I just saw that audiophonics are also selling Connex (and Hypex) products from France...
Link
I just saw that audiophonics are also selling Connex (and Hypex) products from France...
Link
Yes, that’s why I’m inclined to go with them (to avoid paying customs fees and handling charges) :-)
Although the main Hypex we shop is in the Netherlands, so no customs fees when ordering from there as well.
A quick update: I'm currently working on calculating costs for my three primary options, and so far it doesn't look great. The least expensive option (Hifimediy T4) is about 250 euros and the most expensive one (Hypex) is more than 450 The NuPrime amp is looking really attractive now
Maybe a DIY pre would be a more cost effective solution.
If you went for a Nuprime you might find one STA-9 sufficient rather than two STA-6 in mono mode. Having said that, running the STA-9's in bridged mode does more than just increase the power output. For whatever reason, the sound becomes more valve like and everything else seems to come into sharper focus. I have no technical explanation for this and I am not the only one to comment on it. I am guessing that the same effect would be evident with a pair of STA-6's.
Geoff
I had a bad experience with the Dutch/Belgian dealer and an STA-9, so much so that I asked Jason Lim the founder of the company to step in. (It's not a bad amp though - not quite there with a top valve amp but well ahead of an ordinary one).
I tried contacting the French dealer but got no-response (he's in Avignon, annoyingly I had been there the week before I tried to get in contact).
I believe there is a NuPrime dealer with a good reputation operating in the Nordics (Norway I think) but I'd kind of lost interest by that point. Though I plan to try and hear the ST-10 next time I'm in Taiwan (where they are built, just east of Taipei). I saw the kit at the Munich show last year, but annoyingly, though they had a presence there and I met Jason Lim himself, they didn't have the ST-10 on demo, which was pain. Apparently in the last month or so, Nuprime released ST-10 monoblocks which to me are really interesting.
Not sure how much you'd be building yourself with a class D amp anyway the technology is pretty much sealed up you'd just be connecting ready-made boards up.
I actually bought my Nuprimes direct from Jason Lim. Shipping was a nominal rate and directly from the Taiwan factory. IIRC the price was lower (I was offered a discount as a previous Nuforce customer).
Do bear in mind though the improvements brought about by bridging that I mentioned.
Geoff
My experience with NuPrime has been a bit disappointing, to be honest. The products are great, no doubt (as I have mentioned, I used IDA-8 in my own system). But at one point I wanted to buy their HPA-9 headphone amp and contacted their customer support to ask a question about one feature that wasn't explained in the manual. They were not familiar with the product and forwarded my message to Jason Lim. After that, I never heard back from them.
My experience was very different. Rapid and detailed response to questions and follow up. Maybe we caught them on good and bad days respectively! I also have an earlier Nuforce product, a DDA-100 integrated digital amp. This is currently serving as the central part of my lounge multimedia system. For the price it is fantastic and to be honest a bit wasted in a multimedia system. I may be parting with it when I go back back overseas shortly.
Geoff