Nord One Up Ncore NC500 amps, Class D ready for prime time .....

[Rufus McDufus]

They really do need a lot of run-in time in my experience. There is some variation in the first few hundred hours. I really do think they need at least 500 hours, and after that mine still sounded progressively better. It's mad. but that's my experience.

[watts]

They really do need a lot of run-in time in my experience. There is some variation in the first few hundred hours. I really do think they need at least 500 hours, and after that mine still sounded progressively better. It's mad. but that's my experience.

500 hours? That's good news. Variation yes; not a linear improvement. One album sounds great, then the next sounds like not as good. Or maybe everyone on the block has their major appliances on all at the same time...

It's kind of like the stock market: goes up for a while, then a correction, then up again...

I have 100 hours on them now. Vocals are getting smoother, cymbals are sounding more metallic and less splashy or less like paper ripping.

[watts]

No recent action on this thread for a few days; everybody happily listening to their Nords?

168 hours on mine now: running them 24/7. A couple of observations:

Without getting into specifics, I notice well recorded albums sound marvellous, and not so well recordings are well, not so marvellous. With the Mcintosh amps they were more evenly balanced. That is the price you pay for truth and resolution I suppose. But sometimes the truth hurts. Some of those are my favourite recordings.

Second, and related to the first point, my ears hurt. I know what you tube guys are thinking: "Class D; told you so!" Not so fast: What I mean is when I leave the stereo room and go upstairs I notice the sound travelling throughout the house. Like it is more prominent upstairs, 100 feet away. Hmmm... I pull out my db meter and it is reading 85db+! I had no idea it was that loud! Is it that the sound is so clean and distortion free that I didn't notice the loudness? or maybe I am missing a little mid-frequency richness so I am turning it up to compensate? (I haven't tried the Sparkos yet) Or am I just listening to so much music lately I am going deaf? Anyone else have this strange issue?

Again, I am going direct to my amp from my exasound DAC from either hi-res files or CD. All digital. I am regretting selling the Macintosh pre-amp; I would have liked to insert it into the chain now.

Again no regrets. At this point I would rather get better sound with better recordings to the sacrifice of lesser sound quality with inferior recordings. And along the same lines as the op amp rolling I have another trick up my sleeve. I can change the crossover points of my speakers in order to add a little bloom/warmth where needed. I have ordered a few different filters for my Marchand XM44 and will try that for preference.

Third point: I decided to put in both sets of XLR's instead of the RCA with adapters and therefore am burning them in at the same time. That increased the sound level 3db. Is a 3 db increase an indication of a truly balanced amplifier?

Happy listening everybody

[Jack]

watts

The Sparko's will give you more of the "meat" in the mid-range you are looking for as would a tube preamp or even the W4S STP-SE. The stereo Nord is a "dual mono" design so yes balanced. What you get with the mono's is a second power cord and case, plus the ability to use longer IC"S and shorter SC's. In my systems the choice of which op-amp was based on the speaker used.

[audio.bill]

Third point: I decided to put in both sets of XLR's instead of the RCA with adapters and therefore am burning them in at the same time. That increased the sound level 3db. Is a 3 db increase an indication of a truly balanced amplifier?

When using fully balanced electronics XLR connections will result in a 6dB increase in level compared to unbalanced RCA, due to the voltage level being effectively doubled.

[watts]

When using fully balanced electronics XLR connections will result in a 6dB increase in level compared to unbalanced RCA, due to the voltage level being effectively doubled.

6db? Okay; I didn't actually measure, I was just guessing and going off of memory as I thought I read somewhere the difference would be 3db. I will put the RCA's back on and measure as I need to adjust the volume level in order to properly evaluate the difference between my Transparent RCA's with the adapter vs. the Audio Sensibility XLR's, but I have a feeling I will be selling the Transparent RCA's.

[watts]

watts

The Sparko's will give you more of the "meat" in the mid-range you are looking for as would a tube preamp or even the W4S STP-SE. The stereo Nord is a "dual mono" design so yes balanced. What you get with the mono's is a second power cord and case, plus the ability to use longer IC"S and shorter SC's. In my systems the choice of which op-amp was based on the speaker used.

I will try the Sparkos eventually. Like I said I have some other tweaks I can do also to add some heft to various frequencies. I have heard wonderful things about the STP-SE (damit) I don't see one in your signature; have you (or others) heard it add some body to the midrange?

[Jack]

watts

I've still own an STP-SE and have for almost four years. I tend to rotate preamps in and out of the main system. It is uncanny in it's tube preamp like signature. I used mine for a while with the Job 225. In addition to all of it's connectivity and switching ability, it is the closest thing I have heard to a tube preamp for those that want some of that sound signature without the tubes. Deep bass and a wide soundstage. You may can pick some of that up with the Sparkos but I don't know how much as I am not familiar with the Exasound at all.

As to the Audio Sensibility Cables they are excellent. I have used Statement SE IC's for several years. They are not in my signature at the moment as I am borrowing some Triode Wire IC's to try with the TWL PC's and SC's I already own.

[watts]

watts

I've still own an STP-SE and have for almost four years. I tend to rotate preamps in and out of the main system. It is uncanny in it's tube preamp like signature. I used mine for a while with the Job 225. In addition to all of it's connectivity and switching ability, it is the closest thing I have heard to a tube preamp for those that want some of that sound signature without the tubes. Deep bass and a wide soundstage. You may can pick some of that up with the Sparkos but I don't know how much as I am not familiar with the Exasound at all.

I wished I didn't read that, if you know what I mean

As to the Audio Sensibility Cables they are excellent. I have used Statement SE IC's for several years. They are not in my signature at the moment as I am borrowing some Triode Wire IC's to try with the TWL PC's and SC's I already own.

Just like Nord and Wyred, supporting the little guy with no middlemen. Sound research and top quality products without the 50% markup.

[Jack]

Steven sells quality cables. I have tried the IC's digital and analog, the speaker cables and even one of his power cords. They bested far more expensive Wireworld cables in my system and with the exchange rate are an even better deal in the US.

On the STP-SE, keep your eyes open for a used one and you can try it and if not to your liking turn it over. They don't stay for sale very long though. The last one listed lasted less than a day.

[Showroom Dummies]

@watts: I enjoy reading your detailed thoughts on the Nord.
I want to try the Sparkos opamps in the near future, I keep wondering what the difference will be with my speakers.

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[Jack]

If you VA's are on the warm side of neutral you may find it to be too much of a good thing, but worth a try to find out.

[watts]

One more thing - the power cord makes a great impact on the NC500's performance.

That needs to be emphasized. Holy cow! I am still burning these suckers in; have about 200 hours now... but I have noticed some peculiarities with cymbals. Some cd's/files sound exceptional and others sound rather odd. Like the last album I just listened to: Alan Parsons i robot. Track 2: "I wouldn't want to be like you".

The opening cymbal work sounded okay, but when the song shifted gears 47 seconds in the hi hat riding along sounded more like someone letting air out of a tire than a cymbal. I removed the Audio Sensibility impact power cord (which is also burning in also, about 100 hours on it) and put in the stock cord. The cymbal sounded were much more recessed, which made it better, but other sounds were not as well resolved. I placed in a AS Statement SE power cord and it suddenly was sounding more like it should; a hi hat. The cymbal is still a little too prominent for my liking on this track, but at least it sounded much better. HUGE difference. I will leave that power cord on the treble amp

I have never had to roll power cords on amps before as the Macintosh amps had affixed power cords. If someone still questions whether power cords make a difference this is the amp to easily prove it.

[RonDiy]

Yes class D and power cables. I changed out my stock cords on my ATI 523 with a diy Neotech cable with Furutech plugs and it made a very noticeable difference. Much smoother sounding with more body. Changed the ac receptical with not much difference or at all.


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[nc42acc]

The comparison begins.

[Devg]

The comparison begins.

Wow. Which opamps did you get ? I am buying to hear how both compares. It would have been golden if you had the Job 250 as well

[nc42acc]

Arek so far is only offering the amps with the NewClassD opamps.

Wow. Which opamps did you get ? I am buying to hear how both compares. It would have been golden if you had the Job 250 as well

[RonDiy]

I wish someone would compare the ATI to one of these. As I have always wondered if I made the right choice. The ATI sure does sound good though.

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[Devg]

Wow. Which opamps did you get ? I am buying to hear how both compares. It would have been golden if you had the Job 250 as well

Arek so far is only offering the amps with the NewClassD opamps.

Typo - I meant to say I am very curious to hear what you think about the Hattor vs Nords. Do they sound very different ?

[Devg]

I wish someone would compare the ATI to one of these. As I have always wondered if I made the right choice. The ATI sure does sound good though.

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A big difference is ATI is using linear power supply. Not necessarily it is better but could have a very different sound signature. Worth the comparison.

[watts]

The comparison begins.

Some of you guys go through gear quicker than I go through golf balls...

Real carbon fibre?

[nc42acc]

I change amplifiers and DACs when I change my underwear.

Some of you guys go through gear quicker than I go through golf balls...

Real carbon fibre?

[RonDiy]

I love my ATI amps and think they may be my last amps. They are not the best I have heard at any single thing. But taken as a whole they are the best all around that I have heard.

My system in it's current state is the best sounding system I have ever heard. And I am pretty critical of all my belongings. I am a perfectionist. And it drives me nuts. So for me to say this it must sound pretty good.

I just will always wonder if the Nords would have sounded better.

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[Showroom Dummies]

..

[Showroom Dummies]

The comparison begins.

Any update yet?

[watts]

Well I have had enough time with these Nord One-Up NC500 DM’s to feel confident enough to post some impressions. I would like to emphasize this is not a review, rather just some humble comparisons to what has been in my system for the previous many years, a pair of Mcintosh 7300’s. I have not had enough gear personally, or even less convincing, heard enough other gear in various other places lately enough to provide a proper “review”.


Additionally, the 7300’s are not the Mc302’s, or the 501’s, or any other more modern Mcintosh solid state amps, so this is not necessarily a Mcintosh vs. Nord amplifier comparison. (At one point I almost got a set of 501’s, but I settled on preferring 4 channels instead, as I horizontally bi-amp my Magneplanar 3.6’s and 4 501’s were out of the budget. I did believe then that 4 channels of 7300 into my 3.6’s using an electronic crossover and bypassing the inferior stock crossovers would be sonically superior to 2 channels of 501 using the stock crossovers. Hypothesis only of course, as I have not had the opportunity to prove this.)


These units took a long time to settle themselves. I thought at one point 200 hours would be enough, but they still changed their sonics substantially well beyond this point. I have heard others make these claims, and always second guessed them, it turns out they weren't exaggerating. If someone else should express their listening thoughts regarding these units (or any class D unit I suppose) without explaining they gave them at least 500 hours of run in time, I would question their results. I have lost count with how many hours I have on them now, as I stopped running them through the night, but it exceeds 400 hours. I did notice some additional change after running them hard early on, and then thermally cycling them (off/on ) beyond 250 hours. If someone turned them on for the first time and never shut them off, would they sound different? Not sure. If they still improve in sound from this point even better.


At one point I was second guessing what I heard; were the amps changing? Or was it just different times at the day whereby the electricity feeding the system was differing in quality? I have had those experiences before when amp break-in was not a variable, so it is a valid question to which I don’t have an answer.


The first overarching premise is that I never thought I could have so much non-fatiguing detail.
You all know what it is like, you get a new piece of gear and you race to hear you favourite songs or pieces first. The reviewer claims he hears his common music like he never has before! Well it is true; I did just that. While I did that I found myself not changing artists after the chosen song but usually just listened to the album in its entirety. That is a good sign


As my brain typically works best in a point form manner I will break down and describe some differences in various aspects audiophiles deem critical:


Bass: the bass is slightly deeper than the mc’s with much more articulation and slam. This is a strong point with these amps. Macintosh amps are no slouch in the bass department, the Nord One-Ups are better. I have moved speaker and seat position to accommodate the preferred quality of bass. With just a few inches of movement with the dipole speakers I can go from audiophile “hi-fi” tight and lean, to more full and bloomy presentation. I think I have them right in the middle for my taste. There are always a small frequency range which resonate a little louder then others only on certain tracks, but this was harder to tame with the Mc’s. Both acoustic bass or electric bass; overall everything under 400 Hz with the Nord’s is awesome.


Dynamics, Separation and Detail: The Nord’s have more dynamics, not just with bass but across my age-declining spectrum. Transients hit with more attack, music has more life. I know these songs, I know the sound is coming, but it still surprised me and raised my heartbeat. Very cool.


In combination with my exaSound DAC/pre, the ability of these amps to distinguish and place different instruments precisely across the soundstage is better. The way it holds onto one note while another note hits, whether the same instrument or a different one in a different space; call it resolution, transparency or space, or maybe just detail? is very satisfying. My system is now much better in this department. All instruments have more detail, which adds to their realism. You can hear more of the pitch on Isaac Perlman's violin strings, more string slap on the bass fretboard with Patricia Barber's music, and a more realistic bite to Miles Davis or Coltrane's sax. Horns are supposed to pierce the air. The Mcintosh was definitely too rounded off and polite. I find the former much more musical. Odd thing is I was one who argued the opposite in years past. It is another huge strength of the Nords. My system already took a turn for the better when upgrading my Wyred DAC1 with the exaSound in terms of detail retrieval. The same level of jump has occurred again.


Is this not one of the defining characteristics of quality hi-fi (read:expensive) amplifiers? The ability of the kit to unravel minute layers hidden in the music, ones which other lesser gear one struggles to hear? The way it exposes low-level details? Yes, I have heard this before with ultra-detailed gear years ago, and I have also been given a headache before. Sometimes impressive sounding equipment can fatigue after a few short songs. I have been there. I didn't choose my Linn player 12 years ago because it was the most detailed, rather it was the most natural sounding to my ears. These amps do not fatique. Not at all. Actually sometimes the opposite happens: focussing intently to hear that soft passage, those weak unresolved background voices, that can be fatiguing.


Did I mention soundstage? Yup; big smiles. Much better with the Nord's fastened to the Maggies. Wider, deeper, and the aforementioned ability of these amps to not only place the players in a defined space, but also have their sounds last longer in that space as more recent sounds are emitted. That helps support and reinforce that soundstage. More precision of the transient location and that "decay" work in tandem to produce more realism. I recently downloaded a remade Coltrane composition Naima (Chesky Records: Audiophile Piano Collection) The piano is 20 feet in front of me fanning from dead centre to about 20 degrees left of centre, low register to the right and high keys to the left. (That is the way it should be done; I hate it when I am "looking" at the back of the piano player). The bass player is about 18 feet in front of me dead centre, the drummer is 20 degrees to the right of centre, about the same depth as the bass player, and the sax player is 10 degrees right of the drummer, about in line with my right speaker from the seating position but a few feet behind it; about 8 feet back from me. My speakers plane is 6 feet in front of me, and the front wall is 11 feet ahead. How is that for soundstage? ( One crash cymbal the drummer rides for the middle third of the piece is dead centre; on top of the bass; odd….misplaced mike?) The track sound really good by the way.


Impressive dynamics, details galore, and incredible soundstage, anybody predominantly listen to orchestra? These might be your amps. I can confirm all three of my Prof. Johnson's Reference Recording's sound exceptional. They never sounded bad before of course, but now they give goosebumps.


Vocals and midrange: this is the one area where I would say the Mc was better. With all that detail retrieval comes some strange artifacts. It took me a long time to attempt to label the sounds, but it appears different with different vocals. It applies to the treble of poor recorded other tracks as well with some cymbals, and some guitar strums. Neutrality and truth can be painful. These amps are on the hot side regarding treble in general. And they are a little thin in the middle. I understand some may give these 30 seconds of listening and decide it is not for them. If you listening to female vocals 80% of the time I suggest look elsewhere. At least that is what I hear.
For example with Diana Krall: The Girl in the Other Room her voice sounds good, but her raspyness in the title track seems a little smoky and overemphasized; as if she smoked a pack of cigarettes before singing. With Holly Cole Tempation's Take me Home her close miked voice seems to have too much breathe added. Sibilance is good; no problems with s'ess. No problems with any other letters either. Yet Norah Jones Not too Late sounded wonderful. Sarah Mclaughlin and Jennifer Warner sounded very good also. Odd. With all that extra resolution perhaps shows weaknesses upstream and requires upgrades? Or is that what exactly what was recorded and these amps expose the added hi-fi-ish recording embelishment? Wish I had other amps to compare.


Another example is Rush Permanent Waves; with my remastered CD I was very disappointed with the opening track The Spirit of Radio. Geddy's voice was too bright and harsh, Neil Peart's cymbals were also poorly resolved, and the song suffered from compression. The other tracks seem to be recorded very differently and had more dynamics, and a much better recorded voice. Was just the popular radio friendly hit Spirit of Radio recorded for radio and as such they hopped up the treble and compressed it, yet left the other tracks for the more serious listeners? Strange. I never really noticed this before but like I keep stating these Nord's shine a new light on your favourite tunes. For better or worse.


Fleetwood Mac: The Very Best of. Bill Inglot remastered CD which is real treat. The original analog tape must have been in fantastic shape, and it must have been well recorded as it sounds awesome. Vocals here are decent; not modern recorded spectacular like Patricia Barber (oh, all of her albums sound awesome with the Nord's as well, but don't they always?) but not offensive either. But so much hidden music buried deep in these tracks. I challenge anybody with any system you own to listen to "Hold Me" on mine and seriously tell me after that you didn't hear anything new. The one exception on this CD: At one point Second Hand News was too much. For whatever reason that one track with small drums in the left channel, a muted guitar strum from the right along with strumming of another layered guitar from both channels, with cymbals all at the same relative frequency range was WAY too bright. This still happened with more than 250 hours on the amps, but now with 400 it is tolerable. All those sounds have settled down marginally which at least allows me to listen to it at moderate volumes. It is still hot, but at least it is tolerable. No issue with any other track on the double disc CD.


My Magneplanar owners manual warned me about this:


There are two principal reasons for needing to attenuate the Magneplanar Ribbon Tweeter:
A. Recordings, typically in the "pop" or "rock" vein, often exhibit a pronounced rise in the treble region.
B. The Magneplanar Ribbon Tweeter is very efficient in its total "energy dispersion." If the surrounding walls are exceptionally reflective, the overall perceived acoustical balance will be tipped towards a "hot" high end.
Attenuation is performed through insertion of a simple non-inductive resistor in series with the tweeter.


Well I have bypassed the fuses on the back of the speakers years ago at the same time I replaced the crossovers and stock steel binding posts for Cardas ones, so no option there. But I have some other ideas to warm up the midrange: insert a pre-amp; passive or active, change/upgrade cabling, upgrade sources, linear power supply for the DAC, try op-amp rolling: Sparkos for my Sonic Imagery's, more acoustic treatments. This hobby is never ending


Closing thoughts: I am not going to say they are worth XXX more than I paid for them, or they beat any amps under $$$$$, I honestly have no idea. But I kinda feel like I stole them. I paid just over $5000 CDN for the pair. Each $2500 amp has close to $2000 of XLR's, speaker and power cables connected to them and I have an inclination to upgrade the cables and do the amps more justice. What happened to the 10% rule?


Bottom line is I am enjoying the hell out of these amps! I have listened to more music in the last month than I have in the past year. Now that this critique summary is out of the way I can stop focussing on the sounds and listen to the music!

[joeinid]

What an amazing write up. Thank you for this wonderful effort. I would have to agree. Break in is extremely important as well as overall system matching.

[watts]

Now to do it all over again with Sparkos!

[VoicesInMyHead]

I would call that a great review, very nicely written!

As you are already suggesting I think the Nords is an excellent amp to experiment with other things in the chain as it will not try to hide or disguise anything from you. Trying a preamp (or another DAC) that add's some midrange warmth or different flavour might be a priceless combo. I also had great positive effect by upping the power cable, money wise it was almost like a joke what kind of cables I had attached to the Nord, but it really shined when being served better power and signals. The 10% rule seems outdated to me, I believe cables can do so much more as it's not just about the cable itself, but how it actually enables the amp or equipment to perform better.

[VoicesInMyHead]

Oh btw, a friend actually blew some fuses with his Maggies... I would never dare to bypass it as I know is common with Maggie owners, but changing the fuse in the Nord was also a great improvement to me.

[Showroom Dummies]

@watts: Brilliant write up as usual.
I will have to try more expensive XLR cables and as 'Voicesinmyhead' said, he has found a better power cable and fuse to make a difference, but I've spent so much money in the last few months and in the last few days I've taken delivery of new speakers (Boenicke W8) which have been jaw dropping but am now thinking of getting their top model in the range.............

Sent from my Swift 2 Plus using Tapatalk

[watts]

I would call that a great review, very nicely written!

As you are already suggesting I think the Nords is an excellent amp to experiment with other things in the chain as it will not try to hide or disguise anything from you. Trying a preamp (or another DAC) that add's some midrange warmth or different flavour might be a priceless combo. I also had great positive effect by upping the power cable, money wise it was almost like a joke what kind of cables I had attached to the Nord, but it really shined when being served better power and signals. The 10% rule seems outdated to me, I believe cables can do so much more as it's not just about the cable itself, but how it actually enables the amp or equipment to perform better.

Listening impressions; not review

Oh btw, a friend actually blew some fuses with his Maggies... I would never dare to bypass it as I know is common with Maggie owners, but changing the fuse in the Nord was also a great improvement to me.

The best part of maggies is the tweakability of them. They recommend owners to remove the crossover box and replace it with aftermarket adjustable ones. I haven't had the fuses in them for over 10 years, and I have had the Macintosh amps FULL BLAST into them; over 500 watts a side. No problems (other than my ears, but it was just for several seconds; just an experiment to see if I could blow the ribbons: they survived). Distortion is what blows speakers; not volume. As long as clean power is used they will take a beating. I suspect your friend had a mid-range amp or he clipped it? I will investigate the fuse in the Nord.

[watts]

@watts: Brilliant write up as usual.
I will have to try more expensive XLR cables and as 'Voicesinmyhead' said, he has found a better power cable and fuse to make a difference, but I've spent so much money in the last few months and in the last few days I've taken delivery of new speakers (Boenicke W8) which have been jaw dropping but am now thinking of getting their top model in the range.............

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I hear you; it's a sickness. Pretty soon we will all be like Joe

I have barely broken in my amps and I am already thinking of what to do next. Here is what has been blowing my mind today: I listened to Liquid Tension Experiment last night, the entire album, and I was thinking how could it get any better than this? it was a complete instrumental start to finish; no vocals, and it was recorded rather well. Some of that bass was rumbling the walls, but it did not resonate; it was still tight and stopped when Tony Levin's note stopped. I am well aware I don't have state of the art anything, I know the many areas I could upgrade and get a better SQ, yet I was still wanting for nothing. I mean, there are guys out there with speaker cables that cost more than my entire system! So while there must be many systems sounding better than mine, I don't think it's possible that anyone, anywhere was enjoying their music more than me last night. No-one can take that away from me, and it is not up for argument.

[joeinid]

Ha! Phew.... I'm glad I'm not the only one. My credit card is still hot from a transaction and I'm already eyeing something new.

I hear you; it's a sickness. Pretty soon we will all be like Joe

I have barely broken in my amps and I am already thinking of what to do next. Edit...

[mfin]

@watts: Brilliant write up as usual.
I will have to try more expensive XLR cables and as 'Voicesinmyhead' said, he has found a better power cable and fuse to make a difference, but I've spent so much money in the last few months and in the last few days I've taken delivery of new speakers (Boenicke W8) which have been jaw dropping but am now thinking of getting their top model in the range.............

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If you're interested in W11's then give Alto a shout on here or PM me and I'll pass you his contact details, he's not that far from you really and is a dealer for Boenicke and Lumin and has even had W11s running on Nord. So speaking to him might help?
(I've heard a good few of his system changes while driving W11's)

[boggit]

@Watts What a great write up appreciate you taking the time to right such a detailed and precise account really enjoyable. Incidentally I listen to 95% female vocals with Angaleena Presley – American Middle Class being my record of the moment. Enjoy, look forward to your Sparkos thoughts. (We are also working with a new Op Amp at present which combines the best of both worlds but have some tech issue to overcome before release, but please don't ask, until we iron these out wont be releasing them.)

[Showroom Dummies]

If you're interested in W11's then give Alto a shout on here or PM me and I'll pass you his contact details, he's not that far from you really and is a dealer for Boenicke and Lumin and has even had W11s running on Nord. So speaking to him might help?
(I've heard a good few of his system changes while driving W11's)

The W11s will be too big for my room so I've decided to stick with the W8s.
It would be nice to have a listen to the W11 and (if possible) W13 speakers though.

[watts]

@Watts What a great write up appreciate you taking the time to right such a detailed and precise account really enjoyable. Incidentally I listen to 95% female vocals with Angaleena Presley – American Middle Class being my record of the moment. Enjoy, look forward to your Sparkos thoughts. (We are also working with a new Op Amp at present which combines the best of both worlds but have some tech issue to overcome before release, but please don't ask, until we iron these out wont be releasing them.)

Awesome news Colin. It is so rewarding to buy products from companies like yours, exaSound, and Wyred for that matter where the products continue to evolve, but previous owners of their equipment are not forgotten and have the ability to pay small amounts to upgrade their units to the latest specifications.

V for victory (oh sorry, that one was already used...my bad)

[mrcrowley]

No comparison of Hattor and NORD amp yet ????

[tes]

Hello Everyone,

I have just finished reading this thread (all of it) and wow is there a lot to take in...

I am curious and will soon try one out.

I was wondering whether it is worthwhile to get the monoblocks over the stereo (I read that the internals are identical).

Specifically, whether having a shorter speaker cable (and long interconnect) will make a sound quality difference vs a longer speaker cable and shorter interconect.

Thanks in advance...
T

[Jack]

You're probably not going to get a consensus either way but I have tried it both ways and didn't hear any difference. The mono's were sitting side by side though so there was no cable length difference for either setup. The stereo amp is truly two mono amps in one case with the difference being one power cord instead of two. If anyone else has heard it both ways in the same setup chime in.

[tane0019]

No comparison of Hattor and NORD amp yet ????

Also waiting for this

[Val]

Hi guys!
This is my first post

First of all thank you for this great thread ! I have read it all from first post

One question : is there already any coparisons NCore 500 with dexa New Class D Opam?

Thank you in advance,
Val

[joeinid]

Welcome to the forum Val, thank you for joining.

[boggit]

Review of Sparkos vs DEXA here.
http://www.sparkoslabs.com/ss3602-di...ntonio-solaro/

The other thing to consider is that we use superior Sparkos V Regulators we know we used to fit the Hypex ones.

[boggit]

So the new module from B&O Ice Power has arrived, the 1200AS/2 with the brand new ICE Edge ASIC based chipset 2 x 600W into 8Ohms

[watts]

Looks very Christmas-y with all the snow piles everywhere...

[Devg]

So the new module from B&O Ice Power has arrived, the 1200AS/2 with the brand new ICE Edge ASIC based chipset 2 x 600W into 8Ohms

So how does it sound ? Have you compared it with the NC500s ? Mike (Mivera audio) is selling them like hot cakes over at AC and claims its the best he has heard in Class D tech. Hopefully mine arrives before Christmas

[boggit]

So how does it sound ? Have you compared it with the NC500s ? Mike (Mivera audio) is selling them like hot cakes over at AC and claims its the best he has heard in Class D tech. Hopefully mine arrives before Christmas

They are very good. However we prefer the NC500 in our One UP with Rev C buffers which now include the superb Sparkos V regulators.
There is more space around instruments and a thicker richer sound. The mid range resolution is also better. I was very careful in my bias, I invited a friend around who is heavily into HiFi, he played a track he produced with some ex members of ELO playing, so he new the track well and heard the original on big studio ATC speakers. I did a blind test, his reaction was instant and confirmed my thoughts.
The top end though is excellent though.

I have the engineer of Steve Winwoods latest album coming over next week after hearing one of our MP amps he was amazed and better than his Bryston. Steve himself took the amp home he thought it so good.

So yes they are very good and we will sell them we have the modules on order, but will sit under the NC500 UP/SE in our range but for around the £900 price they are superb. And Mike's price is amazing.

[boggit]

Looks very Christmas-y with all the snow piles everywhere...

Brilliant now that gives me an idea!! Let it Snow
(its there for vibration and shock protection)