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10 Years HiFiBerry – Our amplifiers
Still in the first year of our company – in 2014 – we started our most biggest board up to this date: the HiFiBerry Amp.
The space on the Pi was just a bit too small. Therefore we had to change the layout. Luckily the new Pi’s form factor allowed us to layout the board better and position the connectors on the same side as our other boards.
There was one “problem” with these first generation amplifiers. While all our other sound cards always supported sample rates up to 192kHz, the Amp+ was limited to 44.1 and 48kHz. While it’s not a huge problems, i required resampling of high-resolution audio on the Pi. The limited computing power of the early generation Pi’s didn’t help.
It took some time to find the right part to deal with this problem. Finally in 2017 the Amp2 was released:
2017 was a very important year for your company. We not only released the Amp2, but also worked with Bang & Olufsen on an even bigger project: The Beocreate 4-channel amplifier. While the amplifier had been designed to up-cycle older B&O speakers like the CX50 and CX100 bookshelf speakers, it can also be used for loudspeakers from other manufacturers.
With up 2x60W and 2x30W output power the Beocreate was the most powerful HiFiBerry amplifier. But there were still customers asking for more. Can we do more? Yes: The Amp100. With 100W maximum output power per channel this is our amplifier for power-hungry speakers.
Other than the Beocreate this is a plain DAC/Amplifier combination without integrated DSP support. However, we integrated the option to add our DSP add-on board to this amplifier.
The Corona years 2020-2022 marked the most challenging time for our company. Many companies had to deal with supply chain disruptions, we also ran into trouble sourcing parts. Finally we were able to create a new amplifier – the Amp3:
Getting this to run the full range of 44.1-192kHz sample rates was a huge challenge and a relatively complex clocking circuitry. It was also our first small amplifier in the HAT form factor that supported the DSP add-on board.
Here we are in 2023: The Amp2 supply chain issues are solved now, it’s back in stock. However, it still felt a bit dated as it was our only amplifier design that didn’t support DSP functionalities. Time to work on a new design: The Amp4
The Amp4 shares the DNA of the popular Amp2, but now adds the DSP add-on option to it. Now you can choose between different amplifiers in different sizes, different output power and different price ranges with and without DSP support to get the best amplifier for your loudspeakers.
December 11, 2023
