Hypex Nilai 500 DIY Stereo Amp Kit Review

[amirm]

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Hypex Nilai500 DIY Stereo Kit Amplifier. Company sent me an assembled version. The kit costs €1,225.00 (ex VAT) or about US 1,490.

The case is rather hefty and I like its horizontal and thin configuration. Rear panel shows purely balanced connections and trigger input:

There are three internal gain settings. It was shipped to me set to medium gain and that is how I tested. For other gain settings see my review of Nilai 500 Mono Kit.

Hypex Nilai 500 DIY Stereo Amplifier Measurements
It is reassuring that the medium gain setting matched my previous testing of the mono kit:

Distortion if vanishingly low which causes SINAD to be dominated by noise which by itself is superb:

Left side of the chart indicates that for any 16 bit content you play, the amplifier is virtually noiseless eve at low power of 5 watts.

The same excellent class D amplifier technology is at play here with wideband gain, eliminating load dependency well into ultrasonics:

Crosstalk is excellent:

Multitone performance is superb above bass:

I didn't see the slightly elevated floor in mono testing. It is harmless though.

19+20 KHz intermodulation highly differentiates it from desktop class D amps with still superbly low distortion:

The amplifier protection circuit is quite aggressive in the way it shuts down the amplifier before much, if any, clipping occurs at 4 ohm. This made some of my power measurements hard as I had to choose much lower distortion levels (and as a result, reduce the reported power level). Still, there is plenty of juice visible:

For some reason, our power sweeps vs frequency were substantially better than my previous test in mono:

Finally the amplifier is stable on power up:

And only has a power off potential for noise:

Conclusions
The Nilai 500 stereo kit delivers state of the art amplifier performance with plenty of power. You can do slightly better in measured performance by giving up more power -- something I like NOT to do. With 300 or so watts power on tap into 4 ohm, you will be able to drive just about any speaker to very loud levels, reducing the anxiety over what amp to buy.

Needless to say, it is my pleasure to recommend the Hypex Nilai500 DIY Stereo Kit amplifier.
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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

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[DWPress]

Wow, wish I needed one.

 

[HoweSound]

I have this amp which I converted to dual mono recently. My only concern is that the case is poorly vented, with only a pinhole grid in the top cover. I'm considering modifications to improve airflow.

 

[mk05]

Maybe if my NC400s ever die! Thanks Amir.

 

[amirm]

I have this amp which I converted to dual mono recently. My only concern is that the case is poorly vented, with only a pinhole grid in the top cover. I'm considering modifications to improve airflow.

Did it get warm???

 

[HoweSound]

The case gets quite warm to the touch after several hours of use, or on but sitting idle. I'm very happy with the performance of this amp and plan to keep it. One lesson I gleaned from this site is that heat is the enemy of electronic components so I would like to do what I can to improve cooling.

 

[quattro98]

The case gets quite warm to the touch after several hours of use, or on but sitting idle. I'm very happy with the performance of this amp and plan to keep it. One lesson I gleaned from this site is that heat is the enemy of electronic components so I would like to do what I can to improve cooling.

For a few dollars, you can put a fan on top. AC Infinity makes a wide variety.

MULTIFAN S2, Quiet USB Centrifugal Cooling Fan 120mm

Your source to create smart growing systems with components including advance grow tents, inline fans, clip-on fans, LED grow lights, and UIS™ controllers.

acinfinity.com

https://www.amazon.com/AC-Infinity-MULTIFAN-Control-Receiver/dp/B012CL2V3I?ref_=ast_sto_dp&th=1

 

[JSmith]

The Nilai 500 stereo kit delivers state of the art amplifier performance with plenty of power.

Now this is an amp, thanks for testing.

Pic;

JSmith

 

[TheWalkman]

Nice amp. Though I’m officially a Purifi guy, (AUDIOPHONICS HPA-S400ET Power Amplifier Class D Stereo Purifi 1ET400A 2x400W 4 Ohm), I’d consider this amp if I were in the market.

 

[Karmacoma]

I like the low profile look, on the other side I wonder if by having such a small case, will the heat impact the long term reliability.

 

[ICIETDIYEUR]

Hi.
I have made 3 DIY amplifiers of this 'format' myself and none of them ever made a noise when turning on or off, that's why I didn't put 'golfing panther'.
It is a very nice realization although the price is a little too high in my opinion.

 

[AndreaT]

Outstanding review. I assembled mine two years ago. No issues whatsoever with heat: driving my oldish Paradigm Studio 100 v.3 at loud levels (peaks of 95-97 dB, w three subs), the case barely gets warm. Impeccable performance, to get this power and low distortion ten years ago, you had to spend at least ten times as much.

 

[Fidji]

Looks like distortion around -85dB at 15kHz seems to be a limit in what is achievable in top D Class amplifiers and it looks like even with increased bandwidths rise of distortion vs frequency is not really going away. Interestingly distortion at 10kHz is pushed lower than on Purifi 1ET6525, but 15kHz is worse. Purifi distortion seems to increasing more gradually with increasing frequencies.

I would really love to see smth like this for high power D Class amp someday.

Still hoping that we are going to see 1et9040 measurements. Probably we’ll see similar picture, maybe distortion pushed couple of dB on highest frequencies.

 

[TNT]

19+20 KHz intermodulation highly differentiates it from desktop class D amps with still superbly low distortion:

The chosen presentation of the 19+20k is unfortunate - we can assume that also a difference tone is created, i.e. 1k, but the scale used totally obfuscates that range of the output - as the last x-axis scale says 5k and what the leftmost part of the scart really represent isn't readable, it's really "unlucky".

I see perhaps -105 dB 1k there to the absolute left and that aint 18.3bits - more like 17,5. Not that it matters much but in "science" we need to be correct.

//

 

[Sokel]

By the internal pics it's not clear if the modules+PSU take advantage of the case for cooling, a side view would be useful.
Other than that, really good results with the exception of power loss at lower freqs which is weird.

Also, Power cube???

Thanks Amir!

 

[Tassin]

By the internal pics it's not clear if the modules+PSU take advantage of the case for cooling, a side view would be useful.

 

[Sokel]

View attachment 496950

I meant internal view so to see if the power devices or extension heatshinks (if there) are bolted on the case somehow

 

[Roland68]

The case gets quite warm to the touch after several hours of use, or on but sitting idle. I'm very happy with the performance of this amp and plan to keep it. One lesson I gleaned from this site is that heat is the enemy of electronic components so I would like to do what I can to improve cooling.

Please take measurements first before you potentially make things worse. Otherwise, you might become another victim of the recurring heat hysteria surrounding amplifiers.
Amplifiers should have a consistent temperature without large fluctuations, and a certain minimum temperature is also desirable, keyword temperature-dependent operating points of components and temperature drift.
Excessive and uncontrolled convection, as well as unregulated and uncontrolled fans, are not helpful in this regard.
45-50°C is not yet a problem. A rule of thumb: if you can place your hand on the casing for 10 seconds without burning yourself or experiencing pain, there's no problem.
Especially with Class D amplifiers, the influence of high switching frequencies on capacitor aging is greater than such temperatures.

It's also worth noting that plenty of amplifiers whose heatsinks and internal components reach around 50°C have been running without failure for 20-30 years.

 

[daniboun]

Great amp but a bit expensive...
Will take a look at the Purifi 1et9040ba first, checkout APx555 measurements here :

Fresh From the Bench: Purifi 1ET9040BA Balanced Class-D Amplifier Module

The Purifi 1ET9040BA balanced Class-D amplifier module, a Bridge-tied-load (BTL) output stage, is the second product in the company's Eigentakt range. Following a conversation with members of Purifi about the amplifier's audio performance being hard to measure even with the best available test...

audioxpress.com

 

[JensA]

Excellent review and obviously a great amp which welldeserves my „golfing panther“ vote - out of curiosity: is the football/soccer panther better ore worse than the golfer? - but I was a bit surprised about the comparatively high price of abt 1.500 Euro for the DIY kit here in Europe. It‘s still a bargain compared to most other amps.
However, I decided to order Apollon Audio amps. While I am not sure if the Apollon would be superior to the Nilai in a blind test - most probably not - I am happy to pay a premium for better build quality, finish, features and extended warranty.
For the same reason I would probably prefer the Buckeye amps if I would live in the US.