5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent unit if you understand what you're getting!

2025-12-25    -Ekkie T.

My old Klipsch 4.1 computer speakers needed an upgrade. The subwoofer unit (which housed the amp and the inputs and outputs) had gone bad (just the subwoofer) and I did not want to keep around the large sub unit just to drive the four speakers it came with. On the other hand, I wanted a solution that maintained the surround sound capability (I have a Creative Labs Blaster X4 providing the main input). It is VERY difficult to find low-cost solutions that meet these specs! For a long time, I thought my only option was to purchase expensive receivers normally used with home theatre systems.Enter the Nobsound HiFi 5.1 BT Amp. It looked to fit my needs, but initially at $200, I just could not justify the purchase. Additionally, information on the Internet was sparse. However, when the price dropped to $135 this past Black Friday, I finally purchased it.This unit has EXCEEDED my expectations for it. It was actually very easy to set up and the amount of inputs it supports is impressive (USB thumb drive, Bluetooth, optical / coax [two channel only], RCA [2 channel], and 5.1 RCA). I connected the outputs from my Creative Blaster X4 to this via audio-to-RCA plugs, and it works PERFECT! It also supports both active and passive sub units (mine is active). I was initially baffled about why I could only get sound out of the front speakers until I read the manual (imagine that) and learned there was another button I had to hold down to switch between 2.1 and 5.1, even though I had 5.1 audio selected. It's a little confusing but if you look at the front of the unit, you'll see that there's an input source called "5.1" but also a separate setting that represents your speaker configuration, titled "2.1" and "5.1". Once I switched to 5.1 on the speaker configuration, everything worked!As a bonus, I also wanted Bluetooth capability, but my expectations were low on the quality, and I was anticipating having to buy a good quality Bluetooth receiver in the future to plug into this unit. Not a big deal, since it was not the reason why I purchased it. However, I went ahead and tried it out and was blown away. Sound quality was far better than I had expected. I'm not an audiophile, but I know from past experiences, there can be a background noise or volume being too low. By comparison, this came out loud and clean.I will add as a bonus that though BT audio is two-channel at its source, having the unit set to 5.1 speaker configuration allows sound to come through all speakers! It's not true surround sound, but you are truly surrounded by sound if that makes sense. This to me is another bonus I was not expecting. I could not do this previously with my Klipsch unit. The Creative Blaster X4 has some software utilities that can force this, but they're kludgy to work, and affect overall sound quality. So, I just gave up with trying to use the rear channels with two channel sound.Finally, I wasn't sure how the optical connection worked. There was little information about it, but I figured this was only going to be two-channel sound since there was nothing advertised about any surround sound decoding. I was right. You won't be able to feed this unit with anything encoded for surround sound (and at this price, I wouldn't expect it anyway). However, for two channel sound, the optical connection worked and just like the BT input, that if you have 5.1 selected on the speaker configuration, you'll get sound coming out of all the speakers.Overall, this unit has exceeded just about all of my expectations. The housing on the unit appears solid as well. The control knobs work fine (not as smooth as I would like but not expecting much at this price); though be aware that the "treble" and "bass" knobs appear to only apply to USB and BT audio, not for either optical or RCA sources. Using this unit for a few hours did not result in any heat issues, from either the main chassis or from the power brick.I'm VERY pleased with this unit!

5.0 out of 5 stars Good amplifier at a fair price

2026-01-16    -Lon

My amplifier arrived well packaged and in good condition. Set up was logical and went smoothly. Instructions were complete. After installation, the amp worked well. All features worked as they should. This product was a vast improvement for the amp it replaced.The price was fair, and it met all of my expectations.

5.0 out of 5 stars Adequate power

2026-02-25    -Roger

Perfectly sized device that provides adequate power

4.0 out of 5 stars Annoying Pops

2026-01-01    -Tabletop

Great price. I just use it for 5.1. It seems back surround and bass outputs go to sleep if no input for around 10 sec. They then wake up with a quick pop sound when input starts again. Once awake, all is good until they go to sleep again.

4.0 out of 5 stars No remote or headphone jack

2026-01-26    -Terry Neenan

This seems to be well built and was easy to hook up but I was disappointed that it did not have a headphone jack or a remote control. That would make this unit perfect!

4.0 out of 5 stars Annoying Pops

2026-02-02    -Tabletop

Great price. I just use it for 5.1. It seems back surround and bass outputs go to sleep if no input for around 10 sec. They then wake up with a quick pop sound when input starts again. Once awake, all is good until they go to sleep again.

5.0 out of 5 stars Good amplifier at a fair price

2026-01-31    -Lon

My amplifier arrived well packaged and in good condition. Set up was logical and went smoothly. Instructions were complete. After installation, the amp worked well. All features worked as they should. This product was a vast improvement for the amp it replaced.The price was fair, and it met all of my expectations.

1.0 out of 5 stars No 2 RCA to 5.1

2026-01-15    -barry hollenbeck

This was a beautiful little amp. I needed to input 2.0 RCA and use all speakers as 5.1 does. This unit is suposed to do that but doesn't. Too bad. Now I have to use two smaller amps and resitor network for center. Really poor..

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect for what I wanted

2026-01-11    -ren0901

tl;dr - both versatile and a good valueWas looking for an amp that would power both a 2.1 stereo and 3.1 (not using surrounds) TV and this fit the bill. The RCA input handles music from an iPod while the optical input handles TV audio digitally. Wish it came with a remote but great sound out of a small package

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect for what I wanted

2026-02-27    -ren0901

tl;dr - both versatile and a good valueWas looking for an amp that would power both a 2.1 stereo and 3.1 (not using surrounds) TV and this fit the bill. The RCA input handles music from an iPod while the optical input handles TV audio digitally. Wish it came with a remote but great sound out of a small package