I enjoyed my time with the Nuforce 8.02s, but didn’t love them. They were good amps and good for the money (well what I paid) but after all the raving I had heard about them I expected more.
In summary I preferred the 500Ms in almost every department. If you want more read below, and if you want even more just ask and I can embellish more:
Comparing heat (big for me) the 500Ms run cold at all times, even after demoing bits of movies at high volumes for 2 hrs. The 8.02s would run warm all the time, and get a little warmer after use, but never hot. Physically these two are similar, with the 500Ms being a little heavier and a inch or two larger on all sides. When it comes to noise the 500Ms are the quietest amps I have ever heard, I had to be 6in or less to hear noise from the tweeter. The 8.02s were weird, I could hear noise from 2-3ft away, but once something was playing it went away.
Sound quality wise I much preferred the 500Ms. Bass came and went very quickly, it was almost unnaturally fast. The bass was very taught and went deep like the 8.02s, but it went measurably deeper on my Gallos and also seemed more accurate. The mids were better on the 500M, voices seem to emanate from inside of the room instead of from the speakers. Listening to Diana Krall with the 500Ms it seemed like her voice was coming out of thin air. The highs were similar, both were a little brighter then my Cinenova but never harsh. Soundstage width was about the same between the amps, and depth and height the nod goes to the 500M. Scale was portrayed much better with the 500Ms also, I assume because of the 5x increase in power. Most of the differences were slight though, except for the improvement in bass, that was noticeable on the first track.
