- Thread Author
- #1,041
According to Colin's specs:
[FONT=avenir-lt-w01_35-light1475496]Automatic 115V-230V operation[/FONT]
Nord One Up Ncore NC500 amps, Class D ready for prime time .....
- Thread starter joeinid
- Start date
I am glad you said that. I was under the impression that the power supplies were auto switching.
Anyway for those of you that love your Nord amps. What other amps have you owned? How about any direct comparisons?
For background sake. I will be using these in a dedicated dual purpose room. I am using a surround processor. So no high end preamp. It is the Emotiva XMC1 processor for now. When the new flagship processor, the RMC-1 comes out I will be getting one of those. My speakers are Diy. They are absolutely incredible sounding. Very resolving. I can definitely hear the slightest difference in equipment.
So what do you folks think? I would be getting the up mono amps for the front three speakers. And undecided on the other 8 channels.
Thanks for any help with my questions.
Ron
Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk
Anyway for those of you that love your Nord amps. What other amps have you owned? How about any direct comparisons?
For background sake. I will be using these in a dedicated dual purpose room. I am using a surround processor. So no high end preamp. It is the Emotiva XMC1 processor for now. When the new flagship processor, the RMC-1 comes out I will be getting one of those. My speakers are Diy. They are absolutely incredible sounding. Very resolving. I can definitely hear the slightest difference in equipment.
So what do you folks think? I would be getting the up mono amps for the front three speakers. And undecided on the other 8 channels.
Thanks for any help with my questions.
Ron
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boggit
New member
- Joined
- May 16, 2016
- Messages
- 84
Just to clarify The NC500 needs a jumper change, the MP NC500 is automatic between 100-240V
@Ron we are just about to release a 8 channel 250W per channel NCore amp at £1999 and there are plenty of wonderful comparisons from a very well educated bunch of Audio lovers contained in this thread as well as discussion on pre amps.
@Ron we are just about to release a 8 channel 250W per channel NCore amp at £1999 and there are plenty of wonderful comparisons from a very well educated bunch of Audio lovers contained in this thread as well as discussion on pre amps.
Thanks for responding Collin. I really don't know anything about these new mp nc500 modules. Mainly how they sound. And I don't know about a totally different sound for my three front channels and all the rest. I was considering the up models for my three fronts. Then two stereo regular models for now for the rest of the surround channels. Then I could upgrade these to the up models, as funds become available. Then one of these 4 channel mp models for my overheads speakers. I would think my best bet would be 4 of the stereo regular models for all speakers except the front three. Just don't think I can swing it funds wise.
Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk
Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk
alto
New member
Hi @ Ron, the Nord's are definitely the best sounding amps at their price point and considerably above. PM me if you want to know what I have compared them with. I'm not going to knock the opposition here.
alto
New member
All you need now is to update your signature, like the one Joe has
You mean a picture of a furry animal?
I met Alto yesterday, a nice chap who's obviously had a lot of experience with some great high level hifi! I'll report back soon with experiences of the Vovox Vocalis XLR he's provided me to audition (connected from my Pre to NordOneUP SE Stereo with 994s).
Was great to hear a third system with the same Nord amps in place too.
Will report back for anyone who's interested very soon, comparing to the Mogami-Neutrik basic cables and Audience OHNO (same price range as the Vocalis).
Was great to hear a third system with the same Nord amps in place too.
Will report back for anyone who's interested very soon, comparing to the Mogami-Neutrik basic cables and Audience OHNO (same price range as the Vocalis).
Some diary notes from warm up... (might be interesting to some people, boring for others)
1st Day
/////
::AT COLIN'S::
Picked it up and first hearing was in Colin's system fed from Cambridge Audio CXN Streamer into IQ Speakers (S2TLK I believe).
First impression was that I was not drawn to the treble presentation of the ribbon tweeters on IQ speakers, bit harsh at the very top. This was listening on my actual amp which was yet to be boxed up.
I hoped that if some of that top-end was my amp that it might smooth, but was keen to see if I felt the same when it was plugged into my system.
Whilst there I heard the Sparkos version too, I liked that, it was warmer, top end nicer in that the same harshness was not there. I felt that rock music might be better with the Sparkos. These were all first exposure, gut impressions.
Heard nc250mp amp quickly too, very impressed with that from what I quickly heard, as I mentioned before.
::AT HOME::
Got it home and plugged it in, replacing Cyrus Power Amps, where the system had had a nice balanced sound (although my upgrades on front end now deserved better, hence the purchase).
First immediate impression was it was lots more trebley, less full in the bass and leaner, but with some new sub bass present.
Over the next few hours it did slightly improve, and there were some CDs I was playing that I noted sounded better than before (I was selecting tracks to try over 3 hours).
A couple of CDs I like to test with are Ray Lamontagne's Till the Sun Turns Black and The The's Dusk (not the re-master which is not as good).
Ray L had impressive things going on, but the harshness and trebley nature of things were noted. Dusk was good, but I also noted it was too trebley.
I noted there were no real moments that had me smiling yet although some CDs did have me hearing a few details I hadn’t noticed before though.
Vocals had a raspy edge to them was something I noted.
So, I left everything continuously on (and did for weeks, fed from MTV into my dac, played at a low volume day and night when I was not listening as that was easy).
Day Two
/////
I noted pretty much the same, but, I wrote down that I was inclined to think voices were ever so slightly less raspy.
I also noted I didn't feel quite so disappointed with it.
Day Three
/////
I noted some good moments playing Tidal through Audirvana on my MacBook via USB into my Dac. I could tell I was enjoying that more as a source as whilst my CD transport had much more detail is was tonally thinner and harsher at the top end, so not as listenable.
Watched a film too, that sounded good, the depth of a film soundtrack at the low end was distracting from the treble presentation.
My best source is quite simply the CD transport, so my overwhelming thought was maybe I should have gone for Sparkos (with its fuller warmer sound and treble), but as I was 3 days in, and supposedly 3 weeks warm-up will see it knockout good, I obviously had to wait to see.
Day Four (remember this is 3 days of burn in)
//////
Not much changing really I don’t think, but I didn’t have much chance to listen.
Day Five
//////
I noted a couple of CDs sounded really good today, and even mentioned it to a friend who was interested.
Things were a little recessed though in the mids.
So, what I was getting the impression of is that the high end might be improving, but on CDs where the presentation was softer, the mids could seem a bit too recessed.
I'd actually tried putting the same film back on to see what I thought, and that sort of confirmed everything was sounding a bit recessed in the mids.
Interestingly I made a note I'd tried the Ray Lamontagne CD that I know so well again. This time I noted it sounded bigger in presentation, but that it seemed a bit bass dominant, something I noted I've never thought before in any iteration of my system. By that I mean a fair bit of general muffly bass added.
I noted at this point that I wouldn’t want Sparkos at the moment, in fact I imagined if I what I was listening to here was the Sparkos, I'd be hankering after the 994, but I did have 994. So days ago I'd been thinking the opposite.
I noted this was all a bit weird.
Day Six
/////
Pretty much a continuation, where the mids being recessed were the same in my notes. Would have liked it to just open up in those mids and the bass to become slightly less.
Day 7
////
So, today I tried not to get too absorbed in being critical, let it do its thing and keep warming up.
Day 8, (7days elapsed, about 168 hours)
////
Plenty of CD listening, the treble being the issue really here on many CDs. If this was going to be what the whole experience of the Nord was going to be, I was left thinking I'd like to make sure in time I'd somehow addressed this in future, and had a few ideas. But, best to wait a nut more.
Day 9
////
Didn’t listen much.
Day 10
////
I'd made notes of listening to some of my reference CDs and some Bowie, that things were seeming better. I wasn't quite so critical, so I noted that I thought things were improving. So, I was waiting for: More treble improvements (would that harshness continue to disappear? As it was already better. Were the mids going to open up more, as the recessing didn't seem as apparent as it was. I wasn't bothered by the bass bloat so much). So, I noted that the character of things had changed again, from harsh treble at day one, progressing into a recessed mids but improving treble, with bloat in the bass at times, and then these things had now been seeming to be things I wasn't noting as much.
Hoped the general trend that seemed to be happening would continue.
Day 11
////
I did note again things on cd are a little brash, but the overall soundstage and mids were definitely better than they had been.
It was clearly a different amp than day one.
Day 12, (11 days x 24 hours is 264 hours)
////
More of the same
Day 13, (288 hours)
////
Went back through my reference CDs again, plus lots more. I made a note that I hadn't noticed much in the way of bass bloat, kept checking. Noted that I felt the amp had opened up. I was definitely enjoying all my favourite CDs more than on any previous amp.
I noted that the the realism in the strings, horn sections and mic-ed acoustic instruments were very realistic on the right recordings.
Day 14
////
I noted the system sounds alive. Put a bad CD in it and it shows it as bad, but put a good one in, and it loves it.
So, all in all I was happy, and felt the amp had opened up, and if there was more to come it was going to be very good indeed.
——
Note, now I am another 10 days on, and I have experienced having the Audience OHNO XLR interconnect feeding it from the Pre for a week. Of course, the amp has had another 10 days but the OHNO cable is quite a no-brainer if swapped back for the Mogami-Neutrik. The whole system sounds really impressive (a quick swap to the Mogami is such an obvious downgrade, the OHNO is more detailed, better soundstage, more realistic, and never harsh… the difference here is completely noticeable and my disinterested daughter even confirmed it as completely noticeable in a heartbeat when she heard it swapped).
This Nord is very impressive!
So… the next thing is to try the Vovox Vocalis XLR that Alto has provided me with. I am eager to see if this is an improvement on the Audience OHNO, a sideways step, or something else. I will see in due course and report back in a few days.
Overall thought right now is that the Nord is an absolutely fantastic amp, and I just want to double check I am getting the most out of it!!
So, as you can see, I've gone from criticising what the Nord did on day one, to loving it now, so I believe that whatever the journey of warm up is for others, that the positive affect of warm up is clearly something that happens (just as others have said, I've just tracked what I perceived might have been happening a bit more than most people might).
So if my experience is the same as others, you could expect a journey where treble harshness disappears, but treble extension is kept, a dip in the mids for some time which it recovers from, and a bass which may go through a period after the first few days of being a little bit dominant and muddy but then becomes tight controlled and correct. What started as having questionable traits now doesn't seem to have any of them for me.
The amp obviously has amazing grip over the speakers too, I think it's really quite superb for the money.
1st Day
/////
::AT COLIN'S::
Picked it up and first hearing was in Colin's system fed from Cambridge Audio CXN Streamer into IQ Speakers (S2TLK I believe).
First impression was that I was not drawn to the treble presentation of the ribbon tweeters on IQ speakers, bit harsh at the very top. This was listening on my actual amp which was yet to be boxed up.
I hoped that if some of that top-end was my amp that it might smooth, but was keen to see if I felt the same when it was plugged into my system.
Whilst there I heard the Sparkos version too, I liked that, it was warmer, top end nicer in that the same harshness was not there. I felt that rock music might be better with the Sparkos. These were all first exposure, gut impressions.
Heard nc250mp amp quickly too, very impressed with that from what I quickly heard, as I mentioned before.
::AT HOME::
Got it home and plugged it in, replacing Cyrus Power Amps, where the system had had a nice balanced sound (although my upgrades on front end now deserved better, hence the purchase).
First immediate impression was it was lots more trebley, less full in the bass and leaner, but with some new sub bass present.
Over the next few hours it did slightly improve, and there were some CDs I was playing that I noted sounded better than before (I was selecting tracks to try over 3 hours).
A couple of CDs I like to test with are Ray Lamontagne's Till the Sun Turns Black and The The's Dusk (not the re-master which is not as good).
Ray L had impressive things going on, but the harshness and trebley nature of things were noted. Dusk was good, but I also noted it was too trebley.
I noted there were no real moments that had me smiling yet although some CDs did have me hearing a few details I hadn’t noticed before though.
Vocals had a raspy edge to them was something I noted.
So, I left everything continuously on (and did for weeks, fed from MTV into my dac, played at a low volume day and night when I was not listening as that was easy).
Day Two
/////
I noted pretty much the same, but, I wrote down that I was inclined to think voices were ever so slightly less raspy.
I also noted I didn't feel quite so disappointed with it.
Day Three
/////
I noted some good moments playing Tidal through Audirvana on my MacBook via USB into my Dac. I could tell I was enjoying that more as a source as whilst my CD transport had much more detail is was tonally thinner and harsher at the top end, so not as listenable.
Watched a film too, that sounded good, the depth of a film soundtrack at the low end was distracting from the treble presentation.
My best source is quite simply the CD transport, so my overwhelming thought was maybe I should have gone for Sparkos (with its fuller warmer sound and treble), but as I was 3 days in, and supposedly 3 weeks warm-up will see it knockout good, I obviously had to wait to see.
Day Four (remember this is 3 days of burn in)
//////
Not much changing really I don’t think, but I didn’t have much chance to listen.
Day Five
//////
I noted a couple of CDs sounded really good today, and even mentioned it to a friend who was interested.
Things were a little recessed though in the mids.
So, what I was getting the impression of is that the high end might be improving, but on CDs where the presentation was softer, the mids could seem a bit too recessed.
I'd actually tried putting the same film back on to see what I thought, and that sort of confirmed everything was sounding a bit recessed in the mids.
Interestingly I made a note I'd tried the Ray Lamontagne CD that I know so well again. This time I noted it sounded bigger in presentation, but that it seemed a bit bass dominant, something I noted I've never thought before in any iteration of my system. By that I mean a fair bit of general muffly bass added.
I noted at this point that I wouldn’t want Sparkos at the moment, in fact I imagined if I what I was listening to here was the Sparkos, I'd be hankering after the 994, but I did have 994. So days ago I'd been thinking the opposite.
I noted this was all a bit weird.
Day Six
/////
Pretty much a continuation, where the mids being recessed were the same in my notes. Would have liked it to just open up in those mids and the bass to become slightly less.
Day 7
////
So, today I tried not to get too absorbed in being critical, let it do its thing and keep warming up.
Day 8, (7days elapsed, about 168 hours)
////
Plenty of CD listening, the treble being the issue really here on many CDs. If this was going to be what the whole experience of the Nord was going to be, I was left thinking I'd like to make sure in time I'd somehow addressed this in future, and had a few ideas. But, best to wait a nut more.
Day 9
////
Didn’t listen much.
Day 10
////
I'd made notes of listening to some of my reference CDs and some Bowie, that things were seeming better. I wasn't quite so critical, so I noted that I thought things were improving. So, I was waiting for: More treble improvements (would that harshness continue to disappear? As it was already better. Were the mids going to open up more, as the recessing didn't seem as apparent as it was. I wasn't bothered by the bass bloat so much). So, I noted that the character of things had changed again, from harsh treble at day one, progressing into a recessed mids but improving treble, with bloat in the bass at times, and then these things had now been seeming to be things I wasn't noting as much.
Hoped the general trend that seemed to be happening would continue.
Day 11
////
I did note again things on cd are a little brash, but the overall soundstage and mids were definitely better than they had been.
It was clearly a different amp than day one.
Day 12, (11 days x 24 hours is 264 hours)
////
More of the same
Day 13, (288 hours)
////
Went back through my reference CDs again, plus lots more. I made a note that I hadn't noticed much in the way of bass bloat, kept checking. Noted that I felt the amp had opened up. I was definitely enjoying all my favourite CDs more than on any previous amp.
I noted that the the realism in the strings, horn sections and mic-ed acoustic instruments were very realistic on the right recordings.
Day 14
////
I noted the system sounds alive. Put a bad CD in it and it shows it as bad, but put a good one in, and it loves it.
So, all in all I was happy, and felt the amp had opened up, and if there was more to come it was going to be very good indeed.
——
Note, now I am another 10 days on, and I have experienced having the Audience OHNO XLR interconnect feeding it from the Pre for a week. Of course, the amp has had another 10 days but the OHNO cable is quite a no-brainer if swapped back for the Mogami-Neutrik. The whole system sounds really impressive (a quick swap to the Mogami is such an obvious downgrade, the OHNO is more detailed, better soundstage, more realistic, and never harsh… the difference here is completely noticeable and my disinterested daughter even confirmed it as completely noticeable in a heartbeat when she heard it swapped).
This Nord is very impressive!
So… the next thing is to try the Vovox Vocalis XLR that Alto has provided me with. I am eager to see if this is an improvement on the Audience OHNO, a sideways step, or something else. I will see in due course and report back in a few days.
Overall thought right now is that the Nord is an absolutely fantastic amp, and I just want to double check I am getting the most out of it!!
So, as you can see, I've gone from criticising what the Nord did on day one, to loving it now, so I believe that whatever the journey of warm up is for others, that the positive affect of warm up is clearly something that happens (just as others have said, I've just tracked what I perceived might have been happening a bit more than most people might).
So if my experience is the same as others, you could expect a journey where treble harshness disappears, but treble extension is kept, a dip in the mids for some time which it recovers from, and a bass which may go through a period after the first few days of being a little bit dominant and muddy but then becomes tight controlled and correct. What started as having questionable traits now doesn't seem to have any of them for me.
The amp obviously has amazing grip over the speakers too, I think it's really quite superb for the money.
- Thread Author
- #1,052
Wow! Thank you so much for the detailed write up. Truly impressive. I'd have to agree with all your comments. The first few weeks for me were a little rough but I could definitely hear the amazing potential of these amps. By the third week, everything was coming together nicely. I eventually added the 994 op amps and replaced the Sparkos. A little more break in and with a tube pre or nice passive and I think that it's a superb combination.
alto
New member
Nice post mfin, good comments. I have found the same, up to about 200 hours now on my demo's.
a.wayne
Well-known member
Mfin
I may have missed it before , but could you tell us more about your setup ....
I may have missed it before , but could you tell us more about your setup ....
Here's the review http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews2/nord/1.html ...by the way, anyone unfamiliar with that website, it is a multi-page review, the navigation to the next page is not obvious but is a small triangle icon at the bottom of each page.
Dizzie
Well-known member
Re: nord amp review
http://6moons.com/audioreviews2/nord/1.html
Interesting that it is dated February 2017 when today is January 29th on earth.
http://6moons.com/audioreviews2/nord/1.html
Interesting that it is dated February 2017 when today is January 29th on earth.
VoicesInMyHead
New member
Re: nord amp review
The ending paragraph in which comparisons are being made to two well known swiss brands kind of raises the bar of my expectations quite a bit... if that statement holds just a bit truth in it, then this is going to be very good....
My Nord One is sitting here next to me, looking good, but I have to wait another week for my new DAC/preamp to arrive.... frustrating? Just a bit...
Class D from Nord is the future?
The ending paragraph in which comparisons are being made to two well known swiss brands kind of raises the bar of my expectations quite a bit... if that statement holds just a bit truth in it, then this is going to be very good....
My Nord One is sitting here next to me, looking good, but I have to wait another week for my new DAC/preamp to arrive.... frustrating? Just a bit...