly compact, and single-handedly replaced my old Onkyo Integra tube amp and pre-amp/receiver for a massive space and weight savings. Of course, my old system was powerfully loud, and I was worried that the TEAC would be too modestly powered for my needs. Luckily, it has proven to be a very muscular little amp and punches well above its weight class. I have it connected to a pair of Polk TSi100 bookshelf speakers, and it drives them with ease. I've cranked it to about 1/3 power and it rattles the windows in my living room (I also connected a powered Polk sub woofer) without breaking up or sounding dirty.The only sources I'm using are the TEAC PD-301 CD player/FM receiver, which I will review separately, and the built-in Bluetooth receiver. I've had no issues with connecting my iPod to the AI-301 with Bluetooth. I cannot comment on the software driver issues other people have mentioned, and I don't plan on ever connecting my laptop to this amp.Sound quality appears to be excellent. When analyzing soundstage, I never really know what to attribute to the amp and what to attribute to the speakers. Since the speakers are also new to me and still being broken in, I will just say that I'm in love with the sound I'm getting from this system. I've listened to many of my favorite songs in the week or so that I've had this, and they sound superb. Highs are crisp without being tinny, mids are slightly scooped but still present, and the bass is pronounced (again, using a subwoofer).I highly recommend this amp from TEAC.

The product is OK and does the trick for a home office, but there are a few annoying flaws that make me wish I'd sent this back right after I purchased it and tried something else. Issues include:1. The driver for Windows 7 seems to not work very well. It will periodically distort and become garbled. I have to go into the Windows control panel and disable/enable the driver to clear the issue every time. Tech support says it's not an issue. I've tried all their suggestions to no avail. At least one other user had the same problem (see the Q&A section in the silver faced AI-301DA product).2. The Bluetooth receiver doesn't always pick up my iPad/iPhone. Sometimes there is no automatic bluetooth connection and I need to play with the settings on my device or flip the unit from usb to bluetooth to get it to recognize the device.3. The remote isn't great. It's bigger than it ought to be, it needs to be pointed right at the unit, and you need to give the buttons a fairly decent mash to get it to work.#1 is the major irritant, the other two are mostly just bad design. Together they're irritating enough that I wish I'd looked around more.