I guess not all amps are equal =)
I got this result when I compared my NCores with my current source F2J earlier in this thread.
If Hypex made the buyable NCore a current source amp like Bruno uses it in his LS1 then that would be an advancement.
As it is now I don't really get it, we have cheap DSP so we can use current source amps fairly easily. The improvement of the NCore is in the mid+high frequencies but what point is there of having an amp with 0.000X% distortion if you can have an amp with 0.X% distortion that in the end when combined with an actual speaker produces less distortion?
It's one of the reasons I sold my NCores and will use other amps for mid+high and limit the voltage source UCDs to handle the bass.
Seems we are seeing that the real question is, how do real speakers and amplifiers play together?
The elephant in this room is that speakers are not resistors. They have large load impedance and phase angle variations that will upset some amps. Then the question becomes, is the resulting sound what the listener prefers? If so, an amp that is immune from load effects will lack the "magic" of the susceptible amp.
For some of us (and some speakers) a current source amp might be the best solution. For others, it might not.
No, I don't think it is the elephant in *this* room. I think we have seen that the ncores are pretty good at dealing with even difficult loads.
One thing that would be a very interesting product is say a current source UcD36MP but with NCores instead. Or even more interesting a board where 2 of the amps are voltage source and 4 are current sources.
Then you could use vanilla voltage source NCore/UCD for the bass and go active with low power current source NCores above that.
Then you could use vanilla voltage source NCore/UCD for the bass and go active with low power current source NCores above that.
Yet it becomes an issue if the NCORE is "lacking" something, even if that something was a product of electronic misbehavior.
what makes you think that a current source amp will produce less distortion?
Hi OllBoll, Didn't know that you parted with your ncores. Did you realize that you preferred the Pass' presentation after all, or was the perceived difference too small to justify the price of the ncores?
I remember that I much preferred your ncores in your setup, but yet haven't been able to justify their price in my own.
I based my new system on a pair of UCD180s (with bypassed input buffers). They do a great job. In my setup I find the source a much bigger bottleneck than the amps. I would expect the same to be the situation in most setups. Those who consider the ncore over the UCD range should really consider whether their source(s) justify the extra outlay. When well-implemented I'm quite impressed with the UCD output stage's performance.
I measured it =)
The F2J has a lot 2nd order distortion though so if the NCore with it's less distortion would be a current source that one would be as low as with the vanilla NCore.
If I've understood correctly a current source can compensate for nonlinearities in the motor, more specifically BL and inductance if I remember correctly which is a major cause of distortion unless you buy very expensive drivers with very well built motors. ( Like for example AE lambda drivers where the performance on those is so good already the difference is marginal )
Between the Alephs and the NCores I thought the NCores sounded a bit too bright but it was so small so convenience won in favour of the NCores. I can't measure any difference but I could identify it easily by listening which is how I knew which amp was which when we tested them in the blind test.
The big difference was when I tested with a current source F2J where the F2J hadily beats the NCore in actual speaker distortion so I decided to go that route instead. Since I'm building my speaker myself using a current source amp isn't a problem and yields big advantages.
I also did testings with a series resistor on the NCore and the bigger resistor the closer did the NCore performance get to the pure current source F2J. It's not really practical to put a 100+ ohm resistor in series with your speaker though.
Whilst the Abacus is described as a 'transconductance amplifier, I can't actually see anything in the details or spec which show that it produces an output current which is proportional to input voltage, so I'm not convinced (yet) that it's a 'current source' amp in the same way that the current source version of the F2J is. The Atoll make no claims to be a current output amplifiier
Looking at the Tyler speaker, how are those 2 bass units wired? series or parallel?
rolandED - do a search on current drive of loudspeakers and there's loads of information on why it's innately a lower distortion way to drive a moving coil. There's a discussion about it back in the middle of this thread somewhere...
Yes, I would be very interested in a transconductance version of the nCore...
Looking at the Tyler speaker, how are those 2 bass units wired? series or parallel?
rolandED - do a search on current drive of loudspeakers and there's loads of information on why it's innately a lower distortion way to drive a moving coil. There's a discussion about it back in the middle of this thread somewhere...
Yes, I would be very interested in a transconductance version of the nCore...
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