TEAC AI-303 Integrated Amplifier with DAC

Teac AI-303 integrated amplifier with DAC is a compact unit with many advanced features. Output power is 25 watts per channel, designed around the well regarded Ncore class D modules made by Hypex. These are designed for rich musicality and clear sound without the heat or energy usage of a linear amplifier.

Thanks to the onboard DAC, digital support is good - with Bluetooth AptX HD as well as a USB input that can handle DSD256 as well as PCM up to 32-bit at 384kHz.

There is an ARC/eARC enabled HDMI socket that will feed high quality TV sound into the AI-303. Unusually there is a balanced 4-pole output for headphones, designed to give the best possible sound quality.

Metal cabinet design

The metal cabinet of the Teac AI-303 is used to shield the sensitive electronics inside. That includes electromagnetic noise from PCs and other domestic devices. The 8mm thick aluminium panels also make the unit robust and durable, even in electrically noisy environments. Additional, to the cabinet design, are the vibration resistant feet. These Machined steel, Stress-less feet are not attached directly to the chassis. As a result, they act in a similar way to the spiked feet used on loudspeakers.

Built-in high quality DAC

The AI-303 is equipped with a dedicated (SoC) System on a chip and DAC. This performs all of the decoding of various sources such as MQA before the DAC itself. The digital filtering used for analogue conversion is also performed by the SoC. MQA stands for Master Quality Audio and the AI-303 can decode this signal via the digital inputs.

Good connectivity

As well as two line-level analogue inputs there are Coaxial and optical digital inputs. There is also an HDMI-ARC socket for connecting a TV as well as USB and a dedicated subwoofer output. Standard speaker terminals are provided.

HDMI connectivity

A TV can be connected via an HDMI lead. These have several features including HDMI CEC. This is a protocol that allows compatible devices to ‘talk’ to each other. In this case, the Power on/off and volume, of the AI-303, can then be controlled by the TV's remote control. This feature may need to be enabled on the TV. There is also a hi-res sound capability named eARC that will send a high quality digital audio signal to the AI-303.

Bluetooth HD support

The Bluetooth receiver in the AI-303 provides an easy connection to a smartphone. It is also capable of receiving the latest codecs. Such as LDAC and AptX HD. The LEDs on the front panel show which codec is being received. There is also an indicator if MQA files are being played.

Top quality headphones listening

The AI-303 is a good amplifier for headphone listening as it has several advanced features. For example, there is a 4 pole 4.4mm socket that separates both channels for full channel separation and clear sound. This connector is used with compatible headphones.

Additionally, the headphone amplifier does not use coupling capacitors. This widens the frequency response. Giving better bass and less treble loss. There is also CrossFeed. This minimises the in-head effect for a more natural soundstage. There is a CrossFeed knob on the front of the cabinet to adjust this.

Analogue ladder type volume control

Finally, The Teac AI-303 does not use a standard potentiometer for the volume control. These can introduce channel unbalances and lengthen the signal path. Instead, a ladder network of resistors is used these are mounted directly on the PCB and improve the signal-to-noise ratio. They also avoid causing frequency variations at low volume levels.