Ncore

[blackraven]

Tomorrow evening I will get a chance to hear a pair of NCore amps in my system. I met a guy over on the Audio Cirlces forum who just bought a pair of Magnepan 1.7's and the new AVA Hifi T-9 Preamp. He wants to come over to hear my system and is going to bring over his NCore amps. I have always wanted to hear what the big deal is about these amps. I will post a review on them. It should be interesting comparing them to my Pass especially since he is bringing the beer.

[blackraven]

Well I just got done listening to a pair or 480wpc NCore monoblocks in my system. They sounded flat with weak bass and much less musical and dynamic compared to my Pass amp. The midrange seemed to be very flat. My Class D audio CDA 254 and Parasound A21 sound much better. The Ncores however were dead silent, had good sound stage, transparency and were detailed. They just may not have been a good match with my 1.6's. On the other hand, I also got to hear the new Van Alstine T-9 tube preamp. It is a winner and bested my older Van Alstine Ultra plus hybrid tube preamp in clarity, detail, warmth and sound stage, although bass was deeper with the Ultra.

[harley .guy07]

Yeah I have heard that about the NCore amps myself from several people I have talked to but have not got the chance to hear it myself. I do notice a lot of them for sale on different online audio marketplaces that the owners haven't owned them for very long which to me would say that the owners either grew tired of their lack of musicality or just were not very impressed with them and just had to move on. I felt a similar way about the Class D audio SDS 440 when I had it. I spent almost a year with it in my system and found myself not listening to music much anymore since it did not have the sound I wanted and basically was too bright and hurt my ears. I finally grew tired of it and moved on. I know there are people on this forum that love the Class D's but for me I just could not live with their shortcomings.

[Feanor]

Well I just got done listening to a pair or 480wpc NCore monoblocks in my system. They sounded flat with weak bass and much less musical and dynamic compared to my Pass amp. The midrange seemed to be very flat. My Class D audio CDA 254 and Parasound A21 sound much better. The Ncores however were dead silent, had good sound stage, transparency and were detailed. They just may not have been a good match with my 1.6's. On the other hand, I also got to hear the new Van Alstine T-9 tube preamp. It is a winner and bested my older Van Alstine Ultra plus hybrid tube preamp in clarity, detail, warmth and sound stage, although bass was deeper with the Ultra.
This is great to hear about. The Hypex NCore's have been highly touted by some, and I would still like to hear them myself.

It's interesting that you say your CDA-254 sounds better. This correctly implies that all class D amps do not sound the same. I believe my SDS-258 sounds better than the Bel Canto eVo2 that I had a few years ago -- at about 1/5 the price. Notably maybe, the Bel Canto, a Tripath-based amp, had a rather "thin" or "grey" midrange -- like the NCore maybe -- but the SDS-258 is significantly less so.

[Feanor]

Yeah I have heard that about the NCore amps myself from several people I have talked to but have not got the chance to hear it myself. I do notice a lot of them for sale on different online audio marketplaces that the owners haven't owned them for very long which to me would say that the owners either grew tired of their lack of musicality or just were not very impressed with them and just had to move on. I felt a similar way about the Class D audio SDS 440 when I had it. I spent almost a year with it in my system and found myself not listening to music much anymore since it did not have the sound I wanted and basically was too bright and hurt my ears. I finally grew tired of it and moved on. I know there are people on this forum that love the Class D's but for me I just could not live with their shortcomings.
I have to agree about the bright highs of the SDS amps. Bright highs seems to be typical of class D amps according to comments by numerous people and my own, albeit relatively limited, experience. This characteristic is what motivated me towards the Pass Labs that is wending its way to me via FedEx at the moment.

Mine you, apart from the bright highs, I certainly appreciate my SDS-258. It doesn't lack bass -- a complaint 'raven expressed about the NCores -- although its bass is lean & precise vs. warm & full; for the classical music I mainly listen to, that's the sort of bass I like.

[blackraven]

Feanor, the ncore did sound too bright but it lacked body and musicality. My Class D 254 is not lacking in that area and it is very musical. It actually sounds good with out the HF harshness running through my MMG's, Grant Fidelity with an NOS 6DJ8 tube that has a warmer sound. I think that the Class D amps should be paired with warmer sounding gear and a tube preamp.

[harley .guy07]

I will say that my SDS 440 amp that I had did have good bass and had a very detailed character to it that was very good in the midrange and I would have probably gave it a longer shot in my system if the highs were more tolerable but with my ears having sensitivities to high frequencies by nature anyway it just was not going to happen. With way warmer front end it might have been better.