Intro
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We received a pair of Nilai Mono’s and a Hypex Direct pre-amp with PreDigin dac-module from the Dutch (Groningen) company Hypex. They asked: would you like to check them out? Of course we would. Gladly even!
Hypex recently changed the name for the series that enthusiasts can assemble themselves. It has been renamed from DIY to Hypex Direct. And we like the sound of that. The logo has changed as well, which is a wise choice in our opinion. But that is not what this story is about. We look at the Nilai Mono power amplifiers and the – relatively – new PreDigin DAC module.
Hypex Direct
The essence of the Hypex Direct series is that the enthusiast assembles the gear themselves. Not like “back in the day” with a soldering iron, lots of tools and endless patience, but simpler. The Direct series is mostly reading a guide and some screwing and clicking. No soldering iron is needed (see videos). But it is still very satisfying to put things together yourself. Moreover, you also learn a bit about how such a device works. And that is a nice bonus, right?
Hypex Direct Nilai
The two monos we received are from the new, Nilai, generation. That is the successor to the nCore series. We did a live stream three years back where we included Nilai. See the video below.
The specifications of these monos are pretty impressive. In fact, everything is times two compared to the stereo version. And that one already comes a long way. This is actually not surprising, because class-D is limited mainly by the power supply. After all: an amplifier – especially class D – directly modulates the power supply. The more, stable, power the power supply can deliver, the greater and cleaner the output power.
So what do you get with the mono version? About 250 watts into 8 Ohms and 500 watts into 4 and 2 Ohms. Distortion that is almost immeasurable and you get a noise floor below -120dB. Impressive! You can see all the measurements under the ‘measurements’ heading.
You can see the construction process in detail in the video. We can be brief about how easy it is to do: it’s really simple. Anyone who can hold a screwdriver can build this.
Hypex Direct Pre-amp with PreDigin
Hypex has chosen a modular design for the Pre-amp. The first additional module is the PreDigin dac module. A Rasberry pi can be directly connected to it. A phono module is still to come. We are very much looking forward to that!
Like the Hypex Direct Nilai mono, building in the PreDigin is also far from difficult. The pre-amp as a whole requires a little more screwing, but adding the dac is no more than 15 minutes of work for someone who is a little handy. The details are in the video below. The only point where we give a little warning is the bluetooth signal cable. Those cables are a bit fragile. So be a little careful.
Specifications of dacs always capture the imagination a bit. Extremely low distortion, super dynamic range, ultra-low jitter specs, et cetera. Rarely do we see dacs achieve that. After all: it’s ultimately about the implementation, power supply and internal clock. Everything affects each other, so once you build it together in one enclosure, it starts interacting and you lose those ultra figures and specs.
Hypex, for the just under 1000 Euro, manages to get very good results. It actuall measures really very well! High dynamic range, very good channel separation and an impressive linearity. You can see the measurements below. Our conclusion: this pre-amp is really worth every penny. Impressive product!
Jullie hebben in het verleden een vergelijk gedaan tussen oa de Purifi eval1 en de Hypex Nilai.
Nu heeft Purifi ondertussen ook weer nieuwe modules uitgebracht.
Hebben jullie een idee hoe een Purifi eval6 zich verhoudt tot de Hypex Nilai?
Ben me namelijk aan het oriënteren voor een nieuwe klasse D dual mono eindversterker. Speel nu met een Nord met 1 voeding en de oudere Purifi 1et400a modules.
Speakers zijn Acoustic Energy Corinium en een NAD M12 als DAC/voorversterker
Hi Jaap,
Thanks for another interesting review. Inspired by your video tutorial on building your own amplifier, I bought the Soundimport purifi eval6 kit and it sounds great. More recently I bought directly from Purifi audio the luxery front end for the 1ET6525SA Amplifier Modules and that was a clear step up in sound quality.
In short, you reviewed the original 1ET400sa modules, but in the meantime Purifi – like Hypex – has made interesting steps forwards. Maybe time to revisit them, e.g. the Eval 9 stereo or Eval 10 mono amp kits?
Best regards,
MarcelB