Emotiva XPA HC-1 Amplifier Review

[Geert]

(I think G and H are flipped in Europe? Not sure, been some years since I delved into them, and IIRC a British engineering friend said that

And you believed that, coming from someone who drives on the wrong side of the road

Class G switches between (among) two or more static supply rails. Class H continuously tracks the signal and varies the power supply rails accordingly. Emotiva's literature says "class H" but it is really class G.

Getting confused. You explained it was a regulated power supply but now you say it's "really class G", which is switched rails (also in my book). Guess that's why audiophiles stick with class A

 

[Short38]

Interesting. I have an Emotiva UPA 700. Probably 8 years old. Using it to power an active 3 way. Not a sophisticated 3 way. Runs cool no fan. Quiet. Reliable.

I liked it well enough to order another. By the time I did that it had been replaced with a newer model. Newer model was flimsier AND contained a fan. Fan was audible 10 feet from the amp. To me fans seem to indicate really wretched engineering except maybe in the pro market where the fan noise doesn’t intrude.

Emotive started with a good set of ideas but now seems headed to nowhere regardless of PR efforts.

 

[Ron Texas]

Bad reviews are even more important than good ones. Thank you @amirm

 

[DonH56]

And you believed that, coming from someone who drives on the wrong side of the road

Yeah, well, he was a pretty sharp guy...

Getting confused. You explained it was a regulated power supply but now you say it's "really class G", which is switched rails (also in my book). Guess that's why audiophiles stick with class A

Regulated and two rails are not mutually exclusive. SMPS (switch-mode power supplies) are regulated by design; you control the set point and ripple voltage as part of the design process. I have worked with boards that had a dozen or so different regulated supply voltages on them. So, two regulated rails, at different voltages, can be used for class G. Or two unregulated rails, as others have done, etc. (I have a vague memory of an amp with a regulated lower rail and unregulated higher rail using a conventional power supply.) Power supply and amplifier topologies can be different; the core amplifier in a class G or H audio amplifier design is usually a class AB circuit IME but could be class A or whatever. Changing the rails on a class D design I have done and read about but, at least years ago when I did it, things got messy (I'll leave it at that) so it was better to live with the efficiency achieved by the class D amp and not try to deal with changing the rails. I recently read about some low-power class D amplifiers that did modulate the supply rails so it can be done.

HTH - Don

 

[Geert]

So, two regulated rails, at different voltages, can be used for class G. Or two unregulated rails, as others have done, etc. Power supply and amplifier topologies can be different;

That was also my conclusion. Lots of options, difficult to conclude from a single picture of the PCB.

 

[levimax]

all their products are trash.

While this amp is not going to be a top choice it certainly isn't "trash". Mono-blocks are always going to be more expensive per channel than multi-channel amps and for most use cases the extra power is going to sound better than an extra 10 or 20 dB of SINAD. Assuming it will be long term reliable (which is an advantage of mono-blocks in general although I have no idea about this amp) I see it as an OK product I would not buy rather than "trash".

 

[Mnyb]

Voted 2 it is a working high power monoblock after all. Performance meh but not atrocious .

I try to reserve poor for truly broken designs like ps audio or totaldac and similar , or very badly executed ones

 

[Prozas2001]

I wonder why Emotiva XPA DR2 measured worse than this??

 

[Hart]

Funny they initially marketed themselves as kind of a poor man's Krell. It seemed like a lot of bang for the buck. In this case you get what you pay for. You would be better oiff with a used NAD 2200 run in bridged mode. With the advent of the latest D-class amps, what is the point of designing an expensive AB amp? 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?

 

[xaxxon]

Voted 2 it is a working high power monoblock after all. Performance meh but not atrocious .

I try to reserve poor for truly broken designs like ps audio or totaldac and similar , or very badly executed ones

A monoblock should be better not worse. Otherwise it being a monoblock just means you have to have two things instead of one.

 

[Koeitje]

Funny they initially marketed themselves as kind of a poor man's Krell. It seemed like a lot of buck for the money. In this case you get what you pay for. You would be better oiff with a used NAD 2200 run in bridged mode. With the advent of the latest D-class amps, what is the point of designing an expensive AB amp? Especially the ones that cost 30k and up?

10 year old class D amps already beat this. With ease.

 

[DMill]

yeah this is not competetive with what Class D can do anymore.

It’s honestly not competitive with what A/B is already doing.

 

[DACslut]

For that kind of dough I'll just buy a pair of Purifi monoblocks built by our friend Buckeye and get cleaner power, less distortion, better sound and pretty much whatever! Does anyone here have his or someone else's Purifi 1ET7040SA amp yet? That one has me kind of drooling!

 

[sarumbear]

Those are some massive heat sinks. I’m not sure how they are supposed to work though. They don’t appear to be touching anything and they dissipate the heat inside the case. I suppose there are vents by the fins, but still it seems like a poorly engineered, inefficient design. At least for a PC builder like me. It’d be nice to see some heat pipes.

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

 

[PuX]

While this amp is not going to be a top choice it certainly isn't "trash".

I knew someone would find issue with my comment

for me it's simple, either a product/company falls into "buy" category, or the "do not buy" category.

 

[amirm]

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

In the overhead shot, it didn't seem like anything was on the heatsink and hence that comment. I thought the same until I saw another shot with the transistors mounted to it.

 

[shuppatsu]

In the overhead shot, it didn't seem like anything was on the heatsink and hence that comment. I thought the same until I saw another shot with the transistors mounted to it.

Yeah I didn’t see anything. Makes a lot more sense that the transistors would be mounted, so my bad.

EDIT: Here’s the money shot:

 

[restorer-john]

That was also my conclusion. Lots of options, difficult to conclude from a single picture of the PCB.

What I can conclude with reasonable confidence is the presence of at least two rails with what appear to be MOSFET/diode on board rail switchers on the main amp PCB. Main power of course comes in via the six way connector. Let's assume 2 are used for 0V, that leaves 2 each for +V/+HV and -V/-HV.

The high current supply wires from the PSU are excessively long IMO, and not of a large gauge for such a high powered design. I'm not surprised to see the HF THD issues as a result. They also are terminated to the PCB in an illogical place- not right next to the main OPTs. Overall, the design is optimised for modular assembly in a tight space, not ultimate performance.

The XLR connection PCB even has long pigtails of tinned copper wire to 'extend' the +/- and gnd up to the main pcb. Immediately adjacent to the high current output and Zobel inductor.

I stand by my earlier statement that this 'monoblock' is just a single amp module pulled from a multi channel HT power amp and given a supply of its own in a large, mostly empty, box. It's not a purpose designed high fidelity power amplifier with superlative performance- it's just a parts bin power amp to appease buyers who don't know better and are sold on the mantra that more power is better.

 

[TNT]

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

//

 

[AndreaT]

$ 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.