Emotiva XPA HC-1 Amplifier Review

[TonyJZX]

i get this too

i'd much rather have the ncore things but emotiva isnt there yet and their audience isnt there yet in the class D train... they're not even on the platform

and so its probably easier to sell a/b huge monoblocks rather than the same thing in class d, but half the size

i think out of the companies off the top of my head.... like marantz mcintosh and nad it took some kind of culture upheaval to go to class d on some of their lines

 

[PeteL]

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.

Personally, While I would not trade my NC500 Monoblocks for this, In term of value I am not fully sure Class D is there yet. Close. If I was let's say looking at the sub 400 bucks stereo amps, I would think that there are options in AB from Yamaha, Onkio, Outlaws and others that appears much better behaved than those cheap TPA chip amps. When I look at all these around 1k$ 100WX11 channels or so AVRs, I believe there is no way you could get that with Class D with decent performance. Good Class D still comes at a price. This here is not what I would call an amazing value, but it's pretty much the price of entry for so much power, regardless of the topology, but really in the lower end segment, If I was on a budget, the lines are much less clear.

 

[DACslut]

Personally, While I would not trade my NC500 Monoblocks for this, In term of value I am not fully sure Class D is there yet. Close. If I was let's say looking at the sub 400 bucks stereo amps, I would think that there are options in AB from Yamaha, Onkio, Outlaws and others that appears much better behaved than those cheap TPA chip amps. When I look at all these around 1k$ 100WX11 channels or so AVRs, I believe there is no way you could get that with Class D with decent performance. Good Class D still comes at a price. This here is not what I would call an amazing value, but it's pretty much the price of entry for so much power, regardless of the topology, but really in the lower end segment, If I was on a budget, the lines are much less clear.

If there was a rare chance I might go down the AB Monoblock road, I wouldn't mind taking a chance on this setup:

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256804663630366.html?gatewayAdapt=glo2usa

 

[Rottmannash]

All power transistors are mounted directly mounted to the heath-sink. What problems do you see?

I assume you mean "heat" sink?

 

[PeteL]

If there was a rare chance I might go down the AB Monoblock road, I wouldn't mind taking a chance on this setup:

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256804663630366.html?gatewayAdapt=glo2usa

They sure are pretty

 

[sealman]

I am currently still using an XPA-2 Gen 2 driving Klipsch RF-7ii and very happy with the audio produced. I also run a Topping E70 / A90 headphone setup with very high resolution.

Old setup and cutting edge setup are equally enjoyable for me.

I do wonder about going to a Hypex amp ($750) to replace the the XPA-2 but having a hard time figuring out if it would be money wasted.

Lol it depends on if you throw your back out picking up the Emotiva amp in which case it would be money well spent!

 

[TonyJZX]

they reckon its only 21lb so its not that big a deal

but again pound for pound there's way better in digital

 

[sarumbear]

I assume you mean "heat" sink?

Yes

 

[Count Dacula]

So we went backwards from ADCOM?

 

[Cogito]

My XPA-2 Gen.2 has been a flawless performer for the past 8 or 9 years now. 74 pounds of effortless power and control.

In my opinion, Emotiva's power amps have suffered ever since they transitioned over to switching power supplies (Gen. 3). On paper, they sound like a wonderful idea (Saves Emotiva a ton in freight costs too), but in practice, they have been inconsistent and rather lackluster from what I've seen. Too bad...

 

[Kimbrough Xu]

I have a question, most of the players and AVRs have dual RCA outputs, include for center speaker and subwoofer, so is it convenient to connect to the single RCA input of Emotiva XPA HC-1?

 

[nemesis.ie]

Conclusions
The Emotiva brand is one of budget prices but with high performance. Alas, after testing many of their products, the right message here is budget prices with slightly below average performance. Company really needs to retool their products and bring up the objective performance up a notch or two. Then they will have a winning formula. As is, we see products like HC-1 here which underperform more than half the amplifiers ever tested (over 400). Fortunately it is very powerful so likely sounds OK.

I can't recommend the Emotiva XPS HC-1 amplifier. It is an OK amp but we are not here for OK products.
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I discovered the + and + on mine were swapped (opposite of older Emotiva amps too), Emotiva didn't care.

I'm now using them as amps for subs so not a problem (other than a very expensive way to do it). Everything else is now Purifi via @Audiophonics which rock!