An amplifier better than Hypex but at a third of the price.

[cirrus18]

Look at this amplifier CD-NX200 here - http://www.classd.ltd.uk/home.php?cat=257 it might be what you are looking for. It's not a Class-D amplifier but something different.

Lots of switched on guys on this forum with good technical knowledge and I would be very interested to know what they think about it.

I have recently started using the Hypex modules and was blown away by the quality of the sound, absolutely fantastic, so I am very surprised to hear that in the opinion of one guy on another forum reckons that this amplifier is better than Hypex.
I honestly thought you couldn't get anything better.

If this is in fact true,Hypex has a real problem on their hands. It beats them hands down on price. Compere - CD-NX200 at £32 as against the Hypex at over £100. It's a no-brainer.

CD-NX200 - 200W RMS @ 4Ohms Lateral Mosfet Power Amplifier Module

Price: £32.00 ($ 51.20)

Copied from another forum -


I have now had two Hypex modules and a CD-NX200 module connected to my front channels for the last three days.

Using the Denon as a preamp gives me all the audio and video switching and processing that I need, the 'Hypex 180HG+HxR' and 'Class D NX200' modules plus a 'Hypex SMPS 180' give me the sound I dreamed of, much better than I expectd.

I have swapped the modules about in various configurations with as varied a source as I can muster and have arrived at the following conclusions. These are obviously my conclusions and somebody else may perhaps have arrived at different ones.

The Hypex modules sound great, they hardly generate any heat, even when driven quite hard. They are small very well built and easy to assemble into a system. They arrived in a largish cardboard box that was so light, I thought they had forgotten to put the modules in.

Despite it's name the Class D NX200 module is not a Class D amp. The 'Class D' part is the name of the manufacturer, who do also make Class D amps. It is I am told a class A/B.
It is a similar size to the Hypex but even lighter as it does not have a heavy choke mounted nor any onboard heatsink. It is a little bit more towards the OEM market I think, in that it does not quite have the plug n play features of the Hypex, The soldering iron is needed a bit more.

I was expecting that it would produce quite a lot of heat and would require some serious heatink to dissipate it, however at the levels I use to watch TV or listen to the radio, I was surprised to find that it ran at about the same sort of temperature as the Hypex. Watching a movie or playing music at much higher levels did raise the temperature a bit but I could always hold the Mosfets, even though the were on a very small amount of heat sink.

I have spent quite a few hours trying to decide which sounded the best, a difficult choice.

I have decided that I like the sound of the NX200's slightly more, if I hadn't tried both modules I would have been absolutely delighted with the Hypex, any differences are very slight and very personal.

I am going to build an 8 ch. amp using the NX400 modules and 1000w SMPS that 'Class D' also manufacture, not so much of a factor in my case but the NX200 is about £30 and the NX400 about £36. I am only going to the NX400 as they (Class D) tell me that it is a bit more tolerant of very low ohm speakers, all other specs the same.
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Oldgeezer

[DcibeL]

Originally posted by cirrus18

Using the Denon as a preamp ...

Can you give more details on this Denon unit? I feel this may be a very limiting factor when comparing these products.

[cirrus18]

Originally posted by DcibeL

Can you give more details on this Denon unit?

I have a Denon AVR-3805 and the sound was absolutely horrible when playing CDs until I added the Hypex amps.

The guy who says he preferred the NX200' has got a Denon 4308. He's added a bit more to his post in which I have included below -



Quote:
Originally Posted by cirrus18 View Post
Glad to hear that you found the Hypex as good as I did and that I am not the only one who thinks so.
At least it's some confirmation that my opinion wasn't just a lot of hot air.

What intrigues me the most, because I thought you wouldn't be able to beat the Hypex, is that you found the NX200' to be that much better.

Would you like to say what the difference was that you thought it was that much better. I would be most interested to know.

If there was so little difference between them as you say, certainly the price would come into it, especially for me, the NX200' at £32 as against the Hypex at more than £100 is a no-brainer.

Quote:
{I have decided that I like the sound of the NX200's slightly more, if I hadn't tried both modules I would have been absolutely delighted with the Hypex, any differences are very slight and very personal.}

To me the NX200 was just a little smoother at the top end, the Hypex was just slightly edgy. Without the side by side comparisons I would not have noticed , and perhaps different speakers might influence that. I am running Jamo Concert series.

Both modules modules really grab hold of the bottom end, I also found that the NX200 has a little more gain, I needed to add 4db to the Hypex to balance.

I bought the Hypex 180HG with HxR modules, with the taxes and shipping they were approx. 220 euros each.

The NX 200 modules are aprox. a fith of the price, they also do a 500w SMPS for about £60 and a 1000w for about £80. As you say - no-brainer.
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Oldgeezer

[fredex]

This COULD be interesting, I will await more information.
Cheers

[fredex]

Oh just found this thread
DiyAudio

[Workhorse]

Cirrus, are you some salesman from class-d ltd uk??

[anatech]

Hi cirrus18,
Actually, a valid question. Enthusiasm is fine, but do you have any connection to anyone at class-d ltd uk? Are you getting an preferential deals related to your investigation on these units?

This simply helps our members judge your comments more accurately. In no way am I suggesting you are not simply reporting on what you have found.

The AB amp is probably shifting it's supply voltages up and down as required over a normal output stage. This was seen in the Carver Lightstar series of amplifiers 10 years ago, and in current Sunfire amplifiers. It's a very good technology that gives almost the efficiency of class D, but with the sound quality possible of class A or AB amplifier technology. That amplifier probably sounds much better than a straight class D design.

Just guessing here, not a great deal of info was given. Besides, many of us are techies.

-Chris

[cirrus18]

Originally posted by anatech
Hi cirrus18,
Actually, a valid question. Enthusiasm is fine, but do you have any connection to anyone at class-d ltd uk?
-Chris

It seems strange that on this forum there seems to be an unhealthy bias towards Hypex, in so far as that if you mention any other manufacturers, you get jumped on and accused of being in their pay.

Funny isn't it, but when I posted this- Hypex amplifier project successfully completed nobody said a word.
Why wasn't I then accused of being in the pay of Hypex I ask you?

To keep the record straight, I am not connected to anybody and don't get any preferential deals.

I see that classdphile as had his posting removed from here, which was a very good thing.
To criticise and belittle a guy who has gone out, spent quite a lot of money buying two different makes of amplifiers and giving a report on his findings is just not on.
It would be very nice if classdphile put his money where his mouth is, bought these amplifiers, tested them out and gave us an unbiased report on his findings.


.

[classdphile]

Can you also post the link to where you're quoting from, it's really not enough to simply say it's from someplace else. That way people can easily see the complete context, like where the gentleman stated he "spent many hours in the 50's winding output transformers for the Williamson amplifers", and he seems to adjust everything using an SPL meter, fifty years later.

They'd also see the massive emphasis he placed on certain words in the following statement, which I think were "slightly", and "very slightly and very personal" :

"{I have decided that I like the sound of the NX200's slightly more, if I hadn't tried both modules I would have been absolutely delighted with the Hypex, any differences are very slight and very personal.}"

Perhaps also they'd be able to weigh all that against his earlier admission that he's simply biased against class d, prior to which he also made the following comment:

"It may be that I am particularly susceptable to the sound of class D amps in a similar way that some people are affected by the rainbow effect on DLP projectors."

Hm, truly a case of golden ears in the golden years.

He also jacked up the gain on the UCD amps by 4dB, using.. old carbon resistors that sat in a shoebox next to the Williamsons? Maybe he took a few windings off the output transformer? Anybody's guess I suppose, but yeah, patching it all into a receiver is questionable enough by itself, it's not like you can troubleshoot nuances with an SPL meter.

As with the classd that's not.. They can't even give those away, much as with any measurements or telling specifications.

I sincerely commend you on your special talent for writing fantastic subject lines, but I subjectively feel the forum is somehow left starved for something, anything, of substance from it.

Have you any measurements, first hand experience, specifications, any actual information at all? Pictures will do as well, they can be informative after all, sometimes.

[valleyman]

10 of these modules were supposed to be given away to let the amps speak for themselves:
Free Amplifier Modules

Unfortunately none of the winners seem to have received their modules yet and its around 6 weeks since the competition finished. It seems so far that the competition may be gathering them more negative press for extremely long wait times and poor communication...