VSSL A.1x Single Zone 2-Channel Audio Streaming Amplifier, Compatible with AirPlay 2, Chromecast, Amazon Alexa, Spotify Connect, Bluetooth | Home Sound System Amplifier | WiFi Amplifier for Speakers

i used it directly with optical from TV to speakers

I replaced my Yamaha MusicCast amps with a VSSL 6-zone amp and have been really happy with the purchase. I added a seventh zone for outdoor in-ground speakers with this VSSL A.1x amp mounted on my exterior wall in the garage. It works great and the speakers fill the area with sound much better than soffit mounted speakers. VSSL is great. We use Amazon Music to stream to any zone or speaker group directly from our phones. We also use Alexa devices in our rooms to play music directly to that room's VSSL zone without having to ask Alexa what device and zone to play on (which we can still do too) since VSSL zones are Chromecast and Alexa Cast compatible. They just look like available speakers in Google Home, the Alexa app, or other apps that can cast to these protocols. I plan on buying another 6-zone VSSL A.6x amp soon!Now for the bad news, and it isn't minor, is that the amp setup is terribly PAINFULL. The Google app is unstable and almost completely unusable. I almost sent the original A.6x amp back because I couldn't complete the setup. This is a 5-star amp with a 1-star Google app. However, VSSL says they are coming out soon with a new Google app and more importantly, once you muck your way through the setup for several hours doing what should take just a few minutes, you shouldn't have to use the app much again. My audio system has been working flawlessly through Alexa for several months now. Buy one, accept the setup pain, and then enjoy!

Ultra long reviewTL;DRDo it. Love the system love the hardware and the software can be google Chromecast, apple airplay or Alexa. So it's intuitive enough.So... Switched from sonos, gladly satisfiedSo I decided to come write a review as this product is kind of new on the market and it doesn't have any reviews at all.So for context I was a Sonos user for around a decade. I went to a friend's house and he had a couple of in-ceiling speakers and absolutely loved how it sounded so I started looking and as my Sonos system was a Sonos 1 equipment it was really expensive and obsolete to keep growing my Sonos ecosystem and I couldn't use many of the novelties the system offered.So after months and months of reading I decided between this, Yamaha musiccast or Sonos amp and went for vssl.So I am an aficionado and wouldn't say I have perfect ear to difference between HiFi or not HiFi but still one of the main reasons I decided on this was the HiFi capabilities. Sonos lowers the resolution according to certain standards which by the way are great but no HiFi.So thinking about investing on a multi zone system for my place was really hard as I didn't want to cable everything so I decided to buy 3 vssl a.1x and install them around the house:One connected to 4 Yamaha in ceiling speakersOne connected to 2 outdoor Bose speakers (near an outdoor tv I'll explain this later)And the other connected to a standalone speaker I use for hobby.I didn't want to loose my Sonos so I bought a Chromecast audio device for each of the Sonos play 5 I own and ended up having great capabilities.So for the review:The equipment looks amazing feels amazing and it's incredibly easy to install and setup.There is one step where they give some network recommendations, this is not needed in Sonos but I decided to follow most as my house is connected to a deco mesh network and my main worry was that my internet was no going to be good enough, well IT IS!My network is around 25 mbs download and I'm streaming Deezer Hi-Fi with no problem at all.Now the software is a bit confusing. the vssl app is for setup and some advanced configuration (for example you can equalize each zone to your own taste) and the app guides you to either google home, Alexa or airplay.Having the 3 options is way better than i expected but me not being used to the apps I've been struggling a little bit.Spotify works like a charm BUT I did have a problem in which Spotify is streaming through Google Chromecast and for some reason Spotify started going crazy. Skipped songs after seconds playing and went crazy. Later that day a friend connected to the system using an Android phone played Spotify and sort of fixed everything miraculously. I don't understand this error but after googling it looks like it's a problem between Spotify and google Chromecast. Will be updating on this as I feel Spotify should work perfectly.So after a couple of days of use my review is yes. Buy it.I am no expert but the site says the amp is 50 watts. At the beginning I was worried it was not going to be loud enough or clear enough as Sonos is 125 watts. Well I was wrong it's super mega loud. Like way more than i needed jaja. (i also struggle with the volume control as when I click on my iphone the first step is really soft and the second click is too loud. I don't know if I can fix this yet on a setting or something)So going back to the tv thing.With Sonos I was never able to stream from a tv to all of my speakers. On this system I was able to do it on my first attempt. I connected the tv to the vssl amp using optical (Toslink) and just like that it streamed to every Chromecast device in my house. It's a beauty and a charm.Now I haven't bought it but I believe connecting a turn table is the sameYou connect it and it will stream to every device.I was never able to do this with Sonos (although I believe it was my fault more than Sonos fault LMAO)I haven't really needed support yet so I can't talk about that (but I believe the fact I haven't called is good news)So if you are looking into amps I can say this is a good and robust system and I will be growing on this system.Post data: I decided not to go with Yamaha as I read on a couple of blogs Yamaha was going to take out of the market the one zone musiccast amp to substitute it with something new.I decided I didn't want to buy something that was going to be taken out of the market and I didn't want to wait for a new system to come out.Sorry for the long review but thought it was worth it.

I've been a Sonos user forever and finally realized it was their system that has been hampering my network speeds for so many years. Their app drives me nuts trying to login and find my system.VSSL was a breath of fresh air. It works the way I want it and I was able to retrofit it into my home pretty easily. My Sonos amps also were so big they took up half of my rack. These are slim and get me all the power I need for my in-ceiling speakers. Great purchase!