Hypex UcD180HG HxR amplifier module analysis and review

[somebodyelse]

That's a fair assessment. I'd look on the continued availability of the UcD modules as spares for those with existing amps. If you want to DIY the FusionAmp line is probably the cheapest way to get the nCore modules, and you get some DSP thrown in which you can use or sell.

 

[pma]

New measurements of my UcD180 implementation, using Topping D10s DAC and E1DA Cosmos ADC. Measurement bandwidth 45kHz and it makes no problem, no parameters degradation.

Please note good consistency of results regardless test frequency and wider measurement bandwidth 45kHz.

 

[tmtomh]

New measurements of my UcD180 implementation, using Topping D10s DAC and E1DA Cosmos ADC. Measurement bandwidth 45kHz and it makes no problem, no parameters degradation.

View attachment 267186

View attachment 267187

Please note good consistency of results regardless test frequency and wider measurement bandwidth 45kHz.

Dude, how long are you going to bang this drum? Here's @amirm 's test of THD+N, by frequency, using a 45kHz bandwidth signal, for the Audiophonics HPA-S400ET Purifi-based amp:

View attachment 194302

Who cares if your amp has more similar distortion levels by frequency when distortion at the WORST-performing frequency with the Audiophonics amp is LOWER than the distortion at the BEST-performing frequency of yours?

I don't mean to sound rude, but you are obsessed with the distortion being very similar at every frequency, and it's almost pathological how you are so obsessed with this that you ignore what level the distortion is actually at.

 

[pma]

Dude, how long are you going to bang this drum? Here's @amirm 's test of THD+N, by frequency, using a 45kHz bandwidth signal, for the Audiophonics HPA-S400ET Purifi-based amp:

View attachment 194302

And this is the test of UcD180HG with 80kHz measuring BW. And, no low pass measuring filter was used. HF linearity of the 20+years old UcD180 is better than that of NCore and Purify, this is my whole point. Still long way to go for class D to get perfect.
UcD180 spectrum has no rise at high frequency, no HF noise modulation, no HF garbage except for inevitable carrier frequency products. On the contrary, NCore spectrum is full of garbage just above 22kHz. That's why it is measured with low BW to look good in the datasheet.

Who cares

Almost no one here, I agree. And almost no one here is able to have a look under the surface and has sufficient circuit design knowledge to be able to discuss and argue in other manner than popular mainstream ASR view.

 

[tmtomh]

And this is the test of UcD180HG with 80kHz measuring BW. And, no low pass measuring filter was used. HF linearity of the 20+years old UcD180 is better than that of NCore and Purify, this is my whole point. Still long way to go for class D to get perfect.
UcD180 spectrum has no rise at high frequency, no HF noise modulation, no HF garbage except for inevitable carrier frequency products. On the contrary, NCore spectrum is full of garbage just above 22kHz. That's why it is measured with low BW to look good in the datasheet.

View attachment 267322

View attachment 267323


Almost no one here, I agree. And almost no one here is able to have a look under the surface and has sufficient circuit design knowledge to be able to discuss and argue in other manner than popular mainstream ASR view.

Once again you are intentionally avoiding the issue. The newer designs have lower distortion in the audible range. You can keep using words like garbage, but ultrasonic content isn’t garbage or a deviation from “perfection” unless it makes a difference in the audible range.

You are also being quite shady by simply quoting my statement of the phrase "who cares" without quoting the full question I asked: "Who cares if your amp has more similar distortion levels by frequency when distortion at the WORST-performing frequency with the Audiophonics amp is LOWER than the distortion at the BEST-performing frequency of yours?"

You are saying it's better to have higher distortion at ALL frequencies, if the distortion level at EACH frequency is more similar. This is nonsense. At the 10-20 watt range where there are distortion peaks for both designs, the distortion of your preferred module ranges from 0.01% to 0.018%. The distortion of the Purifi ranges from .00006% to 0.009%. If we ADDED 10 times the distortion to the Purifi module at lower frequencies, to bring that 0.0006% up to 0.006%, then by your definition the Purifi would be BETTER than it is now and BETTER than the UcD180.

This is not about perfection. This is about your obsession with a measurement that doesn't matter. Even that would be fine, if your obsession did not lead you to ignore or discount other performance measures that actually do matter.

 

[voodooless]

Let’s do a ABX between UcD180 (or 400 if you want comparable power) and Nilai…. Would be a fun experiment.

 

[DonH56]

Is the UcD180 a self-oscillating design? I am curious where the HF spurs are coming from, too many possibilities...

 

[voodooless]

Is the UcD180 a self-oscillating design? I am curious where the HF spurs are coming from, too many possibilities...

Yes it is. It’s the “ancient” ancestor of the Nilai and the ones before.

 

[pma]

Output DC offset protection test:

Contrary to the NC252MP, this amplifier has no problems with output DC offset protection. The amplifier does not transfer DC from input to output. For slow input DC rise, the output does not follow the input. For sudden deep input DC overload (-9V), the DC protection has worked after 125ms, which is fine.

Burst power tests

1. 100Hz burst

Burst power is limited by the power supply used with "soft" transformer.

100Hz burst power is 156W/4ohm.

2. 1kHz burst

1kHz burst power is 208W.

3. 10kHz burst

10kHz burst power is 193W.

 

[Larudakote]

Hi!
I can't find anywhere a graphic showing output power vs supply voltage (UcD180).

 

[Freeform]

I can see the UcD as a very viable option if one already has a chassis and - or with - a transformer / power supply. Soon as I can find that 500+ VA toroidal, check the voltage and it's fit in the box I have, I think that's what I'll do.

If you have to buy chassis, power supply and hardware, the total cost can get too close to the the Hypex kits, or well assembled commercial implementations.

 

[wizardofoz]

I happened to acquire 2 ucd180hxr modules and an SMPS400a180 so I added 2 amp more modules and a pair of ucd400’s and smps400a400 for my linkwitz LXmini+2 setup, but did a new chassis to hold it all

 

[FrankW]

Yeah yeah, but how does it sound? Maybe you could send to Matt Hooper for a 18000 words review?

 

[wizardofoz]

Yeah yeah, but how does it sound? Maybe you could send to Matt Hooper for a 18000 words review?

It’s not done yet but I’m sure it sounds just fine…there are plenty of details out there already, this was really just a post to say that they are still available and work plenty well enough

got mine from http://www.KJFAudi.com … build is in Singapore so I’m not sending anywhere.

 

[yogilla]

So I started to review another options and turned my attention to the older UcD design, namely UcD180HG HxR

I'll jump on the topic -
I have several Philips UCD modules, which are the same as the UCD in Philips DFR9000, their development was Hypex UCD180
I want to use such a stereo module as one mono channel. Pictured are two stereo modules.
My layman's question is how to bridge these two channels? I will only add that there were such factory solutions, but this is beyond me.

 

[somebodyelse]

DIYAudio post from Jan-Peter @ Hypex may be applicable to these as well as the UcD180, assuming you're driving the Philips modules from a balanced output.

 

[yogilla]

Everything I read is just theorizing, I expect a ready-made recipe based on the diagrams I post,
type - connect point A with point B etc.
Yet another vintage factory product.

 

[yogilla]

Connecting two differential stereo channels (XLR) into a bridge (BTL), I hope I called it correctly,
should it look like we connect two channels in parallel while maintaining the reverse polarity of the input?