DC Blocker for H390 - experience

I’ve just ordered the audiolab DC block 6… your post made it come to my attention, and it’s just what I’ve been looking for. theres a few ebay suppliers doing 10% off too. I’d recommend that as the most cost effective way to fix it properly :slight_smile:

1 Like

I’ve written to their customer support now asking if their device is safe to use with a H390. Maybe their power rating is per channel and not combined power?! I don’t know. Just to be sure and not to panic immediately😂

I’ve just phoned with them (becauseI couldn’t wait for their email answer :joy:) and they said that the DC Block is capable of handling the H390. He knew the H390 and said it is no Problem to use it and he said they sell a lot of the smaller one.
The only problem would be tube amps he said.

So I think I’ll keep it.

then why do they publish 600VA specs?

I’m not convinced i’m afraid. Not sure the person you spoke to is qualified to make that choice. It may have adverse affects on your systems ability to deliver power when asked to do so. It’s not a choice i’d take i’m afraid.

But if you’re comfortable doing so, thats between you and audiolab.

2 Likes

Yes I’m just parroting what he told me. Even if they are all wrong there is even this guy on YouTube having reviewed and is advertising the small DC Block with a H590 even. Audiolab DC BLOCK is one of the best upgrades I've EVER made - YouTube

(Update: I went through the comments under the mentioned YT video and he says he didn’t pay attention to the power ratings!:roll_eyes: There are a number of people who mention that the DC Block is too small. So if you do consider a DC Blocker, go for a bigger one - like DC Block 6 - if you have a combined (Left and Right channel) power output above 150 Watts. The 300 Watt spec is for MONO!)

So there seem to be a lot of people trusting it with this kind of hardware and I haven’t read that it blew up on someone (yet😂).

I think you are right in your assessment that the small one theoretically and practically shouldn’t be able to support it but as long as one isn’t hitting the max specs of the device it should be fine.

I think with my listening volumes I’m nowhere close to drawing even 200 watts but I can’t say for sure without a measuring device.

On that note if I could turn back time I’d have gone for the 6 as well.

1 Like

Yeah my phono stage also has a small toroid in it, which is sometimes noisy. So this means i can plug in multiple items to the same clean power. So the 6 made better sense to me.

1 Like

Since I can’t edit my post I asked a moderator (thank you @Robert_F) if he could insert a warning text at the top so people will see that they have to go for a bigger unit. Thank you for making me aware of this whole thing. I’ve read through the comments on youtube and the Youtube guy didn’t pay attention to what he was doing and the numbers and that it doesn’t fit the amp at all - like me. Pretty brutal… Thanks again @David_Crosbie1

1 Like

I had an Audiolab dc block on my H590 and it blew the fuse. I exchanged it for a Hilton Audio.

2 Likes

I’m now going for a Heed Q-FLT since I only need 1 outlet and don’t plan on anymore audio hardware in the future. Better safe than sorry.

1 Like

Always, and its hard to know what kind of impact a device which throttles current can do to your amp, even at lower volumes. I’d suggest having a sufficient device is always worth it. Especially during things like “turn on” where an amplifier can momentarily draw quite a bit more current than when at idle

2 Likes

Indeed. I was totally oblivious to the fact that the specs do not match the power of the Hegel😅 I relied on the Youtube guys recommendation without looking further into it, as did at least one other guy in the comments saying he’s driving an H390 with it.
I have a background in IT and basically no idea about electrical engineering (only the most basic stuff).

I received an email reply to my question this morning and the support answered that it is not suitable at all to drive the Hegel which is totally obvious to me since you pointed me to it and I dug into it. Amazing that the guy at the hotline told me it would be fine🤷‍♂️ But I have to add that it was not Audiolab directly on the phone but the german distributor.
Before the next start up of the Hegel I’ll take the DC Block out of the chain.

Inrush current

1 Like

my DC Blocker 6 arrived today. Nice looking and well built bit of kit. Hegel is now considerably quieter and noise can only be heard within a few inches of the device itself, which is purely mechanical noise. The on and off buzzing which varies throughout the day seems to have stopped!

1 Like

I’m now without the DC Blocker and at a volume level of 21 at 3.5 meters away I can hear the transformer buzz over the music (depending on the track). Pretty polluted power over here😄 So for that alone I want/need a DC Blocker… Can’t wait for the new one to arrive. I wish I would need more than 1 device so that the DC Block 6 would have made sense for me but it just doesn’t.

Reading the inrush current link from @OffRode I came across this:

“After the capacitors in the power supply become charged, the self-heated inrush current limiter offers little resistance in the circuit, with a low voltage drop with respect to the total voltage drop of the circuit. A disadvantage is that immediately after the device is switched off, the NTC resistor is still hot and has a low resistance. It cannot limit the inrush current unless it cools for more than 1 minute to get a higher resistance. Another disadvantage is that the NTC thermistor is not short-circuit-proof.”

I think that is why Hegel says you need to wait to turn the Hegel back on because the resistor needs to cool off to be able to limit the inrush current. If that’s it good to know… I think I’ll wait for at least 2 minutes.

1 Like

Everyone here says that the DC blocker is small, especially from ifi.
In 2 days I will get this :sweat_smile:
https://powergrip.com/en/powergrip_yg-3/

Looks plenty. From every angle :wink:

You should get 2 and put them in series just to be sure😂

When the trans H390 was turned on for the first time, it buzzed, but after 2 seconds it became quiet. The DC filter turned on automatically. It works :wink:


2 Likes

How bad was it - on the $£¥€ side?