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

@watts: I enjoy reading your detailed thoughts on the Nord.
I want to try the Sparkos opamps in the near future, I keep wondering what the difference will be with my speakers.

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Devg said:
One more thing - the power cord makes a great impact on the NC500's performance.
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That needs to be emphasized. Holy cow! I am still burning these suckers in; have about 200 hours now... but I have noticed some peculiarities with cymbals. Some cd's/files sound exceptional and others sound rather odd. Like the last album I just listened to: Alan Parsons i robot. Track 2: "I wouldn't want to be like you".

The opening cymbal work sounded okay, but when the song shifted gears 47 seconds in the hi hat riding along sounded more like someone letting air out of a tire than a cymbal. I removed the Audio Sensibility impact power cord (which is also burning in also, about 100 hours on it) and put in the stock cord. The cymbal sounded were much more recessed, which made it better, but other sounds were not as well resolved. I placed in a AS Statement SE power cord and it suddenly was sounding more like it should; a hi hat. The cymbal is still a little too prominent for my liking on this track, but at least it sounded much better. HUGE difference. I will leave that power cord on the treble amp :D

I have never had to roll power cords on amps before as the Macintosh amps had affixed power cords. If someone still questions whether power cords make a difference this is the amp to easily prove it.
 
Yes class D and power cables. I changed out my stock cords on my ATI 523 with a diy Neotech cable with Furutech plugs and it made a very noticeable difference. Much smoother sounding with more body. Changed the ac receptical with not much difference or at all.


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The comparison begins.

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I wish someone would compare the ATI to one of these. As I have always wondered if I made the right choice. The ATI sure does sound good though.

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RonDiy said:
I wish someone would compare the ATI to one of these. As I have always wondered if I made the right choice. The ATI sure does sound good though.

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A big difference is ATI is using linear power supply. Not necessarily it is better but could have a very different sound signature. Worth the comparison.
 
I love my ATI amps and think they may be my last amps. They are not the best I have heard at any single thing. But taken as a whole they are the best all around that I have heard.

My system in it's current state is the best sounding system I have ever heard. And I am pretty critical of all my belongings. I am a perfectionist. And it drives me nuts. So for me to say this it must sound pretty good.

I just will always wonder if the Nords would have sounded better.

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Well I have had enough time with these Nord One-Up NC500 DM’s to feel confident enough to post some impressions. I would like to emphasize this is not a review, rather just some humble comparisons to what has been in my system for the previous many years, a pair of Mcintosh 7300’s. I have not had enough gear personally, or even less convincing, heard enough other gear in various other places lately enough to provide a proper “review”.


Additionally, the 7300’s are not the Mc302’s, or the 501’s, or any other more modern Mcintosh solid state amps, so this is not necessarily a Mcintosh vs. Nord amplifier comparison. (At one point I almost got a set of 501’s, but I settled on preferring 4 channels instead, as I horizontally bi-amp my Magneplanar 3.6’s and 4 501’s were out of the budget. I did believe then that 4 channels of 7300 into my 3.6’s using an electronic crossover and bypassing the inferior stock crossovers would be sonically superior to 2 channels of 501 using the stock crossovers. Hypothesis only of course, as I have not had the opportunity to prove this.)


These units took a long time to settle themselves. I thought at one point 200 hours would be enough, but they still changed their sonics substantially well beyond this point. I have heard others make these claims, and always second guessed them, it turns out they weren't exaggerating. If someone else should express their listening thoughts regarding these units (or any class D unit I suppose) without explaining they gave them at least 500 hours of run in time, I would question their results. I have lost count with how many hours I have on them now, as I stopped running them through the night, but it exceeds 400 hours. I did notice some additional change after running them hard early on, and then thermally cycling them (off/on :)) beyond 250 hours. If someone turned them on for the first time and never shut them off, would they sound different? Not sure. If they still improve in sound from this point even better.


At one point I was second guessing what I heard; were the amps changing? Or was it just different times at the day whereby the electricity feeding the system was differing in quality? I have had those experiences before when amp break-in was not a variable, so it is a valid question to which I don’t have an answer.


The first overarching premise is that I never thought I could have so much non-fatiguing detail.
You all know what it is like, you get a new piece of gear and you race to hear you favourite songs or pieces first. The reviewer claims he hears his common music like he never has before! Well it is true; I did just that. While I did that I found myself not changing artists after the chosen song but usually just listened to the album in its entirety. That is a good sign :)


As my brain typically works best in a point form manner I will break down and describe some differences in various aspects audiophiles deem critical:


Bass: the bass is slightly deeper than the mc’s with much more articulation and slam. This is a strong point with these amps. Macintosh amps are no slouch in the bass department, the Nord One-Ups are better. I have moved speaker and seat position to accommodate the preferred quality of bass. With just a few inches of movement with the dipole speakers I can go from audiophile “hi-fi” tight and lean, to more full and bloomy presentation. I think I have them right in the middle for my taste. There are always a small frequency range which resonate a little louder then others only on certain tracks, but this was harder to tame with the Mc’s. Both acoustic bass or electric bass; overall everything under 400 Hz with the Nord’s is awesome.


Dynamics, Separation and Detail: The Nord’s have more dynamics, not just with bass but across my age-declining spectrum. Transients hit with more attack, music has more life. I know these songs, I know the sound is coming, but it still surprised me and raised my heartbeat. Very cool.


In combination with my exaSound DAC/pre, the ability of these amps to distinguish and place different instruments precisely across the soundstage is better. The way it holds onto one note while another note hits, whether the same instrument or a different one in a different space; call it resolution, transparency or space, or maybe just detail? is very satisfying. My system is now much better in this department. All instruments have more detail, which adds to their realism. You can hear more of the pitch on Isaac Perlman's violin strings, more string slap on the bass fretboard with Patricia Barber's music, and a more realistic bite to Miles Davis or Coltrane's sax. Horns are supposed to pierce the air. The Mcintosh was definitely too rounded off and polite. I find the former much more musical. Odd thing is I was one who argued the opposite in years past. It is another huge strength of the Nords. My system already took a turn for the better when upgrading my Wyred DAC1 with the exaSound in terms of detail retrieval. The same level of jump has occurred again.


Is this not one of the defining characteristics of quality hi-fi (read:expensive) amplifiers? The ability of the kit to unravel minute layers hidden in the music, ones which other lesser gear one struggles to hear? The way it exposes low-level details? Yes, I have heard this before with ultra-detailed gear years ago, and I have also been given a headache before. Sometimes impressive sounding equipment can fatigue after a few short songs. I have been there. I didn't choose my Linn player 12 years ago because it was the most detailed, rather it was the most natural sounding to my ears. These amps do not fatique. Not at all. Actually sometimes the opposite happens: focussing intently to hear that soft passage, those weak unresolved background voices, that can be fatiguing.


Did I mention soundstage? Yup; big smiles. Much better with the Nord's fastened to the Maggies. Wider, deeper, and the aforementioned ability of these amps to not only place the players in a defined space, but also have their sounds last longer in that space as more recent sounds are emitted. That helps support and reinforce that soundstage. More precision of the transient location and that "decay" work in tandem to produce more realism. I recently downloaded a remade Coltrane composition Naima (Chesky Records: Audiophile Piano Collection) The piano is 20 feet in front of me fanning from dead centre to about 20 degrees left of centre, low register to the right and high keys to the left. (That is the way it should be done; I hate it when I am "looking" at the back of the piano player). The bass player is about 18 feet in front of me dead centre, the drummer is 20 degrees to the right of centre, about the same depth as the bass player, and the sax player is 10 degrees right of the drummer, about in line with my right speaker from the seating position but a few feet behind it; about 8 feet back from me. My speakers plane is 6 feet in front of me, and the front wall is 11 feet ahead. How is that for soundstage? ( One crash cymbal the drummer rides for the middle third of the piece is dead centre; on top of the bass; odd….misplaced mike?) The track sound really good by the way.


Impressive dynamics, details galore, and incredible soundstage, anybody predominantly listen to orchestra? These might be your amps. I can confirm all three of my Prof. Johnson's Reference Recording's sound exceptional. They never sounded bad before of course, but now they give goosebumps.


Vocals and midrange: this is the one area where I would say the Mc was better. With all that detail retrieval comes some strange artifacts. It took me a long time to attempt to label the sounds, but it appears different with different vocals. It applies to the treble of poor recorded other tracks as well with some cymbals, and some guitar strums. Neutrality and truth can be painful. These amps are on the hot side regarding treble in general. And they are a little thin in the middle. I understand some may give these 30 seconds of listening and decide it is not for them. If you listening to female vocals 80% of the time I suggest look elsewhere. At least that is what I hear.
For example with Diana Krall: The Girl in the Other Room her voice sounds good, but her raspyness in the title track seems a little smoky and overemphasized; as if she smoked a pack of cigarettes before singing. With Holly Cole Tempation's Take me Home her close miked voice seems to have too much breathe added. Sibilance is good; no problems with s'ess. No problems with any other letters either. Yet Norah Jones Not too Late sounded wonderful. Sarah Mclaughlin and Jennifer Warner sounded very good also. Odd. With all that extra resolution perhaps shows weaknesses upstream and requires upgrades? Or is that what exactly what was recorded and these amps expose the added hi-fi-ish recording embelishment? Wish I had other amps to compare.


Another example is Rush Permanent Waves; with my remastered CD I was very disappointed with the opening track The Spirit of Radio. Geddy's voice was too bright and harsh, Neil Peart's cymbals were also poorly resolved, and the song suffered from compression. The other tracks seem to be recorded very differently and had more dynamics, and a much better recorded voice. Was just the popular radio friendly hit Spirit of Radio recorded for radio and as such they hopped up the treble and compressed it, yet left the other tracks for the more serious listeners? Strange. I never really noticed this before but like I keep stating these Nord's shine a new light on your favourite tunes. For better or worse.


Fleetwood Mac: The Very Best of. Bill Inglot remastered CD which is real treat. The original analog tape must have been in fantastic shape, and it must have been well recorded as it sounds awesome. Vocals here are decent; not modern recorded spectacular like Patricia Barber (oh, all of her albums sound awesome with the Nord's as well, but don't they always?) but not offensive either. But so much hidden music buried deep in these tracks. I challenge anybody with any system you own to listen to "Hold Me" on mine and seriously tell me after that you didn't hear anything new. The one exception on this CD: At one point Second Hand News was too much. For whatever reason that one track with small drums in the left channel, a muted guitar strum from the right along with strumming of another layered guitar from both channels, with cymbals all at the same relative frequency range was WAY too bright. This still happened with more than 250 hours on the amps, but now with 400 it is tolerable. All those sounds have settled down marginally which at least allows me to listen to it at moderate volumes. It is still hot, but at least it is tolerable. No issue with any other track on the double disc CD.


My Magneplanar owners manual warned me about this:


There are two principal reasons for needing to attenuate the Magneplanar Ribbon Tweeter:
A. Recordings, typically in the "pop" or "rock" vein, often exhibit a pronounced rise in the treble region.
B. The Magneplanar Ribbon Tweeter is very efficient in its total "energy dispersion." If the surrounding walls are exceptionally reflective, the overall perceived acoustical balance will be tipped towards a "hot" high end.
Attenuation is performed through insertion of a simple non-inductive resistor in series with the tweeter.


Well I have bypassed the fuses on the back of the speakers years ago at the same time I replaced the crossovers and stock steel binding posts for Cardas ones, so no option there. But I have some other ideas to warm up the midrange: insert a pre-amp; passive or active, change/upgrade cabling, upgrade sources, linear power supply for the DAC, try op-amp rolling: Sparkos for my Sonic Imagery's, more acoustic treatments. This hobby is never ending :)


Closing thoughts: I am not going to say they are worth XXX more than I paid for them, or they beat any amps under $$$$$, I honestly have no idea. But I kinda feel like I stole them. I paid just over $5000 CDN for the pair. Each $2500 amp has close to $2000 of XLR's, speaker and power cables connected to them and I have an inclination to upgrade the cables and do the amps more justice. What happened to the 10% rule?


Bottom line is I am enjoying the hell out of these amps! I have listened to more music in the last month than I have in the past year. Now that this critique summary is out of the way I can stop focussing on the sounds and listen to the music!
 
What an amazing write up. Thank you for this wonderful effort. I would have to agree. Break in is extremely important as well as overall system matching.
 
I would call that a great review, very nicely written!

As you are already suggesting I think the Nords is an excellent amp to experiment with other things in the chain as it will not try to hide or disguise anything from you. Trying a preamp (or another DAC) that add's some midrange warmth or different flavour might be a priceless combo. I also had great positive effect by upping the power cable, money wise it was almost like a joke what kind of cables I had attached to the Nord, but it really shined when being served better power and signals. The 10% rule seems outdated to me, I believe cables can do so much more as it's not just about the cable itself, but how it actually enables the amp or equipment to perform better.
 
Oh btw, a friend actually blew some fuses with his Maggies... I would never dare to bypass it as I know is common with Maggie owners, but changing the fuse in the Nord was also a great improvement to me.
 
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