This was purchased to replace a SONY AVR which I had for 7 years. The SONY worked well, but does not have a built-in DAC and I was attracted to the concept put forward by NuPrime, for their HD-AVP control amplifier and HD-AVA, which is similar and has a 200 watt power amplifier
While the HD-AVP performs very well and offers particularly good performance on a USB input from a computer, it is however one of the more peculiar audio devices I have owned, in terms of what it can do, what it should do, and what it actually does.
The HD-AVP offers 4 analogue inputs, a USB DAC, 2 co-axial digital inputs and 2 optical digital inputs, 6 HDMI inputs, comes with a setup microphone for room equalisation, has a Bluetooth expansion port (you need a separate Bluetooth receiver for this) and an FM aerial (f-connector).
There are 2 HDMI outputs, one of which has an ARC function which will relay audio from a HDMI equipped TV (eg: you could plug in a USB stick into the TV, watch the picture on the TV and have the sound come through via the amp). Then there is an RS232 port, a LAN port and the device also offers wireless LAN connectivity. There are outputs for Left Front, Right Front, Left and Right surround, Left and Right rear, subwoofer and centre. Then there is a set of sockets labelled USB out.
Lastly, there is a 12 volt trigger for switching on ancilliary equipment, in my case a power amplifier
The first time you power it up, it defaults to HDMI-1 so in order to see and hear something, you need to attach a signal source, and I used a DSTV Explora. The front panel shows HDMI-1 and the volume level you have selected
The first anomaly occurred when the front panel display went out after 4 seconds. There is nothing in the book, in the FAQ on NuPrime?s website, or on the Audio Circle Forum, who have a dedicated NuPrime section, on how to keep the display on
It took me about 3 weeks to find out how to do it. On the remote, there is a button on the top left labelled ?Pure Direct? which refers to the listening mode the amplifier is switched to. The options are ?Pure Direct? and ?Stereo?. If you select Pure Direct, the display stays on! Problem no 1 solved.
But I do most of my listening using a (Mac) computer, via the USB port. However, the USB button on the remote selects the Home Menu, not USB and, if you have a TV attached and switched on, you can select Input, then scroll slowly through the inputs until you reach USB. If you do not have a TV, the other option (not mentioned in the literature or FAQ anywhere), is to briefly hold in the input selector when you can slowly scroll through the inputs until you hit USB. If you don?t hold in the input selector, it does nothing except rotate
There are buttons on the remote labelled AN1, AN2, CO, CO2, etc. Pressing AN1 selects analogue input 2 and AN2 selects analogue input 3. Another strange operation
Very quickly, I noticed that I was hearing audio signals from the rear speakers, even when playing a stereo USB signal or a stereo analogue source (a turntable). I queried this with the help line on the NuPrime website and was advised that this was nonsense, I was imagining it. However, upon enquiring with other posters on the Audio Circle Forums, they found this to be true, it does output some signal out of the rear left and right
Again, you can fix this by choosing ?Pure Direct? on the remote. Problem no 2 solved.
I have a SACD player which has a HDMI and co-ax digital output (only). I found that playing SACD discs resulted in a message on the (TV) screen that there is no DSD support on HDMI. The factory rep confirmed this, you cannot play the SACD layer using a HDMI cable. You must have a SACD player with an analogue output. This revelation upset quite a few readers on the Audio Circle Forum, as there was also no indication from the factory whether this would be fixed soon and this omission is not mentioned in any advertising literature
There are apparently two separate DACs in this unit, the one that outputs to the USB outputs is said to be the superior one. However, it is a fixed 2 volt output. The other DAC sends its signal through to the analogue outputs. My work-around was to connect a short interconnect from USB out to AN-2. This has the additional effect of providing an increased signal from the amplifier, since the USB output to the analogue outputs is quite low. When listening to the FM radio, or a DSTV signal, a comfortable listening level is achieved at -15db whereas the USB signal outputted from the analogue ports had to be set to -1 or even +5 or more to achieve the same volume. Taking the USB out to AN-2 in resulted in the volume operation to be similar. Problem no 3 solved
The subwoofer outputs all frequencies to the sub, not the frequencies selected in the setup menu, so you must use a sub which has a top cut to remove unneeded frequencies above which the sub can handle. I learned this from reading Audio Circle posts and then testing it myself
You can, via the setup menu on the remote, set various levels for the different inputs in terms of volume settings and even disable inputs, most probably designed for customers who only use 3 or 4 inputs. One alarming result of disabling CO-1 and CO-2, and AN-3 was to find that the USB input disappeared too, without being asked. Restoring them made USB return to the input list
My initial model has a fault with the GUI display, so I cannot comment on this and will do so after its replacement has been received. This affects network useage and the ARC function, amongst others. There is also a problem displaying 1080p 60Hz video signals and I am hoping the replacement will address this. Since June, NuPrime have offered a firmware upgrade but this only applies to using specific Apple products, not any of the deficiencies mentioned
The local agent in Johannesburg is helpful, as is to a lesser extent the NuPrime factory rep on Audio Circle Forums, but the customer help facility on the NuPrime website is not. It took them 2 months to offer a 2-line answer to my query, telling me to revisit the FAQ on the website. Did they not think I had read everything already?
It is admitted by the NuPrime factory rep that the HD-AVP was rushed to market with known faults, which is the reason why it is being so heavily discounted. Nevertheless, the product does work well within the parameters I have mentioned
While the HD-AVP performs very well and offers particularly good performance on a USB input from a computer, it is however one of the more peculiar audio devices I have owned, in terms of what it can do, what it should do, and what it actually does.
The HD-AVP offers 4 analogue inputs, a USB DAC, 2 co-axial digital inputs and 2 optical digital inputs, 6 HDMI inputs, comes with a setup microphone for room equalisation, has a Bluetooth expansion port (you need a separate Bluetooth receiver for this) and an FM aerial (f-connector).
There are 2 HDMI outputs, one of which has an ARC function which will relay audio from a HDMI equipped TV (eg: you could plug in a USB stick into the TV, watch the picture on the TV and have the sound come through via the amp). Then there is an RS232 port, a LAN port and the device also offers wireless LAN connectivity. There are outputs for Left Front, Right Front, Left and Right surround, Left and Right rear, subwoofer and centre. Then there is a set of sockets labelled USB out.
Lastly, there is a 12 volt trigger for switching on ancilliary equipment, in my case a power amplifier
The first time you power it up, it defaults to HDMI-1 so in order to see and hear something, you need to attach a signal source, and I used a DSTV Explora. The front panel shows HDMI-1 and the volume level you have selected
The first anomaly occurred when the front panel display went out after 4 seconds. There is nothing in the book, in the FAQ on NuPrime?s website, or on the Audio Circle Forum, who have a dedicated NuPrime section, on how to keep the display on
It took me about 3 weeks to find out how to do it. On the remote, there is a button on the top left labelled ?Pure Direct? which refers to the listening mode the amplifier is switched to. The options are ?Pure Direct? and ?Stereo?. If you select Pure Direct, the display stays on! Problem no 1 solved.
But I do most of my listening using a (Mac) computer, via the USB port. However, the USB button on the remote selects the Home Menu, not USB and, if you have a TV attached and switched on, you can select Input, then scroll slowly through the inputs until you reach USB. If you do not have a TV, the other option (not mentioned in the literature or FAQ anywhere), is to briefly hold in the input selector when you can slowly scroll through the inputs until you hit USB. If you don?t hold in the input selector, it does nothing except rotate
There are buttons on the remote labelled AN1, AN2, CO, CO2, etc. Pressing AN1 selects analogue input 2 and AN2 selects analogue input 3. Another strange operation
Very quickly, I noticed that I was hearing audio signals from the rear speakers, even when playing a stereo USB signal or a stereo analogue source (a turntable). I queried this with the help line on the NuPrime website and was advised that this was nonsense, I was imagining it. However, upon enquiring with other posters on the Audio Circle Forums, they found this to be true, it does output some signal out of the rear left and right
Again, you can fix this by choosing ?Pure Direct? on the remote. Problem no 2 solved.
I have a SACD player which has a HDMI and co-ax digital output (only). I found that playing SACD discs resulted in a message on the (TV) screen that there is no DSD support on HDMI. The factory rep confirmed this, you cannot play the SACD layer using a HDMI cable. You must have a SACD player with an analogue output. This revelation upset quite a few readers on the Audio Circle Forum, as there was also no indication from the factory whether this would be fixed soon and this omission is not mentioned in any advertising literature
There are apparently two separate DACs in this unit, the one that outputs to the USB outputs is said to be the superior one. However, it is a fixed 2 volt output. The other DAC sends its signal through to the analogue outputs. My work-around was to connect a short interconnect from USB out to AN-2. This has the additional effect of providing an increased signal from the amplifier, since the USB output to the analogue outputs is quite low. When listening to the FM radio, or a DSTV signal, a comfortable listening level is achieved at -15db whereas the USB signal outputted from the analogue ports had to be set to -1 or even +5 or more to achieve the same volume. Taking the USB out to AN-2 in resulted in the volume operation to be similar. Problem no 3 solved
The subwoofer outputs all frequencies to the sub, not the frequencies selected in the setup menu, so you must use a sub which has a top cut to remove unneeded frequencies above which the sub can handle. I learned this from reading Audio Circle posts and then testing it myself
You can, via the setup menu on the remote, set various levels for the different inputs in terms of volume settings and even disable inputs, most probably designed for customers who only use 3 or 4 inputs. One alarming result of disabling CO-1 and CO-2, and AN-3 was to find that the USB input disappeared too, without being asked. Restoring them made USB return to the input list
My initial model has a fault with the GUI display, so I cannot comment on this and will do so after its replacement has been received. This affects network useage and the ARC function, amongst others. There is also a problem displaying 1080p 60Hz video signals and I am hoping the replacement will address this. Since June, NuPrime have offered a firmware upgrade but this only applies to using specific Apple products, not any of the deficiencies mentioned
The local agent in Johannesburg is helpful, as is to a lesser extent the NuPrime factory rep on Audio Circle Forums, but the customer help facility on the NuPrime website is not. It took them 2 months to offer a 2-line answer to my query, telling me to revisit the FAQ on the website. Did they not think I had read everything already?
It is admitted by the NuPrime factory rep that the HD-AVP was rushed to market with known faults, which is the reason why it is being so heavily discounted. Nevertheless, the product does work well within the parameters I have mentioned
