Nord One Up Ncore NC500 amps, Class D ready for prime time .....
- Thread starter joeinid
- Start date
Would you mind post some close up photo on the new buffer board with Sparkos after the upgrade please?
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Joe - I think you have the Rev C boards. The Rev D boards use a pair of the Sparkos SS2590 op amps.
The SS2590 is what I am using.
I am 60, but I also agree with dubplate007 that the preference for the Sparkos is not necessarily age related. The Sparkos have a fuller, slightly warmer sound. Once fully broken in, I have not noticed any lack of detail, at least in the frequencies I can still hear
.
Colin said he preferred the SI Op Amps for their detail, but I wonder whether he let the Sparkos fully break-in before he made that statement. If you have a chance to demo both options where the op-amps have at least a few hundred hours on them, it's worth doing.
Changing the op amps is not at all difficult. Takes less than 10 minutes per amp. Most of the time is taking the cover off and putting it back on, so a stereo amp probably wouldn't take much more time than a monoblock. And that was including unplugging all the cables and plugging them back in.
I bought Sparkos op amps directly from Sparkos through ebay, and they accepted an offer with a pretty good discount for a quantity of 4. Colin may be able to provide the best pricing in the UK.
The SS2590 is what I am using.
I am 60, but I also agree with dubplate007 that the preference for the Sparkos is not necessarily age related. The Sparkos have a fuller, slightly warmer sound. Once fully broken in, I have not noticed any lack of detail, at least in the frequencies I can still hear
. Colin said he preferred the SI Op Amps for their detail, but I wonder whether he let the Sparkos fully break-in before he made that statement. If you have a chance to demo both options where the op-amps have at least a few hundred hours on them, it's worth doing.
Changing the op amps is not at all difficult. Takes less than 10 minutes per amp. Most of the time is taking the cover off and putting it back on, so a stereo amp probably wouldn't take much more time than a monoblock. And that was including unplugging all the cables and plugging them back in.
I bought Sparkos op amps directly from Sparkos through ebay, and they accepted an offer with a pretty good discount for a quantity of 4. Colin may be able to provide the best pricing in the UK.
Matias
New member
Joe, reviews say that the rev D board is a significant improvement, so if you are willing to upgrade, rev D + Sparkos Pro opamps are the way to go.
Jack
Active member
It just slides into a slot in the nCORE board in place of the Rev C board as shown in the first photo Joe posted. It will come fitted with the op amps already so its just two screws and the wire connectors.
Showroom Dummies
New member
Thougherly enjoyed reading that.
My room is smallish so the extra bass from the Sparkos will most probably be a problem.
The same with the high frequencies: My speakers produce detailed highs, don't know if the Sparkos would be too much.
Pointblank
New member
Hi everyone,
I've been reading the Audioshark forums for a while now but first time posting. A lot of great info on the Nords in this thread that I have found very beneficial in the last few months, so thanks to all of you who have posted in here already!
I bought a pair of the monoblock Nord NC500 SE Rev C amps in September last year off the back of a recommendation from Rob at ER Audio in Perth, Australia, who makes the Electrostatic Speakers that I inherited from my father a few years back. At the time, I bought both the Sparkos and SI Opamps (8-pin versions that suit the Rev C Buffers). I tested both initially and went with the Sparkos (straight out of the box, these sounded better in my system) for a few months before swapping to the SI ones for a month or two as well. I enjoyed these but after the time with the SI Opamps in the Nords, I then swapped back to the Sparkos ones, confident that I still liked these better in my system. As others have described here already - a fuller, slightly warmer sound.
Anyway, fast forward to April this year and after reading the few reviews circulating about the Rev D upgrade, as well as the many posts on here, I bit the bullet and contacted Colin about upgrading and asked him about his thoughts on the Opamp choices, given the new SI Opamps apparently had slightly better detail vs the Sparkos.
The whole purpose of my post is to say that Colin mentioned in his email that after recently changing the speakers in his system, he is now leaning more towards the Sparkos SS2590 over the SI 990 and recommended I go with those, given my preference to the Sparkos in the Rev C.
I've just installed the Rev D boards this morning, so only a few hours on the new Opamps + Boards, but already noticing a fuller, more detailed soundstage with more refined bass extension and improved clarity in the mids/highs. At this stage, I wouldn't say it is a night and day difference between Rev C and Rev D but straight out of the box, it is definitely a noticeable improvement. It will be interesting to hear how these Sparkos Opamps open up in a couple of hundred hours as others have noticed here.
I've been reading the Audioshark forums for a while now but first time posting. A lot of great info on the Nords in this thread that I have found very beneficial in the last few months, so thanks to all of you who have posted in here already!
I bought a pair of the monoblock Nord NC500 SE Rev C amps in September last year off the back of a recommendation from Rob at ER Audio in Perth, Australia, who makes the Electrostatic Speakers that I inherited from my father a few years back. At the time, I bought both the Sparkos and SI Opamps (8-pin versions that suit the Rev C Buffers). I tested both initially and went with the Sparkos (straight out of the box, these sounded better in my system) for a few months before swapping to the SI ones for a month or two as well. I enjoyed these but after the time with the SI Opamps in the Nords, I then swapped back to the Sparkos ones, confident that I still liked these better in my system. As others have described here already - a fuller, slightly warmer sound.
Anyway, fast forward to April this year and after reading the few reviews circulating about the Rev D upgrade, as well as the many posts on here, I bit the bullet and contacted Colin about upgrading and asked him about his thoughts on the Opamp choices, given the new SI Opamps apparently had slightly better detail vs the Sparkos.
The whole purpose of my post is to say that Colin mentioned in his email that after recently changing the speakers in his system, he is now leaning more towards the Sparkos SS2590 over the SI 990 and recommended I go with those, given my preference to the Sparkos in the Rev C.
I've just installed the Rev D boards this morning, so only a few hours on the new Opamps + Boards, but already noticing a fuller, more detailed soundstage with more refined bass extension and improved clarity in the mids/highs. At this stage, I wouldn't say it is a night and day difference between Rev C and Rev D but straight out of the box, it is definitely a noticeable improvement. It will be interesting to hear how these Sparkos Opamps open up in a couple of hundred hours as others have noticed here.
Matias
New member
Does this form factor and pins of the Purifi Eigentakt 1ET400A...
...look familiar to the Hypex NCore NC500 OEM??
Fingers crossed here for the boards to be pin compatible so that we get the possibility of user replaceable upgrades.
...look familiar to the Hypex NCore NC500 OEM??
Fingers crossed here for the boards to be pin compatible so that we get the possibility of user replaceable upgrades.
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audio.bill
Active member
NAD's press release regarding their planned use of the Purifi Eigentakt circuit might be of interest here, being related to the above post.
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