ICEPower 125ASX2 Class D Amplifier Review

[Xulonn]

But upon Google searching the 200asc seem a have a high failure rate.

Sorry, but checking out your claim, I found absolutely no evidence of a high failure rate for the 200ASC in the past several years, and it seems likely that many thousands of them have been sold. There was one failure reported and discussed at DIY audio.

As I mentioned earlier in this thread, I am planning on buying the 200ASC/200AC combo sometimes soon to install in a Ghent case I already purchased.

Please don't disparage an audio product unless you have evidence to back up your claims.

 

[muad]

Sorry, but checking out your claim, I found absolutely no evidence of a high failure rate for the 200ASC in the past several years, and it seems likely that many thousands of them have been sold. There was one failure reported and discussed at DIY audio.

As I mentioned earlier in this thread, I am planning on buying the 200ASC/200AC combo sometimes soon to install in a Ghent case I already purchased.

Please don't disparage an audio product unless you have evidence to back up your claims.

Sorry I didn't mean to make any false.claims, it did seem to me that a few people have had the same issue, but maybe I'm wrong. I'll do a little more digging. Either way, have you been able to find any objective measurements of the 200asc modules?

 

[kn0ppers]

If I remember correctly profusionplc in the UK sells a lot of ICEPower stuff. I have 2 of the chinese modules boxed up in a Ghent case as well, although in my case in BTL configuration, so one module per channel. Was built to power a pair of home cinema subwoofers or possibly surround speakers. Hasn't seen much use so far. But seeing the measurements, should still be good enough for the job.

I was always wondering how genuine these are. Got them from eBay for around 110-120USD a while ago. I suspect something about them makes them B stock, but not sure about the details. Maybe I should order a genuine one from Profusion, but someone with proper gear in the EU would have to compare them in actual tests.

 

[muad]

Sorry, but checking out your claim, I found absolutely no evidence of a high failure rate for the 200ASC in the past several years, and it seems likely that many thousands of them have been sold. There was one failure reported and discussed at DIY audio.

As I mentioned earlier in this thread, I am planning on buying the 200ASC/200AC combo sometimes soon to install in a Ghent case I already purchased.

Please don't disparage an audio product unless you have evidence to back up your claims.

So I found this thread. It does seem like it has an issue with a blown capacitor. If you scroll back through the pages it's not an isolated case. Not sure what revision the partsexpress boards are, but I don't really want to take a chance.

""My guess is this cap is the primary cause of failures in these modules. Sometimes mosfet is destroyed, also the 3 parallel series resistors, and possibly the controller and other peripheral devices, depending on how lucky / unlucky you are.""

https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/cla...-schematic-rev-engin-complete-finished-6.html

I think I'm not going with the b&o modules. I was pretty close on pulling the trigger on them...

 

[KR500]

Muad, thank you for posting the link to the thread at diyaudio about the the ICE board Rev. D .
One thread poster mentioned he had 4 boards that all had the same issue/problem , plus caps measured far out of spec .
Not really a confidence builder

Parts Express has version 2 and 2.2 of the 200ASC/AC combo

Here is a posted question and response at the Parts Express page for the 200ASC/AC combo from last May

"The ICEpower Web site does not list the model numbers shown offered by Parts Express. The 200W amp listed on their site is the 200AS1 and is obviously different. Anyone know the differences? Does the "C" in the model number mean "consumer"?
MARK F on Aug 14, 2018
BEST ANSWER: It's a different amp. 200ASC model is on the market for at least 5 years now. 200 AS1 is the new model, redesigned. Still 200ASC is a very, VERY good piece of electonic

• Paweł M on May 22, 2019 "

 

[Matias]

As far as I know ICEpower just rebranded their ASC modules to AS1 or AS2 if they have 1 or 2 channels, but the technology is the same old ASC.
The only thing new there is the ICEedge chip that is only used in 1200AS currently.

 

[Tim6622]

Agreed, it's horrendous. You can get far better performance at ~$200, for example LJM L12-2 power amp, 120W @ 8 ohm, 200W @ 4 ohm (THD 0.0005% 1kHz at 10W). I own a unit and it sounded absolutely glorious with my Wharfedale EVO 4.2 speakers (I'm totally not biased btw).

I bought an LJJM l12-2 from Sep_store. While it did not sound bad, I wasn't to impressive for the price so I installed it at my Fathers house for his Elac debut 2.0 system. Idk if its just because it has a little more hiss than my Icepower250A , but the icepower module amp is marginally cleaner sounding for less cost. It also has the lowest "hiss" I've heard out of any amp I've heard only audible if you press your ear at headphone level at the tweeter.

 

[bunkbail]

I bought an LJJM l12-2 from Sep_store. While it did not sound bad, I wasn't to impressive for the price so I installed it at my Fathers house for his Elac debut 2.0 system. Idk if its just because it has a little more hiss than my Icepower250A , but the icepower module amp is marginally cleaner sounding for less cost. It also has the lowest "hiss" I've heard out of any amp I've heard only audible if you press your ear at headphone level at the tweeter.

Did you get the one with volume control? Mine is a pure power amp and has no hiss at all, even when I stick my ears right next to the tweeters. My only other amp is the TPA3116-based Loxjie A10, and these sound better with my EVO 4.2s, I can't detect no distortion at all even when cranked out load. These are DIY amps so things may vary depending on the builder I guess.

 

[HemiRick]

These modules can be bought in a complete amp for $149
https://www.adorama.com/vpfampfa500...JZ_yNLGowZZNlRcrnsikGlMO8HFPBO-waAnonEALw_wcB

I have one I got when they were on sale @ B&H for $99, its a great little amp. I'm using it in my garage to drive a pair of speakers, and I've also used it in bridged mode to drive a subwoofer.

 

[hyperknot]

These modules can be bought in a complete amp for $149
https://www.adorama.com/vpfampfa500...JZ_yNLGowZZNlRcrnsikGlMO8HFPBO-waAnonEALw_wcB

I have one I got when they were on sale @ B&H for $99, its a great little amp. I'm using it in my garage to drive a pair of speakers, and I've also used it in bridged mode to drive a subwoofer.

Oh that's an amazing deal, a genuine module from a Californian company. But you need to mod it to remove the terrible preamp stage.

 

[maltux]

Sorry, but checking out your claim, I found absolutely no evidence of a high failure rate for the 200ASC in the past several years, and it seems likely that many thousands of them have been sold. There was one failure reported and discussed at DIY audio.

As I mentioned earlier in this thread, I am planning on buying the 200ASC/200AC combo sometimes soon to install in a Ghent case I already purchased.

Please don't disparage an audio product unless you have evidence to back up your claims.

Have you built the amp yet?

I have bought the parts and waiting for the case from Ghent audio. I hope to be replacing a Rotel 981 Power amplifier (130 wRMS) class AB with this smaller more wife friendly class D amp. As a preamp for now I am using the pre outs from my Rotel RA02 integrated amp. I eventually would like to get a good preamp to control my volume and switch from Tuner, Sony HD Tuner, CD player , Phono and Streamer (Rapberry/Hifiberry - homemade).

 

[Matias]

FYI Archimago bought a Ghent kit and solderless cable set and built his amplifier, in his case a Hypex NCore NC252MP, but his tutorial is very thorough and I suppose it applies to other modules.

http://archimago.blogspot.com/2020/01/an-inexpensive-hi-fi-class-d-stereo-amp.html

 

[Xulonn]

Have you built the amp yet?

Haven't built the kit yet - things can go slow on a limited retirement income. But sometimes later this year perhaps.

 

[Xulonn]

..

FYI Archimago bought a Ghent kit and solderless cable set and built his amplifier, in his case a Hypex NCore NC252MP, but his tutorial is very thorough and I suppose it applies to other modules.
http://archimago.blogspot.com/2020/01/an-inexpensive-hi-fi-class-d-stereo-amp.html

I found this paragraph at the beginning of the post interesting:

[Having said this, on a side note, the fact that there are a number of boutique audiophile companies making things like resistor ladder DACs and old NOS DACs that objectively perform poorly, says something about the fact that much of audiophilia is NOT about actual engineered performance ("high fidelity"). IMO most of the chatter in magazines and various places is about supposedly-trustworthy gurus, their preferences, opinions and hype that builds from there. This is also demonstrated in the "fashionable" and meaningless audio trends over the decades. In the 2010's, one obvious example is the digital filter options offered by DACs culminating in the most silly of "formats" called MQA that used various weak filters to "render" final output with ultrasonic artifacts as if this represented actual decoded high sample rate content.]

 

[maltux]

Haven't built the kit yet - things can go slow on a limited retirement income. But sometimes later this year perhaps.

Thanks for the reply. I look forward to building it. If it sounds better than or as good as the Rotel RB 981 I will keep it. I am under a constrained budget as well and semi-retired but do not tell my wife please; she will have other ideas, of that I am certain.

Cheers!

 

[MenloBob]

Oh that's an amazing deal, a genuine module from a Californian company. But you need to mod it to remove the terrible preamp stage.

I have 3 of these I got for $79 each. One sounds OK in the bedroom setup and the others will be stripped for the modules.

 

[JamesC]

I purchased the 125ASX2 board and the ghentaudio case. The board was from a chineese seller on ebay. I installed it in the case and on the first power on the componet by the power connect popped. Do you think this is repairable? (See attached photo) If so, anyone know what component that it or is there a schematic?

 

[amirm]

The blown component seems like a low value resistor so may not be hard to replace. The big issue is why it blew. Likely a short either in wiring or the amp.

 

[EB1000]

I purchased the 125ASX2 board and the ghentaudio case. The board was from a chineese seller on ebay. I installed it in the case and on the first power on the componet by the power connect popped. Do you think this is repairable? (See attached photo) If so, anyone know what component that it or is there a schematic?

Your module if a fake Chinese clown. I've seen many of these cheap 125asx2 and 50asx2 fail or even fry after some time. If you want genuine Icepower, then order them from profusionplc.com

https://www.profusionplc.com/news/i...t-amplifiers-that-excel-on-audio-performance/

I've built many DIY amps for many friends using the 125ASX2 and the 50ASX2, NEVER had any complaint! Never buy crap from eBay or Aliexpress

Also, I don't know if the 125ASX2 modules Amirm reviewed here were also from eBay, but I'm willing to bet that your gonna see a major performance difference between genuine Ice and fake Chinese Ice.

 

[JamesC]

I have a feeling its a fake but I just hoped it worked. I tested the board with my multi meter and there is no short between ground or the other V line. Suprising thing is that the next component is the fuse and it didnt blow. I even if I repair this one I should by a real one just to be safe.