[Rclark]

Describing the Ncore is actually pretty difficult because it represents for me an even more vividly emotional presentation of sound than before. My Virtue is a very good amp, and as my first personal hi fi amp (I have heard other amps in various systems, but not for extended periods), it was also offered a jaw dropping, emotional connection to the music. I took it to its max capability. As my first amp I did everything I could to it, upgraded to an Astron LS-10a linear supply, then to a battery supply, then sent it in and had the preamp disabled, the high pass permanently engaged, and large ClarityCap MR’s installed.

But it’s clear now I’m listening to the Claritycaps with the Virtue, or rather, they are a large component of the sound, especially considering how drastic the change was between Auricaps, and then Sonicaps, and then ClarityCaps. With the Ncore, I didn’t get that sensation at all, rather the impression was I wasn’t listening to a capacitor coloration at all because the sound had none of the traits of the Virtue amp. The Ncores present an effortless and complete, high definition sonic hologram, it sounded perfect in my system, and it was pure magic. My source gear consists of an Emotiva Erc-2 player, and a Warpspeed ldr, battery powered. The Erc is also attributed neutrality with a highly revealing nature. I find that it is an extremely live and dynamic player, and the strong output signal (2V nominal, 12V peak to peak), combined with the passive nature of the LDR, worked quite well here. My speakers are Magnestand MMG’s with Jupiter Beeswax caps bypassed with Mundorf Silver in oil. The resulting sound of those devices, via Ncore, if it has to be described as having any consistent nature, is that of dazzling realism, given a light sweetening from the Magnestand crossover, just enough, to render everything immensely enjoyable, everything becomes an experience to be beheld. A sound that errs on warmth just so, with a dab of sweetness, but is utterly crystalline clear and utterly effortless. It’s very nice. And again, I feel I’m hardly describing it very well, because the sound was so much more than I could put into words.

This might do it better: When choosing my Virtue amp, I asked a lot of people their opinion, what they thought. My choice was between that and the SDS-470. I realized one was much more powerful than the other, but I wanted to explore amps and didn’t mind a lower power. That was in late 2010, when my speakers were 8ohm GR Insignia monitors and they didn’t need a whole lot of power. My main interest was getting the best sounding amp. The Virtue was given the nod every time.

Now, Anand, “Poseidon’s Voice,” a person who owned the SDS amps said that if the SDS was an 8/10, he would rate the Ncore 20/10, and I have to say the same thing about the Tripath, but how do you describe that? Now, to be fair, I now run those Magnestand MMG’s which like power, and the Ncore is capable of delivering far more of it, but even at very low level listening, between the two it was no contest. . such a tremendous leap in performance.One of my friends who is also now building a system, and was there and helped me pull an endless number of cd’s down from the rack,  said very shortly into it, “you should sell your other amp.”

..When they first arrived, I couldn’t wait to get them into my system. My very first reaction to the Ncores, standing right next to the speaker as I hit play on Jimi Hendrix’s Valleys of Neptune, was, “hey... the Virtue isn’t that bad!” This was followed immediately by, “ohhh wait... hold the door.” I sat down and began fiddling with the dial on my Warpspeed, up, wow, up more, oh geez, then way way down… just as impressive.

Over the next half hour, as the mono’s warmed up, I wrote these impressions on a notepad: “holographic, airy, thunderous, super control, LOUD with no distortion, quiet sounds just as awesome. 3D beyond belief, toe tapping, stomach clenching-amazing, strong imaging, getting EVERYTHING. No smog or clouds, like the clearest of blue days, delicate where needs be, startling dynamics, front back is deep. TISS TISS TISS TISS. magic”

Such control, they had a vice grip on every centimeter of those planars, and every single note, breathe, or whisp of smoke was translated straight through the speakers, whatever was there, you got, without any strain whatsoever, and every frequency clearly played, every piece in the recording could be isolated and heard to be clear.

 Turning the dial gave me a LOUDNESS I couldn't believe, I think I was too shocked to measure it, but in my small room it was stadium rock concert loud for sure. And the neat part was the Maggies just stopped getting louder at some point in winding the dial. Every speaker system I've ever used in my life, when you turn it up and get near max volume, it begins to sound like crap, and then distort. Not this, I'm still in shock over it, the volume went to ear bleed with no loss in sound quality, and then merely stopped getting louder. Never seen anything like that!

 Bass was MUCH lower than before (now useful to 40hz and into the 30’s), accurate beyond words, snarling, extremely defined. Enough to not really care about a sub for most music. Definitely enough to completely rock your world at the listening position and just grab your senses. I found my brow furrowed, lost in complete enjoyment, every time. These Ncores may necessitate Botox injections. There was nothing thin or clinical or “digital”. I would more likely use the word magic. Just a fun experience listening to music with these amps!

Really a very addictive sound, and revealing beyond anything I’ve experienced such that differences in recorded quality are far more apparent here. Some albums, for example an album I DL’d from Zune on my phone, and then ripped with my laptop, sounded incredibly lifeless and flat (but sounded great with the Virtue), but well recorded material was extremely vivid. Stringed instruments were greatest here, guitar played through this system might as well be a real guitar in the room. All the intensity of the plucked string, the full power and twang very palpable.

 Low level listening was a surprise all its own! Using the SPL meter on my phone I found even 55 dB avg as a satisfying listening level, bass remained live and zingy, highs clear and extended to just past the Orion nebula. It was just incredibly shocking how dynamic and powerful the music remained at very low spl’s. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

I packaged them back up on Monday, sadly, in fact the entire weekend I loathed the idea that I would be back to the old amp. Sure enough, after hearing the Ncores, I can now hear all the faults in my amp. It’s still quite a nice amp, and does the job very well. Heck, 8/10 ain’t bad. But at this point it’s like I’ve been to the mountaintop and I’ve seen the promised land. I look forward to having these back in my system and calling it a day on amps. I know Virtue plans to come out swinging in October with hopefully a 250 watt version of their amp, and that should be pretty interesting, and had I had one of those in the room, with the planned, I believe 55 volt battery system, that would have been a fairer comparison for sure.

 My Two.2 will end up in my living room after this system is done, powering something cool, and easier to drive. Tekton, Vapor Breeze, Soundfield Monitor 1's, something like that, its career is far from over. I'd also like to say it has run like a CHAMP this past year and a half. Not one itty bitty little problem with it.

I’d also like to say that my experience gave me great confidence in Emotiva source gear. I realize that I can achieve even higher performance with more money spent, but the Erc-2 was flawless, liquid, dynamic, as hard edged or as delicate as the music it played, and it was dead silent. Perhaps with 100dB speakers it might have been different,  I don’t know, I’ve not heard a high efficiency setup before, but there was nothing but dead blackness throughout. It worked extremely well with the Ncores and I can’t stress enough how enjoyable this combo was. Perhaps the high output voltage combined with the passive nature of the LDR had a lot to do with that.

[Rclark]

Since I can't edit posts currently, I have to make a correction here. I wouldn't say the Two needs something easier to drive, as it is well known the amp "prefers" to be pushed hard at 4ohms and sounds better at that impedance. And 57 watts per side is a decent level of power for mmg's. So rather than say I was pushing the Virtue too hard, it's more that the Ncores just had way more power on tap.

[jtwrace]

Glad you enjoyed your time with the NCores and job well done with your review.

[jackman]

Hi Rclark,

Nice review. It's good to hear the emotional connection you had with the Ncore continued after you had them in your possession.  I have one question.  Did you  write the review before or after you actually listened to them?

Cheers

J

[poseidonsvoice]

Very well written Rclark. I enjoyed reading your prose.

Best,
Anand.

[rklein]

RClark:

Well written.  Nice to finally read some of your views on a piece of gear that you have actually listened to! 

Did you  write the review before or after you actually listened to them?

 

Regards,

Randy

[Atlplasma]

Great review RClark and very consistent with my own experience with the amps. I've been holding off on commenting on the NCores until some of the "newness" factor wore off. I have Salk SongTower RTs, which are a 4 ohm speaker, a Dodd Buffer with 12 volt battery supply, a Schiit DAC, and Mac Mini music server (modded with solid state drive and 8 GB of RAM) running PureMusic. My cables are a hodgepodge with everything from Monoprice to Cardis.

I'm in a rental at the moment, and my listening room is less than ideal, but I've been really impressed with the NCores. They replaced a MacCormack 0.5 that sounded quite nice in my system. Perhaps the biggest difference I've noticed since installing the NCores is how well the amps handle LOUD. I can turn them up to earsplitting levels and the music never becomes oppressive (at least as I've perceived it before). Maybe it's because there is so little distortion in the sound. Who knows?

In any case, I'm looking forward to getting the NCores set up in a better space with some appropriate conditioning. The one issue I'm wrestling with at the moment is heat build up. I have the Silicon Ray enclosures so ventilation is pretty minimal. The NCores don't get extremely hot, and I realize that Bruno has advised that there is no real reason for concern, but I want to avoid stressing the components. I've put in small spacers to create more gap in the enclosure; and this change is improving convection air movement, but I'm not sure if it's enough. I'm considering putting in a very small computer cooling fan and would be interested to know if anyone has tried this approach.

[Rclark]

Thanks guys. I didn't actually write it until yesterday  . Look forward to getting mine in Nov, looks like.

It was hard to write because the amps really are that good. I've actually written several reviews now, a few recently, and I think you will find them consistent.

[mjock3]

Nice review RClark, thanks for taking the time to share it with us.

Mark

[Chris Adams]

Rclark, way to review! 

[James Romeyn]

error....

[mr_bill]

I think individuals should post as to their NCore/speaker combinations and the results.

I have a pair of Sony SS M9ED speakers that are a 4 ohm load and fired up my NCores Wed night and they are as good or better than any other amp that I  have owned (Theta Enterprise, Modwright KWA 150, Classe 2200, Rowland 501).

Maybe they are even better into high impedance speakers but how many of us have those?

[jonbee]

I guess I'm now a Koolaid drinking fanboy, as I sold my Cullen modded PS audio GCC IcePower amp and will order the N-cores in the next couple of days.
I've listened close to 20 hours, and am satisfied I can get where I want to go with them.
My listening grooup will hear them Sunday. After that I will post a wrap up.
I should add that I don't think they're perfect in every regard, but on balance they are the best for my needs and tastes for anywhere near the price.

[mkcarnut]

Rclark...I don't think I will be able to top your review in literary terms, regardless of how mine end up sounding.  I might just post, "uh, dude...what he said..."  It is particularly gratifying that you are also enjoying that ERC-2.  Mine is sounding amazing in my system, also.  That's a true "gem" to source the nCores and some Maggies.

But seriously, I do thank you introducing me to the nCores and for your review.  I look forward to getting my parts in late September.  Meanwhile, I'll be working on breaking in my Maggies and doing as much of the pre-build as I can.  Once those parts to come in, I can't wait to put them together!

Mark

[Rclark]

Yeah Mark, thanks! Could have used some edits, but I can't edit yet  . However, being as you will have 1.7's, our systems will be very very similar, so you should be in love. Only difference is I'm using an ldr (gonna let you try that) and you'll probably have an xsp-1 before I do.

The xsp is active so it will be interesting to note your impressions. It might be even better!

 Build your Ncores balanced, get an aes/ebu cable for your ERC and go balanced all the way. Definitely glad the Emo shined. I was worried I was going to have to step up to something else but the Erc-2 is a real deal cdp.

[jackman]

Good job, Rclark. I was just pulling your leg earlier with my smart ass comments.  You put a lot of effort into sharing your thoughts about the amp and that's what this site is all about. 

Looking forward to your comments when you build your amps and get them into your system.

Cheers

Jack

[Afterimage]

Yes, great review Rclark.  One follow up question.  You said material not well recorded sounded lifeless and flat.  So does that mean that you only enjoyed the NCore on well recorded material?  Most of us have our favorite music on not so good production or recordings.  Some systems can give them a little air, a little life.  From your review, it seems not so with the NCores. 

[passingthrough]

differences in recorded quality are far more apparent here.  Some albums... sounded incredibly lifeless and flat (but sounded great with the Virtue).

I had the same question Afterimage posted.  Can anyone else with the NCore comment on the degree to which they feel this is true in their system?  Might the "incredibly" be a bit overstated (said hopefully)?

I have the NCore on order and have designed a nice high-WAF case for living room use where I currently have a Virtue running also, since I now have more power-hungry speakers.  We listen to a lot of streamed Pandora and Spotify there so now I'm wondering if this is not a good location for the NCore after all?

[jtwrace]

Ummm.  Garbage in = garbage out. 

I like Spotify for discovering new music but in no way would consider it "hi fi" as my main source regardless of amp.

[jonbee]

Here's my final report on my 5 days with the Ncores (~30 hours listening).
A recap of my system list:

System:
Eastern Electric Plus DAC w/ Dexa discrete op amps- no tube
Ric Schultz modded Oppo BDP83 as transport
ASRock HTPC as Music server, running JRiver MC17 software
Audioquest Coffee USB cable
Zu Ash digital IC
Zu Event ICs
Acrotec 2050 ICs
Cullen Modded PS Audio GCC-500 integrated (ICEPower ASP1000 modules- 1000 WPC @ 4 ohms)
PS Audio Power Plant premier AC regenerator- all gear is powered by this, inc.  the amps
Acoustic Zen Satori Shotgun speaker cables
Zu Mother, Mojo NOS copper and XPC-2 power cables, plus the Triode Labs 7 cords packed w/ the NCores
Selah Tempesta speakers

I had 4 other 'philes over yesterday, and we listened with the PS Audio IcePower amp section to get a baseline, then repeated the music selections with the NCores, all using the modded PSAudio preamp section, which itself is quite good- very transparent, fast and clean.
The reactions to the change were uniform- the differences were far from subtle. While the modded Icepower modules sounded clean, neutral, easy on the ears and powerful, by comparison they also sounded a bit tame and slightly muffled dynamically, something I never felt was the case in the past, but it was undeniable in this comparo.
Also, the NCores seemed to lower the bass cutoff by about a half octave - a huge amount. Whether this was measureable or a psychoacoustic phenomenon is unknown, but the effect is stunning. While the bass seems deeper, it is also clearer and more explosively dynamic. All on the panel couldn't believe that 7" woofers could produce clean, gut palpable sensations from pipe organ, kettle drums and synthesized bass, but hearing is believing. It is dramatic enough that there is a very good chance I'll get rid of my sub now.
Just as dramatic, the soundstage depth, detail and focus improved dramatically. With the PS Icepower amps, the soundstage seemed to terminate maybe 4 feet behind the speakers, with the N-cores it was 20 feet or more, with reverberant room reflections from large spaces WAY back in the field, and very cleanly rendered, at that. Instruments and ambient sounds were surrounded by a deeper black, offering superb contrast.
The top end was very finely detailed, yet the opposite of bright- the top end balance was simply right musically. I could understand how some might feel the top end laid back, though, but I see that as an absence of subtle grain and hash, at least as the RAAL tweeters display it.
 As I mentioned, the only amp I've heard that renders a soundstage better are 10 watt Shindos, with a Shindo pre, at around $20k retail. I feel I got a good chunk of that with these.
Here's some panel comments from emails I received after the sessions:

From Ken (Spectral pre/amp-> Ariel 10Ts, plus lots of great stuff):

That Hypex amp made an already impressive system MUCH more impressive.  Not a subtle improvement. 
Biggest strengths of the amp as I heard them: 
Bass reproduction:  very tuneful bass sound with great tone, weight, and energy
Natural tone:  the improvement was along the lines of having switched to a tube amp in terms of tone, but with the weight and power you'd expect from a SS amp
Greater coherence:  the sound was just more right, with instruments and voices being far more believable
You hit a home run with these - seriously.  I'd love to come back once you get yours put together.

From Ramesh:

Thank you much John for a memorable experience yesterday.
Bulmaro and I talked about the system all the way back home.
The amp was really impressive as Ken says, not to mention we were equally blown away by the speakers too.
It perfectly matched with the speakers and brought out the best.

I feel I must say something about any negatives, which from my perspective are few. As mentioned in an earlier post, they are sensitive regarding anything upstream. Using Anti-ICs, as I did when I first plugged them in, was too forward and a bit edgy in my system. If that couldn't have been ameliorated I would not have bought them. Going to some six nines copper Acrotec 2050 ICs, which I've owned for a long time and having often gone to when I need a dose of sweetness cleared that right up. The sound is certainly more forward than most other amps, but it is forward like live music is forward. On well recorded music the life of the music is right there, in an enjoyable way. However, this may not match up well in an already bright or forward system.
Obviously, the DIY aspect will exclude these from many people, but of course there will be a number of products based on this architecture, of that I'm sure, with different flavors- and much higher prices.
I look forward to trying more cabing, etc., with them to get the recipe right.

I shipped these on to TJHub today (and my PS Audio amp, which I sold over the weekend), and will place my order for NCores ASAP.

Thanks to Jason for this chance to hear them.