People who went down the ultra high sinad gear route what have you found?

[Rainier939]

I'm looking into some high power amps, 200+ watt into 8 ohm, for a reasonable price you get to the hypex, purifi, benchmark and to a degree icepower kind of amps. But I hear mixed results. One person thinks it's the end all be all and the other find that it shows to much and loses the love for the music they once held so dear.

I personally listen to alot of EDM and other not so recorded/mixed music. I have some "audiophile" songs I like and enjoy from time to time but mostly it's party music.

 

[JSmith]

other find that it shows to much and loses the love for the music they once held so dear

Hey, welcome.

What does this actually mean though? Is it based on anything factual or simply a "feeling"?

My advice is not to deliberately seek a device that measures poorly, seeking a "sound" (an exercise in folly)... one can always adjust the audio to taste if needed.


JSmith

 

[MaxwellsEq]

I'm looking into some high power amps, 200+ watt into 8 ohm, for a reasonable price you get to the hypex, purifi, benchmark and to a degree icepower kind of amps. But I hear mixed results. One person thinks it's the end all be all and the other find that it shows to much and loses the love for the music they once held so dear.

I personally listen to alot of EDM and other not so recorded/mixed music. I have some "audiophile" songs I like and enjoy from time to time but mostly it's party music.

Welcome to ASR.

I have the Purifi 1ET400. They are excellent. There is no hiss from the tweeters and there is never a sense that the amplifier is being pushed anywhere out of its linear range. I highly recommend them.

They replaced a lower powered but well engineered Class A/B. At low listening levels the new and old sound just as good as eachother. Where the Purifi is better is infrasonic bass which is deeper and more powerful at higher levels than the Class A/B could produce.

 

[Rainier939]

Hey, welcome.

What does this actually mean though? Is it based on anything factual or simply a "feeling"?

My advice is not to deliberately seek a device that measures poorly, seeking a "sound" (an exercise in folly)... one can always adjust the audio to taste if needed.


JSmith

Factual no absolutely not. These are comments of the subjective reviewers. But I don't want to spend €1000-2000 on an amp that makes me dislike the music I like so much.

 

[JSmith]

These are comments of the subjective reviewers.

Yeah I know... just don't bother reading them at all. Not worth your time even, don't poison your own mind against a product based on some random internet guy "review".

But I don't want to spend €1000-2000 on an amp that makes me dislike the music I like so much.

Just buy a good amp that has been reviewed here, measures well and has the appropriate features and power you require. Then kick back and enjoy some tunes knowing you have excellent equipment.


JSmith

 

[Rainier939]

Welcome to ASR.

I have the Purifi 1ET400. They are excellent. There is no hiss from the tweeters and there is never a sense that the amplifier is being pushed anywhere out of its linear range. I highly recommend them.

They replaced a lower powered but well engineered Class A/B. At low listening levels the new and old sound just as good as eachother. Where the Purifi is better is infrasonic bass which is deeper and more powerful at higher levels than the Class A/B could produce.

I'm replacing a Atoll IN80 with plenty of distortion in it's design and altho it sounds nice at low to medium listening levels it does start to fall apart when cranking it. It should have plenty power with 140 watts into 4 ohm on the spec sheet. I also have a SE tube amp but the more I compare it to the atoll the more I start to lose the love for the thing. So I want to try the other end of the audio spectrum, aka, lab grade power amps with all the current you'll ever need. But I kinda hesitant to try and need some user feedback

 

[Blumlein 88]

Factual no absolutely not. These are comments of the subjective reviewers. But I don't want to spend €1000-2000 on an amp that makes me dislike the music I like so much.

Hang around here and soak up the info that is available. You'll come to find subjective reviewers aren't worth the cost of the photons on your screen to read. Subjective reviews are a crooked view into our all too human tendency to be biased by almost anything. Any of the good amps will sound the same if they have the right power you need. EDM, you'll want a powerful amp.

 

[Blumlein 88]

Hey, welcome.
What does this actually mean though? Is it based on anything factual or simply a "feeling"?
My advice is not to deliberately seek a device that measures poorly, seeking a "sound" (an exercise in folly)... one can always adjust the audio to taste if needed.

JSmith

To the OP, Rainier939, read the bold dark red text above. A clean amp is the way. You can dirty it up to suit with various software if that is your thing. If you have a tube amp, especially a SE amp, then it is dirty in a particular way which you cannot adjust.

 

[Old_School_Brad]

Well. Realising what your own thresholds are IR to noise and distortion just makes the choice of components easier. You purchase the gear with the features and power you need and sit back and enjoy the music, knowing that any new gear will not make it sound better. Should you feel like it you can use EQ or room correction.
I think that is a complacent place.

 

[terryforsythe]

My KEF LS60 Wireless speakers have a built-in plate amplifier. If I put my ear next to the tweeter, I can hear a little bit of hiss. It is not audible at 1m, though.

In my other system I have miniDSP Flex HTx providing active crossovers. I have a Hypex Nilai500DIY Stereo amplifier powering the woofers, and two Topping LA90D amplifiers powering the midranges and tweeters. In that system I cannot hear any hiss, even when I put my ear next to the tweeter.

An amplifier with a high damping factor may help tighten up the bass, depending on what speakers you have. E.g., if the speakers have inductors with high DC resistance in series with the woofers, it may not make an audible difference.

 

[Rainier939]

An amplifier with a high damping factor may help tighten up the bass, depending on what speakers you have. E.g., if the speakers have inductors with high DC resistance in series with the woofers, it may not make an audible difference.

Dc resistance on the inductor in the speaker is 0.18 so not a problem. They are 93dB/2,83v/1m so hiss could be a problem at the 2m listening distance

 

[restorer-john]

@Rainier939 I would go for a powerful amplifier with all the facilities you need now and potentially into the future. An amplifier that can happily output 200wpc all day, yet is well behaved, silent and distortion free at low chill-out levels, when you've come down from your 12 hour EDM party.

In a domestic situation, with decent full range speakers and maybe a subwoofer or two, any of the high performance Class Ds from Hypex/Purifi would be a good bet. If you want something that will outlive your partying days and be a partner for many years afterwards, go with a well built traditional Class AB from one of the big players. But it will be bigger, heavier and likely more expensive, however.

Buy what suits your life at the moment with a view to where you think you might be in your HiFi/music journey in 5 years. Amps are mostly consumer durables. They last a long time.

The ultra high SINAD game is the audio equivalent of clickbait- don't fall for it.

 

[Rainier939]

To the OP, Rainier939, read the bold dark red text above. A clean amp is the way. You can dirty it up to suit with various software if that is your thing. If you have a tube amp, especially a SE amp, then it is dirty in a particular way which you cannot adjust.

Yes the SE amp really doesn't do it for me anymore. I've loved it in my old place and didn't run it for a year after moving into the new place. Ever since then I just can't seem to like it anymore. This why I want to get into the pirifi and hypex kind of amps. I like my solid state Atoll solid state amp more than the tube amp. And with the Atoll not being the cleanest amp design I thought why not go a step further and do ultra high sinad designs and see what comes of that.

 

[Rainier939]

@Rainier939 I would go for a powerful amplifier with all the facilities you need now and potentially into the future. An amplifier that can happily output 200wpc all day, yet is well behaved, silent and distortion free at low chill-out levels, when you've come down from your 12 hour EDM party.

In a domestic situation, with decent full range speakers and maybe a subwoofer or two, any of the high performance Class Ds from Hypex/Purifi would be a good bet. If you want something that will outlive your partying days and be a partner for many years afterwards, go with a well built traditional Class AB from one of the big players. But it will be bigger, heavier and likely more expensive, however.

Buy what suits your life at the moment with a view to where you think you might be in your HiFi/music journey in 5 years. Amps are mostly consumer durables. They last a long time.

The ultra high SINAD game is the audio equivalent of clickbait- don't fall for it.

I like your style. I've heard the Hegel H600 with some KEF blade 2 metas last year at a show and I freaking loved it. I don't have 12k to spend on an amp sadly so I like to try something that at least on paper has the same performance. The KEF's are a dream but for this threat lest keep it at the amp.

My party days will never end I think. It's what I grew up on together with rock and metal. The audiophile music is just a tool to show what the system is doing technicaly.

 

[Sokel]

Did you mention your speakers?
For EDM I would use subs for sure if not big 3-ways are in the picture.

Don't worry about the lowest of SINAD if noise is in check.
Have a look around for amps that can sustain lows without sweat if no subs are involved.
But first you have to determine the desired SPL,listening distance,potential EQ,etc.

 

[Haskil]

Yes the SE amp really doesn't do it for me anymore. I've loved it in my old place and didn't run it for a year after moving into the new place. Ever since then I just can't seem to like it anymore. This why I want to get into the pirifi and hypex kind of amps. I like my solid state Atoll solid state amp more than the tube amp. And with the Atoll not being the cleanest amp design I thought why not go a step further and do ultra high sinad designs and see what comes of that.

And what do you use as a preamplifier? From memory, the IN 80 does not have a preamplification stage, the signal passing directly from the input selector to the volume potentiometer... It's not a bad amp, but its design is certainly not It's not ideal and on the continuous power side, that's not it... if you pull on it, it heats up a lot because its radiators are too small.
But if you opt, and you would be right, for an excellent class D, you will need a preamp in front and it all depends on your uses...

 

[Rainier939]

Did you mention your speakers?
For EDM I would use subs for sure if not big 3-ways are in the picture.

Don't worry about the lowest of SINAD if noise is in check.
Have a look around for amps that can sustain lows without sweat if no subs are involved.
But first you have to determine the desired SPL,listening distance,potential EQ,etc.

DIY 12" woofer with compression driver on top. 93dB/2.83v/1m.
Mardaudio alpaire 10 with with a dome tweeter. 82dB/2.83v/1m.
Sub 12" dayton audio dcs-305-4 woofer with hyper fa251 plate amp.

Future DIY speaker 3 way with 10-12" subwoofers tuned down to 20-30 hz.
This will be take a while to save up for so for now the high efficiency speakers are the main speakers I listen to. They do loud things pretty clean. I like that

 

[Mort]

There's no way high sinad is responsible for losing love of music. That's simply an irresponsible claim by the reviewer.

 

[Rainier939]

And what do you use as a preamplifier? From memory, the IN 80 does not have a preamplification stage, the signal passing directly from the input selector to the volume potentiometer... It's not a bad amp, but its design is certainly not It's not ideal and on the continuous power side, that's not it... if you pull on it, it heats up a lot because its radiators are too small.
But if you opt, and you would be right, for an excellent class D, you will need a preamp in front and it all depends on your uses...

I was planning on buying a dac with ballanced outputs and a volume knob at the same time so serve as a preamp. My musical fidelity V90 has no volume knob and doesnt swing the voltage to drive any of the big power amps to clipping.

Isn't a pot between the RCAs and the input stage of the power amp basically a passive preamp?

 

[Old_School_Brad]

Why don't look in the direction of pro power amps? Plenty of labgruppen, yamaha, crown and QSC's are pretty good. Many have selection for input sensitivity as well. Avoid the ones with constant on fans.