[James Romeyn]

I thought Bruno's hometown was Leuven in Belgium.

Then I was sadly mistaken, for which I apologize!  Where's Perry Mason, Della Street, and Paul Drake when we need them? 

[James Romeyn]

Are you looking for a dual chassis 3 channel amp with separate power supply ?  I like the sound of that.  Want to make two!?

How kind of you to reply.

In a word, no.  I read about as much as I can and still eat, sleep, exercise, etc...my best guess is not much if any advantage with separate PS, but as always open to different opinions. 

So still thinking single chassis for 3x Ncore, 3x SMPS600.  So far, myself and two others (three total) want such an amp, all of us Trinaural nuts.  I would certainly think others would like such an amp for HT and combo HT/music systems. 

So if someone trips over a nice new commercial chassis not too much larger than minimum required, let me know.  I propose to have a local CNC shop set it up and offer the chassis for minimal markup on an ongoing basis.  Local pro labor rates are generally about 1/2 here in north Utah vs. metro rates in CA where I previously lived.

[Occam]

.....
So if someone trips over a nice new commercial chassis not too much larger than minimum required, let me know.  I propose to have a local CNC shop set it up and offer the chassis for minimal markup on an ongoing basis.  Local pro labor rates are generally about 1/2 here in north Utah vs. metro rates in CA where I previously lived.

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/siliconray-online-electronics-store/206613-some-enclosures-chasises-we-made-6.html#post2916144
It has a link to the commercial site

FWIW

[OzarkTom]

Sorry for sounding so skeptical, I am hoping this is a full breakthrough in amp design. I have been in this hobby for 40 years, heard many claims of superiority, only to be disappointed.

40+ year old Futtermans sounds better than the majority of amps, includding Class D, that are being made today. I am ready for a change.

Hey earflapping, how about a review on AC with some pics of your amps. The DIY forum is so full of posts, it is hard to read everything.

[mhconley]

So if someone trips over a nice new commercial chassis not too much larger than minimum required, let me know.

Width: 88mm x 3 = 264mm.  Depth: 88mm + 140mm = 228mm.  The 330mm wide x 280mm deep x 80mm high Galaxy Maggiorato is 53€ and should fit 3 NC400 and 3 SMPS600 quite nicely.

Martin

[James Romeyn]

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/siliconray-online-electronics-store/206613-some-enclosures-chasises-we-made-6.html#post2916144
It has a link to the commercial site

FWIW

Occam, thanks!  Love the rounded corners, good Feng Shui as Debra would say.

[Rclark]

Look at what everyone is saying about the bass on DIY.
Get the amps first.

 Yeah, as awesome as my TWO sounds, and it is an excellent amp, especially modded as mine is, my modded speakers are now just crying for more power, I get decently loud enough, but I want the full potential, total clarity and ease at volume, bass, I want everything I know these speakers can give. Power hungry Maggies, you know the story. It's already flipping incredible, but I'm all about the foundation, the music. Subs can come later. Going from about 85 at full power to an easy 400 top spec watts per side, monoblock, seperate supplies, yeah, with the bass and overall SQ I'm already getting.. The Ncores are going to be ridiculous.

 Listening to my system, I can already imagine what the Ncore's will bring to the table, and I want THAT.

 The TWO will go to my living room and power my monitors.

[*Scotty*]

Rclark, you're going to be wanting to put that fuse back in the tweeter circuit with 400 watts on tap.
You will be burning that tweeter sooner or later when you rock out at high SPL's.
Scotty

[Rclark]

Oh, I'll make sure to monitor things. I don't expect to go much over 100dB if ever. I'm already at a satisfying listening level, I just want the headroom and capability, and SQ improvements. I don't want to constantly watch for the clip light as I set my volume on different recordings (when I want to be "loud", around mid 80db range max currently).

For those that don't know, Maggies drink up power, it's nothing against my amp. Paired instead with my monitors, the spl can be enough to drive you from the room if you want.

[JDUBS]

Per the DIY thread owners of:

Atma-Sphere 60W OTL (appropriate speaker load), same user owns Clayton SS pure class A
Another A-S OTL owner (forgot model, ditto appropriate speaker load)
Accuphase
Other nice makes/models


...prefer their new Ncore not by small margins. 

Maybe every single new Ncore owner will keep their previous amp(s).  It would not be a huge surprise if some new Ncore user sells an amp he used prior. 

My closest relationship to Hypex is I'm of Dutch descent as is Bruno Putzeys (he likely higher percentage than myself).

My friend in the Netherlands now just purchased a Dutch Tent Labs amp, single tube input per channel, transformer coupling, earlier Hypex output.  In direct A-B he said it's "30-40%" better than the Australian Aksa NAKSA 100 now in my possession, one of the best amps I've heard.

Good designs coming from the Netherlands.

Just to put some focus on the difference an amp makes, which I'm sure most readers already know.  My $90 Dynaudio Esotec domes are decent tweeters, though there are definitely better.  The only thing between the domes and the amp is a Dueland resistor and a killer paper-in-oil capacitor.

Among other improvements, the NAKSA 100 makes the treble sound more than 100% better than the YBA.  The upgrade just sounds like a completely different system.   

After bass modes are solved (unless you settle for no deep bass, which is completely fine and often the case) and your source is ironed out, I think many users upgrade speakers way before the preamp/amp should have been replaced.  With an inferior amp you have no idea what the speakers are capable of. 

My 2c.       

Not sure what any of this means in the context of a response to a quoted piece of text that is not your own.
 
Thanks though.

-Jim

[earflappin]

Sorry for sounding so skeptical, I am hoping this is a full breakthrough in amp design. I have been in this hobby for 40 years, heard many claims of superiority, only to be disappointed.

40+ year old Futtermans sounds better than the majority of amps, includding Class D, that are being made today. I am ready for a change.

Hey earflapping, how about a review on AC with some pics of your amps. The DIY forum is so full of posts, it is hard to read everything.

Tom, no apologies required....    I have been in this hobby/obsession for about the same time and it is good to be skeptical...      Lots of over hyped products with few living up to their claims. 

I am posting my review from another forum at your request.  All I can say is it well worthy of an audition in your own system IMHO.  In terms of pictures I don't have mine in a chassis yet so there isn't much to look at, but I will try to post something nonetheless.  In fact, these things are ridiculously small.  The SMSP600 and two NC400's fit on an iPad...

[earflappin]

The following is an early review of my new NCORE amps at the request of Tom.  I have many more hours on them since I posted this.  The only early concern I had about them was whether they would become fatiguing like almost every other Class D amp I have auditioned.  I am happy to report they have not.  I attribute this to their balanced energy spectrum as I note in the review below.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I have been a die-hard Class A amp guy – SS and tubes including OTL’s - for decades. I tried a Halcro when they first came out. It may have boasted ultra-low distortion figures, but it was too sterile and thin sounding for my tastes. If this meant I liked an amp with coloration then so be it. Bring on the color.

A few months ago I bought a Class D Audio SDS kit just for kicks based on a friend’s recommendation. Compared to my Class A OTL’s they had better bass articulation, similar midrange, better macro/micro detail, but overall the tonal and energy balance wasn’t right. They sounded “over-caffeinated” and had a glassy, un-natural sounding high frequency, which quickly led to listener fatigue. The amp over exaggerated leading edge transients and truncated the decay. Despite these negatives, I found myself enjoying the SDS for periods of time, but ultimately preferring my Class A OTL’s for their better tonal balance and natural sound.

Within just a few seconds of listening to the nCore I knew they were a game changer. I have listened to probably over 4 hours of various recordings from classical to rock, unamplified to heavily synthesized and poor to excellent recordings.

First, the nCores get the tonal and energy balance right. Gone is the over-emphasis of the attack. Attack and decay sound like live music. There is a harmonic richness of instruments and vocalists, which grabs you. I listen to a lot of live unamplified music, especially piano and the nCores sound much more true to live. Second, the resolving power is phenomenal. Truly. The nCores expose details that I have never heard before on very familiar recordings and it does it with complete and utter effortlessness. One really notices this on complex passages. The size and location of performers and instruments as well as the recording venue are much more accurately rendered. Bass is the best I have ever heard. Lastly, the nCore sounds great at low volume and at even very high volume there is not even a hint of distortion.

Bottom line, I’d have to say the nCore’s live up the Hype(x).  A BIG congratulations to Bruno, Jan-Peter and the entire Hypex team as well as a thank you for making this new world class technology available to the DIY market.

Will the nCore’s be everyone’s cup of tea. I’m sure not. You will hear, for perhaps the first time, what the rest of your system and room really sound like and it might not be what floats your boat. If your source is a bit bright and thin you will hear it in all of its glory. For me I have worked very hard to build an accurate end to end playback chain and the nCores are the perfect fit. They are staying.

Lastly, just to put the information in one place a few words about my system. My speakers are Geddes Abbeys a two way, controlled directivity monitor with 12” compression driver loaded waveguide with foam insert and 12” pro woofer. They are 95 db efficient, have extremely flat polar response and are super dynamic. My source is a Metric Halo LIO8 DAC/PRE fed via FireWire from a Mac Mini both powered by custom linear power supplies fed from a PurePower 2000 battery-based regenerator.

[OzarkTom]

Pics would still be great earflippin. How hard was it to hook up? I have never tried a DIY'er. What size cabinents would you need, if these are so small?

Thanks for the review, earflappin.

[Rclark]

I think it would be neat to go with as tiny a case as possible, for emphasis.

[OzarkTom]

Here is an update about the DIY'er complaing on his cool and dry sounding Hypex Ncore.


"OK I've solved the problem I had with my sound. It turns out it was my DAC. If anyone's not familer with the Eastern Audio Minimax plus, it is a hybrid DAC using the ESS 9018 DAC chip. You can select from either using the tube output or solid state. There is 2 sets of opamps, one that outputs to both the tube and solid state output, and one that outputs to the dedicated solid state output. I have upgraded both sets of opamps. I upgraded the main opamps with the excellent Burson audio discrete opamps, and the solid state with New class a DEXA discrete opamps. With my Vecteur amp, I preferred the sound of the DEXA SS output. The tube output sounded great, but lacked the dynamics. Now that I'm using the NCores, I prefer the tube output. All of the body and soul that was missing before is back, but better then ever. The sound is pretty much perfect. I now realize the amps are flawless and that if there is any problem with the sound it's coming from the source. Although I have an excellent DAC, it is the weak link in the chain. I'm definately going to have to try some more DAC's with this amp. Once I have the amp fully built into my case, I'll be trying it with a PS Audio Perfectwave MKII. I have a feeling I might end up buying it. "

[earflappin]

It ain't pretty....but this is my temporary set-up.  I am using one SMPS600 (foreground) to power two NC400 modules (the round modules in the background).  I have a second SMPS600 coming as I wish to package my NCORES as mono blocks.  All the connectors come with the kit so it is dead easy to hook up.  You do need to provide your own IEC connector (the SMPS 600 is fused by the way), XLR/RCA connectors and binding posts.  You see two sets of speaker cables wired to my NC400's as I am passively bi-wired.  Below is a close up of one of the NC400 modules.  One SMPS600 and two NC400's will fit on an iPad...that is how small they are.

The entire NC400 is discrete, including the input buffer.  No IC's and a crazy low output impedance.

[OzarkTom]

Thanks for the pics!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That is very small.

[earflappin]

They are!!!  Ridiculously small and light.  There is no reason they should sound this good....

(1) They are Class D.  Class D has an un-natural, glossy high end which is fatiguing
(2) They use an SMPS.  SMPS are noisy and definitely not audiophile grade
(3) They use tons of feedback.  Feedback is BAD, terrible for the sound.  Open loop is what real audiophiles use.
(4) They are very small, light, efficient and don't generate much heat.  Audiophiles all know an amp sucks if it doesn't weigh a ton and generate enough heat to warm your house.
(5) They don't use tubes.  Crazy.  Audiophiles know tubes are required to make the music sound good, natural.

 

[James Romeyn]

Welcome to Hypex' "Class D baptism."   

earflappin,
I know the only answer to the following is in the hearing...but please comment if you feel so inclined...

I'm leaning toward one 3-ch box for Trinaural music system. 

Hypothetical.  Both below Ncore amps with separate SMPS600, high-quality IC/speaker cable:

Stereo amp, 3' IC, preamp unbalanced output, 10' speaker cable w/ .1 dB maximum signal loss
Mono-blocks, 11' IC, preamp unbalanced output, 3' speaker cable w/ .03 dB maximum signal loss

I appreciate comment on potential audible difference above.  For unknown reason I suspect Ncore is less sensitive than regular linear amps in the above applications.     

Ncore handles only above 120 Hz on this system.  Also appreciate comment on passive 2-way crossover (simple 1st order, high-quality parts) vs. biamp/active xo.  I similarly suspect Ncore exhibits less degradation than a regular linear amp powering passive crossovers.   

 

[OzarkTom]

They are!!!  Ridiculously small and light.  There is no reason they should sound this good....

(1) They are Class D.  Class D has an un-natural, glossy high end which is fatiguing
(2) They use an SMPS.  SMPS are noisy and definitely not audiophile grade
(3) They use tons of feedback.  Feedback is BAD, terrible for the sound.  Open loop is what real audiophiles use.
(4) They are very small, light, efficient and don't generate much heat.  Audiophiles all know an amp sucks if it doesn't weigh a ton and generate enough heat to warm your house.
(5) They don't use tubes.  Crazy.  Audiophiles know tubes are required to make the music sound good, natural.

 

I know I had given up on Class D, until I brought in that TBI Millenia integrated amp. I never thought Class D could sound so detailed, yet so natural sounding.

A Hypex is now a must on my list.