Measurements and conclusion CHoco Sound EMEI
Contents
We measured the Kinki Studio / CHoco Sound EMEI with the Prism dScope III and also took noise measurements via the LISN and spectrum analyzer. This is to determine how clean the power supply of this amplifier is.
We have to say that we had a bit of a struggle with this amp. This is because the fuse has blown out a few times during power measurements. We can’t test full power without the fuse popping. At 4 Ohms, we can’t actually measure at all. Still kind of weird. We do get – if we are very careful – 139 watts at 8 Ohms. If we go higher, the fuse blows.
We can clearly see that it is a low feedback setup. There’s quite a bit of “grass” showing up on the dScope. Those are harmonics.
The harmonics peak around -80 dB. Of course, that also makes for inferior crosstalk and THD N measurements. After all, those depend on a low noise floor. How Kinki gets to 0.002% THD, we don’t know. Perhaps at 1 kHz, but not full spectrum. We measure 0.07% at peak and 0.01% minimum at a bandwidth of 20 Hz – 20 kHz.
Noise from the power supply is very low and well within margin. So no problems there. Also the frequency response is very neat: it is completely straight up to over 80 kHz. We do not measure further because of the internal digital filters.
Phase is also neat: just over 5 degrees at 20 kHz. Kinki did a good job with that! This slight phase shift shows that the CHoco Sound has a decent bandwidth.
Thank you Jaap. I also watched your video Nilai and Yamaha, considering Nilai is a very good option for the money. And now CHoco gets very good reviews, and it’s very hard to evaluate without the possibility of listening to them directly. I have very lively dynamic speakers (Audio Nirvana 10”Alnicos) with very good imaging and detail but sometimes gives fatigue, so I have to choose my amp accordingly. I managed to short list as 1) Nilai amp or 2) Nuprime Amg sta amp + a passive volume switch/preamp such as Schiit Kara and 3) CHoco integrated. It’s nice to see people have similar shortlists. I try to get as much as possible information, opinions and listening experiences… and you’re one of very few people with that experience. Thank you…
You are very welcome.
Curiously I was also deciding between the Nilai and the choco. I understand they are different proposals but I can work with either. My main concern is the fact that you report the issue with the fuse. You are the second reviewer to mention that.
I bought the choco a few weeks ago and am waiting for it’s arrival. DTC companies are a very interesting proposal but if they not deliver the support that may be a huge problem.
Keep up with your unique approach and you’re off to be a reference in the Hifi community.
Cheers
Thanks! An let me know what you think of the sound!
I know, it’s hard to evaluate the sound in mind, how would you describe the differences between Choko and Nilai? I’m also torn in between, in my research. With using a passive volume switch/preamp they are almost in the same price range. Which one would you prefer for highly efficient (95db) speakers?
They are very different amps. The CHoco is an integrated amp. The Nilai is a power amp. The CHoco is very open and loose sounding. The Nilai is much more tight and a tad dry maybe. Well: at least compared to the CHoco.