In the past I used to build audio from kitset. A 300W Sub amp for the lounge, a 20W stereo amp for the study, that sort of thing.
Yesterday I rediscovered a playing-card siized 25W+25W class D amp module, and decided to attach some HiFi speakers, a Chromecast Audio, and power it up with a switchmode bench supply.
Somewhat unexpectedly, It sounded perfectly fine, even playing at quote a reasonable volume with quite a lot of bass/subbass. So much so that I might replace the big Pioneer DSP receiver with a small amp from Ali Express, and let the Spotify age wash over me.
But what really surprised me was how little power you really need. Even at a a good volume the PSU was only showing 12V @ 0.15A - About 1W per channel! At bachground levels it was about 0.03A.
So I am left wondering - outside of Pro sound reinforcement work, or really really inefficient speakers, do you really need high power (100W+) amps for domestic audio anymore?
Back in the old linear amp days you did because you needed the headroom as once the amp started working hard you could hear it get rough, but that seems to be a thing of the past.
Has anybody tried the same sort of thing? If so, do you agree?
Or maybe my ears are past it?