Интегральные усилители — Parasound HALO HINT6

The Halo HINT 6 is the integrated amplifier of the Halo line from Parasound, the California company founded by Richard Schram in 1981. It succeeds the original Halo Integrated and keeps its John Curl-designed power amplifier stage, while updating the preamplifier, DAC implementation, volume control and phono stage, which means a DAC, a phono stage and a headphone output all sit alongside the preamplifier and power stages in the same box.

Key specs that matter

Output is 160 W per channel into 8 ohms and 240 W into 4 ohms, both channels driven, with 45 A peak current per channel and stability into 2 ohms. Frequency response is 10 Hz to 100 kHz (+0/-3 dB). THD is below 0.01% at typical listening levels and below 0.05% at full power. Signal-to-noise exceeds 103 dB on line inputs and 106 dB for the DAC. The DAC is an ESS Sabre32 Reference ES9018K2M, accepting PCM to 32-bit/384 kHz and DSD256 over USB and 24-bit/192 kHz over two optical and one coaxial input. Analogue inputs include five RCA pairs, one XLR pair and an MM/MC/MI phono input with 41 or 54 dB of gain. The chassis measures 437 x 413 x 150 mm and weighs 15 kg.

Engineering and use context

The power amplifier is a high-bias Class A/AB design by John Curl, with matched JFET input and MOSFET driver stages and 12 high-current bipolar output transistors. The power supply and amplifier channels are dual mono, fed by an oversized shielded toroidal transformer and 40,000 uF of filter capacitance. The signal path is direct-coupled without capacitors. The HINT 6 replaced the original's motorised potentiometer with a Burr-Brown analogue resistor-ladder volume control for accurate channel tracking at low levels. In the DAC, the chip's internal output stage is bypassed in favour of an external operational amplifier with its own supply. Analogue bass management provides high-pass and low-pass crossovers at 12 dB per octave, with three subwoofer outputs, one XLR and two RCA. A home theatre bypass input, a TPA6120A headphone amplifier driving up to 600 ohms, a front Aux input with automatic 12 dB gain and 12 V trigger complete the feature set. The finish is black or silver.

Pairing

The high current output and stability into low impedances suit demanding floorstanders. The bass management allows a 2.1 system with main speakers relieved of low bass, and the home theatre bypass integrates it with a surround processor.

Alternatives

Parasound's NewClassic 200 Integrated is the smaller integrated amplifier with a DAC and phono stage.