I believe that the NC500 amps (amp modules and power supplies) and any op amp modules that you wish to try out all need break in time with signal. After that period, leaving the amps powered on just short cuts the warm up time (from cold) before listening.
Nord One Up Ncore NC500 amps, Class D ready for prime time .....
- Thread starter joeinid
- Start date
I believe that the NC500 amps (amp modules and power supplies) and any op amp modules that you wish to try out all need break in time with signal. After that period, leaving the amps powered on just short cuts the warm up time (from cold) before listening.
tomy2
New member
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- Sep 20, 2014
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Thanks Mike
tomy2
New member
- Joined
- Sep 20, 2014
- Messages
- 131
Just wanted to say thanks to those that reply to questions and answer pm's. I know it's not in everybody's dna to be helpful, so to those that take the time to share their knowledge and experience it is much appreciated from those of us who aren't quite there yet in being an experienced audiophile.
rah50
New member
+1
I was running them straight to the wall (dedicated 20amp circuit) then I recently installed a PS Audio Dectet 10 outlet isolation strip. I can't say that the Dectet has taken away any sonic goodness from the amps that I've noticed.
During the summer months we get frequent lightning storms and with the Dectet now installed I can unplug gear from the wall when needed much easier / quicker than before.
You bet.
- Thread Author
- #509
Thank you so much for the kind words, Colin. We wish you well. You make a special product. Thank you for your support here and via phone/email/website.
Love the amps!
Love the amps!
Last edited:
rah50
New member
Good question!
I just added my listening room on to the house, so I have four 20 amp dedicated circuits to play with plus a Panamax M5300-PM and some old Tice power conditioners. So I'm not sure how to split things among the circuits and conditioners. Almost everything will be Class D amps with SMPS supplies, including powered woofers and subs and probably the new OLED TV, everything except the DAC and LPS running the MircoRendu and misc goodies like FMC's. I guess a lot of experimentation is in order. So would love some thoughts too!
Also this brings up the question of power cords. I'm starting with some reasonably priced Pangea's I have on hand but never really tested as to whether they made any improvement.
rah50
New member
Indeed, and some folks with very good equipment providing them some very good experience.
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Ok Guys, another data point.
I have a friend who is an electronics experts looking after the instrumentation at one of the UK's universities. He was intrigued by my comments on the Nords so having done his own research we met up tonight to try my stereo Nords in his system. On getting there he asked tons of questions of which I could only answer a handful. The first thing to do, whip off the top. On closer inspection he had analysed the circuit and and then there were a lot of approving noises and nods. Top back on.
OK everything connected into to his system. His system consists of a Linn Klimax DSM (top dog), a Linn Akurate power amp (4x100w amps), a pair of Townsend Glastonbury loudspeakers with a ribbon tweeter and super-tweeter. The system was wired up with Nordost Frey/Heimdall. After letting the system warm up (38.4C on the top of the case) on goes the music. Rather than wade through all the music played here are the edited highlights. Playing a modern compressed track from Ed Sheeran. First track 'One' starts with a simple guitar tune. All the fretboard noise were there together with the sound of the strings as a solid image of a guitar and then in comes the voice. 'This amp allows me to hear all the cracks in his voice'; I knew exactly what he meant. The next album of note was classical and had a well recorded kettle drum. It was easy to hear the skin on the drum being hit and resonating accompanied by the air in the drum vibrating and then the sound gently decaying away in a large hall. We listened to a lot of test music but in the end gave up and just listened to the music. What fun with the tennis on the big screen and a collection of great tunes being played. The comments started as 'an interesting amp' , 'I am hearing things that I have not heard before', ' the detail in this tune is amazing', I want one of these amps', 'I want one of these amps as soon as physically possible'
And then the sad bit.
Back in goes the Linn Akurate. It is a good amp but where were the dynamics and why was the bass heavy? The sound was now murky and unclear. Ho hum.....
This guy is very picky about his sound and understands electronic circuits in detail. For him to be impressed, we had to have an impressive product.
I have a friend who is an electronics experts looking after the instrumentation at one of the UK's universities. He was intrigued by my comments on the Nords so having done his own research we met up tonight to try my stereo Nords in his system. On getting there he asked tons of questions of which I could only answer a handful. The first thing to do, whip off the top. On closer inspection he had analysed the circuit and and then there were a lot of approving noises and nods. Top back on.
OK everything connected into to his system. His system consists of a Linn Klimax DSM (top dog), a Linn Akurate power amp (4x100w amps), a pair of Townsend Glastonbury loudspeakers with a ribbon tweeter and super-tweeter. The system was wired up with Nordost Frey/Heimdall. After letting the system warm up (38.4C on the top of the case) on goes the music. Rather than wade through all the music played here are the edited highlights. Playing a modern compressed track from Ed Sheeran. First track 'One' starts with a simple guitar tune. All the fretboard noise were there together with the sound of the strings as a solid image of a guitar and then in comes the voice. 'This amp allows me to hear all the cracks in his voice'; I knew exactly what he meant. The next album of note was classical and had a well recorded kettle drum. It was easy to hear the skin on the drum being hit and resonating accompanied by the air in the drum vibrating and then the sound gently decaying away in a large hall. We listened to a lot of test music but in the end gave up and just listened to the music. What fun with the tennis on the big screen and a collection of great tunes being played. The comments started as 'an interesting amp' , 'I am hearing things that I have not heard before', ' the detail in this tune is amazing', I want one of these amps', 'I want one of these amps as soon as physically possible'
And then the sad bit.
Back in goes the Linn Akurate. It is a good amp but where were the dynamics and why was the bass heavy? The sound was now murky and unclear. Ho hum.....
This guy is very picky about his sound and understands electronic circuits in detail. For him to be impressed, we had to have an impressive product.
We are getting some loud popping (scares the sh!t out of me). Jerry has the same problem but had hoped the new opAmp solved it.
Does anyone know what might be causing that? Is it just a problem with his particular amps or have others had experienced something similar?
Otherwise, for their price point, nice! This new opAmp has a nice warmth to it compared to the opAmp Jerry originally used. The bass balance is excellent. Not too much, not too little. Bass heavy speakers...ah hem...Raidho's....could be a great match for these little babies. I found they have good separation and create a nice wide soundstage after warmup. They are also able to flush out minute details in the recording, something you just don't often hear at this price point. Very clean.
I would like more experimenting to determine a few more attributes and whether the 400 watt power rating is accurate. I have often found some class D power ratings don't seem to match real world experiences. But nothing here has given me cause for this concern. Vocals are not as fleshed out as you would hear with a tube amp or class A and I detect a little excess sibilance. Amps costing many multiples more will give you more 3D and create more of a holographic image. These little amps transform more than most with a little bit of a warm up. Tonality seems better than I've heard with other Class D amps I've owned, but getting tone right has always been a niggly point for me with respect to Class D amps. More time and more listening is required, but good so far. I would like to see different speaker terminals used, I found bananas slip out rather easily. Single ended convenience connections would be nice too, but that understandably adds cost. But for $1600 and given where class D amps have been in the past (sonically), nice! Hats off to Colin.
I agree with what many of you have found: these amps would not be embarrassed against many sub-$5-$10k A/B amps and compared to other Class D amps, even those costing much more, these little amps can hold their heads high.
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Dizzie
Well-known member
38.4 degrees C is about 101 degrees F. I thought these amps ran cool.
a.wayne
Well-known member
Mike's room is 105 ...... 
a.wayne
Well-known member
Mike would you be able to try them with the shortest speaker leads you have as close as possible to the speakers ...