Hurrah! You sir, are a gentleman. Thank you.Let's leave it at that and drop the topic then, I'll enjoy my music and you enjoy your music, as long as we're having fun in the end it doesn't matter
Hurrah! You sir, are a gentleman. Thank you.Let's leave it at that and drop the topic then, I'll enjoy my music and you enjoy your music, as long as we're having fun in the end it doesn't matter
It's nice to see that a few companies have elegantly solved amplification for home audio. Pretty good time to be assembling a system. Multi kilobuck systems aren't measuring better these days.Conclusions
The Arthur 2408 comes in an attractive and differentiated package with very high quality connectivity. Measured performance is hugely above average although not state of the art. I could not find any weakness in its performance no matter which way I measured it -- a sign of excellent engineering. The cost is up there though for the level of power you get. Seeing how company is represented here (@boXem | audio), support should be easy as well.
Agreed, I'm a little tired of the little space heaters from the kilobuck Class A/B amps weighing over 40 lbs.It's nice to see that a few companies have elegantly solved amplification for home audio. Pretty good time to be assembling a system. Multi kilobuck systems aren't measuring better these days.
Oh I dunno...I’m gonna kind of miss the beast in the AV room. Helps make up for the other inadequacies... and I can’t afford the proverbial Porsche to fill in.. ; )Agreed, I'm a little tired of the little space heaters from the kilobuck Class A/B amps weighing over 40 lbs.
Ooooooh...VU meters!The question is where is a border line between "DIY" and small lot production.
View attachment 173107
"I really like the differentiated look of the unit with custom front panel and white case which you can see better in this shot:"This is a review and detailed measurements of the boXem ARTHUR 2408/N2 stereo class D amplifier. It was kindly sent to me by a member and costs €649.00 Tax excluded (US $735).
View attachment 172964
I really like the differentiated look of the unit with custom front panel and white case which you can see better in this shot:
View attachment 172979
Notice the ultra high quality and large binding posts and nice power switch. Input is only balanced XLR as you see. I believe the heart of the unit is Hypex NC122MP.
boXem ARTHUR 2408/N2 Measurements
The unit stabilized quickly with its performance hardly changing (I optimized the cabling after this measurement so don't worry about channel difference):
View attachment 172972
Here is our dashboard:
View attachment 172966
This level of distortion and noise (SINAD) nicely landed the amp into our "excellent" category:
View attachment 172967
Signal to noise ratio was excellent, achieving better than CD dynamic range at just 5 watts of output:
View attachment 172968
Typical of Hypex amplifiers (in a good way) is lack of load impedance dependency which plagues many budget class D amplifiers:
View attachment 172969
The 2408/N2 achieved one of the lowest crosstalk I have measured:
View attachment 172970
Multitone results are very good as well:
View attachment 172971
Let's see how much power we have:
View attachment 172974
Not a ton but it is above average as far as noise and distortion. Allowing a bit more distortion we get:
View attachment 172975
Which is right on the money as far as company specifications. Here is 8 ohm performance:
View attachment 172976
Checking for frequency dependence we see well behaved response:
View attachment 172977
But note the loss of power with 20 Hz input.
Finally, here is the switching and ultrasonic performance:
View attachment 172978
I checked the unit for temperature after all the test and could barely feel any rise above room temp on any of the surfaces.
Conclusions
The Arthur 2408 comes in an attractive and differentiated package with very high quality connectivity. Measured performance is hugely above average although not state of the art. I could not find any weakness in its performance no matter which way I measured it -- a sign of excellent engineering. The cost is up there though for the level of power you get. Seeing how company is represented here (@boXem | audio), support should be easy as well.
I am happy to recommend the boXem ARTHUR 2408/N2.
EDIT: teardown is also available: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...em-arthur-2408-n2-teardown-class-d-amp.29135/
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Ask and ye shall receive.
I did. I will. This afternoon.Ask and ye shall receive.
Finally, here is the switching and ultrasonic performance:
I checked the unit for temperature after all the test and could barely feel any rise above room temp on any of the surfaces.
need bigger meters.Ooooooh...VU meters!
I believe parasound amps are exclusively Direct coupled. But they have servo offset projection and additional protection circuits to prevent damaging speakers. I believe the Schiit Vidal is also DC, but uses microprocessors to monitor for issues and protects faster than a fuse. You can have dc and ask for no problems with such advanced protectionI doubt any company these days would make a direct coupled amp. You're just asking for problems.
Indeed. If it’s a hobby, ie for fun, that’s cool and the gang. But outside of that the time i would need to assemble it would be worth more than $300 or $500 to come anywhere close to the build quality of this unit. peopke sometimes forget that labor and expertise are not free! Well done.It never fails to amuse me when I read complaints to the effect of: "$1,200?? Robbery!! I could buy the components and the case for only $900 and assemble it myself!!"
Many of us are not hobbyists interested in soldering, screwing tiny screws and sanding off sharp edges. I'd never be able to assemble a working model at all, myself, even with excellent detailed instructions.
Is it also serving as a massive ground plane with perhaps a dollop of shielding for the line level? Running the line level in a single plane on a board with a huge ground plane may reduce potential noise issues a long , arching ribbon cable might be more prone to. It’s these sorts of things that matterYes, it's nicer looking than 2x20 cm of ribbon cable .
Glad I’m not living in a flat next to your flat.It's not real powerful, but keep in mind that a lot of people have been quite happy with GFA-535s and smaller Hafler amps and they're only marginally more powerful.
It's a little pricey, but if a 60 watt (into 8 ohms) amplifier is sufficient (and in a small room with reasonable speakers, it probably is), this would seem to be a very reasonable choice.