Audiophonics HPA-S400ET Class D Purifi amp

[hansik]

Anybody in search for a Purifi amp for 1500 euros incl taxes?
https://www.audiophonics.fr/en/powe...ass-d-stereo-purifi-2x400w-4-ohm-p-14393.html

 

[TabCam]

I can attest for the value and sound quality.

 

[TabCam]

Just to give you a quick impression. I listened to the HPA-400ET (with OPA275) on both my sets. One is with Usher Mini Dancers 2 mkII. They are diffiicult to drive for a lot of amps and used a Anthem I225 in combination with a laptop Win10 and Chord Hugo to drive it before. The HPA-S400ET drove it easily, even with bypass. Used about 15W and when pushed to 30W to 80dB. I think it was an improvement in all areas, but did not do any ABX testing.

The other set is with quite efficent PureAudioProject Quintet 15 Horn1 loudspeakers. They are said to be 96 dB. They are much more revealing than the Ushers. They showed the biggest difference. Bass is more prominent and there seems to be a lot less distortion. Before with the Anthem I225 with certain songs I felt a little uneasy. With the Purifi amplifier that is all gone. Bass is goes lower and is very well controlled.

 

[TabCam]

A few photos of the outside and inside of the Audiophonics HPA-400ET

 

[TabCam]

Maybe also good to tell which other amplifiers I have experience with beside the Anthem I225. I also have played with an IMG StageLine 2000d with pascal class d amplifiers. I needed to bi-amp the Ushers to drive them properly. I also drove the Ushers with an NAD M27 with more than enough power. I also drove the Ushers with an Arcam AVR600 but needed to bi-amp also.

With the PAP Quintet 15 Horn1 I used the Arcam AVR550, Anthem I225 and a Hypex NCore 250 and all of them were powerful enough. They all were bested by a friend's Tripath 2022 DIY amplifier. Unfortunately I cannot compare that amplifier to the AudioPhonics HPA-S400ET due to the Covid-19 crisis. I reckon they are close.

 

[TomJ]

The layout has longer signal and power wires than necessary. It could be improved by turning the PS around and moving it to the left side, moving the boards to the right closer to the rear panel and rotated so the buffer faces the rear panel, and moving the connectors on the rear panel to align with their internal connection points. That would be more consistent with the layout in their 4 ch 1ET400A amp. The Purifi EVAL1 layout is even cleaner with no signal wires at all, impressive.

 

[spacebar]

@TabCam do you hear any hiss from the speakers? I recently had a NAD M10 with a Hypex NC252MP which gave me hiss.

Cheers.

 

[TabCam]

No, no hiss that stuck out. Yesterday I was fooled by a recording "Green Light" by Sarah Jarosz. At about 2 min in the song I thought I heard something lightly rattling but it seems to be in recording as I also hear it on my other set . I had a hiss with my Anthem/Arcam AVR550 combination on the Ushers.

Have checked to make sure but no hiss at all . that is with no music playing, the AudioPhonics HPA-QS400ET and the Arcam AVR550 on.

 

[spacebar]

That’s awesome Considering using it with the SGD1 Dac, but still browsing.

How do you turn it on? I has trigger port or does it have signal trigger? Couldn’t find any information on the site. I can see 2 trigger ports but no documentation.

One good thing tho about the hiss/noise issue with the NAD M10 is that I was able to identify a bad power supply from my Logitech harmony hub. It made a woodpecker sound-ish, like 3 knocks then a pause and 3 knocks again. Never heard that before with other amps.

Things like this is above my knowledge, but do you know if the noise being picked up comes from the Hypex NC252MP or is it the construction of the amp itself?

 

[TabCam]

There are no triggers unfortunately. I bought it because I thought it had a trigger but fortunately it doesn't use a lot of idle power (16W). NordAcoustics makes a version with a 12V trigger for those interested.

With regards to noise, you can try a few things; disconnect everything else and listen if the noise is present. If there is still noise, than it is the Hypex NC252MP amplifier. If not, attach the next device and test again for noise. That way you should be able to find out the culprit.

 

[spacebar]

Okey. I thought about buying this https://www.audiophonics.fr/en/powe...v-230v-slave-power-supply-device-p-10661.html but the dac doesn’t have trigger so it becomes useless.

thanks for the info tho

 

[Matias]

An eco strip like this one below works great for powering devices on without trigger. For example, plug the DAC into the master outlet, and when the DAC turns on, the strip turns on the slave outlets with the amplifiers. DAC turns off, strip turns off the amplifiers.

https://www.amazon.com/Tripp-Lite-Protector-Protection-AV88SATG/dp/B0084PKCGA/

 

[ironhorse128]

There are no triggers unfortunately. I bought it because I thought it had a trigger but fortunately it doesn't use a lot of idle power (16W).

I kind of disagree. 16 W idle power is quite a lot. Each watt costs you at about 2.5€ per year if its always on (German prices).
Are you sure about the 16W? Where does this number comes from?

 

[spacebar]

I kind of disagree. 16 W idle power is quite a lot. Each watt costs you at about 2.5€ per year if its always on (German prices).
Are you sure about the 16W? Where does this number comes from?

I concur. I think in eu the max watt in standby mode is 2-3 watt.

 

[spacebar]

An eco strip like this one below works great for powering devices on without trigger. For example, plug the DAC into the master outlet, and when the DAC turns on, the strip turns on the slave outlets with the amplifiers. DAC turns off, strip turns off the amplifiers.

https://www.amazon.com/Tripp-Lite-Protector-Protection-AV88SATG/dp/B0084PKCGA/

Yeah I was just looking at this one https://www.audiophonics.fr/en/powe...ckets-with-master-slave-function-p-14441.html it should work

 

[SIY]

@TabCam do you hear any hiss from the speakers? I recently had a NAD M10 with a Hypex NC252MP which gave me hiss.

Cheers.

That's interesting- were you able to confirm that the M10 was the source of the hiss? I have one here and it's absolutely dead silent.

 

[spacebar]

That's interesting- were you able to confirm that the M10 was the source of the hiss? I have one here and it's absolutely dead silent.

Well I did disconnect everything except the amp and it did still hiss. I’ve been using the same cables and speakers for years with other amps but no hiss. I tried some other speaker cables too just to be sure, but made no difference.
I don’t have any special power conditioner or power cables etc, but it might be my setup. I’m no power expert, but my conclusion was just based on the experience between my other amps and the M10.

Do you use any filtering, conditioner etc? I’m in Europe btw, 230V.

 

[SIY]

Do you use any filtering, conditioner etc?

Yes, but nothing fancy- it's a Tripplite Isotel Ultra, which is mostly there for surge protection.

 

[spacebar]

@SIY okey. I don’t have the M10 anymore so I can’t do any more tests. But it would be interesting to find out what caused the hissing.

 

[Willem]

I use a master slave power strip, with the RME ADI-2 as master. The Adi is a bit too frugal so I have to add my Chromecasts Audio. Between them they consume enough to switch the slave sockets with my power amp and a few other things. It works a treat.