AudioCircle
Industry Circles => NuPrime Audio => Topic started by: rustydoglim on 20 Jul 2021, 09:25 am
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STA-9X is a new design combining the technology from AMG and STA-9. The goal is to produce a powerful, Class-A warmth, with AMG finesses amp. This is a further proof that Nuprime does original R&D :thumb:
STA-9X
(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=227207)
STA-9
(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=227208)
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Are they upgrading the DAC-9 too?
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I'm digging the trigger in and out feature.
How is the sound character compared to sta-9?
I'm using sta-9 mono/mono setup now and I am really satisfied with those.
There's something in vocal that other amps can't seem to get.
If sound character doesn't change much I would like to try sta-9x as a mono blocks just for the sake of convinience.
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STA-9X is significantly better than STA-9. Yes, definitely better in vocal (as it is closer to AMG STA than STA-9).
Oh, STA-9X has the highest switching frequency of 750kHz. Basically it has the best of STA-9 characteristics and added AMG STA's details and smoothness.
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Would be nice to have a trade-in possibility if you already have a STA-9. Any plans for that?
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For such a relatively low price product (in high end audio), how to offer trade-in?
The round trip shipping would cost >$300. If we take it back at the factory, we can't sell it.
Trade-in is normally offered by dealer or distributor for the market. Nuprime as a manufacturer has no way of offering trade-in since we don't sell direct (unless for clearance models, or when a market has no distributor or dealer) to customers.
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I think this combined with the DAC-9 might be the best choice for me looking for an upgrade from the great IDA-8. Do you agree?
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Absolutely. 10 years ago the tech that we put into STA-9X would make it a $5000 amp, but like all high tech products, they only get better and cheaper.
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I can't wait to try it out as the list of improvements over STA-9 seems to perfectly align with my expectations :) Can you give any estimation on its availability in EU?
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STA-9X has been shipping already. Most EU distributors were on holidays during the early part of August. Please check with your dealer and distributor. Some of them have just placed an order last week.
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If a significant difference and/or improvement to the STA-9, will the STA-9X be added to the amp comparison table?
(Maybe together with the Omnia A300SE that is also missing in the table.)
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Newprime has a whole bunch of new products on their website, but there are hardly no reviews of most of these products. It would be nice (and possibly help sales) if they could get these products into the hands of some reviewers. I am thinking of the usual suspects on Youtube, Tone Audio Magazine and a couple of others. Other than the information on the website, there is barely any information available and no 3rd party comments.
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Well, if you guys tell me that you will contribute additional 20% of the price toward the reviews, then we will very happy to provide more reviews. Most people don't realise how EXPENSIVE it is to have a review.
It cost thousands of $. In my previous company, NuForce has a lot of reviews, and it is covered by major magazines and newspaper. So what's the annual ad budget? > $200,000 per year.
Nuprime tried to keep our cost down so that you guys can have affordable high end audio. Performance wise, our product could match other well known brand that cost a few times our price.
And my friends, you will have to pay for the reviews.
Sure, anyone can request for review. But what's the chances of the product actually getting a review if we don't commit to a large ad budget? Do you wander why we never had a review on Stereophile? We didn't advertise there.
Another policy or practice of Nuprime is that we don't want to pay for influencers reviews. We get review requests all the time from YouTubers, bloggers, etc but we would have to provide free products.
Your best reviews are the comments from your fellow audiophiles here. Occasionally we would have "mainstream" magazines such as The Absolute Sound review a main product. Even for magazine that we commit annual ad budget, we only get one to two reviews per year, I repeat, PER YEAR. Now you know why most of the models don't get reviews, because we made too many good products :). Too many. :thumb:
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Thanks rustydoglim for explaining. I’ve never really understood the fascination and need some people have to read/watch online reviews. The forums are by far the best places to get ideas of what things really sound like.
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Well, if you guys tell me that you will contribute additional 20% of the price toward the reviews, then we will very happy to provide more reviews. Most people don't realise how EXPENSIVE it is to have a review.
It cost thousands of $. In my previous company, NuForce has a lot of reviews, and it is covered by major magazines and newspaper. So what's the annual ad budget? > $200,000 per year.
Nuprime tried to keep our cost down so that you guys can have affordable high end audio. Performance wise, our product could match other well known brand that cost a few times our price.
And my friends, you will have to pay for the reviews.
Sure, anyone can request for review. But what's the chances of the product actually getting a review if we don't commit to a large ad budget? Do you wander why we never had a review on Stereophile? We didn't advertise there.
Another policy or practice of Nuprime is that we don't want to pay for influencers reviews. We get review requests all the time from YouTubers, bloggers, etc but we would have to provide free products.
Your best reviews are the comments from your fellow audiophiles here. Occasionally we would have "mainstream" magazines such as The Absolute Sound review a main product. Even for magazine that we commit annual ad budget, we only get one to two reviews per year, I repeat, PER YEAR. Now you know why most of the models don't get reviews, because we made too many good products :). Too many. :thumb:
I've offered to my dealer to write reviews in my Blog for any Nuprime products absolutely free of charge! But I made only 2: STA-9 and uDSD, because I bought it for myself and it exists on 2 languages including English. As I understood Ukrainian distributor doesn't care at all.
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We don't have distributor/dealer in Ukraine.
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There are a lot of NuPrime reviews in my country and they are all positive
https://rafko.com/pl/testy-nuprime
I'm waiting for IDA-32 :D
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We don't have distributor/dealer in Ukraine.
And how I bought my 5 items?
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There was a distributor/dealer a year ago but "disappeared". Perhaps some Ukraine dealers are getting stocks from Russian distributor.
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Is STA-9X better than mono Nuforce 9v3SE?
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Is STA-9X better than mono Nuforce 9v3SE?
In general the answer is YES.
While the power is spec'd about the same in bridged mode, the STA-9x is more stable with low impedances.
The Switching Frequency is higher at 750kHz for less distortions and much improved transparency and micro-detail.
And the NuFORCE Ref 9 v3 SE was about $2500. The NuPRIME STA-9x is $1195!!!
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Is STA-9X better than mono Nuforce 9v3SE?
Of course it is. 😉
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In general the answer is YES.
While the power is spec'd about the same in bridged mode, the STA-9x is more stable with low impedances.
The Switching Frequency is higher at 750kHz for less distortions and much improved transparency and micro-detail.
And the NuFORCE Ref 9 v3 SE was about $2500. The NuPRIME STA-9x is $1195!!!
Even when you bridge them they will be ok with lower impedance speakers?
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i really enjoy my ida-8 in my second system - what a superb high value integrated it is
i am wondering if nuprime is trying to work with the GaN technology in future amplifier releases... rare to have such a strong team doing their own development yet producing great high value products
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Perhaps some Ukraine dealers are getting stocks from Russian distributor.
No, my dealer ordered 2 pcs of STA-9 NOT from Russia.
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Hi
what is the current delivery of STA-9x compared to STA-9 ? On the product description page, there is 'more by130%' or so, is it really?
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No, my dealer ordered 2 pcs of STA-9 NOT from Russia.
That was when they were still friendly. We just got an inquiry from a dealer in Ukraine but we can't ship there due to the war. The dealer is trying to order from Poland. You guys won't believe that throughout the years (including the Nuforce era), we have shipped products to "unusual places" such as military base in Afghanistan, a prison, and the Vatican City. We even sold 40 Ref9 to an Israel company for ultrasonic use in fault detection. John Casler sold the first pair at midnight in a Los Angeles carpark to two engineers who were separately hunting for lightweight and compact ultrasonic amp, lol.
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Hi
what is the current delivery of STA-9x compared to STA-9 ? On the product description page, there is 'more by130%' or so, is it really?
The STA-9X could have been called a different model as it was a significant design change from STA-9.
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The STA-9X could have been called a different model as it was a significant design change from STA-9.
Which of STA-9x, ST-10, AMG STA (or IDA-16?) has the most efficient current delivery? I am asking because I need to feed my hungry Dynaudios SP40 and would like to stay with Nuprime gear, as I love its sound and design concept...
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We even sold 40 Ref9 to an Israel company for ultrasonic use in fault detection. John Casler sold the first pair at midnight in a Los Angeles carpark to two engineers who were separately hunting for lightweight and compact ultrasonic amp, lol.
LOL. . .yes that was a funny story.
These guys called me and ask if I had the amps. They said they were working on a Top Secret Israeli Military Project and one of them was an Israeli Secret Service Agent. It all sounded strange, yet my curiosity got the best of me.
It was on a weekend, late at night. They said they needed these specific qualities to send sonic signals through the hydraulic systems of Military Devices like jets and ships. They said with the right amps and their equipment, they could find leaks, and faults, and "predict" system failures, with something similar to ultrasound or ultrasonic sweeps.
I agreed to meet with them in my underground parking garage in Century City.
They showed up around midnight in a Big Blacked Out SUV and called me to come down.
I told them I could only do this on a CASH basis. It took them a couple hours to visit ATMs and between the 3 of them they had the cash (in $20's)
I went down, they examined the amps (they really only wanted one, but I told them I had to sell them as a pair)
They handed me a big envelope full of $20 bills and there we were counting 20's as my neighbors drove in and out, likely thinking I was a drug dealer. . . .LOL
But as Jason said, it all worked out, and they placed a larger order after making sure the system functioned as expected
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Whoa, you mentioned some new details I never knew. :thumb:
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Which of STA-9x, ST-10, AMG STA (or IDA-16?) has the most efficient current delivery? I am asking because I need to feed my hungry Dynaudios SP40 and would like to stay with Nuprime gear, as I love its sound and design concept...
I think you are looking for the amp with the largest current. That will be AMG STA.
Power = Current x Voltage
An amp could have more power than another but with less current. AMG STA was specifically designed to deliver a very large current (10A is huge) even though ST-10 has slightly more power than AMG STA.
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I think you are looking for the amp with the largest current. That will be AMG STA.
Power = Current x Voltage
An amp could have more power than another but with less current. AMG STA was specifically designed to deliver a very large current (10A is huge) even though ST-10 has slightly more power than AMG STA.
Thanks for the reply. Is STA-9x far behind in that respect? Or 2 x STA-9 in the bridge mode?
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I won't say STA-9X is far behind. I have to check with R&D since current is not normally in the spec.
It doesn't look like Dynaudio SP40 is current hungry as far as Nuprime amps are concerned.
AMG STA is designed for really Current hungry speaker such as Apogee.
STA-9 or 9X would be able to handle SP40 with ease.
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If I have not power hungry speakers is it still worth getting AMG STA? What is the sound signature difference between AMG STA and sta-9x? Which one is more suitable for “indie” music(Radiohead, P.J. Harvey and so on)? (I am planning to buy two units and use it in mono mode)
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This paragraph of AMG STA highlights the difference between it and STA-9X:
Tonal qualities of the AMG STA lean toward being full and rich, so instruments and vocals seem to gain an extra body, weight, and harmonic richness. It may not be the most accurate reproduction but does make Jazz and Vocal pieces highly addictive. It may take away the raw edge of Rock and Electronic music and sounds less exciting for some.
STA-9X sound characteristic is between ST-10 and AMG STA. I think you will like STA-9X.
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For those who are curious. I substituted the STA-9X for my Parasound A23+ amp in my 2 channel music system.
The STA-9X has a better 3D soundstage, instrument separation and was more lively. The A23+ might have more energy on the low end but I am using bookshelf speakers with subwoofer so that didn't really matter much. I've been going back and forth for almost a year and bottom line is the STA-9X is more compelling and exciting sound.
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Is STA-9X better than mono Nuforce 9v3SE?
Yes. It is has a little bit more warmth and texture than Nuforce 9V3SE. The old Nuforce series are very neutral, smooth and detailed. The new generation of Nuprime amps added Class-A characteristic.
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For those who are curious. I substituted the STA-9X for my Parasound A23+ amp in my 2 channel music system.
The STA-9X has a better 3D soundstage, instrument separation and was more lively. The A23+ might have more energy on the low end but I am using bookshelf speakers with subwoofer so that didn't really matter much. I've been going back and forth for almost a year and bottom line is the STA-9X is more compelling and exciting sound.
I appreciate your comments. I’d like to use it in a really nice desktop system and periodically swap it into the main system.
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STA-9X is priced too low for its performance. Even though it shares the almost the same model number as STA-9, you can tell from the circuit board that these are two very different designs.
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STA-9X is priced too low for its performance. Even though it shares the almost the same model number as STA-9, you can tell from the circuit board that these are two very different designs.
I do appreciate that the site provides a view under the hood. I have little clue what I’m looking at most of the time but I still like to see.
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I think you are looking for the amp with the largest current. That will be AMG STA.
Power = Current x Voltage
An amp could have more power than another but with less current. AMG STA was specifically designed to deliver a very large current (10A is huge) even though ST-10 has slightly more power than AMG STA.
I am interested in ST-10 and STA-9X and am considering to purchase one of them, however I feel hesitatation to choose because although ST-10 cost higher, it was launched few years ago, technology-wise would be not updated as STA-9X ? I like vocals and classical music, and am using a pair of JMR speakers (91dB sensitivity).
Somebody told me that using amplifier of higher power output, it would over-damp the speakers, is it true for mine ?
Please let me know more about Nuprime amplifiers for choosing the right one.
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I am interested in ST-10 and STA-9X and am considering to purchase one of them, however I feel hesitatation to choose because although ST-10 cost higher, it was launched few years ago, technology-wise would be not updated as STA-9X ? I like vocals and classical music, and am using a pair of JMR speakers (91dB sensitivity).
Somebody told me that using amplifier of higher power output, it would over-damp the speakers, is it true for mine ?
To decide between ST-10 and STA-9X, take a look at https://nuprimeaudio.com/guides/amp-comparison/ (https://nuprimeaudio.com/guides/amp-comparison/)
The amps won't over-damp your speaker, this has never been an issue with Nuprime amps. You can see from the comparison table that STA-9X and ST-10 are at the same level with regards to bass, high freq, sound stage.
ST-10 is more neutral and more power than STA-9X. STA-9X has better resolution than ST-10 and is warmer.
Since you have a high efficiency speaker and prefer vocals, you should go with STA-9X.
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Thanks so much for your advice !
If so I would consider AMG STA, which should be a better choice for me. :thumb: