Dr. Amp Tripath based amplifier

[pepolman]

Has anyone had their hands on one of these?

http://www.audiotrak.net/drAMP.htm

It looks like a slightly better built Sonic Impact SI-5 equivalent, with better input and output jacks.
I was wondering if the components inside were also of better quality and perhaps the bass would be a little more extended.
It's sure hard to find anybody actually selling these little units and there doesn't seem to be anybody talking about them either.

[raintalk]

You can't fool around with DIY'ers

They'll see the $250 price for the DrAMP, say it looks like a hot rodded Sonic Implant, which you can pick up for $20. Or they'll get an AMP 3 for $25 and put it in a case. In hours and effort it probably ends up costing the same, but it's just not as much fun.

[pepolman]

I thought I saw a price of $80 somehere. But I was just wondering if anyone had openedone up and seen how many differences there were and if there was still room for improvement. Is there space to throw in better input caps or inductors etc?

[Variac]

I couldn't find any retailers- especially in the Americas
They seem to be from Korea, and they have some sound cards that compete functionally with M audio, etc.

It does seem to be a nice little unit. Do you think it has the same chip as the SI? From the specs it seems it may be the next stop up? It says max output 30 w into 4 ohms. I think the SI only claims about 15 watts into 4 ohms. At those outputs the distortion is very high though!!

[BWRX]

their claimed output of 30W is both channels at 15W which means that it is probably either the TA2024 or TA2021 chip.

[avanzato]

It's available on the audiotrak UK website for £100 or probably cheaper from a reseller if you find one.
Looks like it comes complete with a power supply, adjustable gain and socketed op-amps for tweaking.

[sx881663]

This could be an interesting unit to start tweaking. The SI's are built too poorly and too easily destroyed. The Amp3's are a fine piece of equipment but require a significant effort to implement. This might be the answer to all your friends "will you do one for me?” Looking forward to further reports.
Roger

[Variac]

http://www.audiotrak.co.uk/music_pro...p/dr_amp.shtml

This is direct from Audiotrak's rep in the UK

85 pounds- about $150 but once its in store it will probably be $120 I'll bet- maybe even $100 eventually. I like the solidnes of it-exactly whats missing on the SI AND it might nort have the low frequency roll-off.

I can't find it anywhere else- its a new product.


It has a 5532 op amp as a preamp/ buffer I guess, which is socketed as mentioned above-nice touch for us tweakers!

It also seems to regulate the 15v supply down to 12v.

[magoo]

On this site it says that it comes with two Neutrik speaker plugs, looks like jackplugs. There's also an interesting link to other manufacturers using the Tripath chip.
http://ckayfei.net/blogs/feisal/articles/393.aspx