HypeX/PuriFi amplifier products available in the USA?

[ribosradagast]

Maybe this is a bit off-topic, but if you're spending $2600 already, why not just go all the way and get the Benchmark AHB2? I see a mint used one for $2700...

 

[CDMC]

Maybe this is a bit off-topic, but if you're spending $2600 already, why not just go all the way and get the Benchmark AHB2? I see a mint used one for $2700...

Power, rather lack of power. The AHB2 is 100w/8 ohm, 190w/4 ohm, and cannot drive less than a 6 ohm load bridged. While enough power for most, when you get into a large room and/or less efficient speakers, it isn’t enough. I use large Maggies in a pretty large room and use 600 w a side (Sunfire Stereo). I tried 200 watts a side and it just didn’t cut it. The extra 4-5 db from the larger amp is the difference between clipping at higher volumes and not.

Keep in mind, there should be no difference in sound between a AHB2, Hypex, and Purifi. All have over a 100db s/n ratio (greater than 16 bits) and exceed other parts of the reproduction change. You will get a massive change in sound if you start clipping, so when in doubt, more is better.

 

[ribosradagast]

Thanks for the clarification!

 

[echopraxia]

I think the higher powered Purifi amplifiers that @Matias mentioned would be my 'endgame' amplifiers (which would be a nice pair with my 'endgame' Salon 2s). As such, I'm not really ready to spend $2500 in amplifiers if I'd later be upgrading it.

So, for now I ended up placing an order for the @March Audio P502, which was about $1047.50 shipped to the US via DHL 5-day! I think this will be good enough to get me started with my Salon 2's when they arrive

Later, when the higher powered Purifi amplifiers are available, then maybe I'll upgrade to those and relegate the P502 to my secondary towers in another room when that time comes.

 

[echopraxia]

For others shopping around here, I recommend you consider that:

• Many budget builders of Hypex/Purifi amps seem to have a terrible rate of assembly errors and quality issues:
  • Some defect examples seen on ASR: Swapped polarities, incorrect XLR wiring, incorrect fuses that burn out quickly, use of shoddy materials/adhesives on connectors, to name a few.
  • These defect examples seen on ASR forums do not appear to suffer from selection bias, because the owner of these amps purchased them normally, and didn't even realize the problems existed until they were reviewed here in some way.
• Many budget builders of Hypex/Purifi amps seem to have no testing/QA procedure whatsoever (or make no mention of testing):
  • Consider that even if you DIY build a Hypex/Purifi amp yourself with absolutely no mistakes and perfect components and assembly quality, there's also always a possibility that you got a Hypex/Purifi module that is itself under-performing or defective in some way. Unless you have the equipment to test it yourself, it's quite possible that such errors will go undetected unless the issue is extraordinarily severe.
  • The same is true for any builder that does not test each unit.
  • How much is it worth to you to know that your unit is functioning correctly? If I had expensive signal analyzers to verify what I recieve, maybe I'd have no problem buying cheap budget assembly jobs, as long as their return/exchange policy works. But I don't, and I suspect most people don't have signal analyzers either.

For that reason, I recommend going with a builder/manufacturer that has a rigorous quality assurance procedure they apply to every unit.

 

[samysound]

For others shopping around here, I recommend you consider that:

• Many budget builders of Hypex/Purifi amps seem to have a terrible rate of assembly errors and quality issues:
  • Some defect examples seen on ASR: Swapped polarities, incorrect XLR wiring, incorrect fuses that burn out quickly, use of shoddy materials/adhesives on connectors, to name a few.
  • These defect examples seen on ASR forums do not appear to suffer from selection bias, because the owner of these amps purchased them normally, and didn't even realize the problems existed until they were reviewed here in some way.
• Many budget builders of Hypex/Purifi amps seem to have no testing/QA procedure whatsoever (or make no mention of testing):
  • Consider that even if you DIY build a Hypex/Purifi amp yourself with absolutely no mistakes and perfect components and assembly quality, there's also always a possibility that you got a Hypex/Purifi module that is itself under-performing or defective in some way. Unless you have the equipment to test it yourself, it's quite possible that such errors will go undetected unless the issue is extraordinarily severe.
  • The same is true for any builder that does not test each unit.
  • How much is it worth to you to know that your unit is functioning correctly? If I had expensive signal analyzers to verify what I recieve, maybe I'd have no problem buying cheap budget assembly jobs, as long as their return/exchange policy works. But I don't, and I suspect most people don't have signal analyzers either.

For that reason, I recommend going with a builder/manufacturer that has a rigorous quality assurance procedure they apply to every unit.

@echopraxia , this is a good summary! I too recently reviewed hypex amp builders and came to same conclusions (including placing and order for a @March Audio amp).

 

[samysound]

One thing that seems to be missing from the various reviews / impressions of these vendors/products is what quality assurance tests/controls they have in place before shipping a product

 

[rebbiputzmaker]

Hi. So what @CDMC says above covers lot of it. We pride ourselves with attention to technical detail (signal input RF filters as an example) and engagement and support of customers. All the products are run through a suite of technical tests after build to confirm they are wired correctly and perform as they should. Plus a 24 soak test to catch any infant mortality. Thats why we are happy to offer a 3 year warranty which is AFAIK longer than other manufacturers.

Without mentioning names, there is a relatively low bar to clear to start banging out amps and some of the efforts seen on this forum are frankly at amateur DIY level, some aspects even dangerous, which makes me question technical competence and quality control. Our customers dont have to get a soldering iron out to rectify incorrect builds.

We have a satisfaction guarantee. No-one has returned an amp yet

I think a final comment is that we have no intention of trying to compete on price. A race to the bottom only ends up with companies going out of business because they cut corners leading to poor quality and customer satisfaction, plus ultimately they cant cover their costs.

There you go again. Two important parts of a sucesful business are integrity and humility. You just display little of either. You can look far and wide and you will not find another manufacturer trashing others manufactures. You are assembling amps just like everyone else. Funny that every so often you have to post you little speech trying to justify your price.

 

[Thomas savage]

There you go again. Two important parts of a sucesful business are integrity and humility. You just display little of either. You can look far and wide and you will not find another manufacturer trashing others manufactures. You are assembling amps just like everyone else. Funny that every so often you have to post you little speech trying to justify your price.

He was asked a question and answered it , this personal attack is unwarranted and unwelcome.

 

[GuernseyBunker]

Edit: Thanks! You beat me to it by a few seconds Just posted this at about the same time as your reference:

Another domestic option I found (seems high quality but also very high price premium):
http://www.ati-amp.com/AT54XNC.php

(A) The ATI AT542NC - Stereo amplifier - Total 4x HypeX modules (dual bridged per channel):

• Power for 20hz-20khz at 0.03% THD+N into 4 Ohms: 900 Watts
• Power for 20hz-20khz at 0.03% THD+N into 8 Ohms 500 Watts
• Signal To Noise Ratio (A-Weighted): >123db SNR
• Auto standby and wake features!
• Made in USA, shipped from USA (therefore easier/faster shipping)
• Price (for stereo setup): $2995 USD (though I've heard it can be bought on sale for $2500 currently)

(B) 2x March Audio P701 - Dual monoblock amplifiers - Total 2x HypeX NC1200:

• Power output (at unstated distortion and bandwidth) into 4 Ohms: 700 Watts RMS
• Power output (at unstated distortion and bandwidth) into 8 Ohms: 400 Watts RMS
• Signal To Noise Ratio (A-Weighted): 128db SNR
• Price (for stereo setup): MSRP $2990 USD (on sale now for $2690)

(C) 2x March Audio P451 - Dual monoblock amplifiers - Total 2x Purifi 1ET400A

• Power output (at unstated distortion and bandwidth) into 4 Ohms: 425 Watts RMS
• Power output (at unstated distortion and bandwidth) into 8 Ohms: 227 Watts RMS
• Signal To Noise Ratio (A-Weighted): 131db SNR
• Price (for stereo setup): MSRP $2590 USD (on sale now for $2331)

(D) Audiophonics HPA-S400ET - Stereo amplifier - Total 2x Purifi 1ET400A

• Power output (at unstated distortion and bandwidth) into 4 Ohms: 425 Watts RMS
• Power output (at unstated distortion and bandwidth) into 8 Ohms: 227 Watts RMS
• Signal To Noise Ratio (A-Weighted): 131db SNR
• Price (for stereo setup): MSRP €1490 = $1697 USD

Any thoughts?

Regarding PuriFi, it's clearly a superior amp in terms of quality (if not power), but at this level of exceptional performance from the HypeX modules already, I'm not entirely convinced I'd hear the improvements in harmonic distortion and inter-modulation distortion more than I would the reduced likelihood of the more powerful amplifiers ever clipping on bass-heavy music.

Nord et al ship globally - does that count as available in the USA?

A list of 1ET400 offerings:
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...mplifier-sonic-shootout-€820-to-€8-344.14048/

 

[echopraxia]

Nord et al ship globally - does that count as available in the USA?

A list of 1ET400 offerings:
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/ultimate-1et400a-purifi-amplifier-sonic-shootout-€820-to-€8-344.14048/

It does, but have you read the issues with Nord that were pointed out in this thread? In short, both the amps that Amir tested had QA issues that could have been prevented if they had performed even basic testing on each unit they send out. Any thoughts/comments?

It seems there are plenty of small amateur budget (and expensive for that matter) builders out there with much lacking in the quality/consistency department, despite the apparent simplicity of assembling pre-manufactured amplifier modules into a box and connecting the required input/output connectors.

 

[March Audio]

Have you shipped to Canada, without issues? Thanks.

Hi @oneforward
Yes, no problem with Canada. We use DHL.

 

[March Audio]

There you go again. Two important parts of a sucesful business are integrity and humility. You just display little of either. You can look far and wide and you will not find another manufacturer trashing others manufactures. You are assembling amps just like everyone else. Funny that every so often you have to post you little speech trying to justify your price.

Reb, you have been on ignore for a long time because of stupid comments like this, but I took a peak.

I was asked a question and answered it. Integrity is building quality products. I think manufacturers that build potentially dangerous or or plain faulty products should be exposed, not that I actually mentioned who I was referring to. You obviously think that it's OK for them to do so

The information I have provided allowed one manufacturer to fix the problems with his product that he wasn't even aware of. That's good for the consumer and benefited the ignorant manufacturer. So don't lecture me about humility and integrity.

Back on ignore.

 

[CDMC]

There you go again. Two important parts of a sucesful business are integrity and humility. You just display little of either. You can look far and wide and you will not find another manufacturer trashing others manufactures. You are assembling amps just like everyone else. Funny that every so often you have to post you little speech trying to justify your price.

Wow, get angry much? He regularly provides helpful information, including for competitor’s products. To me, that says a lot about his integrity. He is proud of his products and has worked hard to develop and market them. That doesn’t make him lacking in humility. I too constantly shake my head at the seemingly simple things that people screw up.

 

[rebbiputzmaker]

Wow, get angry much? He regularly provides helpful information, including for competitor’s products. To me, that says a lot about his integrity. He is proud of his products and has worked hard to develop and market them. That doesn’t make him lacking in humility. I too constantly shake my head at the seemingly simple things that people screw up.

Not angry at all but it’s really not professional for one to keep belittling other manufacturers. Nothing wrong with being positive and proud of ones accomplishments, all good, but why the negativity about others... “ I don’t want to mention any names but” (paraphrasing) That is not necessary... Do you find that anywhere else, here? Any other boards? The question did not contain; please give you opinion on other amp builders.

 

[rebbiputzmaker]

Reb, you have been on ignore for a long time because of stupid comments like this, but I took a peak.

I was asked a question and answered it. Integrity is building quality products. I think manufacturers that build potentially dangerous or or plain faulty products should be exposed, not that I actually mentioned who. You obviously think it's OK

The information I have provided allowed one manufacturer to fix the problems with his product that he wasn't even aware of. That's good for the consumer and benefited the ignorant manufacturer. So don't lecture me about humility and integrity.

Back on ignore.

Pretty funny, the convenient ignore comment, but it’s all good. Please try being a gentleman it would behoove you. Nothing was dangerous, and you are still calling people ignorant. Very classy.

 

[CDMC]

Pretty funny, the convenient ignore comment, but it’s all good. Please try being a gentleman it would behoove you. Nothing was dangerous, and you are still calling people ignorant. Very classy.

You should let the UL know that not properly grounding a device is not a safety issue. To think they have been wasting decades on the issue.

 

[echopraxia]

Not angry at all but it’s really not professional for one to keep belittling other manufacturers. Nothing wrong with being positive and proud of ones accomplishments, all good, but why the negativity about others... “ I don’t want to mention any names but” (paraphrasing) That is not necessary... Do you find that anywhere else, here? Any other boards? The question did not contain; please give you opinion on other amp builders.

What was unnecessary, exactly? Telling the truth?

What belittling? The factual statements in answer to my question?

I asked a specific question, and received an answer that if anything was excessively polite to other companies. Some of those companies are lucky they haven’t been sued for their negligence — nevermind being polite to a company that ships electrical products running on dangerous main power lines and pumping current into potentially extremely expensive speakers.

I saw nothing in the response belittling other manufacturers other than statements of fact (facts of extreme importance to prospective buyers like myself), which additionally didn’t name any names as a courtesy to those manufacturers.

Fact: Other manufacturers have had serious screwups found in products (expensive products, I remind you) shipped to real paying customers. Aside from outright trying to cover up this extremely important fact relevant to my question, I honestly cannot imagine how March Audio could have conveyed this truthful and correct answer any more politely.

 

[rebbiputzmaker]

You should let the UL know that not properly grounding a device is not a safety issue. To think they have been wasting decades on the issue.

It was grounded. None of the items we are talking about are UL listed.

 

[March Audio]

Not angry at all but it’s really not professional for one to keep belittling other manufacturers. Nothing wrong with being positive and proud of ones accomplishments, all good, but why the negativity about others... “ I don’t want to mention any names but” (paraphrasing) That is not necessary... Do you find that anywhere else, here? Any other boards? The question did not contain; please give you opinion on other amp builders.

Well I hope you dont get killed by an electric shock from one of those products.