Hypex NCore NC400 - USA Tour Listening Impressions

roscoeiii · « **Reply #40 on:** 22 Apr 2012, 01:16 am »

Wow another stellar review. Hope a more detailed comparison with the Atmas is possible.

saisunil · « **Reply #41 on:** 22 Apr 2012, 01:57 am »

Any comparison with TRL Samsons would be appreciated and supremely interesting ...
If N-Core is arm's length away from the Samsons - I am in

zybar · « **Reply #42 on:** 22 Apr 2012, 03:25 am »

Quote from: jtwrace on 22 Apr 2012, 12:57 am

I agree but that's one of the things that the A-S OTL's did for me that I didn't like. TO ME, it was very unrealistic...

Look forward to more thoughts!

Will you be trying them on your HT too? Even if you just tried them on that brand....

Probably not, but you never know.

George

lonewolfny42 · « **Reply #43 on:** 22 Apr 2012, 05:28 am »

Shoot a photo George.....thanks.

GS · « **Reply #44 on:** 22 Apr 2012, 08:57 am »

Quote from: zybar on 22 Apr 2012, 12:47 am

Ok, here are just a few comments as I won't have time till tomorrow to really write something.

1. The amps are darn good - period!!

2. I really don't care whether they are Class D, A, A/B, etc...they make music and are very engaging.

3. These amps are one the BEST values I have come across in the last 15 years! To get this level of performance for this amount of money is just insane!

4. Strengths:

Fast, detailed, and dead quiet.
Very engaging and does a great job drawing you into the music.
Lots of slam and impact.
Can play at high levels (over 100 db peaks) with no distortion, compression, or hardness
Small form factor and energy draw
Extra power/headroom is greatly appreciated

5. Weaknesses:

Not as spacious and big sounding as my current amps
Female vocals aren't quite as sexy and seductive sounding
No glowing tubes

I'll post more tomorrow.

George

George,
thanks for the quick revue.
Very promissing.
Can you tell us how sensitive your speakers are
The Ncore "only" delivers 200/400w at 8/4 ohm
(speakers with 85db/w as maggies needs a lots of watts)

Jerry

SlushPuppy · « **Reply #45 on:** 22 Apr 2012, 09:03 am »

Quote from: GS on 22 Apr 2012, 08:57 am

George,
thanks for the quick revue.
Very promissing.
Can you tell us how sensitive your speakers are
The Ncore "only" delivers 200/400w at 8/4 ohm
(speakers with 85db/w as maggies needs a lots of watts)

Jerry

George has Vandersteen 5A's.

From Vandersteen:

FREQUENCY RESPONSE
22Hz to 30kHz + or - 2dB

EFFICIENCY
87dB at 1 meter with a 2.83 volt input.

RECOMMENDED AMPLIFIER
40 TO 200 watts per channel into 8 ohms for the upper section, 400-watt subwoofer amplifier built in.

IMPEDANCE
6 ohms nominal, 4 ohms minimum.

GS · « **Reply #46 on:** 22 Apr 2012, 11:50 am »

Quote from: SlushPuppy on 22 Apr 2012, 09:03 am

George has Vandersteen 5A's.

From Vandersteen:

FREQUENCY RESPONSE
22Hz to 30kHz + or - 2dB

EFFICIENCY
87dB at 1 meter with a 2.83 volt input.

RECOMMENDED AMPLIFIER
40 TO 200 watts per channel into 8 ohms for the upper section, 400-watt subwoofer amplifier built in.

IMPEDANCE
6 ohms nominal, 4 ohms minimum.

Thakns for the information.
I will keep in mind that with a build-in sub the lowest bass - the deep bass will not be powered by the Ncore.
Jerry

zybar · « **Reply #47 on:** 22 Apr 2012, 12:07 pm »

Quote from: GS on 22 Apr 2012, 11:50 am

Thakns for the information.
I will keep in mind that with a build-in sub the lowest bass - the deep bass will not be powered by the Ncore.
Jerry

100Hz and below is handled by the built in subs.

I will be trying the amps in a friend's system which features Wilson Sasha speakers. Not only are they full range, they also have a fairly low and tough impedance curve.

George

zybar · « **Reply #48 on:** 22 Apr 2012, 12:09 pm »

Quote from: lonewolfny42 on 22 Apr 2012, 05:28 am

Shoot a photo George.....thanks.

Not really much to see Chris...

Take the picture of my system, take out the beautiful Atma-Sphere amps, and put two small black boxes without faceplates in their place.

George

zybar · « **Reply #49 on:** 22 Apr 2012, 12:11 pm »

Quote from: GS on 22 Apr 2012, 08:57 am

George,
thanks for the quick revue.
Very promissing.
Can you tell us how sensitive your speakers are
The Ncore "only" delivers 200/400w at 8/4 ohm
(speakers with 85db/w as maggies needs a lots of watts)

Jerry

You will have no problem driving the Maggies to very loud levels.

I have hit peaks over 100db's and felt like the system could go louder (although my ears certainly didn't want to).

George

Big Red Machine · « **Reply #50 on:** 22 Apr 2012, 01:13 pm »

Were these diy'd by someone and then sent out?

Single ended IC's? Or were these set up with xlr's and truly balanced?

zybar · « **Reply #51 on:** 22 Apr 2012, 01:41 pm »

Quote from: Big Red Machine on 22 Apr 2012, 01:13 pm

Were these diy'd by someone and then sent out?

Single ended IC's? Or were these set up with xlr's and truly balanced?

Pete,

The are jtwrace's pair. He is being super generous and allowing people to audition the amps.

They are xlr only.

For those who don't have xlr, TomS sent me some adapters which I am including in the package.

George

mgalusha · « **Reply #52 on:** 22 Apr 2012, 09:48 pm »

A little follow up, I got my amps running last Monday and have found nothing to change my opinion thus far.

There isn't a lot to say about the sound, they seem to just get out of the way, in a good way that is, they just allow the music to flow. I did have the opportunity for a comparison today, a friend brought over his Luxman M-600, a 30WPC class A amp. I've heard the Luxman before in my system and his and it's always been rich though I found it lacking in the perceived speed and extension compared my Atma-Sphere. Swapping in the Luxman for the NC400 was a surprise in a few ways. It sounded rather compressed and muddled in comparison and the biggest surprised was the harmonic richness, where we both expected the Luxman to shine, was actually better with the NCore. Swapping the amps back made the differences even clearer, there was just more musical information with the Hypex amps.

Both were run in balanced mode, same cables, stand and everything else, just the amps were changed.

While I'm sure the little NC isn't for everyone, I'm all smiles every time I listen to music. Played some Bob Marley on vinyl Friday night, never heard it like that before, had to play side two a second time just because I enjoyed it so much.

Looking forward to George's comments on how it drives a harder load than what I have.

mike

santacore · « **Reply #53 on:** 22 Apr 2012, 10:13 pm »

Quote

Played some Bob Marley on vinyl Friday night, never heard it like that before, had to play side two a second time just because I enjoyed it so much.

Can't wait to get mine in the next batch!!

zybar · « **Reply #54 on:** 23 Apr 2012, 12:30 am »

Quote from: macrojack on 22 Apr 2012, 10:53 pm

I know almost nothing about electronics but I do know the answer to most of the questions that are being asked here over and over again. That's because I read the information provided by Hypex on their website. Jtwrace has linked that same info to us numerous times and still the same questions are repeated.

Please do us all a favor - if you are generally interested in these amplifiers (as I think you should be) then learn from the man who designed them instead of asking other members to misinform you.

Now, for my part, when I had these amps in my house, I simply hooked them up to a Reference Line 3000 passive preamp I bought from a friend for $200 back around 1994. There was no noise. The ambient SPL in my living room in the middle of the night with everything turned off and everybody sleeping registers at 54 db. With the amps turned on, no source selected, and the gain on the passive at noon, the SPL was the same.

So, regardless of what should happen, would happen or could happen, nothing was heard. These things are dead silent. Oh, and by the way, that was into 108 db efficient horns.

It may take some of you a good while to overcome your prejudices but I can tell you that the case appears to be closed. The NC400 is flat out better than anything AC members can afford to buy. This, I'm afraid, will include the fire bottles. If you really mean it when you say,"It's all about the music", then it's gonna have to be all about NCore. On a purely sonic basis, they are about as good as anybody could require.

Not sure if they "are as good as anybody could require", but as I already posted...THEY ARE DAMN GOOD!!

I have thrown every type of music I listen to at them and I just want to keep playing more.

I see a late night of listening before they ship off in the morning.

George

MoonUnit · « **Reply #55 on:** 23 Apr 2012, 02:42 am »

I don't think I've ever read reviews of a product that are so overwhelmingly positive! I'm not looking forward to getting rid of my current amp, but you guys have me pretty much sold.

Are there any weaknesses at all to these amps?

zybar · « **Reply #56 on:** 23 Apr 2012, 02:47 am »

Thanks again to Jason for making this happen and giving me the opportunity to hear them for myself.

Below is my last playlist with the amps (looks like the artist info got stripped out on many tracks - you can probably figure out the artist - but ask if you can't).

I'll post further on the amps in the next day or two.

George

*Scotty* · « **Reply #57 on:** 23 Apr 2012, 05:42 am »

George, are the Ncores directly connected to the 5As or are the Speltz Zero Autoformers in between the Ncore amps and the speakers.
Scotty

zybar · « **Reply #58 on:** 23 Apr 2012, 10:42 am »

Quote from: *Scotty* on 23 Apr 2012, 05:42 am

George, are the Ncores directly connected to the 5As or are the Speltz Zero Autoformers in between the Ncore amps and the speakers.
Scotty

Direct.

George

jtwrace · « **Reply #59 on:** 23 Apr 2012, 03:42 pm »

Quote from: zybar on 23 Apr 2012, 02:47 am

Thanks again to Jason for making this happen and giving me the opportunity to hear them for myself.

Quote

I'll post further on the amps in the next day or two.

I know I'm very much looking forward to it and I'm sure others are too.