If I’m very honest with a cap upgrade the amp measures and sounds the same as with stock caps. The main difference is that the SAMHWA caps which are stock on most Hypex modules have a lifespan of around 5.000 hours and the Rubycon or Nichicon caps that we use have a lifespan of around 20.000 hours. The only caps that make a difference are the output caps on NC2K, NC500 and NC400 modules. Originally Hypex was using very good Polypropylene caps from WIMA on NC2K and NC400 modules. This is not the case anymore. Now they use far cheaper output caps. The only module that still has the very good output caps is the NC1200. I believe that because of the output caps that are used nowadays on the NC400 module for instance, it doesn’t measure as good anymore like it measured in the ASR review.
Thanks for this. Too bad this didn't end the discussion. A couple of questions:
- Do the Purifi modules use the better caps?
- Does the lifespan include idle time? I leave my amps ON all the time, so this is worrying.
- Did the launch timing of Purifi modules happen to coincide with the downgrade of caps on those Hypex modules?
Thank you @amirm for the teardown and thanks to whoever noticed the downgraded caps. At least now its clear what Hypex has been up to and helps me reach two conclusions - which modules to choose/avoid and which manufacturers (assemblers) to avoid/choose.