Hypex Ncore

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My two cents would be that since NCore and UCD are closely related, and you know the UCD well, a comparison between those two would be the most valuable comparison for you.

Closely related?
According to what the master promises, and the first reviews here, Ncore is a pretty large improvement compared with UCD.
To me this means that Ncore might take its place among the better sounding amplifiers (DIY or not), which UCD did not achieve IMO.
Therefore I'd be more interested in comparisons with the better sounding amps.
Time will come that I will be able to do a comparison myself, I am not in the hunt. In the meantime there will be more reviews and user comments which will be very welcome to make the picture.
 
What's all this fuzz about listening experience. I thought even an old and cheap amp like Crown XTi was transparent. At least that what many believe in the objective community. ;)
yeap, heard that before.
as for the UCD vs the "real amps"... using the UCD as pre for the F4 really got me thinking. if I liked the sound of this setup more (in some respects) than the UCD alone, is it maybe that it's distortion that I'm linking?
which got me thinking... maybe I should measure distortion of the UCD with low vs high load? just ranting... :)
 
yeap, heard that before.
as for the UCD vs the "real amps"... using the UCD as pre for the F4 really got me thinking. if I liked the sound of this setup more (in some respects) than the UCD alone, is it maybe that it's distortion that I'm linking?
which got me thinking... maybe I should measure distortion of the UCD with low vs high load? just ranting... :)

Apparently you did not succeed to drive your F4 with a good quality voltage source (I see the thread is closed).
That is a pity; comparing a well functioning F4 set up with your UCD would make more sense IMO.
 
yes, it got closed because the religious herd got so upset thinking that I was criticizing their much loved amps. when, in fact (as I tried to explain in all the ways that I could) I was just trying to debug the F4. some even picked up on the improvised heat sinks :) yeah, I can bet it's because of that. all that affair left me with a bitter taste which will prevent from attempting a discussion there again (my definition of discussion is not anything that ends with "thank you Mr. Pass for an incredible product, you are a genius").

and how do you explain the fact that UCD alone has a very wide sound stage (mind that layout inside the case is very poor with my UCD implementation and MUCH better with the F4).

PS: the fact that you seem to be hunting my post is making you look like some kind of stalker (that is not a good thing, BTW)
 
and how do you explain the fact that UCD alone has a very wide sound stage (mind that layout inside the case is very poor with my UCD implementation and MUCH better with the F4).

When I remember well you have Dynaudio speakers which are rather power and current hungry.
I can well imagine that a low output impedance amp like the UCD will cope better with such a load; an amp like the F4 must work harder into more difficult loads, and in my experience that usually goes at the cost of bass control and sound stage.
 
When I remember well you have Dynaudio speakers which are rather power and current hungry.
I can well imagine that a low output impedance amp like the UCD will cope better with such a load; an amp like the F4 must work harder into more difficult loads, and in my experience that usually goes at the cost of bass control and sound stage.
isn't the whole point of the target 'good' amp, the holy grail of 'good' amps, that it is universally 'good'? Ie. That it doesn't particularly care about the load - it soaks up whatever it's connected to?

What for example, would be a 'fair' load to compare an ncore with an F4?
And would this be a case of system synergy? In which case does this imply the F4 needs a particular type of load to give of its best?

System synergy for a power amp and speaker would imply complementary non-linearities between amp and speaker or euphonic distortions within the system. Equalization and euphonic distortions (signal processing) are best applied before the power amp if they are required

Or is it simply a case of keeping the F4 within its voltage/current/power operating range? In which case, what are these bounds?

I get the feeling that the ncore won't care what it drives
 
....Or is it simply a case of keeping the F4 within its voltage/current/power operating range? In which case, what are these bounds?

I get the feeling that the ncore won't care what it drives

Yes I think that in this case the F4 had trouble driving the loudspeaker.
86dB 4ohm bass reflex speakers demand quite some power and control, and I remember that Dynaudio speakers were no exception.
The F4 deserves a 90+dB 8ohm speaker in my opinion to give of its best, for example a not too high Q closed box (this no feedback amp has a damping factor of 20 at a 4 ohm load).
UCD and Ncore will eat about everything.
 
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