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WiiM Ultra with 2 FOSI V3 MONO or an AB amplifier ?

Purifi and Hypex are both DIY amps, aren't they ?

Just thought I'd add that as well as the more DIY-style complete products you can buy (Nord, Audiophonics etc) there are also mainstream manufacturers that use both Purifi and Hypex amp modules. NAD for example.

For info. the Hypex Nilai amp kit you linked to is also very straightforward to build btw, but significantly more expensive than your current budget.
 
Thank you Ultrasonic and yes, that is what I see, the kit is only for people needing lots of power that I do not need. 2x250 is quite enough I think. I did not know that NAD used Purifi and Hypex, thank you for this informations
 
Will the prices still be competetive when ordering from UK to France? They write about US&EU customs free and that they pay import fees. But a vendor outside the EU has no control over what happens when a package comes to mainland EU. Tariffs might apply, taxes for sure apply.

I think audiophonics has some very good offers, also nice cases.

But if you like the Nord cases better, why not.

When comparing the respective module and psu vice-versa I would expect that any of these OEM-builders will deliver a solid product. What I would look at is any options you might want. Like trigger in/out, rca and/or xlr, gain settings. Which connectors a builder uses seems less important to me, but might matter to some. Expensive opamps were debunked as esoteric, so a non-option.

Cooling might be something different in the builder's concept. A lot can be done with clever case design and offloading to surrounding metal, maybe with help of extra material. WiiM does a very good job getting a lot of power out of their small unibody cases without running hot at all. But they don't do 2x250w like the 3e a7 with the external psu.
 
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Thank you Ruediger.

Yes, I get what you are telling me, thank you.
And now that I am reading Get Better Sound by Jim Smith, I got it yesterday, reads like a thriller:eek:.
For only 35$ this book will save me tons of money. I am beginning to think more about my room,
which according to Mr. Smith is almost perfect in size, and think less about spending more to
finally, according to this book, gain very little, if even anything at all, in sound quality.

Lots of people here on ASR already told me to worry less about amps and dacs and
more about speakers and the room and placement of the listener and the speaker,
but I now see that I got into this search because I did not have this book about how to improve the environment.

Now I feel I am on the right track thanks to all of you and Jim Smith,
this is finally like some kine of search for a crystal :)

It is very interesting what he has to say for example about the subs and bass :

"Forget about reproducing the most slam and the tightest bass if you're in this hobby for the music
(this does not endorse boomy bass). For example, there is still some transistorized gear that tends to
"dry up" the bass. This can strip the music of the weight and the body that we hear at
live concerts. Can you imagine asking a bass guitarist for a tighter bass ?
" quote Jim Smith, page 37.

This quote makes me think about my friend in Toulouse who sold me the line arrays for 70€.
He liked very much to experiment and at one time he had covered his walls with wooden boxes,
each one with a 15" woofers installed, I think there were about 12 of them, and with tons of wood insulation
between the woofer boxes. I am not sure whether Jim Smith would agree with this, but this is the most
amazing listening experience I have had in my life. I could "see" and "touch" as I closed my eyes,
the musicians in front of me. Everyone tells me that the way he did this (a student of engineering)
makes no sens, but the sound did, giving waves of goose bumps. He was very skilled with computer
and sound corrections, he had a copy of the very expensive simulator from his school.

After having read only a few pages, much of what Jim Smith writes makes very much sens to me,
even if he is not the only one having all the truths and you are so many experienced personalities
here on ASR with lifelong expertise, but he did win several times the best sound price during
exhibition shows after he managed to fine tune the sound according to each room he had at his
disposal.

So finally why spend more when I do not even have begun to set this up yet ?

I will go back to the 3E/A7 at Audiophonics that costs almost half of the Audiophonics Ncore Hypex
and even less than the Nord and spend more time thinking about my room and placements
and perhaps some money on room acoustics since today the room is empty and cold.
Later on I will try open baffles with one Lii Song 15" and a tube amp and CD and compare.

Thank you.
 
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Yes, room treatment, proper setup, measurements and correction and last but not least speakers! These are the areas where the big improvements can be had.

It's funny and interesting to mess with amps. I do it myself (all my life) despite knowing that most of what I have is way overqualified for what they have to work with here. I could also use a WiiM amp or a 3e a7 and get 99,9% the same. With the a7 and 2x250w and a the proper big GaN psu even at the highest levels I sometimes want from floorstanders.

But this is a hobby. The one thing in life where one does not need to make compromises. Efficiency and cost-saving is nice, but not always what makes the heart go.

I don't mind sinking 1xxx € into an amp much. It can be sold easily if it doesn't work out (never happened to me). I think harder about 10k into speakers. Because they are a nightmare to resell and selecting them is a serious process, not a choice out of 5 candidates that will all do 99,9% of what I want.
 
Will the prices still be competetive when ordering from UK to France? They write about US&EU customs free and that they pay import fees. But a vendor outside the EU has no control over what happens when a package comes to mainland EU. Tariffs might apply, taxes for sure apply.

On the tax front note that the UK and France both charge 20%, so the prices are directly comparable between Audiophonics and Nord in this regard (I've done it the other way round, living in the UK and looking at the Audiophonics options). Not sure about any additional import fees though.
 
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That's mostly people's imagination running wild. Older or todays cheapest class D amps lacked post filter feedback (PFFB), which could cause them to present an increased treble response on some speakers. That may have been audible in some cases. With modern class D amps using PFFB, they offer a flat frequency response and almost negligible distortion. That means they will all sound fine and actually should sound identical to good class AB amps in controlled testing.


It's not, luckily. Extremely precise measurements have already solved this for us.


You can try. Remember that good testing has to be level matched and blind - ideally double blind. Otherwise, bias will dictate what you think to hear.


A used Yamaha A-S301 or A-S501 could be an option.
A one or two dB rise at 20k May be audible to some young people , but I seriously doubt if it is important.

Anyway, feedback adds $80 to the price of a WiiM amp. Not a big deal.

I chose the cheaper one and have no regrets.
 
Wiim ultra and Fosi v3 mono are the worst pair you can choose.

1. Ultra has only RCA outputs but V3 mono RCA performance is 6db less.

2. If you want to place them near speakers you have noise issues with long RCA cables.

3. You can make custom rca to xlr cables, but recent v3 have lower gain, you may not be able to drive them properly.

Just get a Topping PA7 or a 3e A7.
Please rephrase this like to a 4 year old. Wiim ultra next to v3 mono blocks connected with 2’ of rca cables.
How is V3s different from 3e a7s?
I am also in a market for amp for wiim ultra .
 
The 3e A7 has more gain and is a better match for the WiiM Ultra rca line-out.

Another choice for the same money is the WiiM Vibelink. A bit less power at 2x200w but more options (3 inputs) and all match the Ultra perfectly.
 
The 3e A7 has more gain and is a better match for the WiiM Ultra rca line-out.

Another choice for the same money is the WiiM Vibelink. A bit less power at 2x200w but more options (3 inputs) and all match the Ultra perfectly.
Vibelink today is at 250$ on Amazon
2x 3e a7s are 350$
If I wanna impress my dad who knows a bit about audio and is a cheap guy which one should I get ?
 
That's a matter of taste and practical aspects. They both will bring about the same result with the Ultra. Both measure in the same area.

3e A7 with big GaN psu is 379€ here. Vibelink a bit cheaper but still more than 300. $250 is a superb offer.

When it comes to optics and integration (no external psu) the Vibelink gets the prize any day.
 
Please rephrase this like to a 4 year old. Wiim ultra next to v3 mono blocks connected with 2’ of rca cables.
How is V3s different from 3e a7s?
I am also in a market for amp for wiim ultra .

Fosi v3 mono RCA input is not at the same quality compared to XLR input.

In fact it is at the level of non PFFB V3 stereo. Less than the 16 bits cd resolution.

V
 
Fosi v3 mono RCA input is not at the same quality compared to XLR input.

In fact it is at the level of non PFFB V3 stereo. Less than the 16 bits cd resolution.

V
For best performance do you recommend rca to xlr cable to 3e a7s ?

I went with vitalink so optical cable for me

Thank you
 
You cannot use optical to v3 or 3e, they are analog.

You need custom cables to go XLR from wiim ultra. Unless you have a specific problem, I would not bother.

Look, I like the v3 mono, just that RCA performance drop is very large and wiim only offers RCA output.
 
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