[John Casler]

Just saw this rather good mini-review of the IDA-8 in ABSOLUTE SOUND

LOOK HERE

[mresseguie]

 

John,

The link took me to page three of the review.

This really is a great amp. As you know, Melody and I took it with us on our travels, and I'm so glad I've got it. If only I had better speakers (but there was no more room in our Tacoma).

Michael

[John Casler]

 

Fixed the link

[Letitroll98]

Nice review, bodes well for all NuPrime products to get a rave review on one of their least expensive offerings.

[audioguy213]

Congrats to Nuprime for some well deserved press.
It is nice to see a sub $1k product getting positive feedback - quite often the mags stick to products that are simply not affordable for the average person.


Nuprime certainly seems to be re-setting the value proposition with high end sound at low prices, and products differentiated by sound and not arbitrarily by price.

A lot of the reviews I read from laypersons and pros have a similar vibe of "yes as you move up the line, the products get even better, but I could have been happy listening to the little IDA-8 for life, even in the big system..."

And I Think that is one of the best things to hear about a product. The IDA-8 seem to sound great, it doesn't just "sound great for a $995 dollar integrated"

I think that is an exciting proposition for audiophiles.

[rustydoglim]

And we turned recent discussion into a formal guide on the website:
http://www.nuprimeaudio.com/index.php/guides/faq.html#faq_28

The text is repeated here:

Product Pricing

Let’s have a look at pricing. We don't price a unit based on how good it sounds within our own product line or compared with the competition. We are an engineering company plain and simple. We don’t price our amps based on weight or workmanship. We price our products based on cost. Over time costs come down due to innovations and performance advances. For example, you may know that preamp switch resistors are quite expensive. We have learned how to implement them at a much lower cost by using FPGA, a big logic chip. Designs that were once exclusive to super-expensive preamps now occupy of our modestly priced amps and DACs. We’ve advanced from a bank of expensive resistors to a fruitful chip. In terms of cost difference the journey from one to the other amounts to an order of magnitude. Similarly, our amplifiers employ a naturally occurring self-oscillating design principle to generate the PWM pulses for Class D sampling rather than incorporating a relatively expensive PWM generator. In short, instead of marketing a crazy-expensive amp, we’re in a position to sell an STA-9 at $649.

Vertically Integrated

Typically a brand works with an OEM factory, including supplier factories, to achieve its target products. It isn't often that a brand owns its own factory. Atypically, NuPrime is vertically integrated: we don't subcontract for amplifiers and power supplies. Our in-house engineering team makes it unnecessary to spend elsewhere for what we do so well. Our stocked parts range from raw materials and ICs to semi-assembled boards. Hybrid Class-D switching and linear power supplies, DACs, preamps, and anything else we require are conceived and achieved in-house. Admittedly, we can't do it all. On occasion we partner to develop a product another company does better. In short, NuPrime customers benefit from our R&D, efficiency and fruitful associations.

[mresseguie]

Um. In page two of the review Julie stated, " The knob on the right serves as a push-button to power on and off and, when pressed for three seconds, to access standby mode (which consumes very low power); when turned, it allows for five input selections (shown in codes): coaxial (C1), optical (O2), USB (U3), extension port for Bluetooth dongle or WiFi module (E4), and stereo analog RCA (A5). The left knob controls the volume functions; turning..."

Oddly enough, my right knob controls volume and my my left knob controls input. No one seems to have caught this. Was a change made after I bought my unit?

Michael

[Letitroll98]

I saw that too Michael and just read thru it as it made no sense.  I think the reviewer got her notes mixed up and nobody caught it.

[rustydoglim]

Yes, the left and right mixed up in her note.