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).
I really like the differentiated look of the unit with custom front panel and white case which you can see better in this shot:
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):
Here is our dashboard:
This level of distortion and noise (SINAD) nicely landed the amp into our "excellent" category:
Signal to noise ratio was excellent, achieving better than CD dynamic range at just 5 watts of output:
Typical of Hypex amplifiers (in a good way) is lack of load impedance dependency which plagues many budget class D amplifiers:
The 2408/N2 achieved one of the lowest crosstalk I have measured:
Multitone results are very good as well:
Let's see how much power we have:
Not a ton but it is above average as far as noise and distortion. Allowing a bit more distortion we get:
Which is right on the money as far as company specifications. Here is 8 ohm performance:
Checking for frequency dependence we see well behaved response:
But note the loss of power with 20 Hz input.
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.
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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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
I really like the differentiated look of the unit with custom front panel and white case which you can see better in this shot:
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):
Here is our dashboard:
This level of distortion and noise (SINAD) nicely landed the amp into our "excellent" category:
Signal to noise ratio was excellent, achieving better than CD dynamic range at just 5 watts of output:
Typical of Hypex amplifiers (in a good way) is lack of load impedance dependency which plagues many budget class D amplifiers:
The 2408/N2 achieved one of the lowest crosstalk I have measured:
Multitone results are very good as well:
Let's see how much power we have:
Not a ton but it is above average as far as noise and distortion. Allowing a bit more distortion we get:
Which is right on the money as far as company specifications. Here is 8 ohm performance:
Checking for frequency dependence we see well behaved response:
But note the loss of power with 20 Hz input.
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.
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/
-----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
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