Nord One Up Ncore NC500 amps, Class D ready for prime time .....
- Thread starter joeinid
- Start date
boggit
New member
- Joined
- May 16, 2016
- Messages
- 84
Feed back from a Customer bought a REV D upgrade and a MKII 3 Channel amp.
[TABLE="class: cf gJ, width: 1128"]
[TR="class: acZ"]
[TD="class: gF gK, align: left"][TABLE="class: cf ix, width: 898"]
[TR]
[TD="class: c2"][h=3][/h][/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
[/TD]
[TD="class: gH bAk, align: right"][/TD]
[TD="class: gH, align: right"][/TD]
[TD="class: gH acX bAm, align: right"][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: acZ xD"]
[TD="colspan: 3"][TABLE="class: cf adz, width: 1127"]
[TR]
[TD="class: ady"]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
I sat for over 3 hours yesterday (Dec. 28), source was a server, silver disk, and about 45 min of vinyl. I've been rather busy,BUT I've been dealing with a distortion issue in the BASS section of the TIIse. Wound up being a surround on a
12" passive radiator. I inspected both and both were in bad order.
One day later:
Did a quick swap with a different type surround and all is well. I need to adjust the new PRs not quite enough mass.
Other than that. Wonderful! The bass extension and the AMOUNT of bass is pretty incredible.
I'll probably do a driver swap and go to all BR surrounds, and a WCF for the bass coupler, and bass drivers.
These are set up for Mcintosh MC275s (KT88 Valve sets). They can, drive a pretty heavy load AND sound good
for a valve amp. I was just amazed at the 3 X increase in power with NO distortion. I'm NOT a big BASSHEAD,
but these amps could capture the most critical ears fancy.
Two days later:
Ok I did the driver swap, worked perfect. Night and day. Very controlled, DEEP and clear. At 90 db and above it is clear
as a bell. I WAS having a problem.. Just a different way to drive a pretty difficult load. The Hypex does it with EASE.
Drivers are broke in and it is running in NON bi amped or wired mode. These speakers only sounded like this when they
were driven buy pairs of 10,000.00 plus US mono blocks. Mark Ls / Krells / Nelson Pass. The reason I had the driver upgrades,
on hand.
It has been too cold for a GOOD comparison with planars or ribbon drivers. 60 deg F and above in that room, mid-Feb or so. I'ts still round
speakers for a bit.
Four days later:
I have been driving a pair of Infinity RS2B, 200hz> all true ribbons. DIFFERENT!!! I'm not sold on the sound. I find myself
turning 2500>hz UP + 3-6 db. It is just my ear, being very use to Mcintosh/VTL tube units. I can however achieve the sound
I like with a tweek or two. I'm not sure they are broke in yet (25 hrs on the mono blocks).
Jan 2, 2019:
Ok the mono blocks are sounding better. I have close to 100 hours on them, now. It is a temp issue, at 75 deg F the whole
system sound much better. The tone controls are -2db in the bass section and pretty flat on up. Sounds very QUIET, yet
warm. I can add just what I need for the Coral, then back to Blues, then to soft Jazz.
Kids were in the front room, with a Nord system. "Da Club" 50.. lol neighbors came over, house was bouncin', yup!!
The kids were REALLY impressed, they are real BASSHEADS. 20,000 watt 50,000 dollars sound systems in some
of these kids rides. Sounded really good to me, I'm picky, buddy. I wound up taping one of the windows, and cracking
a couple because of the HIGH PRESSURE, GEEZ they were hitting 110 db. and over 135 when they PUNCHED the sub system.
ALL CLASS D, 4 rails @ 4 ohm 4000 RMS per rail, WAY TOO MUCH for me. Me, the dog, and the bunny had to go outside for a bit.
Clear as could be, OUTSIDE!!!
All in all I like the new rev D with the sparco 2590. It is more to my taste. The rev C boards with SI are wonderful, just
NO MOJO. The old guys around hear like the sparcos better, none of them have heard the new 2590s though, only the
dual 3302?/3602? and dual single xx01 (non Nord / NC400 mod).
I'll give you the news when that crew shows up.
I'm sold !!!
[TABLE="class: cf gJ, width: 1128"]
[TR="class: acZ"]
[TD="class: gF gK, align: left"][TABLE="class: cf ix, width: 898"]
[TR]
[TD="class: c2"][h=3][/h][/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
[/TD]
[TD="class: gH bAk, align: right"][/TD]
[TD="class: gH, align: right"][/TD]
[TD="class: gH acX bAm, align: right"][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: acZ xD"]
[TD="colspan: 3"][TABLE="class: cf adz, width: 1127"]
[TR]
[TD="class: ady"]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
I sat for over 3 hours yesterday (Dec. 28), source was a server, silver disk, and about 45 min of vinyl. I've been rather busy,BUT I've been dealing with a distortion issue in the BASS section of the TIIse. Wound up being a surround on a
12" passive radiator. I inspected both and both were in bad order.
One day later:
Did a quick swap with a different type surround and all is well. I need to adjust the new PRs not quite enough mass.
Other than that. Wonderful! The bass extension and the AMOUNT of bass is pretty incredible.
I'll probably do a driver swap and go to all BR surrounds, and a WCF for the bass coupler, and bass drivers.
These are set up for Mcintosh MC275s (KT88 Valve sets). They can, drive a pretty heavy load AND sound good
for a valve amp. I was just amazed at the 3 X increase in power with NO distortion. I'm NOT a big BASSHEAD,
but these amps could capture the most critical ears fancy.
Two days later:
Ok I did the driver swap, worked perfect. Night and day. Very controlled, DEEP and clear. At 90 db and above it is clear
as a bell. I WAS having a problem.. Just a different way to drive a pretty difficult load. The Hypex does it with EASE.
Drivers are broke in and it is running in NON bi amped or wired mode. These speakers only sounded like this when they
were driven buy pairs of 10,000.00 plus US mono blocks. Mark Ls / Krells / Nelson Pass. The reason I had the driver upgrades,
on hand.
It has been too cold for a GOOD comparison with planars or ribbon drivers. 60 deg F and above in that room, mid-Feb or so. I'ts still round
speakers for a bit.
Four days later:
I have been driving a pair of Infinity RS2B, 200hz> all true ribbons. DIFFERENT!!! I'm not sold on the sound. I find myself
turning 2500>hz UP + 3-6 db. It is just my ear, being very use to Mcintosh/VTL tube units. I can however achieve the sound
I like with a tweek or two. I'm not sure they are broke in yet (25 hrs on the mono blocks).
Jan 2, 2019:
Ok the mono blocks are sounding better. I have close to 100 hours on them, now. It is a temp issue, at 75 deg F the whole
system sound much better. The tone controls are -2db in the bass section and pretty flat on up. Sounds very QUIET, yet
warm. I can add just what I need for the Coral, then back to Blues, then to soft Jazz.
Kids were in the front room, with a Nord system. "Da Club" 50.. lol neighbors came over, house was bouncin', yup!!
The kids were REALLY impressed, they are real BASSHEADS. 20,000 watt 50,000 dollars sound systems in some
of these kids rides. Sounded really good to me, I'm picky, buddy. I wound up taping one of the windows, and cracking
a couple because of the HIGH PRESSURE, GEEZ they were hitting 110 db. and over 135 when they PUNCHED the sub system.
ALL CLASS D, 4 rails @ 4 ohm 4000 RMS per rail, WAY TOO MUCH for me. Me, the dog, and the bunny had to go outside for a bit.
Clear as could be, OUTSIDE!!!
All in all I like the new rev D with the sparco 2590. It is more to my taste. The rev C boards with SI are wonderful, just
NO MOJO. The old guys around hear like the sparcos better, none of them have heard the new 2590s though, only the
dual 3302?/3602? and dual single xx01 (non Nord / NC400 mod).
I'll give you the news when that crew shows up.
I'm sold !!!
landmarker
New member
- Joined
- Jun 3, 2016
- Messages
- 7
Thanks Boggit
I put in an order for the Rev D boards with Sparkos. I always preferred Sparkos in the Rev C boards - my system is very lean, ATC speakers, Tortuga LDR preamp, Yggdrasil DAC - and even if I could hear more detail from the SI994s, the Sparkos SS3602s sounded livelier and more "realistic" in my system.
I'm sure I will cave in and try the SI 990s at some point.
I put in an order for the Rev D boards with Sparkos. I always preferred Sparkos in the Rev C boards - my system is very lean, ATC speakers, Tortuga LDR preamp, Yggdrasil DAC - and even if I could hear more detail from the SI994s, the Sparkos SS3602s sounded livelier and more "realistic" in my system.
I'm sure I will cave in and try the SI 990s at some point.
landmarker
New member
- Joined
- Jun 3, 2016
- Messages
- 7
Thanks for sharing that Colin, your customer sounds like quite a character
I put in an order for the Rev D boards with Sparkos. I always preferred Sparkos in the Rev C boards - my system is very lean, ATC speakers, Tortuga LDR preamp, Yggdrasil DAC - and even if I could hear more detail from the SI994s, the Sparkos SS3602s sounded livelier and more "realistic" in my system.
I'm sure I will cave in and try the SI 990s at some point.
I put in an order for the Rev D boards with Sparkos. I always preferred Sparkos in the Rev C boards - my system is very lean, ATC speakers, Tortuga LDR preamp, Yggdrasil DAC - and even if I could hear more detail from the SI994s, the Sparkos SS3602s sounded livelier and more "realistic" in my system.
I'm sure I will cave in and try the SI 990s at some point.
landmarker
New member
- Joined
- Jun 3, 2016
- Messages
- 7
OK so this is certainly not a verdict on the Rev Ds, just first impressions of the new boards (with Sparkos opamps), which I only picked up a few hours ago.
I am really quite surprised what a noticeable change these have made in my system. I was expecting at most a similar magnitude of change than the one I heard between Burson / Sparkos / SI etc. in the previous boards.
These changes gave the amps different "flavours" (a bit more detail, a bit more bass, a bit sharper or softer...), but you could always tell you these were NC500 amps, you were enhancing the basic sound that come with the LM4562.
My system sounded very accurate, very capable but a tiny bit unexciting with the Rev C opamps. This is no criticism of the amps, the ATC speakers and Tortuga passive preamp on either side are both built for accuracy rather than colour. I enjoyed this setup immensely, especially high quality recordings, and especially recordings with a bit of warmth and mid-bass heft already baked-in. To give two examples from the same era: This Year's Model sounded stunning, Squeezing Out Sparks sounded a bit dull and distant.
The first and biggest change with the Rev D boards is big, intangible sense of "life" in the music. Sorry to not be able to explain that better... everything sounds a bit bigger, more present, more realistic - the best analogy I can think of is moving up to bigger speakers from the same manufacturer.
If I had to dig in a bit further: there is more detail than with the previous Sparkos amps, probably as much as with the SIs. The bass doesn't sound obviously boosted, but it sounds much clearer and more rounded, the mid-bass sounds seems to have warmed-up a bit.
The midrange sounds at least as good as it always did, with vocals and guitars startlingly realistic (playing to the strength of the ATCs).
The overall effect is that my system keeps a lot of great qualities and gained some new ones - that feeling that the music flows, that the system has it's own sense of rhythm. For now, listening has gone from being enjoyable and interesting to being addictive.
I'd be interested to know, if you measured the new boards, would find they are as flat and technically accurate as the last ones were (with SI and LM4562).
It certainly sounds like you can hear just as much detail as you could with those boards, so if any compromise has been made on accuracy, then it has been extremely well judged.
The new boards are not cheap, though I know at this scale I am paying more for engineering time and support than parts+margin. Looking at the cost of the rest of my system I certainly feel they were a worthwhile upgrade in my case, they have really added a dimension that was missing. I would be interested to know if people who have more colourful preamps, speakers etc. than mine feel the same way.
I am really quite surprised what a noticeable change these have made in my system. I was expecting at most a similar magnitude of change than the one I heard between Burson / Sparkos / SI etc. in the previous boards.
These changes gave the amps different "flavours" (a bit more detail, a bit more bass, a bit sharper or softer...), but you could always tell you these were NC500 amps, you were enhancing the basic sound that come with the LM4562.
My system sounded very accurate, very capable but a tiny bit unexciting with the Rev C opamps. This is no criticism of the amps, the ATC speakers and Tortuga passive preamp on either side are both built for accuracy rather than colour. I enjoyed this setup immensely, especially high quality recordings, and especially recordings with a bit of warmth and mid-bass heft already baked-in. To give two examples from the same era: This Year's Model sounded stunning, Squeezing Out Sparks sounded a bit dull and distant.
The first and biggest change with the Rev D boards is big, intangible sense of "life" in the music. Sorry to not be able to explain that better... everything sounds a bit bigger, more present, more realistic - the best analogy I can think of is moving up to bigger speakers from the same manufacturer.
If I had to dig in a bit further: there is more detail than with the previous Sparkos amps, probably as much as with the SIs. The bass doesn't sound obviously boosted, but it sounds much clearer and more rounded, the mid-bass sounds seems to have warmed-up a bit.
The midrange sounds at least as good as it always did, with vocals and guitars startlingly realistic (playing to the strength of the ATCs).
The overall effect is that my system keeps a lot of great qualities and gained some new ones - that feeling that the music flows, that the system has it's own sense of rhythm. For now, listening has gone from being enjoyable and interesting to being addictive.
I'd be interested to know, if you measured the new boards, would find they are as flat and technically accurate as the last ones were (with SI and LM4562).
It certainly sounds like you can hear just as much detail as you could with those boards, so if any compromise has been made on accuracy, then it has been extremely well judged.
The new boards are not cheap, though I know at this scale I am paying more for engineering time and support than parts+margin. Looking at the cost of the rest of my system I certainly feel they were a worthwhile upgrade in my case, they have really added a dimension that was missing. I would be interested to know if people who have more colourful preamps, speakers etc. than mine feel the same way.
demiro
New member
Thanks for sharing your first impressions Landmarker.
I which ATC speakers you have?
My system is Passive Hattor Pre + Nord NC500 SI994 Rev C + scm40v2, and my experiences are quite similar to yours.
Therefore I was wondering what kind of improvements I can expect from new Rev D boards in my system.
I have never tried Sparkos, but after your post it got me thinking if they will fit better my preferences.
I which ATC speakers you have?
My system is Passive Hattor Pre + Nord NC500 SI994 Rev C + scm40v2, and my experiences are quite similar to yours.
Therefore I was wondering what kind of improvements I can expect from new Rev D boards in my system.
I have never tried Sparkos, but after your post it got me thinking if they will fit better my preferences.
landmarker
New member
- Joined
- Jun 3, 2016
- Messages
- 7
I have the SCM19s, the later version with the curved cabinets and in-house tweeter. I cannot really recommend the Sparkos over SI in the Rev D, I just know I preferred them in the Rev C.
Cool, Adam. Will be interesting to read your thoughts once you get them received and run in. I'm not sure what the recommended run-in time is for the revision D versus revision C build is, but I know Rev C new out-of-the-box amps (including new chassis and power supply) took me over 600 hours for them to come into their own.
If you have patience I think you will be pleasantly surprised at the performance of the Nord amplifiers.
Please let us know how you get along.
nc42acc
New member
Any members received their REV D boards?
Hello Guys
Here a recently owner of a Nord One UP NC500DM Stereo with Rev C boards.
I've been following this thread since some weeks ago and it has a LOT of infomation! Very useful.
I've have bought also the new Rev D boards and I think I will go with Sparkos Op Amps because I've tried both Op Amps in my Rev C boards and I prefer Sparkos by a not small margin.
I dont know how to explain it, but the Sparkos sound more analog, less metallic, to my ears and in my system, if that expression makes sense.
Just my opinión.
Cheers
Pedro
Argentina
System: Notebook with Windows 10 streaming Tidal with Dirac Room Correction via Audioquest Jitterbug and W4S USB Reclocker to Audio-gd R8 Ladder DAC, Audio-gd Master 1 preamp, Nord One UP NC500DM Stereo and Q Acoustics Concept 500 speakers.
Here a recently owner of a Nord One UP NC500DM Stereo with Rev C boards.
I've been following this thread since some weeks ago and it has a LOT of infomation! Very useful.
I've have bought also the new Rev D boards and I think I will go with Sparkos Op Amps because I've tried both Op Amps in my Rev C boards and I prefer Sparkos by a not small margin.
I dont know how to explain it, but the Sparkos sound more analog, less metallic, to my ears and in my system, if that expression makes sense.
Just my opinión.
Cheers
Pedro
Argentina
System: Notebook with Windows 10 streaming Tidal with Dirac Room Correction via Audioquest Jitterbug and W4S USB Reclocker to Audio-gd R8 Ladder DAC, Audio-gd Master 1 preamp, Nord One UP NC500DM Stereo and Q Acoustics Concept 500 speakers.
Hello Guys
Here a recently owner of a Nord One UP NC500DM Stereo with Rev C boards.
I've been following this thread since some weeks ago and it has a LOT of infomation! Very useful.
I've have bought also the new Rev D boards and I think I will go with Sparkos Op Amps because I've tried both Op Amps in my Rev C boards and I prefer Sparkos by a not small margin.
I dont know how to explain it, but the Sparkos sound more analog, less metallic, to my ears and in my system, if that expression makes sense.
Just my opinión.
Cheers
Pedro
Argentina
System: Notebook with Windows 10 streaming Tidal with Dirac Room Correction via Audioquest Jitterbug and W4S USB Reclocker to Audio-gd R8 Ladder DAC, Audio-gd Master 1 preamp, Nord One UP NC500DM Stereo and Q Acoustics Concept 500 speakers.
Here a recently owner of a Nord One UP NC500DM Stereo with Rev C boards.
I've been following this thread since some weeks ago and it has a LOT of infomation! Very useful.
I've have bought also the new Rev D boards and I think I will go with Sparkos Op Amps because I've tried both Op Amps in my Rev C boards and I prefer Sparkos by a not small margin.
I dont know how to explain it, but the Sparkos sound more analog, less metallic, to my ears and in my system, if that expression makes sense.
Just my opinión.
Cheers
Pedro
Argentina
System: Notebook with Windows 10 streaming Tidal with Dirac Room Correction via Audioquest Jitterbug and W4S USB Reclocker to Audio-gd R8 Ladder DAC, Audio-gd Master 1 preamp, Nord One UP NC500DM Stereo and Q Acoustics Concept 500 speakers.
Hello Guys
Here a recently owner of a Nord One UP NC500DM Stereo with Rev C boards.
I've been following this thread since some weeks ago and it has a LOT of infomation! Very useful.
I've have bought also the new Rev D boards and I think I will go with Sparkos Op Amps because I've tried both Op Amps in my Rev C boards and I prefer Sparkos by a not small margin.
I dont know how to explain it, but the Sparkos sound more analog, less metallic, to my ears and in my system, if that expression makes sense.
Just my opinión.
Cheers
Pedro
Argentina
System: Notebook with Windows 10 streaming Tidal with Dirac Room Correction via Audioquest Jitterbug and W4S USB Reclocker to Audio-gd R8 Ladder DAC, Audio-gd Master 1 preamp, Nord One UP NC500DM Stereo and Q Acoustics Concept 500 speakers.
Here a recently owner of a Nord One UP NC500DM Stereo with Rev C boards.
I've been following this thread since some weeks ago and it has a LOT of infomation! Very useful.
I've have bought also the new Rev D boards and I think I will go with Sparkos Op Amps because I've tried both Op Amps in my Rev C boards and I prefer Sparkos by a not small margin.
I dont know how to explain it, but the Sparkos sound more analog, less metallic, to my ears and in my system, if that expression makes sense.
Just my opinión.
Cheers
Pedro
Argentina
System: Notebook with Windows 10 streaming Tidal with Dirac Room Correction via Audioquest Jitterbug and W4S USB Reclocker to Audio-gd R8 Ladder DAC, Audio-gd Master 1 preamp, Nord One UP NC500DM Stereo and Q Acoustics Concept 500 speakers.
Hello Guys
Here a recently owner of a Nord One UP NC500DM Stereo with Rev C boards.
I've been following this thread since some weeks ago and it has a LOT of infomation! Very useful.
I've have bought also the new Rev D boards and I think I will go with Sparkos Op Amps because I've tried both Op Amps in my Rev C boards and I prefer Sparkos by a not small margin.
I dont know how to explain it, but the Sparkos sound more analog, less metallic, to my ears and in my system, if that expression makes sense.
Just my opinión.
Cheers
Pedro
Argentina
System: Notebook with Windows 10 streaming Tidal with Dirac Room Correction via Audioquest Jitterbug and W4S USB Reclocker to Audio-gd R8 Ladder DAC, Audio-gd Master 1 preamp, Nord One UP NC500DM Stereo and Q Acoustics Concept 500 speakers.
Here a recently owner of a Nord One UP NC500DM Stereo with Rev C boards.
I've been following this thread since some weeks ago and it has a LOT of infomation! Very useful.
I've have bought also the new Rev D boards and I think I will go with Sparkos Op Amps because I've tried both Op Amps in my Rev C boards and I prefer Sparkos by a not small margin.
I dont know how to explain it, but the Sparkos sound more analog, less metallic, to my ears and in my system, if that expression makes sense.
Just my opinión.
Cheers
Pedro
Argentina
System: Notebook with Windows 10 streaming Tidal with Dirac Room Correction via Audioquest Jitterbug and W4S USB Reclocker to Audio-gd R8 Ladder DAC, Audio-gd Master 1 preamp, Nord One UP NC500DM Stereo and Q Acoustics Concept 500 speakers.
There has been a lot of discussion about the Rev D boards and the impact of the change. Alex, who frequents this board, has written a great review of the update and the impact on the sound quality at: https://hifiwigwam.com/forum/topic/131659-nord-one-up-se-nc500dm-mk-ii-power-amplifier/
Hope you enjoy.
Hope you enjoy.