Not really... Not all recordings are equally good so after listening to a couple of bad recordings I suffer from listening fatigue. But I think I would suffer from that even with the highest high end amp. for the good recordings: I think I would stop listening to my previous amps sooner than with the NXV500. Sound has no sharp edges which I consider very, very pleasant. I even turned op the volume of the tweeter from my Troels Gravesen Jenzen Next on step up. It's a small difference but the NXV500 can handle it without getting "sharp".
When I sum up the differences from my previous amp the list would be:
Warm but not too warm
Better soundstage
Bottom power for bass is very good without exaggeration
Balanced very good between al frequencies (bass, mid, highs well balanced)
As far as I can remember I like this amp better than my Pass Aleph 5 which I built many years ago.
When I sum up the differences from my previous amp the list would be:
Warm but not too warm
Better soundstage
Bottom power for bass is very good without exaggeration
Balanced very good between al frequencies (bass, mid, highs well balanced)
As far as I can remember I like this amp better than my Pass Aleph 5 which I built many years ago.
@Meanman: Maybe I'll drag it over to a diy-day someday
Breda, somewhere in May .Mostly the last weekend see zelfbouwaudio.nl
Well, I've been listening to the NXV500 r2 for some time now. The last stereo power-amp I had was a 100W Rotel. That was ages ago. Since I started building my own amps I only made mono amps. The NXV500 is the first stereo amp in at least 20 years. Now I know why I always wanted mono amps. Our cats never liked to sit on a mono amp. Our 11 year old cat we have now didn't like mono amps either. She likes stereo amps however to sit on. I don't like that. It seems the cat and I disagree about this. She has claws but I'm bigger. hope I can win this fight. Must remember she is female and also fights like a female...
Anyway. I had a small disappointment when I fired up the NXV500 after the transformer debacle. The DC protection on the UCD700 power supply did mot function as it should cutting off the power instantly after turning the powerswitch. As there was no DC on the speaker output I disconnected the DC protection and contacted Hypex what was wrong. There was nothing wrong. Hypex sells it's linear power supplies for the UCD 180 and UCD 400 with a normal working DC protection. When I bought the UCD700 power supplies I assumed they had a DC protection similar like the smaller ones. I was wrong. Only half the DC protection is on the UCD700 power supply. The rest is on the UCD700 module itself. Luckily I got some help and got the scheme to complete the DC protection. So now I have a working DC protection. Guess what... now I'm really happy
Anyway. I had a small disappointment when I fired up the NXV500 after the transformer debacle. The DC protection on the UCD700 power supply did mot function as it should cutting off the power instantly after turning the powerswitch. As there was no DC on the speaker output I disconnected the DC protection and contacted Hypex what was wrong. There was nothing wrong. Hypex sells it's linear power supplies for the UCD 180 and UCD 400 with a normal working DC protection. When I bought the UCD700 power supplies I assumed they had a DC protection similar like the smaller ones. I was wrong. Only half the DC protection is on the UCD700 power supply. The rest is on the UCD700 module itself. Luckily I got some help and got the scheme to complete the DC protection. So now I have a working DC protection. Guess what... now I'm really happy
IJscobar, I hope you don't mind if I post my experiences with the nxv-201PS in your topic.
After listening a while to the nxv-201PS amps, I already have done some calculations for building a pair of mono nxv-500's... They do sound REALLY REALLY well, I need to use a different source as I use AN DAC at the moment and this DAC is quite "colorful", but within a few weeks I will purchase a Chord QuteHD DAC and the Hynes Linear Power Supply and Audiophilleo AP1+PP to upgrade the Chord are already there. This should be a VERY neutral and VERY good quality source to be able to judge the nxv-201PS a bit better. But from what I have heard now while "playing" with different coupling caps in the AN DAC, they let hear REALLY well the differences between them.
I am talking about differences between: AN Copper/Mylar in oil (warm sounding, voices quite upfront, really nice soundstage with lots of depth, nice bass, lacking transparancy), V-Cap CUTf (a bit less but more detail in the low frequencies, nice warm mids voices placed a bit more to the rear in comparison with the AN cap, MUCH more detail at high frequencies, VERY neutral, missing depth in the soundstage and a missing "musicality" a bit), Duelund Cast CU (a tiny bit less transparant at high frequencies compared to V-Cap, VERY good bass, VERY good soundstage with lots of depth and width, a bit more "musicality" comes through, hard to explain but it sounds more "real" with less "polished" female voices compared to V-Cap, also instruments sound more "real", for me the absolute winner)
The mono casings I am using at the moment do have the space and the cooling capacity for the nxv-500's! Also the 1 KVa 2x55V transformer + small transformer for seperate PS for the "front end" can be fitted without problem. But first I need to save (quite) a bit of money to be able to buy all the stuff needed... But as told before, the nxv-201PS is doing a great job at the moment. I can really enjoy what is coming out! But it's still quite far from the SQ level from the NAD M2 I owned before, but I am sure with a different DAC it will be far better. The AN is quite "colorful" (or coloring if you want to look it a different way) which is not always a bad thing, but the EXTREMELY fast, dynamic, powerful, open sound of the NAD can't be achieved... (yet) But I have missed a bit of the "tube magic" from the first moment I owened the NAD...
Mark.
After listening a while to the nxv-201PS amps, I already have done some calculations for building a pair of mono nxv-500's... They do sound REALLY REALLY well, I need to use a different source as I use AN DAC at the moment and this DAC is quite "colorful", but within a few weeks I will purchase a Chord QuteHD DAC and the Hynes Linear Power Supply and Audiophilleo AP1+PP to upgrade the Chord are already there. This should be a VERY neutral and VERY good quality source to be able to judge the nxv-201PS a bit better. But from what I have heard now while "playing" with different coupling caps in the AN DAC, they let hear REALLY well the differences between them.
I am talking about differences between: AN Copper/Mylar in oil (warm sounding, voices quite upfront, really nice soundstage with lots of depth, nice bass, lacking transparancy), V-Cap CUTf (a bit less but more detail in the low frequencies, nice warm mids voices placed a bit more to the rear in comparison with the AN cap, MUCH more detail at high frequencies, VERY neutral, missing depth in the soundstage and a missing "musicality" a bit), Duelund Cast CU (a tiny bit less transparant at high frequencies compared to V-Cap, VERY good bass, VERY good soundstage with lots of depth and width, a bit more "musicality" comes through, hard to explain but it sounds more "real" with less "polished" female voices compared to V-Cap, also instruments sound more "real", for me the absolute winner)
The mono casings I am using at the moment do have the space and the cooling capacity for the nxv-500's! Also the 1 KVa 2x55V transformer + small transformer for seperate PS for the "front end" can be fitted without problem. But first I need to save (quite) a bit of money to be able to buy all the stuff needed... But as told before, the nxv-201PS is doing a great job at the moment. I can really enjoy what is coming out! But it's still quite far from the SQ level from the NAD M2 I owned before, but I am sure with a different DAC it will be far better. The AN is quite "colorful" (or coloring if you want to look it a different way)
which is not always a bad thing, but the EXTREMELY fast, dynamic, powerful, open sound of the NAD can't be achieved... (yet) But I have missed a bit of the "tube magic" from the first moment I owened the NAD...Mark.
IJscobar, I hope you don't mind if I post my experiences with the nxv-201PS in your topic.
Mark.
No problem at all Mark!
Nice review! I guess there will alway be better amps but in the end the amp makes you forget everything around you when you play music is good enough for me
Must say I can hardly wait for you to buy the NXV500 and use them with the smaller separate power supply. I'm very interested to know if this makes any difference in SQ. A long time ago I owned a pair of Thel Accusound100 amps which also had a separate power supply. I was not able to hear the difference.nxv-500 + Jenzten
Hi ljscobar,
I've read your post today and have found just impressive that two different people from two different countries, who have never been in contact, own at the same time Anthony Holton's nxv 500 and Troels Gravesen's Jenzen (yours are the Next and mine the Illuminator).
Last year, Anthony built for me two stereo fully separated monoblocks using the nxv-500 modules, with which I bi-amp the Jenzen. Despite the fact that I owned quite many differents amps, I must say that they are by far the ones that I prefer in all the aspects. They drive my 3 way speakers very easily, in a 100 sq room...
Last year I've presented these amps to the High End Swiss in Zurich to some exhibitors that I know (speakers and/or amplifiers delaers or importers). After several tests done in the after hours, many of the them were speechless. One of them (who distributes a well know French amplifier brand) even borrowed of my amps and had it 2 weeks at home...).
A couple of weeks ago, I ordered other nxv 500 modules as I would like to "try" to build news amps, using a more capacitative nvxpsu-2 (loaded to the max) as well as the nxVolt-one. The trafos will also be bigger that what I have now, ordered at Toroidy. Let's see...
A big thank to Anthony, who is always very friendly, reactive and helpful. By the way, I also plan to build the ATS-4 this year. Lot of work and almost no experience...
Cheers !
Hi ljscobar,
I've read your post today and have found just impressive that two different people from two different countries, who have never been in contact, own at the same time Anthony Holton's nxv 500 and Troels Gravesen's Jenzen (yours are the Next and mine the Illuminator).
Last year, Anthony built for me two stereo fully separated monoblocks using the nxv-500 modules, with which I bi-amp the Jenzen. Despite the fact that I owned quite many differents amps, I must say that they are by far the ones that I prefer in all the aspects. They drive my 3 way speakers very easily, in a 100 sq room...
Last year I've presented these amps to the High End Swiss in Zurich to some exhibitors that I know (speakers and/or amplifiers delaers or importers). After several tests done in the after hours, many of the them were speechless. One of them (who distributes a well know French amplifier brand) even borrowed of my amps and had it 2 weeks at home...).
A couple of weeks ago, I ordered other nxv 500 modules as I would like to "try" to build news amps, using a more capacitative nvxpsu-2 (loaded to the max) as well as the nxVolt-one. The trafos will also be bigger that what I have now, ordered at Toroidy. Let's see...
A big thank to Anthony, who is always very friendly, reactive and helpful. By the way, I also plan to build the ATS-4 this year. Lot of work and almost no experience...
Cheers !
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