Hypex DIY Preamplifier Kit Review

[jmillar]

But that's the whole point. The cost of microdevices has plummeted and this unit must compete with what is on offer today.

So the cost of this unit may seem high, but only because of the embarrassment of riches in high-performance, low-cost alternatives today.

 

[marshalldhance]

If anyone prefers this preamp preassembled, it is on offer as the Mola Mola Makua for $12k.
I'm not sure if there is an agnosticism regarding impedance in this forum, but it seems that measurement has been conveniently left out here. Hypex has performed engineering heroism in that regard, and the ability to allow upstream sources to deliver their best, and for that signal to go downstream in absolute integrity is, as far as I know, unmatched at any price. To me, that is the primary job of the Preamp and one that few are capable of.

I have this preamp. It's nothing short of sonic wizardry and an absolute steal at $1,350. If there is any curiosity regarding the future card modules, consider that those with the Mola Mola mark will be their basis. I personally can't wait for the DAC that is forthcoming.

 

[Bruce Morgen]

If anyone prefers this preamp preassembled, it is on offer as the Mola Mola Makua for $12k.
I'm not sure if there is an agnosticism regarding impedance in this forum, but it seems that measurement has been conveniently left out here. Hypex has performed engineering heroism in that regard, and the ability to allow upstream sources to deliver their best, and for that signal to go downstream in absolute integrity is, as far as I know, unmatched at any price. To me, that is the primary job of the Preamp and one that few are capable of.

I have this preamp. It's nothing short of sonic wizardry and an absolute steal at $1,350. If there is any curiosity regarding the future card modules, consider that those with the Mola Mola mark will be their basis. I personally can't wait for the DAC that is forthcoming.

Thanks for the additional information. Now we know that both the DIY and assembled versions of this product are vastly overpriced, especially in a digital media age when having any preamp at all is very seldom necessary. I happen to own several products with "the ability to allow upstream sources to deliver their best, and for that signal to go downstream in absolute integrity." They're called cables. If you actually find yourself in need of an active preamp in your particular use case, I'm certain there are several far lower-priced alternatives that essentially provide "a wire with gain, level control, and source switching" functionality -- e.g. there are more than a few top-notch "headphone amps" that also have line-level outputs suitable for driving power amps or active speakers.

All that said, it looks like what you're presenting as the assembled equivalent of the Hypex product is really quite a different beast, with a much more versatile feature set:

 

[Sokel]

If anyone prefers this preamp preassembled, it is on offer as the Mola Mola Makua for $12k.

You must be joking:

DIY Hypex

Mola-Mola

And that's only the hardware,software is even more important.
(Bruno has nothing to do with Hypex any more)

 

[marshalldhance]

You must be joking:

DIY Hypex



View attachment 279402

Mola-Mola

View attachment 279403

And that's only the hardware,software is even more important.
(Bruno has nothing to do with Hypex any more)

That's fully loaded with the DAC, phono, and more inputs. The layout differs, but the measurements are the same. Impedance matters as sources don't operate in a vacuum.

 

[Sokel]

That's fully loaded with the DAC, phono, and more inputs. The layout differs, but the measurements are the same. Impedance matters as sources don't operate in a vacuum.

10 inputs/outputs (balanced and unbalanced where you can mix,dac,phono,AES,optical,motorized,relay based VC,balance,bluetooth,RS22,full software control,programmable and more and more.
What is has to do with less than basic diy one?Ok,measures nice but that's it.

 

[Bruce Morgen]

Ok,measures nice but that's it.

...and virtually every preamp with a 4-5 digit USD price tag "measures nice" -- building a low distortion, low noise preamp that sells for that much isn't exactly a major technical challenge nowadays. I did confirm that Mola Mola and Hypex have the same address, so I wouldn't be surprised if the core analog technology of the two products is the same, but the wording "it is on offer as the Mola Mola Makua for $12k" is an immense overstatement.

 

[da Choge]

And that's only the hardware,software is even more important.

Mola Mola components are awesome and totally programmable. Yes, almost in the uber-expensive stratosphere; but they're aimed at a certain group of "audiophiles" that may have multiple-more-times costly hardware with far-less-than-ideal specs. If you can afford these items and want the best, they are a "bargain" in the class of brands they are competing with. Now -- the real question is can anyone really hear these improvements?! BTW, I think I'm agreeing with you -- Mola Mola rocks as far its construction and its abilities, although very expensive. Glad Putzey is trying to make some $$$ off of his spectacular engineering accomplishments.

 

[restorer-john]

You must be joking:

DIY Hypex

Exactly. The DIY* kit has nothing in common with the Mola Mola preamp.

* since when did DIY in electronics mean buying a lego set and following a join the dots assembly manual?

 

[Rick Sykora]

Exactly. The DIY* kit has nothing in common with the Mola Mola preamp.

* since when did DIY in electronics mean buying a lego set and following a join the dots assembly manual?

Since SMT components?

 

[barrows]

There is a lot of relatively uniformed opinion in these comments. First of all, the price for this unit is very, very fair. "Building" it requires a couple of hours, and almost no skills (no soldering, etc). The 3 inputs might not be enough for some users, I get that, but consider if you add the DAC module, that is another "input", and I do not know if it will accommodate both the DAC and phono modules together, but maybe...

The volume control does not appear to be based on an IC, it looks like discrete resistors, switched by solid state devices, so it should offer excellent tracking and low distortion operation. The gain is provided by discrete circuitry, not IC opamps. Given the performance of the discrete gain stage in the NC-400 and Nilai amps, I think we can all agree that Hypex knows how to design discrete gain blocks which perform equal to (likely better than) available IC Opamps.

How much value this preamp ends up offering is going to depend on how good the DAC card and Phono card end up being. Although one poster is assuming they will offer a DAC based on the Mola Mola design (I can dream for that, as it is way better than almost anything else) I kind of doubt that is going to happen. If they do offer a DIY version of that design, I will be all over it. But, the Mola Mola DAC is very sophisticated and expensive, it uses three high power processing chips for its modulator and oversampling and filtering operations, a very low phase noise, very expensive oscillator, a very sophisticated discrete conversion stage, and a discrete output stage with analog filter: packing that all into an option for this preamp at a DIY friendly price seems unlikely.

Who is it for?? Well, I currently run a DIY, discrete DSD DAC running at DSD 512 from HQPlayer oversampling, direct into my Purifi based DIY amplifier. But, I am looking to add a vinyl rig to my system. This means I need a means to control volume in the analog domain, and a phono stage. A preamp, with an onboard phono stage is the easiest solution for me-and this fits the bill. Unfortunately the phonostage is a way off in time... I am also considering the Aesthetix Pallene preamp, with its optional phono board, but that is over $7K...

Mola Mola Makua, for reference, is a five figure product. A lot of that cost is tied up in the very beautiful chassis, and the quite sophisticated Mola Mola app, as well as the appropriate margins for traditional dealer distribution, and the price is a actually quite reasonable considering what other products the Makua competes with in that sales model.

 

[BrokenEnglishGuy]

Class D is a power amplifier type. It is the class for amplifiers that employ PWM. On a preamplifier, amplification is linear, hence not class D.

If is not class D power amp? what it is?

There is class A, AB or D for preamps?

 

[barrows]

The advantage of a class D circuit is that it is much more efficient than class A, or class A/B circuits. In a line level preamplifier, there is no need for high power, so for preamplifiers there is no advantage to using a class D circuit. Preamplifiers are typically run in class A, or sometimes, class A/B.

 

[BrokenEnglishGuy]

The advantage of a class D circuit is that it is much more efficient than class A, or class A/B circuits. In a line level preamplifier, there is no need for high power, so for preamplifiers there is no advantage to using a class D circuit. Preamplifiers are typically run in class A, or sometimes, class A/B.

Oh I see.
So is not weird that my Burson CV2+ is class A in it's pre-amp, because my Burson is pure '' Class A '' pre-amp/dac/headphone amp...

 

[kazsud]

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Hypex DIY balanced Preamplifier and headphone amplifier Kit. It was sent by the company and kindly assembled by @Rick Sykora. It costs € 1.225,00 excl. VAT (US $1,331).
View attachment 276518

I very much like the larger form factor here and especially the very large graphical display. Alas, as you see, very small fonts are used to show the input and volume level. On power up you see a massive logo of the company and I expected to see that here. Good news is that the display and operation is quite responsive. A remote control is provided in addition to rich set of capabilities as far as renaming inputs, setting gain, balance, etc. Back panel configuration seemed puzzling to me:
View attachment 276519
I had to read the manual to confirm that there are two XLR outputs but only one input! Seems backward to me. What is the use for dual set of XLR outputs? In my system I have two XLR sources so this rules it out for my own configuration. There is RCA to balanced configuration although some would want to see RCA output as well.

The right blank cover is interesting as the company talks about DAC, phono stage, streamer and even some kind of EQ capability to go there!

Digital volume control is provided and reassuring set of relays click when changing inputs.

Let's see how it measures.

DIY ClassD Preamplifier Measurements
I started with XLR in/out and adjusted the volume to get unity gain:
View attachment 276520

This is most excellent with vanishingly low distortion at -140 dB! Some noise pulls SINAD down to still a transparent value of 119 dB. Switching to RCA input with 2 volts in, costs you a few dBs but still transparent:
View attachment 276521

Noise performance is excellent:
View attachment 276522

Frequency response is very extended and ruler flat in audible band:
View attachment 276523

Crosstalk is near state of the art:
View attachment 276524

IMD graph shows slightly higher noise than best there is but still excellent:
View attachment 276525

Similarly to what we see as far as distortion relative to frequency:
View attachment 276526

And level:
View attachment 276527

Hypex DIY Preamplifier Headphone Measurements
Let's start with our unity gain dashboard measurements:
View attachment 276528

This is excellent performance and good attempt at getting into the room with best of the best:
View attachment 276529

SNR is not as good as it could be because there is no low/negative gain mode to reduce noise:
View attachment 276530

This only impacts very sensitive IEMs though:
View attachment 276531

Other the aforementioned slight noise penalty, the level of output with 300 ohm load is very good:
View attachment 276532
I like to see minimum of 100 milliwatts which we have. Then again, for desktop products, we are used to 300+ milliwatts.

I was surprised to see a less competitive showing with 32 ohm load:
View attachment 276533

We are current limited as we see better in this graph:
View attachment 276534

I expected to see a "checklist" headphone amp but this performance is a lot better especially if you use high impedance headphones.

Hypex DIY Preamplifier Listening Tests
I drove the unit using RME ADI-2 Pro balanced output and listening using Sennheiser HD650. The experience was superb with excellent detail and dynamics. There was plenty of volume, capable of getting good bass out of this headphone. As measurements predict, switching to my everyday Dan Clark Stealth headphone resulted in static and distortion at anything but very mild volume level. Really not useful with this power hungry headphone.

Conclusions
We are used to seeing power amplifiers from Hypex. It is nice to see them get into preamplifiers by producing a unit with exceptionally low distortion and quite competitive noise performance. I like the large form factor and display but wish the company revises the firmware to show larger text for input and volume level. Having two balanced output at the expensive of another balanced input doesn't make sense to me but maybe one of you will enlighten me.

I expected the headphone amp to be as we say in the industry, "phoned in," but it actually turned in very good performance for high impedance headphones. It should also be OK with lower impedance headphones as long as they are sensitive.

I am happy to put the Hypex DIY Preamplifier and Headphone Amp Kit on my recommended list. Look forward to new option cards for it!

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Can you run two powered subwoofers with this pre-amp?

 

[SD2KING]

Am very curious to hear about the DAC and Phono stage.. may be the perfect solution for me, connecting a streamer and turntable to my power amp.

 

[pseudoid]

* since when did DIY in electronics mean buying a lego set and following a join the dots assembly manual?

LoL,
Wasn't that the way HeathKits used to work?
I could be guilty of connecting few of those dots, myself. Yet, I would not call it just an 'assembly' procedure.

 

[FERCSA]

Am very curious to hear about the DAC and Phono stage.. may be the perfect solution for me, connecting a streamer and turntable to my power amp.

My plan was to build my own phono stage extension card but I got a AT AT-PEQ30 for cheap as temporarily solution but it was so good I didn't bother to waste my time.
For DAC I'm using a Topping.

Can you run two powered subwoofers with this pre-amp?

Yes you can. I have active studio subwoofers too. This is why I love the extra XLR output on this pre-amp.

 

[tmtomh]

I for one love that today the DIY category includes soldering-free kits. For me the benefit of DIY isn't how much so-called "real" work I have to do, but rather the significant cost savings since labor is a major expense for manufacturers of preassembled units.

 

[pseudoid]

I for one love that today the DIY category includes soldering-free kits. For me the benefit of DIY isn't how much so-called "real" work I have to do, but rather the significant cost savings since labor is a major expense for manufacturers of preassembled units.

DIY projects are also great hands-on experience; almost akin to what used to be called OJT but without the pay.