Hypex Class D amps and PSU's

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dandeurloo

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I'm not sure if anyone has tried these amps on their passive speakers but they are very nice.  I compared them to a number of other amps and the Hypex amp sounded much better.  More ambience, detail and they seemed to have an extra octive down over the other amps.  The build was one of the UCD400's with the upgrades.  The PSU was an old school brute force design.  That amp was a friends amp.  We haven't tried the Ncores yet but we both would love to hear the difference.  Before we do that we wanted to try and build a identical amp but using the Hypex PSU modules to see if that would change the sound at all.  My guess is yes in favor of the old school brute force PSU design. 

Anyway, I should have that amp built this weekend.  I was curious if anyone else has done the same kind of comparison between the Hypex modules and what results they may have found.  I should note I compared the amps on 3 different sets of speakers.  ProAc's, some super expensive custom near fields and a pair of Tyler D1x's.  All the speakers showed the same strengths and weaknesses in each amp. 

Let me know if any of you have had any experience with them.
 
Bruno Putzey (designer of Hypex amps) is a solid designer.

WIth class D amps the power supply matters more than for conventional amps, while his unique feedback approach is better than most class D amps.

I would not be quick to discount or second guess any Hypex advice regarding power supplies.


JR

PS: No I do not have one of his amps, but if i needed a new amp I would seriously consider one. Maybe I should even though I don't need one.
 
I know Bruno is a smart guy.  The reason I have my doubts about a switching suppluy is that one of the other amps we compared the Hypex amp to was a IcePower amp that had a switching supply.  The Hypex amp destroyed the IcePower.  It was honestly shocking to all of us.  We thought that there would be almost no difference at all since they are very comparable in design and technology.  It was a blow out.  The Hypex was much much better.  I personally thought that it must have come down to the PSU's. 

Thoughts?
 
I have a pair of UCD 250 (I think) and accompanying switching psu pretty crudely mounted on a large PCB for in house testing. It was given by a friend who worked for Philips as a switching designer. I still have not tested it but I think it is quite an early version.
 
I was told the upgraded version of the UCD made a pretty big jump from earlier models.  I don't know for sure because I only heard the one amp that has the most current UCD PCB's.  I think you can upgrade the older versions pretty easy. 
 
I'm currently doing two encloses with 3x UCD400 in each to drive low end in our living room. Reusing two analog 800VA power supply's from earlier transistor builds. Project been on hold for some time doe to some bad health not letting me use the necessary power tools to finish up my cabs.

I also have a pair of Coldamp with switching power awaiting my next Mouser order to bee finished up.

From a source whom ears I trust the Ncores are fuller sounding to the UCD400. More of everything is the word he used to describe the sound.

I got into "digital amps" with the infamous 29$ T-Amp. This amp let me for the first time hear realistic hi-hats and cymbals in my own living room. I've only heard that on time earlier in a hi-fi store with an amp costing 16000$. If you are able to find amp boards with genuine TA2020 chips you should try one. They wont scare your woofers in any way, but for 15$ they can give you reference sound in the upper mid range.
 
I'm curious concerning the combo hypex and proac's, don't know wich model you're talking about, Studio 100 i guess? Would be nice If you can share your thoughts on that Dan, even if taste might differ.
I might have the opportunity to demo some ProAc's this year, the Studio 100, the latest tablette series and maybe a pair of D18, but unfortunatly not with the hypex but that was what I would use with them if i'm blown by one of the Proac's and get a pair or not so....
Best for me would be to have the hypex and try these out with it but....anyway thanks for feedback.
 
I really like the ProAc 100's.  I finally bought a pair after a few years of some of my friends who are big mix engineers using them and telling me to get them.  My first mix on them was my best mix I did up to that point.  I would say they are really nice translation tools.  Plus you can work on them all day.  I should have purchased them 2 years ago when they first told me to buy them.  In stead my sales guy at Vintage King talked me into the SE Eggs which turned out to be pretty lame after a year of use.

The ProAc's do need a good amount of power, a number of people I know use 500 watt per side.  I would say the UCD400's are as smallest I would go. 

Part of my plan behind finally pulling the trigger with the ProAc's was to purchase some high end full range system down the road.  That will be after I get into a new space.  But I know the ProAc's will work in any room really.  I have used them previously in a number of different studios (with and without subs).  So I knew I could take them anywhere in the future.  Finally a pair of speakers I will keep! 

As far as full range speakers ,I am not sure if I will get something active or if I will buy some big old passive ATC's or B&W's and power them with another Hypex amp.  Until then, I am looking at some really nice headphones (HD600 or Alpha Dog's) to help me dial in the low end a little better.  I don't want to use a sub with them (I don't like subs personally).  So, headphone will probably do me for now.

Anyway, I would recommend the ProAc's and Hypex.  Think of all the big name mixers who use them as one of their main sets of speakers.  If nothing else, I like opening up tracks that I know have been mixed on ProAc's and try and hear how/what the mixer was hearing on them as a learning tool. 
 
As far as full range speakers ,I am not sure if I will get something active or if I will buy some big old passive ATC's or B&W's and power them with another Hypex amp.  Until then, I am looking at some really nice headphones (HD600 or Alpha Dog's) to help me dial in the low end a little better.  I don't want to use a sub with them (I don't like subs personally).  So, headphone will probably do me for now

I use my DT770 for low end info, they go pretty low, maybe less "linear" than the HD600, can't tell, anyway a little off topic.
Thanks for the feedback.
 
Oops - more OT, but for what it's worth, much as I like my HD600s as a general tool (plenty of general detail), for mixing / reference, I'd say they're way too flattering / 'glossy'. Some claim they're bright (I agree, to an extent). They're the last thing I'd use to check bottom end compatibility. Mind you, that would go for any cans - cans and bottom end translation don't go together in my experience. 
 
Mind you, that would go for any cans - cans and bottom end translation don't go together in my experience.

Of course, but it's better than nothing,my DT770 are to nice for the bass so not the best but anyway...
Sub placement and its use in a Studio is tricky and can harm even more if iys placement and the room is not treated well
or if not treated at all, so cans can help just to be less blind if main speakers don't extend too low, after it's just a matter of experience and how you use your stuff and ears as always...
 
We use monitor amps from Tri Art Audio  http://www.triartaudio.com/ the pair we use are prototypes and sound great. They  are based on the same chip that  Hypex uses. These amp use linear psu after testing a variety of others.
 
Here in my home studio I have a pair of B&W 705 with  hypex ucd180 (standard), for my budget...is a perfect combination.

I´m running them with linear psu, because I made them some time before Hypex released their SMPSU, maybe now...I would choose the smpsu.
 
It seems the cards I have are dual 2 x 250W connected in bridge mode for 500W per channel. I'll need to dig out the schematics to see what the score is. I won't be able to test them for at least a few weeks as I am snowed under.

The larger cards at the back are the power supply modules. The cards in the front are the UCDs, mounted upside down. The small one in the middle is the interface.
 

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zayance said:
Mind you, that would go for any cans - cans and bottom end translation don't go together in my experience.

Of course, but it's better than nothing,my DT770 are to nice for the bass so not the best but anyway...
Zayance, which model DT770s are yours?  The different impedance models all sound slightly different.

I like my DT770 pro 80s very much but the bass is definitely overblown.  Especially if the headphone output has significant output resistance.  Alas, most headphone outputs do.

I'm been meaning to make a dedicated headphone amp along the lines of a simplified O2 http://nwavguy.blogspot.com.au/2011/07/o2-design-process.html[/b]]http://nwavguy.blogspot.com.au/2011/07/o2-design-process.html.  Just driving directly from the speaker terminals of a small power amp does clean up the bass but its still a bit too much.

I wouldn't use the DT770 to balance LF but the mid & HF translates nicely to how I like things to sound on good speakers.
 
I've heard pretty much all combos of the Hypex range - UCD180, UCD400s (with the HXR upgrade and without), Ncore (OEM and stock), UCD700 etc.  I would happily use any of them and get to work, I never got to AB switcher vs linear PSU although I have heard both and liked them both.  Bruno says the switcher performs just as well and I am inclined to believe him.

If I was buying in the morning (and I may soon) the Ncore with switched PSU is the obvious choice, it does have the edge on everything else.

 
So I got the amp built and it sounds great.  So far I am the only person who has heard the AB between the two supplies.  I do hear a small difference between the two.  I'm gonna refrain from saying much more until I get some other trusted ears over to hear them as well.  But in short both versions sound really great!
 

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