Trinnov Amplitude 16 Amplifier Review

[TankTop]

Ok,one thing at a time.
First of all the 90% efficiency of the class D amps is usually at full power* .Then,lots of them are current limited.
From the layout and Amir's measurements it seems that it using a single board of the equivalent of 8 x 400a2 as the smaller sister does not do 400 W and it certainly can not do 800 W at 2 Ohm.

The advertised power (not the burst nonsense) seems to indicate to a custom,single board double PSU with some serious current abilities.
So no,is not like they threw the spare modules in there and that's it.
If they also took advantage of the chip abilities this should have,temp/clip/various amp condition indicators,amp and volt meters in real time,etc,the works,as any of the new icepower modules have.
I'm not certain about this though.

*Edit: and not the same efficiency at all loads,specially when serious current takes over .

It doesn’t matter in the real world as there’s no movie ever recorded that sends a full bandwidth signal to all channels in surround.

 

[Doodski]

Remarkable and ultimately not that expensive: 750 dollars per channel for unwavering power in the face of decreasing load impedance and facing the torture of an inductive and capacitive load... 200, 400, 800 watts!
Which puts the quality watt under 4 ohms at 2 euros...

Post scriptume : A question: a friend who suffers from hyperacusis tells me that he hears the noise produced by Hypex and Icepower switching power supplies which have a chopping frequency that is too low and he tells me that he does not hear those used by Sudgen which cut out above... He is an approved repairer for some brands and for him it is a terrible defect. What do you think.

He might be hearing the power supply transformer. I used to be able to hear the squealing in monster car amps and often too. It should not occur but it does sometimes.

 

[Doodski]

I've paid ~$2500 for two channel 200+ wpc stereo amplifiers back in the day. So 16 channels in 2024 for $12,500 is OK.

Yes, sir... LoL. The money that I've dropped for American made power amps boggles my mind but things have changed for sure and for the better.

 

[voodooless]

I hate responses like these. I’m a general contractor and occasionally I’ll have a client tell me the prices materials at X so why am I charging so much. Vehicles, time, insurance, equipment, payroll, accountant, attorney, expertise etc… wholesale pricing a single component is absolutely ridiculous, it’s like saying there’s only $1.32 of cotton in your jeans.

Except that is not what I’m saying, nor is it a very valid comparison either. You’re comparing time and equipment used for contracting work to a ready made product. These price compositions are totally different, do you have a 5x margin for your contracting work?

 

[Haskil]

He might be hearing the power supply transformer. I used to be able to hear the squealing in monster car amps and often too. It should not occur but it does sometimes.

Yes he says he hears the noise of the power supply, not noise in the signal coming out of the speakers, just the noise of the power supply... it seems possible to you because he says that all the Icepower and all the Hypex which pass through his repair shop suffer from the same defect that he can hear clearly due to his hyperacusis... and he says that it hurts his ears... I have some doubts about the veracity of this testimony although it is serious ...but it has an audiophile tendency too...

 

[Blumlein 88]

Yes he says he hears the noise of the power supply, not noise in the signal coming out of the speakers, just the noise of the power supply... it seems possible to you because he says that all the Icepower and all the Hypex which pass through his repair shop suffer from the same defect that he can hear clearly due to his hyperacusis... and he says that it hurts his ears... I have some doubts about the veracity of this testimony although it is serious ...but it has an audiophile tendency too...

Get a microphone with some extended response and see what is there. Even a cheap pencil condenser might do as they have some response on up to 30 khz or more even if trending down above 20 khz.

 

[Haskil]

Get a microphone with some extended response and see what is there. Even a cheap pencil condenser might do as they have some response on up to 30 khz or more even if trending down above 20 khz.

This is what I already suggested he do because I am incredulous...

 

[Doodski]

Yes he says he hears the noise of the power supply, not noise in the signal coming out of the speakers, just the noise of the power supply... it seems possible to you because he says that all the Icepower and all the Hypex which pass through his repair shop suffer from the same defect that he can hear clearly due to his hyperacusis... and he says that it hurts his ears... I have some doubts about the veracity of this testimony although it is serious ...but it has an audiophile tendency too...

It depends of course on the switching PWM frequency of operation, the mechanical integrity of the power supply transformer. Like I said I've heard hundreds of squealing PWM power supplies and often replaced the transformers due to them being very noisy like a squealing hissy sound. Like a hissing snake almost sometimes... Pssssssssss.

 

[AaronJ]

Did you mean to say "...... and does NOT see the value in researching lower cost alternatives....." ?

In principle I do agree, and Trinnov will be mindful of that as well.

So why would they saddle a premium product with second-rate $80 modules, when their customers would happily pay for Hypex or Purifi, like much of the competition?

I think they DO know the value of researching lower cost alternatives. It's an exercise in how to value one's own time. I have a quick and dirty evaluation that time = gross pay, so if I can save 1 hour of time to not do something I don't want to do, then I'll do it at the cost of 1 hour's gross pay. Great example is trying to decide if I want to do a 2 hour round trip to Ikea, or spent $19 on freight shipping, even if it's for a $45 piece of furniture. One of the best services I ever spent money on was having our movers also pack up everything from our 3BR house. That cost $1200 and saved countless hours and was finished in a day. That's my rough valuation, and to someone who can spend $12k on an amplifier they probably place FAR more value to their time for something they don't care about.

Audio is a major hobby to many of us so we fine value in actually spending time doing research. But my time is limited enough as it is so I'm not going to shop around for the best value when it comes to things like furniture, clothes, etc.

 

[Haskil]

It depends of course on the switching PWM frequency of operation, the mechanical integrity of the power supply transformer. Like I said I've heard hundreds of squealing PWM power supplies and often replaced the transformers due to them being very noisy like a squealing hissy sound. Like a hissing snake almost sometimes... Pssssssssss.

Ok ! So it's plausible... but since he says that ALL Hypex and IcePower power supplies do it, we're moving away from the problem posed by a faulty transformer to poor design or inherently poor quality... but never mind this point was not reported during a test on ASR by Amir or another tester...

 

[paulcc]

It seems one should assure that the thing is powered from outlets on two separate circuits if it can output 2800W rms. It would be better for them to be 20 amp ones at that. 2400 Watts is the most a 20 amp 120V circuit can do without tripping a breaker. I realize actually outputting 2800W is not probable for any length of time, but... I'm also wondering if two circuits on separate legs of the line is how they expect to get 240Vac or if they plan for 240V on both inputs?

 

[Cogito]

That's a whole lotta money for 8 channels of Class D...

 

[voodooless]

That's a whole lotta money for 8 channels of Class D...

Luckily you’ll get 16 amps, not 8

 

[anphex]

Uh, what about the heat? My Audiophonics NCX500 stereo amp gets pretty warm - like not nice to touch when it has a few hours music to "work out". I am kind of scared knowing 16 amp modules in such a relatively compact case. Also, if someting fails, for every module you'd have to send in the entire amp, right? Meaning you're 16 amp channels down for a while.

Overall, I don't know. I like the idea and the design, I expected FAR worse for this amount of amps, but I still can't think of any real target group.

-> Need many amps for cinema? Get one of the larger Denon AVRs, you even get superb processing
-> Need flexibility? Just get 3-4 Audiophonics, Boxxem, Purite, Apollon, etc. Hypex/Purifi amps
-> Want full transparency? See one line above

So it boils down to this:
Whoevery waited for this device and can afford it, congrats! Here it is.

 

[Cogito]

Luckily you’ll get 16 amps, not 8

Oh, jeez! That's right! Much more reasonable since you doubled the channels.

 

[voodooless]

Uh, what about the heat?

It has active cooling with two fans, one for the amps, one for the PSUs. This is a lot more efficient than passive convection cooling.

 

[Hellboy.]

Hypex NC502MP 8-Channel = $2,250 x2 = $4,500 - $12,500 = $8,000

Buckeye Amps

Buckeye Amps utilizes the most advanced audio amplifier technologies available. Authorized seller for Hypex and Purifi Class D amplifiers. Based in the US. Free shipping and worldwide service!

www.buckeyeamp.com

Congratulations, you still have $8,000 in your account and a better amplifier to enjoy.

 

[Sokel]

Hypex NC502MP 8-Channel = $2,250 x2 = $4,500 - $12,500 = $8,000

Buckeye Amps

Buckeye Amps utilizes the most advanced audio amplifier technologies available. Authorized seller for Hypex and Purifi Class D amplifiers. Based in the US. Free shipping and worldwide service!

www.buckeyeamp.com

Congratulations, you still have $8,000 in your account and a better amplifier to enjoy.

Depends by what one means better amp.
Cause this chart is unbeatable so far as the main single aspect of a power amp is clean power:

It's closer to ideal more than any amp measured here.

All else are doable though,yes.

 

[michaelahess]

It may be good value for anyone that can actually afford a custom installer. It's bad value for the rest of us.

And I just bought a Cybertruck, (go ahead and laugh!) I'm not exactly broke!

 

[restorer-john]

Ok ! So it's plausible... but since he says that ALL Hypex and IcePower power supplies do it, we're moving away from the problem posed by a faulty transformer to poor design or inherently poor quality... but never mind this point was not reported during a test on ASR by Amir or another tester...

It very common with switched mode power supplies. I can hear many of the plugpack chargers from across the room- so much so, we have no phone/tablet/computer SMPS in the bedroom as the noise drives us both up the wall.

Many DVD players and TVs have noisy power supplies. I can safely say I've never heard a truly quiet SMPS router power supply either.

They all sound like a nest of mosquitoes. If your high frequency hearing is poor, you just won't notice or think it's annoying. And of course, it depends on your environment- we live in a very quiet area.