Maybe i don't understand what people are even talking about with this "no air" or "faster decay" thing. I have both very airy and very dry presentations with nCore. Some recordings have lots of "air" real or artificially created. Some recordings are very dry, and in most cases the dry sound suits them. And everything between. Aren't you supposed to experience all varieties of dry/wet with different recordings? They can't all just sound wet, can they?
Also, doesn't this excess wetness eat the rhythm away from the recordings? If there is decays all over the place (even if not present in the recording) then the decay of an impulse is overlapping the attack of the next one. Maybe this is the "haze" i am talking about, and i sure don't like it. Maybe that "slow decay" thing is exactly it.
Imo, it might make all recordings sound warm and cozy, but also lifeless and flat. Maybe for some its the "analogue" sound tho.
Also, doesn't this excess wetness eat the rhythm away from the recordings? If there is decays all over the place (even if not present in the recording) then the decay of an impulse is overlapping the attack of the next one. Maybe this is the "haze" i am talking about, and i sure don't like it. Maybe that "slow decay" thing is exactly it.
Imo, it might make all recordings sound warm and cozy, but also lifeless and flat. Maybe for some its the "analogue" sound tho.
I have read reviews about UCD/nCore based amps, that according to the reviews they have "air" like a tube amp (i.e. more than a normal solid state) but has power like a AB amp for low freqs. However, this contradicts with subjective opinions of some users. Very hard to understand the problem and what exactly this "air" even means in different contexts.
Harmonic distortion created by analogue gear sounds pleasantly 'warm and fuzzy', and is sympathetic in frequency to the original content so does not sound out of place to an untrained ear. It can increase prominence of instruments in a mix, it can also make bass appear more present, by creating frequencies not found in the original content. However in the process it robs the performance of fast transients, making things seem more muddled. This is a fact, and we use harmonic distortion algorithms in the audio mastering process to increase perceived loudness and presence without increasing actual gain. However there is a clear point when it has gone too far and the slider needs to be backed off a little due to the loss of transients. Because amps like the Hypex are new on the market it is unfair to compare them with traditional class A or AB offerings, as without that added harmonic distortion the information being presented is different.
I work with my ears, and have done for years. Once I heard the nCores for the first time everything else was sold very quickly. They don't add anything and present exactly what is there which might not be to some peoples tastes, but going on a witch hunt to prove that they are actually taking something away which 'should have' been there in the first place (because one is so used to hearing it) just shows a lack of understanding of the limitations of more traditional equipment.
This debate is therefore pointless, and it strikes me that some individuals are trying to defend a corner, despite there being no threat other than the one they are creating with their ideas of what an amp 'should' be. If I were to define 'perfect' as nothing added, nothing taken away, then it would be a suitable description for the nCore. If 'perfect' were defined as 'what I would like to hear' then it is entirely subjective and no amount of 'he said this, you said that' will lead to a worthwhile conclusion.
As it happens, a lot of recorded music sounds pretty poor on nCores, but some sounds absolutely incredible and therefore blaming the amp because it has the ability to show a poor recording is like killing the postman because he brought you bad news. Think about the Beatles 'Abbey Road' - a very important record in the history of music production, almost certainly mixed and mastered while listening through valve equipment. The reproduction of that record is not complete without the harmonic distortion introduced by the valve chain. However move forward to 2013 and we have music being made entirely within a digital system, never even seeing a CD pressing plant before it gets to the ears. In this instance an amp which appears to reproduce faithfully what it is given without coloration is exactly what is required.
Personally I will not be looking longingly at another amplifier (until Bruno comes up with something better - and even then I will be cautious because there's nothing here that I can complain about).
I work with my ears, and have done for years. Once I heard the nCores for the first time everything else was sold very quickly. They don't add anything and present exactly what is there which might not be to some peoples tastes, but going on a witch hunt to prove that they are actually taking something away which 'should have' been there in the first place (because one is so used to hearing it) just shows a lack of understanding of the limitations of more traditional equipment.
This debate is therefore pointless, and it strikes me that some individuals are trying to defend a corner, despite there being no threat other than the one they are creating with their ideas of what an amp 'should' be. If I were to define 'perfect' as nothing added, nothing taken away, then it would be a suitable description for the nCore. If 'perfect' were defined as 'what I would like to hear' then it is entirely subjective and no amount of 'he said this, you said that' will lead to a worthwhile conclusion.
As it happens, a lot of recorded music sounds pretty poor on nCores, but some sounds absolutely incredible and therefore blaming the amp because it has the ability to show a poor recording is like killing the postman because he brought you bad news. Think about the Beatles 'Abbey Road' - a very important record in the history of music production, almost certainly mixed and mastered while listening through valve equipment. The reproduction of that record is not complete without the harmonic distortion introduced by the valve chain. However move forward to 2013 and we have music being made entirely within a digital system, never even seeing a CD pressing plant before it gets to the ears. In this instance an amp which appears to reproduce faithfully what it is given without coloration is exactly what is required.
Personally I will not be looking longingly at another amplifier (until Bruno comes up with something better - and even then I will be cautious because there's nothing here that I can complain about).
In the recording industry, 'air' is usually understood to be content in the mix from about 15kHz upwards. Out of the range of any of the instruments, but helps to create a sense of 'space' psychoacoustically.
Adding 1.5dB of gain with a high shelf at about 17kHz is a common trick to make a stereo mixdown sound more crisp and detailed.
Adding 1.5dB of gain with a high shelf at about 17kHz is a common trick to make a stereo mixdown sound more crisp and detailed.
Last edited:
Just to make it clear, I am not missing any "air", and I am not missing any "warmth". I do not know why thats being brought up. But audio-semantics is quite fuzzy, isnt it?! 
What I subjectively is experiencing is that the opposite of reverberation is applied
You really have to choose every word with delicate caution when Julf is around!
What I subjectively is experiencing is that the opposite of reverberation is applied
You really have to choose every word with delicate caution when Julf is around!
Last edited:
I now apply the tin hat to my head for defence against the inevitable onslaught from those still trying to find holes in the statement 'nothing added, nothing taken away'. What you think of as being taken away never existed in the first place. An amp designer can leave in distortion that they were unable to remove and call it a 'signature' sound, or they can work very hard to eliminate that distortion completely. I for one appreciate Bruno Putzey's hard work, and don't think for a moment that he was intending to appeal to the traditional audiophile hifi market when he released these new designs.Another analogy is that more traditional amps could be considered to offer 'rose-tinted spectacles' - some of them with extremely well polished lenses which give a fantastic image. To my ears the Hypex is what you get when those lenses have been removed completely, and could be considered by some to be 'perfection' if that's what they are looking for. Comparing the two is therefore futile as it's not like for like, especially if you wish to fiercely defend the idea that all amps need to have a 'sound' of their own.
Audio semantics are pretty clear, audiophile semantics less so
That's the problem with engineers (those pesky nerds who design the gear you use) - they don't like fuzzy language.
Well, "air" might be the wrong term, but I think this lack of reverb thing is the amp actually controlling the cone motion (as it should), instead of interacting with the load impedance variations. Hence, the resistor suggestion to loosen things up a bit.
As long as you are aware that in doing that, you lose one of the major benefits of the nc400 (the high damping factor / current capability).
Yes, agreed. I wouldn't do it, since I think the amp should be load insensitive.
Ok. So, we are most probably much talking about the "amount of decay" then, not "openness" or "easiness" of sound many times is referred also as "air". If that is a problem for some, maybe putting something in front of it with tubes and/or Minimum phase filter (instead of simple brick wall FIR) cures the problem. nCore will amplify all the extra sparkle too. The sound will be as "lush" and round as the nCore is fed with.
Tbh, I haven't heard nCore with that many different sources, but with the ones i have tried the outcome has been a bit different each time.
I am sounding like a "flat-earther" these days but i really think that with very neutral amp such as UCD/nCore you need a "good" source. And with "good" I mean the one that makes you listen to music of your liking, which does not exclude very neutral source either.
Last edited:
Yes, it's a good news/bad news sort of thing. A very revealing system also reveals imperfections in the source.
Nothing wrong with being a flat earther
- one of my systems is a tube amp driving LS3/5a's, but while I like the sound of that system too, there is no way I would claim it is the "best" or "most accurate" system in any absolute sense.
i made some measurements myself and the results are puzzling me: same room, same speakers, same position, same levels, same microphone - only the amps change. Some amps show low distortion values (0.2-0.4%) over the whole mid+high range, others show high values (2.0-3.8%). Of course the amps measured by them selfs show all values under 0.01%.
What could be the cause for this behaviour?
What could be the cause for this behaviour?
Last edited:
- Status
- Not open for further replies.