Hifimediy T4 board

[teamacc]

Do you have +-40v or only +40v?
In the first case: go with the truepath. Else, go with the T4.

[cOz]

Originally Posted by teamacc

Do you have +-40v or only +40v?
In the first case: go with the truepath. Else, go with the T4.

Here are the specs:
1 KVA
Primaries: 115/230V 50/60Hz
Secondaries: 0-16V 1A, 13V-0-13V 1A, x2 40V 12A

So either one is an option. What would drive you toward T4?

[teamacc]

Well, the 2x 40v is kinda pointed towards the use of +-40v, so I would recommend the truepath. The hifimediy ta3020 is said to be much less of a quality design than the truepath, so I would go with 41hz on this one.

[cOz]

Yes sounds reasonable. I really want to make a top self Tripath to keep for a very long time.

[TCx]

Has anybody listening experince with T4? Is it significantly better than T2? I have a T2 with SMPS at the moment and would like to know if T4 would be noticeable upgrade, in terms of sound quality.

[Centvrion]

Originally Posted by TCx

Has anybody listening experince with T4? Is it significantly better than T2? I have a T2 with SMPS at the moment and would like to know if T4 would be noticeable upgrade, in terms of sound quality.

If it can help...and if I'm not mistaken, Sendler has both...or a Spanish user...
Read along this thread

[TCx]

Thank you, Centvrion. I check the TK2050 thread regularly.
Actually, I wanted to encourage other possible owners of T4 to share their impressions... :-)

[Centvrion]

Originally Posted by TCx

[...]Actually, I wanted to encourage other possible owners of T4 to share their impressions... :-)

YEAH... also it would be great a comparison between T4 and other famous amplifiers (Musical Fidelity, Bryston, Krell, Mark Levinson, NAD....)

C'MON FOLKS!

[TheDealer]

Originally Posted by TCx

Has anybody listening experince with T4? Is it significantly better than T2? I have a T2 with SMPS at the moment and would like to know if T4 would be noticeable upgrade, in terms of sound quality.

A listening comparison makes not sense imho: T2 is for 4 ohms and T4 for 8 ohms.

Maybe a 6 ohm speaker could be an adequate compromise. For the techniqal side I can say that the T2 seems to be better constructed than the T4. I noticed a definetly louder hiss and a light ground hum when connected the T4 with the Input signal. Same input plugs with the T2 don't show me much more silent situation.

Fairly I must say that I connected to the T4 a Pioneer CD Player with vol. adjustable output because I still wait for the ordered attenuators.
I will return when the comparisons are made with my 6 Ohm speakers. And also here you must regard that one speaker type could match better with the T2 and another speaker with the T4.

Best is for example to take instead T2 the T1 to compare it with the T4 at different 8 ohm speakers to make a significant conclusion about sound quality.

[kristleifur]

Originally Posted by TheDealer

A listening comparison makes not sense imho: T2 is for 4 ohms and T4 for 8 ohms.

Maybe a 6 ohm speaker could be an adequate compromise. For the techniqal side I can say that the T2 seems to be better constructed than the T4. I noticed a definetly louder hiss and a light ground hum when connected the T4 with the Input signal. Same input plugs with the T2 don't show me much more silent situation.

Fairly I must say that I connected to the T4 a Pioneer CD Player with vol. adjustable output because I still wait for the ordered attenuators.
I will return when the comparisons are made with my 6 Ohm speakers. And also here you must regard that one speaker type could match better with the T2 and another speaker with the T4.

Best is for example to take instead T2 the T1 to compare it with the T4 at different 8 ohm speakers to make a significant conclusion about sound quality.

Interesting,

There are two factors that make it a non-apples-to-apples comparison: Gain, and the output filter values.

It is likely that the T4 is set to a higher gain, especially if it is designed to be used with a higher voltage. This should explain the hiss and noise: Both amps are picking up the same level of noise signal, but the T4 is simply amplifying it more.

The output filter is then tuned for a certain load impedance. With an 8-ohm tuned Tripath amp powering a 4-Ohm load, the highs may be a little bit muffled. Vice versa - a 4-Ohm tuned amp powering 8 Ohms will have a little sharpness in the highs.

The T4 is sure to be able to power 4 Ohm loads very well, but may need to be modified a little bit to give 100% performance. The gain shouldn't be higher than it needs to be, and the output filter should at best be tuned if the principal load is 4 Ohm. (I "believe" most strongly in the non-paralelled versions, e.g. the output stage configuration in the "8 Ohm" amps. Seems to give the clearest sound ... I haven't done an A/B so it might be nonsense.)

However, a somewhat meaningful comparison should be possible if you carefully match the levels, ignore the noise which should be in-amp gain-related, and focus on listening to the mids and bass. (You should then also be able to EQ out the difference in the highs - it's about +/- 1dB in the 18-20KHz region.)