[Listening Test] Audio Bricks, modular HiFi components on building bricks!

Audio Bricks® modular HiFi components

Power to the imagination!

Product: Audio Bricks® modular components & integrated amp
Manufacturer: Audio Bricks® - Italy
Price: variable (see text below)
Reviewer: Lucio Cadeddu - TNT-Audio Italy
Reviewed: May, 2026

Introduction

The world of Hi‑Fi often moves in circles, endlessly revisiting circuit topologies that are decades old, and aesthetics that lean more toward design than function. It's rare to come across something genuinely new - or even just unusual. DIY audio is also slowing down because - loudspeakers aside - it now costs less to buy ready‑made ChiFi devices than to build everything from scratch, often with worse results. And of course, true DIY requires experience, manual skills, and the ability to solder properly.

So, after creating a beautiful platter‑less turntable - the Atmo Sfera - Paolo Caviglia, an electronic and electromechanical designer, together with Irene Caviglia, an industrial product designer, came up with an idea as bizarre as it is revolutionary: what if anyone could build the Hi‑Fi component they want at home, in just a few minutes, with the content, shape, and colours they prefer, simply by using building bricks, pre‑assembled modules, and without soldering anything?

A streamer, a headphone amp, an integrated amplifier...just minutes from idea to pressing play! This is how the Audio Bricks® project was born, now available for advantageous funding on Kickstarter, based on this new concept. You can use any kind of building bricks and a series of patented adapters (see photo below), made by Audio Bricks, to handle connections, switches, and everything needed to make a Hi‑Fi component work.

Naturally, if the urge to play with building bricks isn't irresistible, you can simply buy ready‑made, plug & play components. Currently available are an audio streamer, a headphone amplifier, a small loudspeaker, a complete music centre, and - coming soon - the integrated amplifier I received for review (possibly with different boards upon customer request). With the Audio Bricks system, you have three possible approaches: 100% pure DIY (electronics and cabinet) - ready‑made boards with a cabinet built from scratch - or a finished product. Prices for finished components are extremely reasonable: €470 for the music centre and €169 for the headphone amp. Kit prices are much lower, depending on the level of assembly required. And you don't even need to buy the bricks if you already have them at home.

As for power supplies, you can simply use ones you already have at home. The Audio Bricks philosophy embraces recycling and minimizing shipping costs. You can even use smartphone chargers. Quoting directly from the Audio Bricks technical documentation:

“Today's smartphone chargers are “smart”, meaning they can deliver voltages up to 20 V and currents up to 3 A when interrogated via the USB‑C connection, which also provides battery‑charging voltage. Our system includes a slot that houses a Power Delivery Controller PCB, which requests the correct supply voltage from the charger for the connected circuit. If the hobbyist only has a classic 5 V fixed‑output charger, we provide a frame with a boost switching power supply that delivers single or dual voltages to the circuit, as needed.”

Inside, you can really let your imagination run wild: the standard PCBs that fit into the snap‑in adapters all use JST connectors - different for signal, power, and control - making them foolproof and accessible to everyone. Standard assembly requires absolutely no soldering or modification. Aside from the external power supply, there are no limits to the quality or type of component you can build: a small Class A, AB, or D amplifier, a NOS DAC, or anything else your imagination can conjure. Audio Bricks is essentially a platform you can play with endlessly.

Finally, and importantly, all Audio Bricks components are entirely made in Italy.

In this video you can see how quickly and easily you can build a streamer, for example:

The integrated amplifier

The component I received is an integrated amplifier based on an after-market Class D board using the familiar TPA3116. Lifting the plastic lid of the colorful cube reveals the board, equipped with a volume potentiometer, a line input, and an output. It's not a proprietary board but a generic, fully assembled module you can buy anywhere for about ten euros. The sound, therefore, depends entirely on the board and the power supply used. I received two: a larger 19 V unit and a smaller 15 V one. It's well known that the TPA3116 chip can deliver high output power with adequate voltage, but often a less powerful supply allows the chip to sound more refined.

I compared it with a Fosi V3, but as mentioned, the sound is only a side note here - the idea is what matters. Buy any ready‑made board, build a cabinet around it, plug in the power supply, and you're done.

The sound is the familiar one of TPA3116‑based amplifiers, with the usual variations due to the (minimal) surrounding passive components. In short: good resolution in the mid‑high range, sufficient bass extension, and good control with solid impact despite the low output power available from the supplied PSUs. With 19 V, the sound gains power and punch but becomes a bit grainy and loses some timbral coherence, which returns when using the 15 V supply.

The comparison with the Fosi V3 - powered here at 32 V - is obviously unfavourable across the board. The V3 continues to prove itself (I hadn't listened to it in a while!) an excellent amplifier, complete and without obvious flaws, especially considering its low price. Without the direct comparison, however, the good old TPA3116 holds its own, and it's certainly impressive to hear so much sound, both in quantity and quality, coming from a colourful little cube made of building bricks. And of course, nothing stops you from swapping this 3116 board for a V3‑style one (i.e., TPA3255), which can be found everywhere for a few dozen euros (see here), often with perfectly respectable components (Nichicon, etc.). The brick‑built cabinet can be easily adapted.

Despite the absence of a metal enclosure around the board, I noticed no interference issues, either picked up or induced. In short, the idea is solid - it's up to your creativity to turn it into a great‑sounding object built to your taste. Now we just have to wait to try some finished Audio Bricks® components, the ones with proprietary electronics.

Remarks

All Audio Bricks circuits must be powered with SELV (Safety Extra Low Voltage). Audio Bricks has reduced the maximum threshold prescribed by the harmonized standard EN 60364‑4‑41 to the level required for humid environments: 25 V AC and 60 V DC. This obviously limits, for example, the maximum power of amplifiers that can be safely built.
A component made of building bricks is naturally very attractive to small humans wandering around the house. Once the project is complete, it may be wise to glue the top and bottom plates to avoid damage or accidental disassembly.
The target audience for Audio Bricks is limited; we all know audiophiles love chrome, wood, brushed steel, and components weighing dozens of kilos. These products, instead, are meant for those who care about substance (i.e. sound) and enjoy unleashing their creativity.
These components are necessarily lightweight, making them easy victims of thick, heavy cables that could tip them over - unless you add a heavy base to which the brick structure can be attached.
Of course, there's a limit to the types of boards you can use. For instance, models that run at high temperatures - such as Class A devices - may generate enough heat to soften or even melt the plastic bricks.

Conclusions

I'm genuinely delighted by the birth of this idea, both fun and revolutionary, which could give a fresh boost to easy DIY while simultaneously drawing new attention to the Hi‑Fi world, thanks to the fact that Audio Bricks are design objects but, above all, ideas that materialize according to the taste and inventiveness of each creator. Imagination to the power, as they used to say. I can only congratulate Paolo and Irene Caviglia for this breath of fresh innovation - something we truly needed.

Did you enjoy this article? You can support our free, advertising-free magazine with a small Paypal donation using the button below. Thank you!

DISCLAIMER. TNT-Audio is neither a shop, nor a HiFi company or a repair laboratory for HiFi components. We don't sell anything. It is a 100% independent magazine that neither accepts advertising from companies nor requires readers to register or pay for subscriptions. If you wish, you can support our independent reviews via a PayPal donation. After publication of reviews, the authors do not retain samples other than on long-term loan for further evaluation or comparison with later-received gear. Hence, all contents are written free of any “editorial” or “advertising” influence, and all reviews in this publication, positive or negative, reflect the independent opinions of their respective authors. TNT-Audio will publish all manufacturer responses, subject to the reviewer's right to reply in turn.