How Much Do Audio Amplifiers Cost? (With Pricing Examples)

So you're looking to buy (or sell) an amplifier, and you're wondering what price would be acceptable. Having a good comprehension of the various amplifier types and their applications will help tremendously in understanding the wide variations in their price points.

How much do audio amplifiers cost? Audio amplifiers vary vastly in cost and design, with prices ranging from pennies to millions of dollars. Amplifiers range from tiny electrical components (low-end) to massive feats of engineering (extreme high-end). Spending over $1,000 should buy you a high-quality amplifier, regardless of type.

In this article, we'll discuss why Amplifiers cost as much as they do and take a closer look at real examples of amplifier pricing.

Throughout my research, I've cross-referenced Amazon, Sweetwater, B&H Photo/Video, Crutchfield, Thomann, and Vintage King.

Typical Price Ranges Per Amplifier Type
Price Factors Of Amplifiers
Are Expensive Amplifiers Better?
Price Ranges With Amplifier Examples
The World's Most Expensive Amplifiers
Related Questions

Typical Price Ranges Per Amplifier Type

There are thousands of different amplifier models on the market today. We have phono and microphone preamplifiers; mono, stereo and multi-channel power and integrated amplifiers; receivers, headphone amps, subwoofer amps, instruments amps, and even individual amplifier printed circuit boards.

To go through each and every amplifier to provide an MSRP (manufacturer specified retail price) would take ages and likely wouldn't provide as much practical value to you, the reader, as it sounds like it would in theory. It is also the case that amplifiers get discontinued or change price, so upkeeping such a list would take up too many resources.

So instead, I present to you a list of common amplifier types along with their typical price ranges.

In the following list, I am stating the lowest and highest retail prices I find online for each amplifier type. Expect the price points at the low end to represent the circuit board amplifiers and the prices at the high-end to represent the professional-quality/audiophile-grade amplifiers from highly reputable manufacturers.

I'll add the names of amp models that coincide with the price points if they are worth mentioning. Many of the amps at the low-end of the price spectrum are cheap, low-quality and overly plentiful (there's often no specific “cheapest option”).

Related article: Do Amplifiers Improve Sound Quality?

So without further ado, the price ranges of common amplifier types:

Amplifier Type	Price Point Low-End	Price Point High-End
Headphone Amplifier	~$6 (PCB)	$68,000 Sennheiser Orpheus/HE 1 (with headphones)
Power Amplifier	~$6 (PCB)	$2,200,000 Pivetta Opera Only
Microphone Preamplifier	~$7 (PCB)	$12,500 Esoteric Audio Research 824
Phono Preamplifier	~$11 (PCB)	$2,995 Parasound Halo JC 3+
Subwoofer Amplifier	~$12 (PCB)	$1,899 Klipsch KA-1000-THX
Receiver	$39 Pyle PDA29BU.5	$8,500 Mark Levinson No.5805
Integrated Amplifier	$46 Nobsound Mini	$14,995 Pathos Inpol Heritage
Guitar Amp Head	$79 Hotone Siva Boogie	$4,899 Diezel VHX 100-watt
Bass Guitar Amp Head	$89 Hotone Thunder Bass	$2,495 Aguilar DB 751

Note, again, that these prices were found by quickly searching common online headphone retailers such as Amazon, Sweetwater, B&H Photo/Vidoe, Vintage King, and others.

Price Factors Of Amplifiers

Here is a list of the general factors that determine, to some extent, the selling price of an amplifier.

Parts/type of amplifier: The specific parts and the number of individual parts of an amplifier are a big determining factor of cost. The individual components make up a large part of the cost of any given amplifier.
Part materials: The cost of materials is a factor in amplifier price as well. The differences in price between the ideal material and less-than-ideal “good enough” material will vary from part to part.
Labour/craftsmanship: Many reputable amplifier brands manufacture their amps in smaller batches or even one at a time. This allows for extreme attention to detail and expert craftsmanship to shine through in their amplifiers, which produce high-quality and consistent products. These manufacturing techniques cost much more time (and money) than cheaper assembly line types of manufacturing.
Product testing: Perhaps another part of labour is the intense testing that high-end amplifiers of reputable companies go through before ever reaching the customer. This, of course, takes time and energy and warrants more money. Through thorough testing, the amplifiers can be assured to be performing at their full potential before their first use outside the manufacturing facility.
Research and development: It’s no mystery that the high-end amplifier companies are the ones that tend to be industry leaders in innovation. Buying from high-end manufacturers helps them to continue to develop awesome high-quality amplifiers.
Advertising: Whether you like it or not, advertising is an often necessary part of business. Few and far between are the amplifier manufacturing companies that do not spend money on advertising.
Brand name/recognition: Though this may seem silly, brand names do count in the audio industry.
Customer support: Many high-quality reputable amplifier manufacturers offer excellent customer support, warranties, and repair services. This, of course, also costs money, and sometimes this is made up in the original purchase costs of their amps.
Company overhead: Like any brick-and-mortar product-based manufacturing business, they need to make a profit on their products in order to pay employees and keep the lights on at their facilities.

Are Expensive Amplifiers Better?

Before we dive deeper into the prices of amplifiers, the question of whether expensive amps are better is worth addressing.

Are expensive amplifiers better? In general, expensive amps perform “better” than inexpensive amps. Improved sonic accuracy, number of channels, channel isolation, additional power and longevity are all at least somewhat dependent on the price of manufacturing and, therefore, the cost of the amplifier.

Note that the performance of an amplifier is largely dependent on the audio it's amplifying and/or the transducers (headphones or speakers) it's driving. To learn more about amplifiers and speakers, check out the following My New Microphone articles:
• Why Do Speakers Need Amplifiers? (And How To Match Them)
• Which Is More Important, Speakers Or Amplifiers?

Fundamentally, though, the “sound quality” of an amplifier ought to be as transparent as possible. That being said, the “colour” or distortion of certain amps (particularly mic preamps) can be a key selling point. Design factors that would increase the price include the amount of clean/pre-distortion amplification (power/gain), the number of channels, and application.

Is a top-of-the-line power amplifier like the Pivetta Opera Only better than an inexpensive phono preamp like the Nobsound T1? Are they even worth comparing?

Well, if you're in your acoustically treated entertainment room listening to classical music (and you have high-end speakers and audio), the $2,200,000 (yes, 2.2 million for an amp) Pivetta Opera Only is the obvious better choice. However, if you're listening to an old vinyl record through inexpensive bookshelf speakers, the $29 Nobsound T1 MM / MC Turntable Phono Preamp should do you just fine.

Note that an audio/sound system is really only as strong as its weakest link. A million-dollar amp, for example, won't perform at its best amplifying streamed mp3s through cheap speakers.

So which amplifier is better? The Pivetta Opera Only certainly sounds marvellous, but far more people use the Nobsound T1. Of course, this is an extreme example, but it illustrates an important point: it all depends on the situation.

Many in the audio industry would argue that the prices of many high-end amplifiers are inflated. Though perhaps they are, refer back to the factors that would explain the high price of an amplifier.

That being said, it's often the case that a speaker that retails at a fraction of the cost of a high-end amp will yield similar results.

Though this is a vague answer to “are expensive amplifiers better?” it's the best answer I've got for you.

Price Ranges With Amplifier Examples

As mentioned, the price range of amplifiers is very wide (ranging from a few dollars to over a million dollars for a single unit).

So what kind of amplifiers can we expect at certain price points? I've placed various amp types in the following price ranges according to their manufacturer-specified retail prices (MSRPs).

Please note that the following prices are in USD. I will add links to online stores to provide pricing examples.

Amplifiers Under $20

At a price point below $20, we find some low-end amplifier circuit boards and some low-end no-name brands on Amazon.

Some headphone amplifiers and phono preamplifiers from more reputable brands can be purchased new in this price range but are generally considered to be of low quality.

Low-End Microphone Preamplifiers

Though we're unlikely to find any pre-built mic pres for under $20, we can find some cheap circuit boards that technically do the trick.

$7 Acxico 1Pcs AD828 Stereo Dynamic Microphone Preamplifier Board Pickup Module (link to check the price on Amazon)

Low-End Phono Preamplifiers

Low-end phono preamplifiers can be purchased for under $20. Though we shouldn't expect the best results, if the rest of the sound system isn't top-notch, these preamps shouldn't negatively affect the sonic results.

$11 Electronics-Salon Stereo Phono RIAA Preamplifier Module Board, Preamp, MD-A310 (link to check the price on Amazon)

$14 Kinter PR400 (link to check the price on Amazon)

Low-End Headphone Amplifiers

For less than $20, we can find a few decent splitter-type headphone “amps”. We'll also find cheap no-name brands on Amazon that act as dedicated amplifiers/impedance converters for headphones.

$6 Mobile Spec Headphone Amplifier & Enhancer (link to check the price on Amazon)

$19 Portable Headphone Amplifier LiNKFOR (link to check the price on Amazon)

$19 Pyle Pro PHA40 (link to check the price at B&H Photo/Video)

Low-End Power Amplifiers

Like the mic preamp mentioned earlier, there are cases where power amp circuit boards can be purchased for under $20. However, these are of inferior quality and should be avoided.

$6 Dong Yu Yuan TPA3110 PBTL Mono Digital Amplifier Board 30W (link to check the price on Amazon)

Related article: Are Audio Amplifiers Analog Or Digital Devices?

Low-End Subwoofer Amplifiers

Similarly, low-end subwoofer (power) amp boards can also be purchased for under $20. I'd recommend spending a bit more here as well for improved results.

$12 Aoshike 8-25V 100W TPA3116 (link to check the price on Amazon)

Amplifiers Between $20 – $50

Between $20 and $50, we have low-end mic and phono preamps, headphone and power amps, receivers and even integrated amps. Though some units are certainly better than others, most amplifiers (of all types) are subpar in this price range.