The HERITAGE A100 belongs to the Heritage range of YBA, a French maker, and is a two-channel integrated amplifier. The circuit is analogue only, without any on-board DAC, housed in a brushed aluminium chassis offered in silver or black. Its fascia keeps to source selection and volume buttons beside an oval display with yellow lettering, with the mains switch placed on the underside of the case. The French price was EUR 1,800.
Key specs that matter
YBA specifies 100 W per channel into 8 ohm and 150 W per channel into 4 ohm. Five unbalanced RCA input pairs sit alongside a single XLR balanced input. The speaker terminals accept bare wire, banana plugs or spade connectors. Signal-to-noise exceeds 95 dB by YBA's figures, with THD+N below 0.04% across 20 Hz to 20 kHz and a frequency response of 20 Hz to 20 kHz within 0.5 dB. The chassis measures 430 x 400 x 118 mm.
Engineering and use context
YBA builds the output stage in Class Alpha, a push-pull topology devised by company founder Yves-Bernard André, using Sanken transistors. A linear supply with a dual C-core transformer rated at 320 VA feeds it, filtered by Nichicon Gold Tune capacitors of 10,000 uF, each mounted on an anti-vibration pad. Most parts sit on one thick circuit board, with the switching relays on a separate secondary board, and there is no internal wiring. The aluminium front panel is 1 cm thick. The case does not stand on four conventional feet but on three vibration-damping supports, two of them damped and the third an aluminium ball. An IR sensor behind the front display receives commands from the supplied full-function metal remote control, which also works with the rest of the Heritage series, the display brightness is adjustable, and the input selector steps through all six inputs. The input labelled video has a bypass feature that takes the signal past the preamplifier section, so the volume for that input is set by the connected source, such as a home theatre processor. The RCA pre-out can feed a separate power amplifier, powered speakers or an active subwoofer.
Pairing
Since power is specified into both common nominal impedances, most passive loudspeakers fall within the rating. Across six analogue inputs an owner can connect a CD player, a streamer with analogue outputs and a turntable paired with an outboard phono preamp, with the balanced input reserved for a source fitted with XLR outputs. Digital sources need an outboard converter on one of the RCA inputs, and YBA lists the Heritage D100 DAC in the same range.
Alternatives
The Heritage A200 Integrated Amplifier sits beside the A100 in YBA's Heritage range.