@Amir says distortion is at -140dB which means at low gain (as you don’t need to reach high power with such sensitive speakers) -112dB SINAD at 5W translates to around 11 micro volts residual noise at speaker terminals.
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Hypex Nilai500DIY Amplifier Review
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Sokel
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It looks that rotating 180 degrees of the lowest amp module would bring speaker and signal cables away from mains though.Hard to see why Hypex would insist on the convoluted routing of the mono amp speaker wiring (as shown in its manual), when the stereo one clearly shows the more straightforward approach.
View attachment 262574
How would the jumper settings on my Benchmark DAC3 L of 0 dB, 10 dB or 20 dB output levels relate to the available jumpers on these amps for low, medium or high gain?
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I would use the DAC3’s 0 dB setting supplying approx 12 Vrms to the Nilai at low gain setting (professional signal levels).
Yes, it is a 600W PSU so an absolute maximum of 300W per channel both channels driven.
In reality though it is probaby not an issue, since with real music, it is unlikely both channels will need full power at the same time. And not an issue for 8ohm speakers in any case.
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"Much improved" seems a bit hyperbolic This one seems to have useful feature improvements (trigger, selectable gain) and a better warranty. The "DIY Class D" on the front faceplate looks notably tackier than the previous Hypex logo. (I'm aware they've done that for a while now, and glad I bought my NC400s before they downgraded the faceplate!) I would not buy the full kit solely for that reason. Maybe it's removable with little hex screws and compatible with faceplates from the old cases?
Overall this amp seems like excellent choice for someone who needs a new amp and can hide it so they don't have to look at the faceplate. Anyone who buys it to"upgrade" from any current Hypex/ATI/Purifi/Benchmark unit is just wasting money. And by "Hypex" I mean from the earliest UcD models onwards!
Bass, which is where you need power is almost always mastered as mono...
So it is.
Ok, but was mainly referring to the effort put into the assembly manual and video. The features are all good solid improvements. The NC400 had none of this.
Not a huge fan of the logo but it is not tacky imo. May even be easy to remove the logo or black it out. Worst case, it has an easy fix as they can readily offer other faceplates.
Hence it is likely that both channels will be requiring power at the same time.
I got that
restorer-john
Grand Contributor
You may be aware NAD have been driving their power amplifiers in opposite polarity for at least 40 years for that very reason- to reduce drain on the psu.
Their class Ds have continued with the practice.
What a clever idea! Any patent must have expired and anyone can copy them. Does any manufacturer do?
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Audiophonics maybe?
The two modules are driven in opposite phase, to cancel the "Power Supply Pumping" effect. This allows a greater stability of the power supply, distributing alternately on each rail the current calls, and thus increasing its capacities.
For those who hate the faceplate, there are sheer options available in silver and black:
https://deercreekaudio.com/products/ols/products/hypex-faceplate
https://deercreekaudio.com/products/ols/products/hypex-faceplate
See above for a reminder.Thread Notice!!!
This is an Official Review Thread. Therefore, keep the conversation on topic. Please start a new thread to further discuss this questionable video. Please and thank you for your understanding and support.
Any further off topic posts will be deleted and the poster will be banned from the thread. Not playing games today.
Agreed. Looks cheap and tacky with the "DIY" logo. Not too fond of the "undulating wave" cut-out toward the bottom 1/3 of the faceplate either. The Sound Impress faceplate looks a lot better.
Now those Hypex faceplates referenced above are much more preferrable. Guess you don't "listen" to the faceplate, but I'm one who appreciates esthetics as well as function.
restorer-john
Grand Contributor
A stereo amplifier with differential (XLR) inputs can be easily driven like the NAD system- in fact they do it the easy way. You drive one +/- input with the internal wiring swapped around to -/+ AND the speaker terminals on that channel swapped from +/- to -/+. To the user, they have no idea the two amplifiers are internally running in opposite polarities.
There is also some benefits with channel separation tests at mid frequencies as any leakage is cancelled in the other channel.
Have a look at the rear of current NAD amps. Notice the red/blue terminals as opposed to red/black and also notice the connections for BTL- they are not how you would 'traditionally' expect them to be connected to the two 'hots'. That is your clue they are already running the amp out of polarity.
Here's a NAD Purifi equipped example, we know the right is inverted with respect to the left internally. We know that right channel 'hot' is actually a 'cold' and the left channel '-' and right channel '+' are actually tied together at ground. Tricky eh?
The bridge switch can then just kill the right channel input (if there was anything connected) and send the left signal to the right channel amp which is already inverted.
NAD also tell people not to connect the 'blue' connectors to a common ground or ground as they know people wouldn't understand the method I described above. Back in the 2200 days (the first NAD to do this) a lot got blown up as they simply used black and red. Plenty got destroyed in showrooms with common ground speaker switchers...
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restorer-john
Grand Contributor
NAD 2200 brochure:
more:
Whether these Nilai units would like being bridged due to the (-) return actually having feedback paths, I don't know. NAD managed to achieve decent performance with the Purifi units in bridge mode, although IIRC Purifi didn't recommend it.
It would be interesting to actually measure what gains in various parameters are to be had on the same amp (common supply) by conventional and one channel inverted topologies. With SMPS supplies, there would be much less to gain IMO as compared to a transformer based supply as the SMPS is already operating and replenishing the PSU caps at several hundred kHz, not 100/120Hz.
These Nilai performance numbers are spectacular enough as they stand.
more:
Whether these Nilai units would like being bridged due to the (-) return actually having feedback paths, I don't know. NAD managed to achieve decent performance with the Purifi units in bridge mode, although IIRC Purifi didn't recommend it.
It would be interesting to actually measure what gains in various parameters are to be had on the same amp (common supply) by conventional and one channel inverted topologies. With SMPS supplies, there would be much less to gain IMO as compared to a transformer based supply as the SMPS is already operating and replenishing the PSU caps at several hundred kHz, not 100/120Hz.
These Nilai performance numbers are spectacular enough as they stand.
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