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Advice needed: moving to class D

Galliardist

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Wow, that Marantz Model 30 is pretty pricey. Nice, but woof...up there, for 100 wpc.
If you check the measurements around the web, it puts out a lot more than 100 watts and will drive pretty much anything.
Low distortion but high SNR by modern standards, and I'm led to believe it has an excellent phono stage. It's a one stop shop class D amp for the vinyl camp and those who prefer to buy old school integrated amplifiers from bricks and mortar dealers, it's not such a bad option.
 
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Bob21

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Technically no, but the UK didn't go anywhere geographically. :)

I think Audiophonics still work out cheaper for amps based on the equivalent Hypex module when compared to those from either Nord or Apollon.
Yeah but now we’ll get slammed +20% at the border automatically and another lot on top if over ~£135 for duty! Would have to work out the import costs and tally it up.

One thing you can be sure of though with any EU units is that the electrical safety will be on point!

I really like the look of some of those Nord units. Any recommendations there?
 

Count Arthur

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Yeah but now we’ll get slammed +20% at the border automatically and another lot on top if over ~£135 for duty! Would have to work out the import costs and tally it up.

One thing you can be sure of though with any EU units is that the electrical safety will be on point!

I really like the look of some of those Nord units. Any recommendations there?
That kind of depends on what power output you were looking for and what you were looking to spend.

At the low end: https://www.nordacoustics.co.uk/nord-one-hypex-ncore-mpxxx-stereo-p

If you want lots of power, ~700w into 8ohms: https://www.nordacoustics.co.uk/nc1200

If you want the latest Purifi amp module based models, ~227w into 8ohms: https://www.nordacoustics.co.uk/purifi1et400aamplifiers

Personally, I wouldn't spend extra for the discrete op amp, Sparkos and Sonic Labs, based models, Amir's testing would suggest that they don't offer any real performace benefit over the lower priced IC based items.
 

antcollinet

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Yeah but now we’ll get slammed +20% at the border automatically and another lot on top if over ~£135 for duty! Would have to work out the import costs and tally it up.

One thing you can be sure of though with any EU units is that the electrical safety will be on point!

I really like the look of some of those Nord units. Any recommendations there?
But theoretically - it should be shipped free of that 20% from the supplier. You shouldn't have to pay the VAT twice. And I believe customs duty for audio products is 1% - though you might want to check.

Will also need to consider a fee of around £10-£12 for the shipping handler to collect the taxes.
 

somebodyelse

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What is post-filter feedback? Why is it a good thing?
It adds a feedback path from after the output filter which isn't present in more basic implementations. This reduces distortion from the output filter, and reduces the variability of the top end frequency response with different load impedances, but requires a bit more care in implementation to avoid instability. There's more detailed discussion and before/after measurements in TI's application note:
https://www.ti.com/lit/an/slaa788a/slaa788a.pdf

Regarding hypex suppliers in the UK, KJF Audio is another option. Their multichannel one has been reviewed which should give you an idea of their build quality. They also have stereo and mono builds, plus the FusionAmp plate amps if you want some DSP. I think they used to do UcD models as well as nCore, but I don't see them listed any more.
 

antcollinet

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But theoretically - it should be shipped free of that 20% from the supplier. You shouldn't have to pay the VAT twice. And I believe customs duty for audio products is 1% - though you might want to check.

Will also need to consider a fee of around £10-£12 for the shipping handler to collect the taxes.

Looks like the duty rate is 0% for audio amplifiers, if I've looked this up correctly:
 
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Bob21

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I haven’t decided on much yet but what I have done is let curiosity get the better of me. I ordered that Brzhifi!

It can go in the kitchen with some mediocre speakers. However.. I’m really quite impressed! Not only is the build quality really good, but the case is a matte almost rubbery feeling metal, it’s very heavy and inside looks pretty tidy.. note that the earth issue has been resolved as well as seperated PCBs.

4292DCE9-A460-4611-9452-EB23F5BC9B62.jpeg


71B0801F-8C48-4648-A0C5-017266886828.jpeg


I’m quite happy to leave this as is and plug it in.

I might hook it up to the B&Ws just to see how good/bad it is!
 
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Bob21

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The AliExpress link I mentioned in the first post. You want one, don’t you? :p
 

Joe Smith

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Looks pretty nice. Nice to have the power supply inside and with the venting on the top of the case. I think the Aiyima a07 should have had some venting, especially with the caps in it so close to the heatsink.
 

Jdunk54nl

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Looks pretty nice. Nice to have the power supply inside and with the venting on the top of the case. I think the Aiyima a07 should have had some venting, especially with the caps in it so close to the heatsink.
Took about 5 minutes and a dremel with cut off blade on my Aiyima to add some vents on top and bottom.
 
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Bob21

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Yeah they seem to have designed it pretty well. The only thing I am slightly disappointed about is that I was hoping there would be enough room inside to mount an Acrylic V3 mini and use a step down board to power it. That won’t happen.
 

antcollinet

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The AliExpress link I mentioned in the first post. You want one, don’t you? :p
My son might.

Or he might wait to see what Topping is about to release.
 

Count Arthur

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Topping? A manufacturer?
Yes, take a look at the reviews on this site. When it comes to DACs and headphone amps the Topping have consistantly measured well and are at or near the top of the charts in some measurements. I believe there's a power amplifier in the pipeline and it will be interesting to see if achieves a similar performance to their other products.
 

antcollinet

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Topping? A manufacturer?
See these posts from our local topping rep:


And

 
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