Asked Colin about them and he said they have tested the Orange opamps though they will not release them until they are completely happy.
Nord One Up Ncore NC500 amps, Class D ready for prime time .....
- Thread starter joeinid
- Start date
Asked Colin about them and he said they have tested the Orange opamps though they will not release them until they are completely happy.
Well after a little hiccup with the wiring in one of the channels I let them run overnight and I have about 16 hours on them. Colin was good enough to give me a little advice via email on where to check for a loose wire while on soaking up some rays on vacation, and I never heard back after I told him I found the issue, so maybe his wife took his phone from him for the rest of his holiday :reallymad:
I was thinking about companies and quality control, and I thought given the option of rushing the product out the door and the lowest price possible, or having someone hook them up and run them in for 24 hours and check everything over and charge another $100 for this, being the thrifty person I am, I would choose the former. These are based on DIY amps, so perhaps this is not a big deal for many consumers out there anyway. I'll pull the lid off and push on a wire or two to save $100...
All of you who have posted initial listening impressions of these amps are spot on. They are wonderfully detailed, yet still musical, and the soundstage is exceptional. The vocals are a little grainy, and while plucked guitar strings sound very good (some of them I don't think I ever heard before), a full chord strum sounds a little artificial. The bass is detailed, and low, but lacking a little richness. While individual transients sound awesome, overall over the whole spectrum it is a little anemic and reserved. It reminds me of my speakers when they were new; over time the panels loosened up and sounded more relaxed and full.
This all sounds like a complaint, but quite the opposite; I am delighted! I made the right decision selling the older Macintosh amps and purchasing these. I was looking for more detail and transparency, perhaps to the sacrifice or some warmth, and that is what I got. In time after a few hundred hours maybe there will be no sacrifice at all. I hear the potential already, once they relax and open up I think I will be in bliss.
And I still have these crappy adapters on my Transparent RCA's and stock power cords! XLR's are on the way: Much more to come :celebrate008_2:
I was thinking about companies and quality control, and I thought given the option of rushing the product out the door and the lowest price possible, or having someone hook them up and run them in for 24 hours and check everything over and charge another $100 for this, being the thrifty person I am, I would choose the former. These are based on DIY amps, so perhaps this is not a big deal for many consumers out there anyway. I'll pull the lid off and push on a wire or two to save $100...
All of you who have posted initial listening impressions of these amps are spot on. They are wonderfully detailed, yet still musical, and the soundstage is exceptional. The vocals are a little grainy, and while plucked guitar strings sound very good (some of them I don't think I ever heard before), a full chord strum sounds a little artificial. The bass is detailed, and low, but lacking a little richness. While individual transients sound awesome, overall over the whole spectrum it is a little anemic and reserved. It reminds me of my speakers when they were new; over time the panels loosened up and sounded more relaxed and full.
This all sounds like a complaint, but quite the opposite; I am delighted! I made the right decision selling the older Macintosh amps and purchasing these. I was looking for more detail and transparency, perhaps to the sacrifice or some warmth, and that is what I got. In time after a few hundred hours maybe there will be no sacrifice at all. I hear the potential already, once they relax and open up I think I will be in bliss.
And I still have these crappy adapters on my Transparent RCA's and stock power cords! XLR's are on the way: Much more to come :celebrate008_2:
Glad you are enjoying the new amps!
First off, I found they sound much better when using the fully balanced input. Using unbalanced RCA with Neutrik adapters was distinctly disappointing in comparison.
Secondly, they get better with time, some say at least 100 hours but I don't understand why that should be.
- Thread Author
- #1,347
Yes two stereo units in the older case with Neotech wiring option and standard binding posts. I don't know what the monos are called... *Ok I looked it up; monos are NC500MB and stereo are NC500DM; MB is mono block what does DM stand for? ** I got it Dual Mono
....and I have the SI opamps in them.
I don't really care about the additional weight or bling factor of the SE case, and I prefer to have narrower amps as I may put both on a single shelf in my rack. No option for that with the wider Japanese cases.
Last edited:
Well maybe it's the couple of Frangelico's on ice, but vocals seem a whole lot better. Patricia Barber's voice sounds really good! (Cafe Blue) A WHOLE lot of grain has disappeared, there is much less sibilance than yesterday, and the oodles of detail is still present. The missing mid-bass seems to be filling in somewhat as well. Seems these amps took quite a turn for the better at about the 30 hour mark. Then again maybe it is because I decided to really "get them warm" several hours ago :audiophile:
At this point if they didn't get any better I would still be happy. Gotta go; too rich for my blood just started...but first...
I am thinking of a word, it is a palindrome and it has an o in the middle. Any guesses?
At this point if they didn't get any better I would still be happy. Gotta go; too rich for my blood just started...but first...
I am thinking of a word, it is a palindrome and it has an o in the middle. Any guesses?
Rufus McDufus
New member
- Joined
- Mar 10, 2014
- Messages
- 61
They really do need a lot of run-in time in my experience. There is some variation in the first few hundred hours. I really do think they need at least 500 hours, and after that mine still sounded progressively better. It's mad. but that's my experience.
500 hours? That's good news. Variation yes; not a linear improvement. One album sounds great, then the next sounds like not as good. Or maybe everyone on the block has their major appliances on all at the same time...
It's kind of like the stock market: goes up for a while, then a correction, then up again...
I have 100 hours on them now. Vocals are getting smoother, cymbals are sounding more metallic and less splashy or less like paper ripping.
No recent action on this thread for a few days; everybody happily listening to their Nords? :heart:
168 hours on mine now: running them 24/7. A couple of observations:
Without getting into specifics, I notice well recorded albums sound marvellous, and not so well recordings are well, not so marvellous. With the Mcintosh amps they were more evenly balanced. That is the price you pay for truth and resolution I suppose. But sometimes the truth hurts. Some of those are my favourite recordings.
Second, and related to the first point, my ears hurt. I know what you tube guys are thinking: "Class D; told you so!" Not so fast: What I mean is when I leave the stereo room and go upstairs I notice the sound travelling throughout the house. Like it is more prominent upstairs, 100 feet away. Hmmm... I pull out my db meter and it is reading 85db+! I had no idea it was that loud! Is it that the sound is so clean and distortion free that I didn't notice the loudness? or maybe I am missing a little mid-frequency richness so I am turning it up to compensate? (I haven't tried the Sparkos yet) Or am I just listening to so much music lately I am going deaf? Anyone else have this strange issue?
Again, I am going direct to my amp from my exasound DAC from either hi-res files or CD. All digital. I am regretting selling the Macintosh pre-amp; I would have liked to insert it into the chain now.
Again no regrets. At this point I would rather get better sound with better recordings to the sacrifice of lesser sound quality with inferior recordings. And along the same lines as the op amp rolling I have another trick up my sleeve. I can change the crossover points of my speakers in order to add a little bloom/warmth where needed. I have ordered a few different filters for my Marchand XM44 and will try that for preference.
Third point: I decided to put in both sets of XLR's instead of the RCA with adapters and therefore am burning them in at the same time. That increased the sound level 3db. Is a 3 db increase an indication of a truly balanced amplifier?
Happy listening everybody :bananaskip:
168 hours on mine now: running them 24/7. A couple of observations:
Without getting into specifics, I notice well recorded albums sound marvellous, and not so well recordings are well, not so marvellous. With the Mcintosh amps they were more evenly balanced. That is the price you pay for truth and resolution I suppose. But sometimes the truth hurts. Some of those are my favourite recordings.
Second, and related to the first point, my ears hurt. I know what you tube guys are thinking: "Class D; told you so!" Not so fast: What I mean is when I leave the stereo room and go upstairs I notice the sound travelling throughout the house. Like it is more prominent upstairs, 100 feet away. Hmmm... I pull out my db meter and it is reading 85db+! I had no idea it was that loud! Is it that the sound is so clean and distortion free that I didn't notice the loudness? or maybe I am missing a little mid-frequency richness so I am turning it up to compensate? (I haven't tried the Sparkos yet) Or am I just listening to so much music lately I am going deaf? Anyone else have this strange issue?
Again, I am going direct to my amp from my exasound DAC from either hi-res files or CD. All digital. I am regretting selling the Macintosh pre-amp; I would have liked to insert it into the chain now.
Again no regrets. At this point I would rather get better sound with better recordings to the sacrifice of lesser sound quality with inferior recordings. And along the same lines as the op amp rolling I have another trick up my sleeve. I can change the crossover points of my speakers in order to add a little bloom/warmth where needed. I have ordered a few different filters for my Marchand XM44 and will try that for preference.
Third point: I decided to put in both sets of XLR's instead of the RCA with adapters and therefore am burning them in at the same time. That increased the sound level 3db. Is a 3 db increase an indication of a truly balanced amplifier?
Happy listening everybody :bananaskip:
Jack
Active member
watts
The Sparko's will give you more of the "meat" in the mid-range you are looking for as would a tube preamp or even the W4S STP-SE. The stereo Nord is a "dual mono" design so yes balanced. What you get with the mono's is a second power cord and case, plus the ability to use longer IC"S and shorter SC's. In my systems the choice of which op-amp was based on the speaker used.
The Sparko's will give you more of the "meat" in the mid-range you are looking for as would a tube preamp or even the W4S STP-SE. The stereo Nord is a "dual mono" design so yes balanced. What you get with the mono's is a second power cord and case, plus the ability to use longer IC"S and shorter SC's. In my systems the choice of which op-amp was based on the speaker used.
audio.bill
Active member
When using fully balanced electronics XLR connections will result in a 6dB increase in level compared to unbalanced RCA, due to the voltage level being effectively doubled.
6db? Okay; I didn't actually measure, I was just guessing and going off of memory as I thought I read somewhere the difference would be 3db. I will put the RCA's back on and measure as I need to adjust the volume level in order to properly evaluate the difference between my Transparent RCA's with the adapter vs. the Audio Sensibility XLR's, but I have a feeling I will be selling the Transparent RCA's.
I will try the Sparkos eventually. Like I said I have some other tweaks I can do also to add some heft to various frequencies. I have heard wonderful things about the STP-SE (damit
) I don't see one in your signature; have you (or others) heard it add some body to the midrange?Jack
Active member
watts
I've still own an STP-SE and have for almost four years. I tend to rotate preamps in and out of the main system. It is uncanny in it's tube preamp like signature. I used mine for a while with the Job 225. In addition to all of it's connectivity and switching ability, it is the closest thing I have heard to a tube preamp for those that want some of that sound signature without the tubes. Deep bass and a wide soundstage. You may can pick some of that up with the Sparkos but I don't know how much as I am not familiar with the Exasound at all.
As to the Audio Sensibility Cables they are excellent. I have used Statement SE IC's for several years. They are not in my signature at the moment as I am borrowing some Triode Wire IC's to try with the TWL PC's and SC's I already own.
I've still own an STP-SE and have for almost four years. I tend to rotate preamps in and out of the main system. It is uncanny in it's tube preamp like signature. I used mine for a while with the Job 225. In addition to all of it's connectivity and switching ability, it is the closest thing I have heard to a tube preamp for those that want some of that sound signature without the tubes. Deep bass and a wide soundstage. You may can pick some of that up with the Sparkos but I don't know how much as I am not familiar with the Exasound at all.
As to the Audio Sensibility Cables they are excellent. I have used Statement SE IC's for several years. They are not in my signature at the moment as I am borrowing some Triode Wire IC's to try with the TWL PC's and SC's I already own.
I wished I didn't read that, if you know what I mean :S
Just like Nord and Wyred, supporting the little guy with no middlemen. Sound research and top quality products without the 50% markup. :celebrate008_2:
Jack
Active member
Steven sells quality cables. I have tried the IC's digital and analog, the speaker cables and even one of his power cords. They bested far more expensive Wireworld cables in my system and with the exchange rate are an even better deal in the US.
On the STP-SE, keep your eyes open for a used one and you can try it and if not to your liking turn it over. They don't stay for sale very long though. The last one listed lasted less than a day.
On the STP-SE, keep your eyes open for a used one and you can try it and if not to your liking turn it over. They don't stay for sale very long though. The last one listed lasted less than a day.