Audiophonics HPA-S400ET Review (Stereo Amplifier)

[nemesis.ie]

Mine is listing as out for delivery on UPS (4 channel). They initially showed yesterday (which would have been next day) and then it changed to today.

Emotiva use the same stupid blue power LEDs too, you can turn off the channel LED but not the power one on theirs. ‍

I wonder given the ease of getting inside, can the power to the Audiophics LED just be disconnected? If it's on spade connectors that would be great.

A switch at the rear in the future would be great to see.

 

[KMO]

Emotiva use the same stupid blue power LEDs too, you can turn off the channel LED but not the power one on theirs. ‍

I thought we'd finally seen the back of the "Wow Check Out These Amazing New Blue LEDs!" trend of the 2010s, where they were being used for every application, no matter how inappropriate. (Made me quite sweary at times.)

My Apollon amp at least has a white LED that can be discreetly dimmed or disabled via a little switch.

 

[nemesis.ie]

Yes, one of the reasons Apollon are on my list for a 12-ch if I like this Audiophonics.

 

[fourdogslong]

I wonder given the ease of getting inside, can the power to the Audiophics LED just be disconnected? If it's on spade connectors that would be great.

A switch at the rear in the future would be great to see.

From the pictures it seems to be soldered.
I've seen that one can add a resistor to dim a led, if you're handy with soldering that could be an option.

 

[nemesis.ie]

Bummer, but could do that yes - Or just cut a wire maybe? Desoldering one of them might be the best option, maybe putting a switch inline, even if it's inside.
This one is for the rear of the room so may not be an issue.
Bonus: lovely glowing blue 1990s disco (and "modern" Mercedes) look ..... um, NOT!

 

[Overseas]

Not looking for trouble here just asking: when I inquired on another audio forum in my country on the popularity of Hypex/ Purifi amps, I was told that these solutions are probably not good enough as brand producers do not yet adopt them in active speakers?! more argumentation was 'probably' these digital modules are not good enough for 'medium and highs'.
Do you have any idea what is this all about?

 

[nemesis.ie]

Have a look at "Kii Audio" speakers ... they have 6 of them (Purifi) in each speaker ... along with Purifi drivers.

Kii Audio - The Most Advanced Speakers in the World

Kii Audio’s handcrafted speakers represent decades of research and intelligently integrated technology. The result is the most advanced speakers in the world.

www.kiiaudio.com

What it's about is "certain brands" or " certain audiophiles" not accepting that cooler running, better measuring amps at great prices can be as good or better than their current gear or "overpriced" stuff (including plain old snake-oil) in the "boutique brands" catalogues.

Check out Amir's reviews on YT and compare the measurements to class A, A/B and valve amps.

 

[fourdogslong]

Not looking for trouble here just asking: when I inquired on another audio forum in my country on the popularity of Hypex/ Purifi amps, I was told that these solutions are probably not good enough as brand producers do not yet adopt them in active speakers?! more argumentation was 'probably' these digital modules are not good enough for 'medium and highs'.
Do you have any idea what is this all about?

The pro line of Amphion speakers which are now used by a lot of pro sound engineer including myself use class D amplifiers in their amps.
They used to be Anaview and are now Hypex.

 

[nemesis.ie]

UPS just arrived - but I have to go out ...

 

[Overseas]

No rush for me but looking (...down to the rabbit hole IF) to upgrade from Yamaha RN803D for standfloors ?
Say 700-1000 Euro budget, Europe location, looking between some used Yamaha AS1000/ 2000 vs. some plug-n-play new digital amp (Hypex ? Purifi ?) to be used with a Topping E30. What would be the most plug-n-play & best sounding digital in this budget ? Is it mature enough technology or should I wait ?

 

[nemesis.ie]

These Hypex/Purifi are not digital amps, there is no DAC in them. They are solely power amps. Analogue in, amplified analogue out.

 

[nemesis.ie]

Sadly things are not going well with the new amp.

First impressions - and I've not even got to listen to it.

On the + side:

1. The build seems solid, the surface treatment is very anti-fingerprint. Yay!
2. The front panel light is actually a pleasant white halo, but still ought to have an option to turn it off.
3. Nice enough fabric protection bag inside the final box and it came double-boxed.

On the - side:

1. There seems to be an additional large blue LED on each of the modules, visible through the slots in the case, probably not Audiophonics fault as they likely come on the 1ET400 modules. Purifi should use a tiny, not too bright SMD one if they really think they need it. Can it be cut off and not ruin it/void the warranty.

2. With the processor turned off, the very low level of tweeter hiss is almost gone, but with the SSP on, the tweeter his is still very obvious and just reduced a little.
This could be because the gain is set to the highest option, I did ask for it to be set to "Trinnov Altitude 32 compatible" and that note is on the invoice I was emailed, however there is no indication as to if this was done and if so, what it was set to, maybe I should have requested "bypass" but again, no documentation as to what it was set to at all.

3. No user guide of any kind, even a single A4 sheet with pics of the connections (for newbies) and stating the gain that is set or the jumper settings would have been nice to see. Edit: From peering in, it does look like it might be on "by-pass" - I'll need to remove the lid to be sure though.

4. This is where things get unpleasant; they have chosen to use some really tiny (2.5mm?) hex head screws to hold the case on and of course I don't have the right bit and don't want to use a suitably sized flat-blade screwdriver. Torx would be much better - and of course I have a set of those. Thus I can't get the lid off to check the gain settings. Doh!

5. Some softer feet would be nice, they are very hard plastic and could perhaps scuff the top of anything delictate (like other hi-fi gear) they are placed on.

So it's off to Amazon for maybe a Sunday (earliest) delivery of some hex bits to see if it's on a higher gain setting and hope it is an moving to bypass fixes the hiss.

Now where was that post with the jumper settings ... I couldn't see them on the Audiphonics product page...

Got to love this "hobby"!

 

[tmtomh]

Sadly things are not going well with the new amp.

First impressions - and I've not even got to listen to it.

On the + side:

1. The build seems solid, the surface treatment is very anti-fingerprint. Yay!
2. The front panel light is actually a pleasant white halo, but still ought to have an option to turn it off.
3. Nice enough fabric protection bag inside the final box and it came double-boxed.

On the - side:

1. There seems to be an additional large blue LED on each of the modules, visible through the slots in the case, probably not Audiophonics fault as they likely come on the 1ET400 modules. Purifi should use a tiny, not too bright SMD one if they really think they need it. Can it be cut off and not ruin it/void the warranty.

2. With the processor turned off, the very low level of tweeter hiss is almost gone, but with the SSP on, the tweeter his is still very obvious and just reduced a little.
This could be because the gain is set to the highest option, I did ask for it to be set to "Trinnov Altitude 32 compatible" and that note is on the invoice I was emailed, however there is no indication as to if this was done and if so, what it was set to, maybe I should have requested "bypass" but again, no documentation as to what it was set to at all.

3. No user guide of any kind, even a single A4 sheet with pics of the connections (for newbies) and stating the gain that is set or the jumper settings would have been nice to see.

4. This is where things get unpleasant; they have chosen to use some really tiny (2.5mm?) hex head screws to hold the case on and of course I don't have the right bit and don't want to use a suitably sized flat-blade screwdriver. Torx would be much better - and of course I have a set of those. Thus I can't get the lid off to check the gain settings. Doh!

5. Some softer feet would be nice, they are very hard plastic and could perhaps scuff the top of anything delictate (like other hi-fi gear) they are placed on.

So it's off to Amazon for maybe a Sunday (earliest) delivery of some hex bits to see if it's on a higher gain setting and hope it is an moving to bypass fixes the hiss.

No where was that post with the jumper settings ... I couldn't see them on the Audiphonics product page...

Got to love this "hobby"!

Set Gain & Bypass on Purifi Amplifier module - Audiophonics Blog

Find the blog of Audiophonics!

www.audiophonics.fr

RE the tweeter hiss, if the hiss increases significantly when you power on a component upstream from the amplifier, then that means the hiss is coming from the upstream component and merely being amplified by the amplifier, yes?

 

[nemesis.ie]

Update - peering in the slots it looks like the jumpers are at 1-2 which would be bypass mode, that doesn't bode well for the hiss issue and makes it look more likely it's a Trinnov issue. I'll have to take the lid off to be sure though.

@tmtomh Yes, however, if you can lower the amplifiers gain, that also then lowers the hiss. So if the source's voltage is high (as the Trinnov's is) you get less hiss but can still drive the amp to full power.

There is a bit less hiss as mentioned, but it's certainly not silent, the speakers were silent with my Emotiva amps and Yahama CX-A5100 so a another chat with Trinnov may be in my future.

Thanks for the link, I had already found it.

 

[fourdogslong]

Update - peering in the slots it looks like the jumpers are at 1-2 which would be bypass mode, that doesn't bode well for the hiss issue and makes it look more likely it's a Trinnov issue. I'll have to take the lid off to be sure though.

@tmtomh Yes, however, if you can lower the amplifiers gain, that also then lowers the hiss. So if the source's voltage is high (as the Trinnov's is) you get less hiss but can still drive the amp to full power.

There is a bit less hiss as mentioned, but it's certainly not silent, the speakers were silent with my Emotiva amps and Yahama CX-A5100 so a another chat with Trinnov may be in my future.

Thanks for the link, I had already found it.

So you're getting hiss with nothing plugged into the amp, just amp to speaker with nothing else?

Do you know how sensitive your speakers are?

 

[anphex]

Not looking for trouble here just asking: when I inquired on another audio forum in my country on the popularity of Hypex/ Purifi amps, I was told that these solutions are probably not good enough as brand producers do not yet adopt them in active speakers?! more argumentation was 'probably' these digital modules are not good enough for 'medium and highs'.
Do you have any idea what is this all about?

Because manufacturers mostly want profit, and the top tier Hypex and Purifi amp modules are really expensive compared to other modules. An active speaker having those would probably just start at 1k $. So what would you do? Build an active speaker with a pretty decent amp module that costs 20 $ or a superb amp module that costs 300 $ and sacrifice profit?

Oh and regarding the light "issue". Guys, Hypex SMPS usually have a dedicated light pin out. You can just unplug it. I didn't think of it when I first opened up. So just open them, unplug the light wire and close it up. Problem solved

 

[tmtomh]

Not looking for trouble here just asking: when I inquired on another audio forum in my country on the popularity of Hypex/ Purifi amps, I was told that these solutions are probably not good enough as brand producers do not yet adopt them in active speakers?! more argumentation was 'probably' these digital modules are not good enough for 'medium and highs'.
Do you have any idea what is this all about?

What you were told does not make any sense, given that brand producers routinely use Class D amps in active speakers - and the amps they use in those active speakers generally measure less well than Hypex NCore and Purifi amps. The reason active speaker brands tend to use Class D amps that are inferior to NCore and Purifi is cost.

So it's not that Class D isn't yet good enough - it's the converse: it's plenty good enough, and some pretty significant brands have concluded that the best Class D amp modules are *more* than good enough and on that basis have decided that 2nd-tier Class D modules (in terms of measurements, anyway) are good enough.

 

[tmtomh]

Don't forget that if you get hiss from a power amplifier when another component is connected to the amplifier but that component is turned off, that hiss can possibly be caused by a ground loop.

I had that exact experience with my Audiophonics HPA-S400ET power amp:

- Amp turned on, Oppo UDP-205 connected to amp but Oppo turned off = low-level hiss from speakers.
- Amp and Oppo both turned on = more hiss from tweeters (still low-level but definitely louder)
- Temporarily lifted the ground of the Oppo by plugging it into a 3-prong to 2-prong "cheater" plug = zero hiss from speakers

The surprising takeaway for me was that the ground loop was not only transmitting a very faint 60Hz AC line hum, but also that seemingly "normal" hiss, which I had thought was just the self-noise of the components. It turned out that the amp had zero audible self-noise, and that when the Oppo was turned on, even with the amp in its highest-gain mode, the self-noise hiss coming from the Oppo and going through the amp and my tweeters was barely audible, about 1/10th of what it had been before I addressed the ground loop.

(FYI, I did not operate the Oppo, or even power the Oppo on, or touch its case, when it was temporarily connected to the cheater plug. Once I concluded the issue was a ground loop, I removed the cheater plug and purchased a ground isolator and used that instead.)

 

[fourdogslong]

Oh and regarding the light "issue". Guys, Hypex SMPS usually have a dedicated light pin out. You can just unplug it. I didn't think of it when I first opened up. So just open them, unplug the light wire and close it up. Problem solved

That's smart, thanks for the tip!

 

[nemesis.ie]

Don't forget that if you get hiss from a power amplifier when another component is connected to the amplifier but that component is turned off, that hiss can possibly be caused by a ground loop.

Most interesting, if that's the same situation for me, that would indicate something in the Altitude 32 causing it, as the Yamaha CX-A5100 did not have the problem.

Trinnov effectively said "buy our amps you won't have hiss" when I asked them about it ...

I'll have to do some more testing it seems.

What isolator did you use?

As an aside, I'm using attenutators on the other amps which help somewhat, I've yet to try some (different values) on the Audiophonics, I was hoping to get rid of them though.

I've also tried an XLR inline isolation transformer in the past to no avail, but will try it with the new amp anyway to see what happens.