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Review and Measurements of Neurochrome HP-1 High-Performance Amp

tomchr

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Nango

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The survey is just too long.... I had to restarted twice.. forget it...
Emm what I want to say is... Beat thx 789! and make it 499!
I believe you can make it happen!

It is enough to be close to the measurements of the THX, match the JDS Atom plus balanced circuitry, that's it, no bling signature, nothing special.
 

LuckyLuke575

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That along with the "feel" of the knob (whatever that means) were the most surprising criticisms of the HP-1. Live and learn.

As for the aesthetics of the enclosure: I designed the HP-1 as a DIY projects. Many liked it and after a loaner round on SBAF quite a few wanted one. They just didn't want to build their own. So the completed amps started selling. As one reviewer said, "it looks like a DIY project" ... because it is a DIY project, albeit a quite nice one if you ask me. :)
As far as I'm aware, there is nothing that competes with the HP-1 on performance in the DIY space.

There's no way that a small fry like me will ever be able to compete on price with the Best Buys (or Massdrops) of the world. That's just reality. I have to compete on something else.

Tom
Barring a few naysayers / nitpickers, one can only say that this is an amazing amp. I just wish that the price was a bit closer to earth!
 
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tomchr

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Yeah. That's a common critique. I focused 100% on performance in the design of the HP-1. This greatly increased the production cost. If I sold the HP-1 at retail margins, it should sell for $3k+ Few are willing to pay that much.

The good news is that I think it's possible to come quite close to the performance of the HP-1 at a lower price point. Stay tuned. If you'd like to be the first to know about new products, I suggest signing up for my newsletter here: https://www.neurochrome.com/newsletter

Tom
 

LuckyLuke575

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Yeah. That's a common critique. I focused 100% on performance in the design of the HP-1. This greatly increased the production cost. If I sold the HP-1 at retail margins, it should sell for $3k+ Few are willing to pay that much.

The good news is that I think it's possible to come quite close to the performance of the HP-1 at a lower price point. Stay tuned. If you'd like to be the first to know about new products, I suggest signing up for my newsletter here: https://www.neurochrome.com/newsletter

Tom
Thanks Tom, I've got no doubt that another iteration will be even better in terms of the sound quality and price ratio. I just signed up for the newsletter; looking for to learning more in the coming months.
 

WHO23

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Yeah. That's a common critique. I focused 100% on performance in the design of the HP-1. This greatly increased the production cost. If I sold the HP-1 at retail margins, it should sell for $3k+ Few are willing to pay that much.

The good news is that I think it's possible to come quite close to the performance of the HP-1 at a lower price point. Stay tuned. If you'd like to be the first to know about new products, I suggest signing up for my newsletter here: https://www.neurochrome.com/newsletter

Tom
Sounds great, Tom! I hope it comes in blue :D
 

tomchr

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Blue? Nah... Probably not. Maybe Red & White. It's Canada Day after all. :)

Most seem to desire black, so I'll definitely offer that. I might make a silver version available as well. One could entertain the thought of a silver case with black hardware. I'll probably build a couple in different colour options and let people have their say.

Tom
 

maxxevv

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Red and White should look pretty good using powder coat. Not so great idea if using paint as majority of white paint will yellow with extended heat exposure.
 

tomchr

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I am very much looking forward to the succesor of this amp.
That's good to hear. I should have a working prototype of the amp section within the next couple of weeks. I hope to have a full prototype amp for show & tell at CanJam/RMAF.

Red and White should look pretty good using powder coat. Not so great idea if using paint as majority of white paint will yellow with extended heat exposure.
I'm more than happy to entertain the thought of a completely custom paint job ... at a completely custom price. :)

Tom
 

JohnYang1997

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Recently I designed a 3 opamp stage amplifier with opa1656 and tpa6120. Here is the bode plot with partial output local feedback and fully open loop gain, with 10nF load. And it's tested stable. The ths6012 model is truly accurate, amazing! :D
 

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tomchr

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340 dB aught to be enough for everybody... :)

Tom
 

maxxevv

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And ahhh..... I bought 25 more in response. F my wallet. :facepalm:
How much are those retailing for ? Mouser doesn't have any in stock, though your link suggests Ti can take orders ?

Doubt I can hear a difference but would certainly like to put a set of them into my HPA-3B (since they run 36V) just for the heck of it. :p:D
 

JohnYang1997

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How much are those retailing for ? Mouser doesn't have any in stock, though your link suggests Ti can take orders ?

Doubt I can hear a difference but would certainly like to put a set of them into my HPA-3B (since they run 36V) just for the heck of it. :p:D
Quite cheap actually. Around 2.5 dollars ea. Much cheaper than opa1612.
To buy them, buy sample directly from ti.
 

maxxevv

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That's surprisingly budget priced but that's bulk purchase right? 25 piece MOQ ?
 
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