Hypex Ncore

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kevinh

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Joined 2007
ro9397 said:
Ditto, +1.

I recently discovered I was booted, only after clicking on an Audio Circle link from a Google search. My most "offensive" posts were:

A few days later I do a Google search, click on an Audio Circle link, and find I'm banned.

Ad to my oxygen/voo doo doll list all audio rags, ad revenue streams, and audio forums where Bruno does not pay ad fees.
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Sorry to hear that I was looking forward to your NCore review.


Some of the dogma has to do with audiophiles with a lot of $$$ + no technical knowledge.

Most of the folks there seem pretty nice. You hit a nerve apparently.
 
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earflappin

Member
Joined 2009
jtwrace said:
Among other things I've been called a Teddy Bear. :D

Seriously though, most of the AC members are a good bunch. Like any forum there are prickly ones.
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I agree. There are lots of good guys over there. The issue with AC IMHO....it is run like a non-benvolent dictatorship where the moderator/owner runs around yelling "off with their heads" like the queen in Alice in Wonderland. Thankfully he can only boot posters and not actually....well you know what I mean.... :)
 
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jtwrace

jtwrace

Member
Joined 2007
earflappin said:
I agree. There are lots of good guys over there. The issue with AC IMHO....it is run like a non-benvolent dictatorship where the moderator/owner boots people in knee jerk fashion like the queen in Alice in Wonderland.
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Well, that is your opinion. I can tell you that I wouldn't want to have to deal with the amount of BS that most of these site owners deal with. It's a thankless job and many do not even know what goes on behind the scene. Yes, they've all made the choice but might not have realised how much effort and money it would require.

Be nice on forums and treat others as you would want to be treated and usually you will be OK. The key is to let it go when you disagree.
 
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earflappin

Member
Joined 2009
troystg said:
Yes, just got back. Met Bruno, listened to the Mola Mola stuff and the Grimm Audio LS1's.

I'm not very happy that now I have to change my UcD's to NCores but to put it mildly you can tell a difference. Too much of a difference to ignore.
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Troy, did the Mola Mola unit you heard have the DAC board installed or was it just configured as an integrated amp (i.e. NC1200 modules with volume control)? I have the NC400's and a Metric Halo LIO-8 front end. I'm trying to understand if the Mola Mola DAC/PRE offers incremental performance improvements. From the pictures it appears the NCORE 1200's are packaged separately from the DAC/PRE unit so I am assuming it can be purchased separately as well for those of us who already have NCORE's ?

Thanks.
 
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earflappin

Member
Joined 2009
troystg said:
Amps were separate and not integrated.

Don't know the source or chain before the pre to amps to B&W 802d's.

I could never speculate on if something would improve "others" systems as I only know my own.
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Thanks for the response. It's interesting that Bruno and JP didn't make clear if the DAC module was installed in the Mola Mola PRE as this capability was highlighted in the pre-show marketing. Perhaps that module wasn't ready and so they just chose to downplay it. Do you recall if the PRE had a remote control for volume control?
 
troystg

troystg

Member
Joined 2004
earflappin said:
Thanks for the response. It's interesting that Bruno and JP didn't make clear if the DAC module was installed in the Mola Mola PRE as this capability was highlighted in the pre-show marketing. Perhaps that module wasn't ready and so they just chose to downplay it. Do you recall if the PRE had a remote control for volume control?
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The display unit had the DAC module and I don't think it was a motorized pot for the volume but could be mistaken on that one.
 
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StereoEditor

Member
Joined 2010
Bruno Putzeys said:
That's the cynical view. The non-cynical view of most high end is having philosophies instead of facts and esoteric parts instead of circuitry. Oh no that's still cynical. But there's a point. If one cared to look inside most high end equipment you'd find that whatever they lacked in knowledge they sure made up in expensive content. Heck, some buy up loads of obsolete parts under the presumption that they're better than the new stuff and on the other end of the scale some have their own power transistors made in an esoteric new technology. These guys are spending money, not raking it in.

Leaving aside the question of how well-designed the innards of an audio products are, there are some very basic economic facts:
1) Regardless of market, the mark-up between the BOM and the end-user price is around a factor 5. Most of that goes to the retailer. Then the distributor. The remaining pittance goes to the manufacturer.
2) Economy of scale: production cost drops with the logarithm of quantity until you hit the raw materials cost (i'm told that the old Philips TV factory in Bruges could reliably estimate the cost of a TV set by weighing it). The same product, manufactured in tens or in thousands ends up with a markedly different price tag.
3) People want their money's worth. You spend 5k on a piece of kit, it has to look expensive. I'm talking fit and finish, not looks. It may look "butt ugly" so long as it's polished like a baby's bottom (with only as many visible seams).

So you want to make a "better than average" product? That will make it more expensive than average. So you'll sell fewer of them. So your manufacturing cost will go up and you need to increase your profit margin. The price starts getting a bit "exclusive". So people will not want the same folded casework as a $25 DVD player. Some of these look pretty sleek with the sort of plastic casting that's available when you make 100k units. If you want to get the same quality with 1k units, it'll have to be machined. This spiral continues until a company almost but not entirely runs out of customers and equilibrium is reached. Of course, that leaves room for many more small companies with slightly different offerings who appeal to a different but equally small subset of potential audio buyers. All it takes is the above 3 obvious truths to explain why the high end market is saturated with innumerous tiny companies trying to be slightly different from one another. The same spiral explains why the middle segment (where say 1500 euros would buy a very decent stereo) has pretty much vanished from the market.

People seem to have the impression that manufacturers of high end gear are greedy bastards who are making way too much money. I can assure you that the companies that churn out cheapo DVD players have a boardroom full of way richer guys, none of whom actually give a damn for audio. Even a middle manager may fetch rather more than some of the people manufacturing the high-end gear that's meeting with such opprobium for their price tag.

You can have me ranting about the complete lack of technical sense shown by equipment designers and whatnot, but as far as economics goes, the smart ones and the stupid ones are in the same boat.
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Very belatedly responding to this posting, Bruno, in order to bookmark it. This is the best explanation of audio product pricing I have seen. And my apologies for not responding in anything like a timely manner to your recent email. - John

John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile
 
B

barrows

Member
Joined 2010
YES!

StereoEditor said:
Very belatedly responding to this posting, Bruno, in order to bookmark it. This is the best explanation of audio product pricing I have seen. And my apologies for not responding in anything like a timely manner to your recent email. - John

John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile
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+1, a complete explanation of how the high end pricing structure really "works".
 
Y

yetis

Member
Joined 2008
A little help.

So I finally was able to build my amps and sadly, they are not working! I am sure I did something, but any suggestions would help. First, are ALL the red LEDS supposed to light up? I am taking the fact that they have lit up, as there is power to the amps? Is this accurate? My other question is on the power button. I have opted not to have one. If I read the directions correctly, if you don't add a power button, the amps will just go into sleep mode when idle? Thus, I did nothing with the NAPON cable. Am I correct here? Finally, I made my own XLR cable. On the directions, they say to take the the shield wire and ground to the chassis and then ground pin one to the chassis. I took my shield wire and connected this to the pin 1 and then grounded the XLR connection I am using, via the supplied ground connection. Any reason this would not work? I am attaching some pics. I know its not pretty, but there are a lot of FIRSTS for me in this little box!

Chris

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 

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Y

yetis

Member
Joined 2008
mgalusha said:
The nAMPON needs to be connected to ground to enable the amp.
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AHH, I knew it was something this simple. Back to lair..

Quick question. I had the NAPON connected to the one metal leg of the power supply, mainly becuase I saw someone else do it that way.. and it still does not work? Should I be using the ground on the XLR?

THanks
 
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