There are many ways to amplify audio and that is precisely what audioXpress July 2021 explores, starting with the edition's opening remarks, highlighting the busiest innovation and application areas.
This edition features a comprehensive Market Update on "The Multiple Faces of Amplification Evolution." Addressing audio amplification trends and perspectives, this article highlights products introduced in the past 12 months, targeting different application segments. Further illustrating the state of the industry, the report addresses new networked amplifiers, new high-performance technologies, and high-volume amplification applications, at the core of every audio product and system design.
This overview is complemented with an article from James Kirby, a market analyst at Futuresource, who shares his latest insights about the Professional Power Amplifier market. This article coincides with the release of a new Professional Power Amplifiers Market Assessment Report 2021.
Featured on the cover for this audioXpress July 2021 edition, the new NAD Electronics M33 Masters BluOS Streaming DAC Amplifier is the subject of another great review from Stuart Yaniger. In audioXpress, August 2020, Stuart Yaniger reviewed the compact but mighty M10 Masters Series Streaming Amplifier from NAD Electronics, which combined performance, an attainable price, and powerful features including a network streamer and the latest Dirac Live room correction with bass control. Shortly after that, he received the new flagship NAD M33 BluOS enabled streaming DAC amplifier, which can serve as the heart of a reference whole-home system. The Masters M33 amplifier design was the first mainstream product to implement the Purifi Audio Eigentakt (self-clocking) amplifier modules, offering a minimum of 200W per channel. In his review, Yaniger carefully examines all the unique features of the M33 before offering the definitive measured overview of this ultra-high-performance amplifier.
Well deserving of cover honors, if it wasn't for the fact that its beauty is on the inside, this July 2021 edition offers the first serving of an amazing DIY amplifier project from amplifier experts and enthusiasts Bob Cordell and Rick Savas. In The DH-220C MOSFET Power Amplifier, Cordell and Savas describe an upgrade construction project for the legendary Hafler DH-220 lateral MOSFET power amplifier. A circuit that can also be used to upgrade other Hafler amplifier models or even inspire new designs. The design is implemented on two PCBs, one as a drop-in replacement for the original Hafler circuit board and the other has a new board that consolidates all of the output stage wiring and components within the heatsink and under the main PCB. The design uses most of the original infrastructure of the DH-220, including the chassis, the power supply, the heatsinks, and the original output stage power MOSFETs.
The next amplifier-focused article is also a great DIY audio project that audioXpress accepted to publish in two separate articles. "The VSCS Amplifier, A New Type of Amplifier for Direct Driving Loudspeakers," describes an amplifier that is a voltage source at low frequencies, then acts as a current source at higher frequencies. It can also be configured to be any ratio of voltage source vs. current source and/or be frequency independent. The first part of this article by Paul Marchese, describes the theory behind the interesting design.
And to expand the range of audio topics, this July edition also offers another great Fresh From the Bench review, this time focusing on the "Nuheara IQbuds2 MAX Hearing-Assist Earphones." More than five years in development and after multiple iterations, Australian startup Nuheara achieved its goal with the Nuheara IQbuds2 MAX, a bridge toward truly smart hearables. This advanced design uses digital technology to bring hearing aid functionality into true wireless earphones and we asked Brent Butterworth to try them and share his experience and evaluation. Mandatory reading for all audioXpress readers.
Complementing the amplifier focus for this edition, Richard Honeycutt offered a great perspective on "Negative Feedback Amplifier Circuits," for his Hollow-State Electronics column. This useful reference article details the positive effects of negative feedback in audio amplifier circuits, including its abilities to reduce distortion and increase an amplifier’s frequency range.
And in what is probably one the most useful articles for audio electronics designers in this July 2021 edition, regular audioXpress contributor Dimitri Danyuk writes about a voltage-controlled floating resistor. The circuit consists of a JFET and an optocoupler with a photovoltaic output, and it can serve as an effective substitute for the H11FxM Photo-FET series from ON Semiconductor.
Without a doubt, this is one the strongest editions of audioXpress in the audio electronics perspective and is now available. audioXpress is published 12 times per year, and available in print and online. Subscribing to the digital online version allows immediate access and is available here: www.audioxpress.com/page/audioXpress-Subscription-Services.html
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