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

I thought I also read that they were unique to the Mola Mola amps and not available to OEM mfgs.


Jack said:
The modules in the Mola Mola Kaluga are NC1200's. Different and far more expensive modules.
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joeinid said:
Devg,

A few quick notes about the Nords with the Sparkos op amps...

The amps are dead quiet. The sound is smooth with a tremendous bottom end. There's a warmth to the sound with a reach out and touch you presentation. The music flows easily into the room and vocals are right there, front and center.

The majority of my listening is late at night. The music can be clearly heard even at whisper levels and I don't get the feeling something is missing.

I have to admit that as the hours roll up, I actually am getting more 3D to the sound. Depth of sound stage is increasing and is better than typical solid state but not like good tube amps. Let's face it, tubes can do some unique things, but these Nords do a lot of things tubes can't, touché.
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Very accurate assessment that matches my experience too Joe. Though I'm listening with the SI994 op amps right now, I'm excited to install the Sparkos op amps that I received today. Should be interesting to compare now that my NORD pair are mostly broken in. The amps have been running 24/7 for right at three weeks now with music signal being passed thru them at a minimum of 14 hours a day with some days, 18 hours.

I also recently built, conditioned and installed a pair of 1.0M 11ga Allegro power cables for the NORDS to replace the stock cheapy power cords. Hoping to do some listening this evening to see what they're bringing to the table.
 
Excellent Mike. My new boards and 994's could be home Mon. or Tue. There was an address mix up and I am waiting for the tracking to update properly. I am curious to go the other way and see what that gives me.
 
joeinid said:
Hmmmm, I did have a Pass X250 many moons ago. I don't remember its sonic signature so much anymore but do remember enjoying the amp. I'd most likely take Pass Class A above most amps but then heat and weight come into play in the equation, let alone price.

The new boards and op amps could change the outcome. I don't know. Plus personal preference would trump all else.
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Not so much on the weight but the heat generation from the Pass amps is one of the driving factor to get a cool running amp, like the Nords. I had Symphonic Lines class A/B monoblocks in the past. While they ran cool but the Pass sounded better in my setup.
 
joeinid said:
I thought I also read that they were unique to the Mola Mola amps and not available to OEM mfgs.
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Merrill's Veritas monos use the NC1200 modules, Acoustic Imagery Atsah as mentioned, Theta Prometheus, Mola Mola, and Merrill's new amp, Taranis uses the NC500 modules @ $2500.
 
The Taranis has gotten a couple of favorable reviews, but to me it is certainly far from an attractive component especially compared to his other amps.
 
joeinid said:
I thought I also read that they were unique to the Mola Mola amps and not available to OEM mfgs.
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Joe is correct as usual! I'm not sure if it's the power supply boards, output modules or both but there are some proprietary circuit differences between the Mola Mola amps and the versions of the 1200 boards that other manufacturers have access to.
 
Had communicate with John Young from Acoustic Imagery between their NC1200 amp vs Mola Mola and below quoted were part of the corespondent.
Yes, the Mola Mola amps use essentially the same NC1200 Hypex modules and SMPS as we use but the amps are modified versions and the Mola Mola's use a discrete input buffer.
The sound signature is very similar and I would say that the 'standard' NC1200 modules are very close sonically to the Mola Mola.
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I suspect they use the same "discrete input buffer" design as the NC400 ?
 
Upgrading power cables is not a bad idea with these amps. They respond well to the addition by sharpening up the sound stage and adding even more life to the music they produce. Highly recommended.

I installed the Sparkos op amps today to replace the SI994's for a while. Really loving what I'm hearing so far. They are a touch warmer with a little larger bottom end and a nicely sweet midrange. Top end detail does not suffer with the Sparkos installed.. I do notice that the SI994 (at this stage with the Sparkos anyway) is a little tighter in the mid-bass where the Sparkos are a bit more round. The Sparkos may be a bit rounder, but not sloppy in any fashion. We'll see how the Sparkos settles in after a few more days...
 
Thank you for the update Mike.

Now I am really curious to hear the the 994's and new boards. I do love the warmer/rounder Sparkos so we'll see how the other setup sounds to my ears.
 
tane0019 said:
Had communicate with John Young from Acoustic Imagery between their NC1200 amp vs Mola Mola and below quoted were part of the corespondent.



I suspect they use the same "discrete input buffer" design as the NC400 ?
Click to expand...

I'd have to believe the difference is not night and day, but would be more apparent over time.

Thanks for the input.
 
Joe

I would suspect you might like the Sparkos better with the JBL, Klipsch and Kef and the 994's with the Strads.
 
I think it could possibly be Sparkos all the way for me, but I will let the new parts burn in before saying for sure.

Jack said:
Joe

I would suspect you might like the Sparkos better with the JBL, Klipsch and Kef and the 994's with the Strads.
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Anything is possible as the Sparkos were really good with the KO's. I thought they might be a little much though with the Spatials, but that could change with the new boards. I am going to order with the 994s and then order the Sparko Op Amps direct like Mike. Going to wait till the first of the month and let you and Mike go through both with the new boards and see what Marty has to say. In the mean time the Nuprime keeps getting better especially after adding the Neotech power cord Mike/Blizz was talking about.
 
I've been looking around, can I buy finished Neotech AC cords or do I have to make them myself?
 
I'll send you the link by pm. With the discount and the Canadian exchange rate they come out to about $160 each for a meter. Their shop is down the road from Paul in GTA. I think he knows the owner of Audio Sensibility who is selling them. All of their OCC cables are really good.
 
From a text message I wrote to Joe earlier:

BTW, I think all Sparkos (Sparkos regulators included in the new REVC board plus Sparkos op amp) is the way to go. Unless my amp's suddenly made another milestone change at the same time I changed in the new Sparkos op amps, I believe they sound best this way. Only way to tell will be to swap back in 994 at some point. Perhaps the power cords are helping more than anticipated or the amps themselves are just getting further burned in regardless of op amp but today's listening with the Sparkos op amps installed is the nicest to me yet.
 
Mike,

I started with the Sparkos from day one but I have the original boards. I hope to have the new input boards and 994's, fingers crossed tomorrow or Tuesday at the latest. I can't wait to try the new boards first, then 994 op amps. I love what the Sparkos op amps sound like. Full, rounded, slightly warm, bassy and very nice. For the roughly $2200 delivered, a downright bargain. I know Class D gets a bad rap, but I don't think these are typical.

ps. I have no doubt that YOUR power cords are making a difference too :P
 
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Slightly out of topic but anyone heard the PS Audio BHK amp ? Though its in a totally different price range, I wonder how it compares with other amps, especially the Hypex nc500 ones ? I remember I read somewhere, Paul McGowan tried to make the amp using nc1200 modules initially but it didn't satisfy the sound.
 
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