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

Devg said:
I agree.

Between, typically how long does it take for the Nords to fully burn in ? Mine has been 3 days running continuously playing music.
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I think I mentioned it here already, but for the first 350-450 hours with the Nord's in my system, I ran them 24/7 powered up and about 12-18 hours per day playing music (streaming Tidal). To get to the 450 hour mark, it took me most of 4 weeks. Now, I just leave the Nord's powered on all the time and fire up the remainder of my system as needed.

It appears Colin's customer is correct, I am still hearing improvement (particularly in the accuracy/detail and impact of the deep bass) now that my amps are reaching the 800 hour mark.

Good show Colin and thanks for building not only an affordable power amp solution, but also one that performs as well as these do!
 
George47 said:
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.
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Well the obvious follow up......

Today Alex picked up his Nord amp from Colin in Cheltenham and is really enjoying it having replaced his Linn Akurate. Another winner in the UK. Getting contagious this buying Nords lark.
 
boggit said:
I try not to specify a burn in period as this could be construed as marketing bull or an excuse! I also probably don't have a unit with a 1000 hours on! As my rig kind of gets used for developments etc. and change things around on it.

This is an extract from a customer email which may help.

"In fact, the 500 hour mark is when the amp really shows its capabilities in soundstage, bass definition and dimensionality. At the 1000 hour mark the bass really comes together in terms of pitch, definition, slam and air. Low-end detail and impact has improved immensely --the difference between dropping a mallet on a spongy surface and a hard solid surface where the impact is not only heard but has a more visceral punch!"

"PS: it may be a help to new owners if you advise them that the amps do continue to "develop" beyond the 500 hour mark of continuous input through about 900 hours or so where patience is rewarded with exceptional sound quality at a price that defies convention. Truth be told, they really are quite good after a week of burn in!"
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MikeCh said:
I think I mentioned it here already, but for the first 350-450 hours with the Nord's in my system, I ran them 24/7 powered up and about 12-18 hours per day playing music (streaming Tidal). To get to the 450 hour mark, it took me most of 4 weeks. Now, I just leave the Nord's powered on all the time and fire up the remainder of my system as needed.

It appears Colin's customer is correct, I am still hearing improvement (particularly in the accuracy/detail and impact of the deep bass) now that my amps are reaching the 800 hour mark.

Good show Colin and thanks for building not only an affordable power amp solution, but also one that performs as well as these do!
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Thanks Colin & Mike.

To save some preamp tube life, I have now connected by PSA DS Dac directly to the Nords (actually not directly but through the HT bypass input of the Cary pre which defaults when the pre is turned off) and will continue playing it until I reach around 500hrs. I guess this is the only worst part of our hobby :(
 
Got my shipping notice today. Showing a delivery date of Friday. In the meantime the Job 225 is getting a shot with the KO's.
 
For what it is worth EJ told me that class D's should have at least 500 hours to break in. More is even better. I have to agree. I have noticed the Wyred amp continuing to improve well pass 600-700 hours.
 
Jack said:
Got my shipping notice today. Showing a delivery date of Friday. In the meantime the Job 225 is getting a shot with the KO's.
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Nice Jack!

Youre getting the stereo version, correct?
 
tomy

The stereo version with the Sparkos. I'll hook it up to the main system the first day to verify all is good and then move it to a spare room and hook it up to spare gear and let it cook with a tuner for a couple of weeks. That will get it well over 300 hours before I move it back. Until then I will just rotate between the Job and the Kismet.
 
Happy as well here :)

Yesterday after playing continuously for a week ever since I got it, I stopped the music and came up close to the Nords to touch and get a feel how hot it gets. I could hear buzzing from 1/2 ft distance. Its a typical 60hz buzz that we hear from transformers sometimes. Haven't tried troubleshooting it yet but wanted to check if others hear it as well. Can someone confirm or deny ?
 
Mine are dead quiet and only get mildly warm. I do use a Burmester 948 power conditioner which removes DC on my AC circuits. Never a problem with anything in my system since buying that baby.
 
joeinid said:
Mine are dead quiet and only get mildly warm. I do use a Burmester 948 power conditioner which removes DC on my AC circuits. Never a problem with anything in my system since buying that baby.
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Thanks Joe. I know that DC can sometimes cause these type of buzz but is there any way to verify that this is the case in my system ? My Pass is also dead silent as well connected to the same conditioner or directly off the wall.
 
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