Emotiva XPA HC-1 Amplifier Review

[DMill]

$ 879 x 2 = $ 1,758 for a two channel amplifier. Not competitive with Purifi and Hypex, by a few orders of magnitude.

Thank you Amir for steering us away from wasting our hard earned and saved money on these offers: they are at least a decade old as far as electronic SOTA.

The cost I see in the States is $399. They give a $100 discount of each if you buy 2. So $600 for a pair of them.

EDIT: my apologies. I’m looking at a different amp from Emotiva only rated to 200 watts and not tested.

 

[audiotron]

Chinese designed and made products it seems like. I don't think they have and engineering in US.

 

[Ziroz]

Chinese designed and made products it seems like. I don't think they have and engineering in US.

"Designed and Assembled in the USA"

 

[audiotron]

"Designed and Assembled in the USA"

The board has too many thru hole parts next to the SMD parts. US contract manufacturers don't like that too much because it is labor intensive and expensive. I believe parts and boards come kitted from China and they just assemble everything in the enclosure here.

 

[Ziroz]

The board has too many thru hole parts next to the SMD parts. US contract manufacturers don't like that too much because it is labor intensive and expensive. I believe parts and boards come kitted from China and they just assemble everything in the enclosure here.

Emphasis on the "Designed in the USA" part

I don't think they have and engineering in US.

 

[gvl]

I currently use a pair of XPA-1 Gen2s, I’m pleased with their sound and would be interested to see the performance, but they are big heavy beasts with no handles, so I’m going to spare Amir’s back by keeping them home

 

[PeteL]

$ 879 x 2 = $ 1,758 for a two channel amplifier. Not competitive with Purifi and Hypex, by a few orders of magnitude.

Thank you Amir for steering us away from wasting our hard earned and saved money on these offers: they are at least a decade old as far as electronic SOTA.

Sure it don’t compete with Purifi and Hypex, since those two companies don’t make or sell amplifiers.
Now yes, It is true that the existance of these OEM modules did open a market for a serie of very aggressively priced DIY style power amps, By selling direct, and with extremely light company structure, often a one man thing operated from home, as a consumer you do get an excellent deal with these, but still this here at about 1.20$ a Watt is still extremely competitive. Even with a regular distribution and retail model. Look when Nad use one of these modules. To be honest even the Buckeyes, Nord, etc, They're in this same price range, certainly not “A few orders of magnitude” If you know what that means.

 

[PeteL]

The board has too many thru hole parts next to the SMD parts. US contract manufacturers don't like that too much because it is labor intensive and expensive. I believe parts and boards come kitted from China and they just assemble everything in the enclosure here.

Strange, I don’t live in the US, but it is not the case for Canada. There are electronic manufacturers that will do all that, In fact it sort of is an incentive to not go to Asia, when you have stuff a bit special, that requires some humans, When you have to test things, try and adjust. Stuff that needs more than just dumping a positioning file and a few roll of parts in a pick and place robot and push start. Sure Asians do this as well, but that’s when communicating effectively is a must and you kinda have to be there.The more chances of mistakes, the more physical distance can become costly and cancels out the cost benefit of manufacturing abroad.

 

[GXAlan]

Funny they initially marketed themselves as kind of a poor man's Krell.

It may very well be. The Dan A’gostino amplifiers are not known to be transparent. Interestingly, the 5W SINAD of the $300K amp is actually slightly worse than these Emotiva’s.

Dan D'Agostino Master Audio Systems Progression M550 monoblock power amplifier Measurements

Sidebar 3: Measurements For logistical reasons, I measured a different sample of the Dan D'Agostino Master Audio Systems Progression M550 monoblock (serial number PM006P) with my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 "As We See It"). I repeated some of the measurements with the...

www.stereophile.com

The classic Krell sound isn’t transparent either

Krell KSA-250 power amplifier Measurements

Sidebar 1: Measurements

www.stereophile.com

The Evolution line also pales at 5W SINAD

Krell Evolution 202 preamplifier & 600 monoblock power amplifier Measurements

Sidebar 3: Measurements I don't have the necessary equipment to test the Krell components in their current-mode (CAST) operation. Therefore, I performed all the technical tests using conventional voltage-mode drive, in both balanced and unbalanced operation.

www.stereophile.com

With the advent of the latest D-class amps, what is the point of designing an expensive AB amp?

It’s hard to ABX a noisy tube amp against a straight wire with gain. This suggests that the most important issue will be power and current capability. The short term current and low impedance EPDR may be better with some traditional designs.

But I am with you, Class D has a lot of benefits with good trade offs for many. My most expensive amp is a Marantz PM-10, so I genuinely have voted with my wallet that way. I am still very happy with my Yamaha MX-A5000.

Especially the ones that cost 30k and up? One more question...high end amps like Boulder (mono) put out 6,000 watts a 2 ohms, is there a real world speaker that can use that or even handle that? Or is it just overkill and bragging rights?

Magico M9 is rated to 2000W into 4 ohms, so presumably short term burst are tolerated at higher watts! It has a staggering 94 dB efficiency.

But at 30 ft listening distance, that’s 107 dB peaks.

@aliqaz has a 20 ft listening distance so the 2000W gets him to 114 dB.

The Boulder’s measure well

Boulder Amplifiers 2150 monoblock power amplifier Measurements

Sidebar 3: Measurements Because of the Boulder 2150's bulk and weight319 lbs in its shipping crateI wouldn't have been able to get it down the stairs to my test lab, much less back up those stairs. So I packed up my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 "As We See It") and the PC...

www.stereophile.com

I hope the absence of the reactive load measurement is not permanent!?

It would be interesting to see if this amp was unusually good at low impedances.

 

[Stokdoof]

Emotiva never got me emotional enough to buy their products..

 

[sarumbear]

"Designed and Assembled in the USA"

So not manufactured in the USA?

 

[HappyMetalGuy]

Gosh, I wonder why they made it so deep. It surely increases costs for no gain. Maybe they thought it would not produce that much power if the box was smaller!

Imagine if Aiyima A07 had such a box!!!

 

[lewdish]

I think its interesting that Emotiva is still touted as a great bang for the budget brand. Given its objective performance it doesnt really seem to be the case, It really feels like all their gear is just re-branded tonewinners.

 

[AndreaT]

Sure it don’t compete with Purifi and Hypex, since those two companies don’t make or sell amplifiers.
Now yes, It is true that the existance of these OEM modules did open a market for a serie of very aggressively priced DIY style power amps, By selling direct, and with extremely light company structure, often a one man thing operated from home, as a consumer you do get an excellent deal with these, but still this here at about 1.20$ a Watt is still extremely competitive. Even with a regular distribution and retail model. Look when Nad use one of these modules. To be honest even the Buckeyes, Nord, etc, They're in this same price range, certainly not “A few orders of magnitude” If you know what that means.

Competitive with, if you know what that means, takes into account the whole review of the product by Amir, not the selling price only.

 

[TonyJZX]

So not manufactured in the USA?

this isnt McIntosh

i think you have to be realistic on a sub $1k product... i'm sure they boards arent even made in the US but are sent in and they are 'cased' in the US only... also the case is foreign

i mean how far do you want to go down the rabbit hole... the components are all foreign anyway

If you have a NAD Masters unit that is $5k and its made in china then what hope do you have for a $1k monoblock? even parasound has been in taiwan for 25yrs.

 

[Waxx]

It looks like it's mostly psu noise that is in it, and that should not be. Class AB are seldom as noisefree as class D, but when it's harmonic distortion i would not mind that much, but this is not. And for that price you should do a lot better i think. There is much better arround for far less, even in the class AB section. If this amp was half the price it is now, it would be more reasonable. But it's not trash neighter. I actually heared it playing driving ATC 150's, and it sounded ok, nothing special but nothing really wrong neighter. I heared that same speakers with better amps sounding a lot better altough.

 

[PeteL]

Competitive with, if you know what that means, takes into account the whole review of the product by Amir, not the selling price only.

Ok, it’s not how you wrote it tough, I was commenting on what was written, not on your toughts.

 

[GWolfman]

Typical Emotiva product. Poorly engineered but low cost. The good news is they are consistent.
I have been saying this for years and have been completely wrong ... I dont see how they stay in business and expect their emminant demise.

Sadly McDonald’s (fast food in general) is still around. Some people are just fine with mediocre.

 

[AndreaT]

It may very well be. The Dan A’gostino amplifiers are not known to be transparent. Interestingly, the 5W SINAD of the $300K amp is actually slightly worse than these Emotiva’s.

Dan D'Agostino Master Audio Systems Progression M550 monoblock power amplifier Measurements

Sidebar 3: Measurements For logistical reasons, I measured a different sample of the Dan D'Agostino Master Audio Systems Progression M550 monoblock (serial number PM006P) with my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 "As We See It"). I repeated some of the measurements with the...

www.stereophile.com

The classic Krell sound isn’t transparent either

Krell KSA-250 power amplifier Measurements

Sidebar 1: Measurements

www.stereophile.com

The Evolution line also pales at 5W SINAD

Krell Evolution 202 preamplifier & 600 monoblock power amplifier Measurements

Sidebar 3: Measurements I don't have the necessary equipment to test the Krell components in their current-mode (CAST) operation. Therefore, I performed all the technical tests using conventional voltage-mode drive, in both balanced and unbalanced operation.

www.stereophile.com

It’s hard to ABX a noisy tube amp against a straight wire with gain. This suggests that the most important issue will be power and current capability. The short term current and low impedance EPDR may be better with some traditional designs.

But I am with you, Class D has a lot of benefits with good trade offs for many. My most expensive amp is a Marantz PM-10, so I genuinely have voted with my wallet that way. I am still very happy with my Yamaha MX-A5000.



Magico M9 is rated to 2000W into 4 ohms, so presumably short term burst are tolerated at higher watts! It has a staggering 94 dB efficiency.

But at 30 ft listening distance, that’s 107 dB peaks.

@aliqaz has a 20 ft listening distance so the 2000W gets him to 114 dB.

The Boulder’s measure well

Boulder Amplifiers 2150 monoblock power amplifier Measurements

Sidebar 3: Measurements Because of the Boulder 2150's bulk and weight319 lbs in its shipping crateI wouldn't have been able to get it down the stairs to my test lab, much less back up those stairs. So I packed up my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 "As We See It") and the PC...

www.stereophile.com

It would be interesting to see if this amp was unusually good at low impedances.

As an owner (and past user) of a Krell integrated amplifier, I am not surprised by the poor showing of the most recent one. While overall it was pleasant to listen to, my system has become better and I spend more time listening to and enjoying music since I moved to Hypex based amplifiers. In the end, when you find yourself exploring more of your recorded music collection, you can say mission accomplished. I have to thank ASR for this.

 

[DACslut]

Why waste your valuable listening experiences with AB amps anymore? Properly engineered Class D is now a better option in nearly every measuring category and usually a much better value. I still use an AB amp for my passive subwoofer and it sounds great, so they're still quite relevant for many users depending on the application. AB hasn't yet made it into in the obsolescent or EOL category yet, obviously. Innovative Class D designs from Purifi, Hypex, Infineon, etc. are undeniably dominating the topology scene right now and it might be sooner rather than later before AB is passé.