Jade Audio Level 1

Jade Audio enters the desktop amplifier space with an interesting opening move

Jade Audio is a sub-brand of FiiO, and the Level 1 is its first desktop power amplifier. At $139.99 it enters a market that already has strong competition in the Fosi Audio V3, the Aiyima A80, and the WiiM Amp, so the question is straightforward: what does the Level 1 do differently, and is it enough?

Having spent over a week listening to the Level 1, the short answer is that Jade Audio has packed an unusually complete set of features into a chassis at a price where the competition typically forces you to compromise. The Level 1 does have, in my opinion, one real compromise, but its other features more than make up for what it lacks. All of this is housed in a good-looking aluminium-and-wood enclosure that looks significantly more expensive than $139.99. The TPA3255 amplifier chip and included 48V/5A power supply complete the picture.

But before I get into the details, let’s look at the unboxing experience:

Unboxing and Packaging

The Level 1 ships in Jade Audio’s kraft-style box, with the jade audio brand name embossed on the top and the product name and Hi-Res Audio certification stamps printed beneath it. The Silver finish is clearly noted — a Black variant also exists:

The back of the box carries a nice line-drawing illustration of the amplifier:

Inside, the amplifier sits in shaped foam with a secondary cardboard tray below holding the accessories. It is a practical, well-protected arrangement:

What’s in the box:

• Jade Audio Level 1 amplifier ×1
• 48V/5A power supply ×1
• Power cord ×1
• Warranty card ×1
• Quick Start Guide ×1

Design and Build Quality

The Level 1 is a compact unit — 181 × 133 × 36 mm and 676g — with a footprint closer to a paperback book than a traditional amplifier. The chassis pairs an aluminium alloy shell with genuine wood side panels, and the result feels significantly more premium than the price suggests. The wood grain is light and clean and the silver aluminium finish is consistent throughout:

The front panel is logically laid out: a power toggle and input selector sit on the left, followed by two smaller knobs for bass and treble, and a large machined-aluminium volume knob on the right. All the controls are clearly labelled and the action on the knobs is smooth without being loose:

The underside carries the Hi-Res Audio Wireless badge alongside the LEVEL 1 product branding and four rubber feet. It is a clean finish with no unnecessary visual noise:

One detail worth noting: the front panel also includes RGB lighting that indicates the active input and, over Bluetooth, the codec in use. It is subtle enough to be useful as a status indicator without being distracting.

Inputs, Outputs and Rear Panel

The rear panel is one of the Level 1’s strongest physical arguments. For $139.99 you get speaker binding posts for left and right channels, coaxial RCA input, RCA line input, RCA line output (for preamp or subwoofer use), USB Type-C input, and the DC power socket:

The speaker binding posts are gold-plated and accept bare wire, spade connectors, or banana plugs. The RCA sockets are solid and well-spaced. USB supports up to 24-bit/96kHz PCM, which covers the vast majority of hi-res file formats. Bluetooth 6.0 with LDAC support (up to 990 kbps) is handled by the BT8961 chip and completes a connection set that leaves very little to add at this price.

Inside the Level 1 — A Familiar Board

Shortly after the Level 1 appeared on ASR’s forums, community members posting teardown images noted something interesting: the Level 1’s main PCB bears a strong family resemblance to the board used inside the Fosi Audio ZA3. The ZA3 is one of the most well-regarded compact TPA3255 amplifiers available — technically competent, well-measured, and consistently praised for its output quality. Sharing a mainboard architecture with it is not a coincidence to gloss over.

The Level 1 board (below left, image courtesy of the ASR community) is the more compact of the two, fitted to Jade Audio’s smaller chassis. The ZA3 board (below right) shows the same fundamental layout — dual-sided capacitor bank, similar component placement, shared topology — in a slightly larger format with the Fosi Audio silkscreen visible:

Whether the two products share a common ODM source or whether Jade Audio adapted the same reference design, the practical implication is the same: the Level 1’s amplifier section is built on hardware whose lineage has already been independently validated by the measurement community. For a first product from a new sub-brand, arriving with a pedigree like that is a quietly confident opening move.

Power Supply

The included power supply is a 48V/5A, 240W unit from Merryking, which is more substantial than what most TPA3255 amplifiers at this price ship with. The label makes the specs clear:

It is worth unpacking what the power figures actually mean here, because Jade Audio’s own spec sheet presents two distinct scenarios.

With the included 48V/5A supply, FiiO quotes ≥120W+120W into 4Ω and ≥115W+115W into 8Ω at THD+N below 1%. Those are the figures that matter for the product most people will actually buy and use. The amplifier can accept supplies from 24V to 53V, so there is room to experiment later, but the included 240W brick is already a serious supply for a compact desktop amp.

The larger 300W+300W figure is tied to an optional 53V/12A supply and a 4Ω load at THD+N below 10%. Ten percent harmonic distortion is not a normal listening level; it is closer to a maximum-power stress figure before clipping becomes obvious. The cleaner 53V/12A numbers are still impressive — ≥240W+240W into 4Ω and ≥135W+135W into 8Ω at THD+N below 1% — but that is no longer the stock power configuration. The useful takeaway is simple: with the supplied 48V/5A brick, the Level 1 is already powerful enough for normal bookshelf speakers, and the best distortion figure FiiO quotes is much lower, at <0.0025% THD+N under its specified test conditions.

FiiO Control App and Parametric EQ

This is where the Level 1 separates itself most clearly from the competition. Via the FiiO Control app (available for iOS and Android), the Level 1 exposes parametric EQ, device settings, volume, channel balance, source selection, and built-in documentation. You can tune the Level 1 to your speakers and room, apply correction filters, or dial in a preferred curve — a capability that is simply absent on the Fosi Audio V3 and most other TPA3255 amplifiers at this price.

The Level 1 shows up in FiiO Control alongside any other FiiO gear you own, so if you already use the app for FiiO headphones or dongles it simply appears in the device list:

The app also functions as a remote control for volume and input selection, which partially addresses the hardware remote omission. It is not quite the same as having a physical remote for across-the-room use, but for a desktop amplifier used at close range it covers most real-world scenarios.

The home screen shows the Level 1, lets you toggle the front LED, and gives direct access to source selection for coaxial, Bluetooth, and USB Type-C inputs. The Audio page covers output volume and channel balance:

One important behaviour to be aware of is that the Level 1’s DSP — both the parametric EQ and the channel balance shown above — is only active on the digital inputs (USB-C, coaxial and Bluetooth). I found this out when running the Level 1 from the analogue RCA line input of an external preamp: with the analogue input selected, the EQ and balance controls in the app were unavailable, because that signal bypasses the Level 1’s DAC and DSP entirely and goes straight to the amplifier. Feeding a digital source directly into the Level 1 brought the full PEQ and balance back. It makes sense technically — the correction is applied in the digital domain — but it is worth knowing if you plan to use the Level 1 as a purely analogue power amplifier sitting behind a preamp, because in that configuration you lose the single feature that most sets it apart.

The PEQ section includes built-in presets and three custom slots. The important point is that custom PEQ is not just a token feature: the app exposes gain sliders and band-level editing, including frequency, filter type, and Q:

FiiO also includes device documentation inside the app, including the front and rear panel labels, operation instructions, and the indicator light behaviour for inputs and Bluetooth codecs. That sounds minor, but for a small desktop amp with multi-colour status lighting, having this reference in the app is genuinely useful:

One notable omission in the app-based feature set is PFFB — Predictive Fast Feedback — which some competing TPA3255 implementations use to smooth frequency response variations across different speaker impedances. The Level 1’s PEQ is a powerful correction tool, but PFFB would have been a meaningful hardware-level addition for users with speakers of varying or complex impedance curves. It is a considered omission at this price rather than a failure, and the PEQ largely compensates in practice.

Sound Impressions

All impressions were formed using a range of bookshelf speakers over an extended listening period, with and without EQ applied via the FiiO Control app.

Bass

The TPA3255 platform produces a confident low end with good authority and extension. The physical bass control on the front panel provides a predictable lift or cut that is useful for matching the amplifier to speakers with different bass alignments, and the PEQ gives considerably more surgical options for room correction. There is no sense of looseness or overhang — bass attacks are clean and decays are controlled.

Midrange

The midrange is transparent and direct. Voices and instruments sit with natural weight and placement, and the Level 1 does not impose a colouration of its own. With PEQ dialled in for the specific speakers in use, the midrange opens up cleanly and presents detail without grain.

Treble

Treble extension is good and the top end is free from hardness on most material. The physical treble control allows for a gentle roll-off if a speaker is slightly bright in the room. There is no edge or etch at higher volume levels.

Dynamics and Power

The Level 1 has dynamic headroom that noticeably exceeds what the compact chassis suggests. Transient peaks are handled cleanly and the amplifier never sounds like it is reaching a ceiling during normal listening at desk distances. FiiO’s own figures with the included supply are 120W per channel into 4Ω and 115W per channel into 8Ω at under 1% THD+N, which is more than sufficient for typical bookshelf designs, and the TPA3255’s efficient architecture means the chassis stays cool even during extended loud sessions.

In Use: A Dayton-Based Desktop System

To live with the Level 1 properly I built a small system around it rather than just bench-testing it. The source was a WiiM Mini acting as the digital streamer, feeding a Luxsin X9 used as a DAC and preamp, with the Level 1 doing the amplification into a pair of Dayton Audio B65 Classic bookshelf speakers and a new Dayton Audio SB1200 subwoofer. It is a modest, sensible stack, and it suited the Level 1’s desktop-sized footprint:

Part of the appeal was visual. The Level 1’s maple side panels, the walnut Dayton B65 cabinets and the matching walnut SB1200 sub give the whole setup a warm, all-wood look that is unusual for budget desktop gear. The honest caveat is that the wood tones do not quite match — the Level 1’s panels are lighter and pinker than the Daytons’ browner walnut — but as a collection of wood-finished boxes it still looks far nicer than a stack of black plastic:

I stacked the Level 1 directly on top of the Luxsin X9, which made for a tidy two-box source-and-amplifier tower between the speakers:

For the subwoofer I tried two routings: taking the SB1200 from the Luxsin X9 directly, and taking it from the Level 1’s own subwoofer output. Both worked, and having the sub-out on the Level 1 itself means you do not strictly need a preamp with a dedicated sub feed to add low end.

This setup is also where the digital-versus-analogue DSP behaviour mattered in practice. Running the Level 1 from the X9’s analogue RCA output — using it purely as a power amp — meant no app EQ or balance, as noted earlier. When I instead ran the WiiM Mini’s digital output straight into the Level 1 and let it do the DAC and DSP work, the full parametric EQ came back, which is the configuration I would recommend if you want to get the most out of the Level 1 rather than treating it as a dumb power stage. Either way, I genuinely enjoyed the system — it is a lot of capable, good-looking hi-fi for the money.

Comparisons

To properly understand where the Level 1 sits in the current TPA3255 landscape, I laid out six comparison amplifiers alongside it — the Aiyima A07 Premium, the Aiyima A70, the 3E Audio A7, the Aiyima A80 with the Ampapa D1 stacked on top, and the Fosi Audio BT20A Max — and took the time to compare each one against the Level 1 directly. Every one of these uses the TPA3255 chipset, every one costs less than €350, and nearly all have PFFB. The question is not which is “best” in isolation — it is which makes most sense given what you actually need.

Aiyima A07 Premium (~$80–$110)

The A07 Premium is the entry point of this group and the one that most clearly shows how far the market has moved. It is a focused, excellent-sounding TPA3255 amplifier with socketed op-amps for those who enjoy rolling, staggered binding posts that make cabling noticeably easier, and a satisfying clicky volume action. What it does not have is PFFB, a DAC, any digital input, Bluetooth, or PEQ. It is a pure passive speaker amplifier, and a very good one at the price.

At roughly half the Level 1’s price, the A07 Premium makes obvious sense for anyone who already has a streamer or DAC and just wants clean, affordable amplification. But compared to the Level 1 it is clearly a product from a different generation of thinking: there is no app, no room for EQ correction, and no way to compensate for speakers that show up the absence of PFFB. For a beginner building a first system from scratch, the Level 1’s integrated approach is meaningfully more practical.

Aiyima A70 (~$150+)

The A70 represents Aiyima’s own take on what a modern PFFB amplifier should look like. It has proper hardware PFFB, XLR balanced input alongside RCA, a subwoofer output with an LPF dial, and a 12V trigger. The measurements are excellent — SINAD above 116dB SNR with the 48V 10A supply — and the minimal front-panel design with a single knob that serves as power, input selector, and volume control keeps everything clean. For pure two-channel amplification where PFFB is guaranteed in hardware and you want a class-leading noise floor, the A70 is an outstanding option.

Where it falls short relative to the Level 1 is in the integration story. There is no DAC, no Bluetooth, and no PEQ — so to get the same digital streaming flexibility you would need to add a separate streamer and a separate DAC. By the time you have added those, you have spent considerably more than the Level 1 costs on its own. The A70 is a more powerful amplifier in a more traditional sense, but the Level 1 packages more day-to-day usefulness for most desktop setups at a lower entry price.

3E Audio A7 (~€300)

The 3E Audio A7 is the technical heavyweight of this group and the most obvious upgrade path when you are ready to invest beyond the Level 1. Where the others use a single TPA3255, the A7 runs two chips in PBTL (Parallel Bridge-Tied Load) configuration, uses ELNA Silmic II HiFi-grade capacitors, TDK film capacitors, and flat-wire inductors with exceptionally low DC resistance. The result is a measured SINAD of 102dB at balanced input — better than anything else in this price range — and Amir’s measurements at AudioScienceReview place it in the same conversation as Purify and Hypex designs at considerably higher prices. It also runs notably cooler than the Aiyima and Fosi designs, which matters for long daily listening sessions.

In sonic character the A7 is fractionally more “technical” — a slight additional sense of composure and resolution during complex passages that became apparent during level-matched A/B testing. Its PFFB implementation is exemplary and completely load-invariant. The honest trade-off is that it is a purist’s tool: no Bluetooth, no DAC, no remote, no HPF, no subwoofer output, no tone controls. It asks you to bring a complete source ecosystem and do your own system integration around it. For a first amplifier, or for someone who wants a self-contained desktop solution, the Level 1 is simply more practical. But when you are ready to invest roughly double the Level 1’s price purely into amplifier hardware, the A7 is the most compelling option in this group.

Aiyima A80 (~£190 / ~$200)

The A80 is the most directly comparable product to the Level 1 in terms of intent: a compact integrated amplifier with a built-in DAC, PFFB, Bluetooth, multiple digital inputs (USB, optical, coaxial), and basic bass and treble tone controls. The standout feature is the small VU meter display and remote control, which add a visual dimension and across-the-room usability that the Level 1 lacks entirely.

What the A80 does not have is parametric EQ. Tone controls offer a broad shelf lift or cut, but there is no way to apply narrow-band room correction or targeted speaker correction in the way the Level 1’s app enables. The A80’s SINAD of 82dB+ is also lower than the Level 1 — still well above the audibility threshold for most listeners, but the engineering gap is visible. Build quality is functional and clean but noticeably less premium than the Level 1’s aluminium-and-wood chassis. For users who prioritise a hardware remote and a screen over a smartphone app and real wood panels, the A80 is a legitimate and well-priced choice. For users who want to apply proper speaker correction, the Level 1’s PEQ gives it a clear practical edge.

Ampapa D1 (~$199)

The Ampapa D1 sits alongside the Level 1 as one of the most thoughtfully engineered compact integrated amplifiers in this group. It has excellent PFFB, a genuinely adjustable HPF from 30–200Hz that is the right tool for 2.1 system integration, a glass top, vivid VU meters, and socketed op-amps that are easier to swap than almost any other amplifier I have owned. Its measurements are very strong and it is passively cooled — a real advantage for quiet near-field desk listening.

The key distinction from the Level 1 is the HPF. The D1 is optimised for running with a subwoofer — protecting the mains from deep bass and maximising headroom in the process — and at that task it is better than anything else in this group except the BT20A Max. What it does not have is a built-in DAC or parametric EQ. The D1 and Level 1 are addressing slightly different problems: the D1 is the 2.1 hardware integration specialist, while the Level 1 is the self-contained DAC-amp with app-level EQ flexibility. At a similar price, choosing between them comes down to setup: if you are running a subwoofer and want a proper hardware HPF, the D1’s advantage is real. If you are building a 2.0 desktop system and want to apply digital correction filters, the Level 1 wins.

Fosi Audio BT20A Max (~$280–$300)

The BT20A Max is the most feature-rich amplifier in this comparison and the most expensive. It combines PFFB, Bluetooth 6.0 with LDAC and aptX Lossless via Qualcomm QCC3095 (the best wireless connectivity in this group), an 80Hz fixed HPF, a dedicated subwoofer output, dual RCA inputs, a motorized volume potentiometer with remote control, and a 12V trigger. SINAD of 96dB is strong. Build quality is the best Fosi Audio has shipped to date, with real heft and purposeful branding.

The primary limitation is the built-in fan, which is audible in a quiet near-field desktop environment. For a living room system or a cabinet installation where the amplifier sits at a meaningful distance from the listener, it is essentially inaudible and the BT20A Max becomes the clear feature leader in this group. For a quiet desk setup with the amplifier within arm’s length, the fan noise is a real consideration and passively cooled alternatives are more comfortable to live with. At roughly double the Level 1’s price, the BT20A Max’s advantages — superior Bluetooth codecs, motorized remote volume, hardware HPF, dual wired inputs — are real and meaningful for the right use case. For a straightforward desk build where a phone app covers your workflow, the Level 1’s value case remains compelling.

WiiM Amp (~$299) — the outlier

The WiiM Amp is not a direct competitor to the Level 1 in the traditional sense, but it belongs in this context because it is the one product that also offers full parametric EQ at a comparable price tier. The WiiM Amp bundles network streaming, AirPlay 2, Chromecast, HDMI ARC, and the excellent WiiM Home app with room correction, crossover management, and a broad catalogue of streaming services — it is essentially a complete standalone system rather than just a power amplifier. It is also worth noting that the WiiM Amp is at the higher end of this comparison at $299, and its PEQ is delivered entirely through the WiiM ecosystem rather than hardware you can pair with any source.

If you want streaming fully integrated into the amplifier itself and are drawn to the WiiM ecosystem, the WiiM Amp is genuinely good value for that specific use case. If you have, or plan to add, a separate WiiM streamer — a WiiM Mini or WiiM Pro — the Level 1 pairs naturally with that ecosystem while covering the amplification and EQ in a more refined physical package at a lower cost.

The Pragmatic Verdict

Laying all six amplifiers side by side makes the Level 1’s position in the market unusually clear. It is not the most powerful (the A70 and A7 exceed it), not the best measured (the A7 comfortably takes that crown), and not the most feature-complete for 2.1 integration (the D1’s adjustable HPF and the BT20A Max’s remote volume give them specific advantages in that use case). But for the price it asks, no single product in this group does everything the Level 1 does.

FiiO’s entry into the desktop amplifier market through the Jade Audio brand is a strong opening move, backed by specifics rather than just a new logo. A genuine wood-and-aluminium chassis at $139.99 still surprises me. Full parametric EQ via FiiO Control is a real tool, not a token implementation — it covers for the absence of PFFB in most practical scenarios and puts a level of speaker correction capability into users’ hands that simply did not exist at this price before. The built-in DAC with Bluetooth 6.0 LDAC makes it a self-contained desktop solution. And the shared mainboard lineage with the Fosi Audio ZA3 means the amplifier section arrives with independently validated pedigree. For a first desktop system — or as a step up from a bare-bones amplifier — the Level 1 is the most pragmatic choice in this field right now, and the 3E Audio A7 is the natural next step when you are ready to invest further in the amplifier section itself.

Specifications

Measurements

Note: FiiO provided a few measurements for the Level 1 but I will update this review once ASR or a similar website with independent Audio Precision measurements are published.

For example, this line level output shows a pretty linear frequency response down to the sub-bass regions:

But given the absence of PFFB, the two other FR measurements — into 4Ω and 8Ω — do show the treble becoming somewhat dependent on load impedance, which is exactly the behaviour PFFB is designed to correct for. The PEQ, of course, can be used to flatten this out if you feel it is required. I have seen tighter PFFB implementations on other amplifiers, but I will update this review if more independent measurements appear on ASR in the next few weeks:

The Audio Precision dashboards confirm the distortion and SINAD performance at each load, measured at around 5W. Into 8Ω the Level 1 reaches roughly 90.7dB SINAD with THD+N near 0.003%, while into the harder 4Ω load at similar power it measures about 85.8dB SINAD at around 0.005% THD+N — the lower-impedance load being the more demanding one, as usual:

These measured numbers sit broadly in line with FiiO’s quoted best-case figures and confirm that the Level 1 performs cleanly into both loads and easily comparable with even class-D amplifiers costing twice the price.

The distortion figures deserve specific attention. With the included 48V/5A supply, FiiO quotes <0.0025% THD+N at 1kHz / −9dBV into 4Ω, which is roughly 92dB SINAD. The optional 53V/12A test condition gives the same <0.0025% THD+N figure into 8Ω. That is the best-case low-distortion measurement, not the same thing as the maximum power number. The headline 300W+300W rating is measured at <10% THD+N, while the cleaner high-power figures are <1% THD+N.

The single-ended line output measures even cleaner on FiiO’s spec sheet, at <0.00035% THD+N, or roughly 109dB SINAD. That matters if you want to use the Level 1 as a small DAC/preamp feeding another amplifier or powered speaker setup.

The absence of PFFB means the frequency response can vary with speaker impedance — a characteristic visible in the speaker-output measurement. This is the primary reason the Measurements Rating sits at 4 rather than 5. For the vast majority of real-world speaker pairings it is not a deal-breaker, especially with PEQ available, but it is worth noting for users with speakers that have particularly complex impedance curves.

Rating Explanation

The Pragmatic Rating of 5 reflects a product that does more than its price would suggest. The Level 1 enters a competitive category and carves out a real position with its DAC inclusion, full parametric EQ, Bluetooth LDAC, premium chassis, and honest 120W per channel output — all for $139.99. No single competing product at this price offers the same combination of features.

The Features Rating of 5 acknowledges the completeness of the package: multiple digital inputs, LDAC Bluetooth, tone controls, app-based PEQ, subwoofer output, and preamp output. The absence of PFFB and a hardware remote are minor subtractions against a list that is otherwise difficult to fault at this price. The PEQ availability effectively makes up for the PFFB omission in practical terms for most users.

The Price Rating of 5 is the clearest score to justify. Real wood and aluminium construction, a proper 48V/5A included power supply, a built-in DAC, full PEQ, and 120W per channel at $139.99 is an exceptional value proposition. Competitors charge more for less on at least one of those dimensions.

The Measurements Rating of 4 reflects the absence of PFFB, which would have tightened the load-impedance behaviour measurably. Everything else on the measurement sheet is strong: roughly 92dB SINAD from the <0.0025% THD+N figure, 108dB SNR A-weighted, and 103dB dynamic range with the included 48V/5A supply. The line output is cleaner again at roughly 109dB SINAD. The 4 rating is about what is missing rather than anything that is wrong.

Conclusion

The Jade Audio Level 1 is a strong first product from a new brand, and it puts meaningful pressure on the established players in the compact desktop amplifier category. The TPA3255 foundation is proven, but what Jade Audio adds on top of it — the DAC, the LDAC Bluetooth, the full parametric EQ, the aluminium-and-wood chassis, the generous power supply — is enough to make the Level 1 the most feature-complete option in its price range.

If you are building a desktop speaker system and want a single box that handles your digital sources, allows precise speaker correction via EQ, and looks genuinely good on a desk, the Level 1 is the first amplifier at this price I would recommend without qualification. Fosi Audio, Aiyima, and others competing in this space have a well-specified new entrant to contend with.