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

[Mivera Audio]

So true.

I am looking forward to it. Once everything settles down, I'll jump in and try it. I leave mine on 24x7 and mute when I am not listening. It's always ready to go and sounds great. Music is actively playing 10-16 hours a day, depending on schedule.

I do the same thing. Another great thing about these class D amps with SMPS's is they just use tiny caps that have a very long life. They also run so cool that cap life is much much longer than hotter running amps. So no problem just leaving them on around the clock for years. I had my NC400's on around the clock for almost 4 years!. I finally decided to sell them and due to the drop in the Canadian dollar, I broke even with what I paid for them 4 years earlier! Can't complain

 

[Narayan]

Those spanish atm amps look really sexy, what remains to be seen is if they will implement the new board and Sonic Imagery 994´s Mike speaks so highly about, is there any way to trace their development?

 

[Mivera Audio]

Those spanish atm amps look really sexy, what remains to be seen is if they will implement the new board and Sonic Imagery 994´s Mike speaks so highly about, is there any way to trace their development?

Yes they do look very nice.

I told him that if he wants to be taken seriously, he better provide measurement results. I also told him to test the Sonic Imagery 994. He said he would to both. So we will see what happens. Since you're also in Spain, why don't you contact him direct? Maybe you can be the 1st client of his new unit once ready?

 

[Dizzie]

Nayaran,

As the new kid initiation I second Mike's recommendation that you go first since you are in the neighborhood.

The inside of those amps is very attractive as well.

 

[Mivera Audio]

Nayaran,

As the new kid initiation I second Mike's recommendation that you go first since you are in the neighborhood.

The inside of those amps is very attractive as well.

If he builds the input buffers right, provides measured data, uses that beautiful case, and sells the amps for only 1995 Euro's, good luck finding anyone who can compete with that. Those cases are the same level of build quality of the $29500 Ayre MX-R twenty's. They will probably sound better as well.

 

[joeinid]

:exciting:

 

[Narayan]

Nayaran,

As the new kid initiation I second Mike's recommendation that you go first since you are in the neighborhood.

The inside of those amps is very attractive as well.

Believe me Dizzie I would be tempted if resources were available, just thinking about a McIntosh C52 partnered with those beauties raises my testosterone enough to consider cheating on my black face Marantz 2285b.

 

[joeinid]

Believe me Dizzie I would be tempted if resources were available, just thinking about a McIntosh C52 partnered with those beauties raises my testosterone enough to consider cheating on my black face Marantz 2285b.

Trust me, the C52 and Nord amps is a great combination. I love it.

 

[Mivera Audio]

Believe me Dizzie I would be tempted if resources were available, just thinking about a McIntosh C52 partnered with those beauties raises my testosterone enough to consider cheating on my black face Marantz 2285b.

I like his case so much that I may even talk to him about sending me some to offer on my website once he has them ready. I will just build them with my input board that is optimized to provide ultra clean power to the NC-500 modules, and use the discrete, modular class A gain stage/servo boards in the Phison PD2 for the input buffer on the amps. You won't find a better input buffer for the NC-500's than this beautiful setup:

 

[joeinid]

I like that idea Mike

I like his case so much that I may even talk to him about sending me some to offer on my website once he has them ready. I will just build them with my input board that is optimized to provide ultra clean power to the NC-500 modules, and use the discrete, modular class A gain stage/servo boards in the Phison PD2 for the input buffer on the amps. You won't find a better input buffer for the NC-500's than this beautiful setup:

 

[Mivera Audio]

I like that idea Mike

It won't be a replacement for the Nord's or the ATM's though. As it would be optimized for use specifically with the PD2. It will just be another amp option for PD2 buyers as the Phison A2.120 (matching amp for the PD2) will be $10500. May be out of reach for some.

 

[joeinid]

Ah, thank you for the clarification.

It won't be a replacement for the Nord's or the ATM's though. As it would be optimized for use specifically with the PD2. It will just be another amp option for PD2 buyers as the Phison A2.120 (matching amp for the PD2) will be $10500. May be out of reach for some.

 

[Dizzie]

Are the heat sinks just for show?

 

[Mivera Audio]

Are the heat sinks just for show?

He says it comes in 5 color's. He just anodizes them so I can imagine they could come in any color if you asked. The heat sinks may help dissipate a bit of heat from the chassis, but the whole chassis is a heatsink for the NC-500's. They run extremely cool and only need an aluminum surface for a heatsink. That's not the final case design. It will be almost the same, but the internals will be milled different for the different supplies and amp modules. You can see that case has a spot milled out for a toroidal transformer. He also said he will offer a dual mono version with 2 supplies, and a stereo version with 1 supply. 1 supply is still enough for 600w per channel into 4 ohms. 2 supplies gives 700W per channel and more headroom. Depending on application 1 supply may be enough for many. I have compared using both 1 and 2 supplies in my system. When listening to the DxD version of the Sheffield drum and track disk at 115dB with my system, it definitely feels more powerful with 2 supplies.

More examples of his beautiful case work:

 

[MikeCh]

Wow, those ATM's look exceptional. Mike, do you really think they will be able to keep them at the 2k EUR +/- mark if/when they incorporate the new circuit / buffers? Is the 2k EUR for a stereo chassis or two mono chassis design?

Either the Nord OneUp with new buffer and or these ATM with new buffer seem right up my alley!....now to wait I guess.

Joe, what if any drawbacks have you found with your Nord's now that you've had some more hours on them? Are you finding that any of the classic Class-D shortcomings have been present in your listening?

 

[joeinid]

Mike,

The only negative, if you can call it that (and I actually prefer it this way), is that the top end is ever so slightly reserved. I don't know if that is considered dark, but I personally do not find it that way. I don't mean that in a negative way, but some may prefer a touch more sparkle. NOT for me. I love the way they are now, but want to "play" with the different op amps and "roll" them for fun. I am very sensitive to treble and the main reason I could not take the TAD CR-1's that I owned. They were too hot for me. I think the Nords would have been perfect on the TAD's. They sound great on my Strads, LS50 and especially all my Klipsch speakers.

Check for a pm soon.

 

[Mivera Audio]

Wow, those ATM's look exceptional. Mike, do you really think they will be able to keep them at the 2k EUR +/- mark if/when they incorporate the new circuit / buffers? Is the 2k EUR for a stereo chassis or two mono chassis design?

Either the Nord OneUp with new buffer and or these ATM with new buffer seem right up my alley!....now to wait I guess.

Joe, what if any drawbacks have you found with your Nord's now that you've had some more hours on them? Are you finding that any of the classic Class-D shortcomings have been present in your listening?

He say's 1995 Euro's. We will see. Hypex made Colin at Nord bump up his price because the competition was whining to them already. So I can just imagine the complaints after this comes out

Looks like he will just have a Stereo dual mono, and Stereo With a single supply. But I can imagine you can bridge the dual mono's if you wanted a 1400W per channel set of monsters

Edit: Looks to me like the 1995 Euro is with a single supply, and likely the standard LM 4562 buffer board. But that price includes the 20% VAT that's not required if shipped to North America, as well as shipping to European countries:

MAIN BENEFITS OF THIS MODEL:

• Very low distortion throughout the range of power and frequency.
• Very low output impedance.
• Very low noise.
• neutral and transparent reproduction.
• differential input buffer LM4562 audio (or Sparkoslab Burson option)
• Switching power supply of 1.200W
• High current capacity (up to 28A).
• NCORE technology.
• Error protection system controlled by microprocessor.
• Monobloc aluminum chassis thermally optimized anti vibration.
• PVP 1.995,00 € VAT and transport included peninsula.

 

[Mivera Audio]

Mike,

The only negative, if you can call it that (and I actually prefer it this way), is that the top end is ever so slightly reserved. I don't know if that is considered dark, but I personally do not find it that way. I don't mean that in a negative way, but some may prefer a touch more sparkle. NOT for me. I love the way they are now, but want to "play" with the different op amps and "roll" them for fun. I am very sensitive to treble and the main reason I could not take the TAD CR-1's that I owned. They were too hot for me. I think the Nords would have been perfect on the TAD's. They sound great on my Strads, LS50 and especially all my Klipsch speakers.

Check for a pm soon.

That reserved top end is just part of the sound signature of the Sparko. Colin updated his thread today on Diyaudio.

"OK I have the required parts on order, should arrive today and will modify the board as per Sonic Imagery's direction. I will then evaluate the result and make sure the new mods work with the Burson and Sparkos.
My findings are similar to Bavmike in the Sonic Imagery 994 does indeed sound very good a big thanks to him for his hard work in bringing this to our attention. 3D sound stage in particular is improved. I also had some other feedback from folks who have used the Op Amp who also agree. It is rather fragile in its build great care is required when changing Op Amps.
Longer term we will produce a new board either to accommodate these changes or a new design. Appreciate everybody's input so far as with out the interest there would be no point in doing all this.
I'm trying to keep my head above water while no Hypex stock building Speakers."

 

[joeinid]

Thank you for the update Mike.

 

[MikeCh]

Mike,

I appreciate you filling in the gaps for me.

So, further reading on the Nord site, I see the description of Sparkos Labs SS3602 vs Burson Supreme Sound V5 op amps. Dang, more options.

I listen to a ton of Classical music but also mix in other genres to, so wonder which one would be a better fit for me? Has anyone done a comparo between the Sparkos Labs SS3602 and Burson Supreme Sound V5 they might share?