Hopefully I'll still have the AKSA Naksa 100 after my little Ncore jewels arrive.
The last super high-quality amp I owned was 2011 Linn Chakra Majik 3100, 3x 57/100Wrms @ 8/4 Ohms...The only known upgrade to Chakra architecture since it arrived '99 (Klimax mono blocks) I know of is the switch from linear to SMPS. I had the SMPS. Chakra is unique. It employs a pure analog monolithic chip. Chips have better tolerance values compared to normal discrete circuits, but chips pass little current. Linn increased current capacity by adding bipolar transistors at the output. Chakra is like Quad's ancient "current dumping" but a chip replaces the discreet circuit.
I loved the Majik, even more than Atma-Sphere OTL, but needed more power. The 3x 114/200W 8/4 Ohm Linn Akurate is about $5500.
The Majik amp is gone now. The Naksa 100 is in league with Chakra sound quality/pleasure best I can tell, but they have a different gestalt. If I had to pick a winner I'd lean to Naksa 100, less noise (between and with the notes), and treble maybe best I've heard, cymbals and overall percussion effects pop in the stage very much like live, leading edge transients super quick yet completely natural. Both amps fatigue free all day. Naksa plays louder I think. I think the Naksa has a slight fingerprint, something I never heard in the Majik...yet there be a more natural effect with the Naksa. Kind of like a tube sound effect, but extremely faint, much less than any tube regardless of cost (I always hear tube noise with all-tube amps...not saying I can't adjust to it and like the amp, but it's there and most noticeable when you first hear it...well, maybe not the $150k Lamm monos with Wilson speakers at 2012 CES, but c'mon, what do you expect at that price?)
Naksa 100 vs. Ncore a great rumble! (both in stereo only because the Naksa 100 is stereo)
Re. Bruno enjoying conversation, and not being afraid to call designers out for shoddy design: I've been around James Bongiorno quite a bit. James, um, has strong opinions of most everything related to audio design in general, and power amp in particular. If you don't know his history, check it. He's one of the high end's original inventors. In the early 2000s at CES when James won the High End Audio Technology Award (for Trinaural) he had a conversation with one of the head designers at Meridian (IIRC) and was just openly mocking their test equipment, which James considered to be from the stone age.
I would pay money to hear a conversation between James and Bruno. It would be quite interesting because James is really into the hard science of test specifications, which it seems Bruno is also. James one of analog's originals, Bruno with similar record (though shorter) in the digital realm.
ETA next batch Ncore is week 11, starts Monday 18 March!
