Hypex Ncore

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well, if you don't need 400W the advantages seem to vanish. the only chance is that the NCORE beats very good class A amps by more than a small margin. for me the price/quality advantage is gone.



Well if you need the power for your application it isn't close in terms of cost, not to mention the cost of ownership, the electricity consumed by a Ncore as opposed to a 400w class A amp. Also less demand on the AC power.
 
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..... because class D is EVIL!

nah, its just electronics, components

you know, every year there is something better than last year
its not 'the best' fore very long
its a never ending story

but 'good' stays good
it never gets any less
unless it fails ofcourse, or gets worn out

all that remains is to know what is good and what isnt

but hey, some of us are here only because of the DIY, and just that ;)
 
Are you...

Hi All!
I'm a real newbie when it comes to DIY and component matching. Is it possible to get good audio quality using a passive pre controlling the Ncore?

1. If yes, wich stepped attenuator value should I use?
2. If no, What preamp kit could you recommend, being a good match with the Ncores?

My fears is that I'll loose dynamics by going with a passive pre, with a flat and boring sound.

I have just finnished Troels Gravesens Ekta Grandes. Have driven them with a S.A.T Amplifix and more recently, a Lexicon RV-8v2. I feel both are a bit lacking in power. The lexicon sounds awful in pure 2ch mode, compared to the Amplifix. Luckily I picked up the lexicon for a cool 100$.

I was hoping to keep the Lexicon for home theater purpouses and use a passive pre(like goldpoint SA2) to a pair of Ncore monoblocks, Being able to use a better DAC and a stepped attenuator for better stereo performance.

All suggestions much appreciated.

Going to have a single source? If so, I would suggest making your nCore amps with volume control in the amp. If you add something like Goldpoint stepped attenuators, or something fancier if you prefer, right at the inputs of the nCore modules you will overcome any drive problems a "passive" approach might have, and you will avoid any additional noise/distortion from an active buffer stage. The nCores have 100K input impedance, so no issues there.
Personally, I go amp direct with my DAC, and use the ESS 9018 48 bit digital volume control-resulting in better perfromance than using my Ayre K5-xeMP. But if I wanted an analog volume control, I would just put the attenuators in the amp, close coupled to the input ciruitry.
 
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well, the way you described the reasons BK chose class D sounded like "since the sonic advantages of class D seem slim so I'll just disregard all the other disadvantages of class A and stick with it" :)

well, fore special specific purposes there are things like 'good enough', or even 'too good'
I guess only mr Katz knows
and he may not tell you about it ;)

I have a personal rule not to believe anything, until I have heard it myself, no matter who says it

hell, I cant even trust myself, or my own opinion
but I have a friend who knows nothing about hifi
I usually listen to his opinion
especially when he gets excited about my sound :D
to myself its just sound, and natural, something that is there
I just got used to it, the way it is
 
A passive attenuator should work fine. Quite early in the thread I showed some plots that indicate that the discrete input circuit is especially good (compared to monolithic) when driven with a moderately high impedance. A 5k or 10k attenuator should be fine.

Someone asked about cooling. What I mean by free-air cooling is that the impatient listener can just jerry rig the system together without mounting it at all, provided that you use the external VDR. Having said that, mounting it in a box is more cat-friendly and automatically provides ample cooling.

EDIT: I had been planning to send Bob a pair. Thx for reminding me.
 

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well, the way you described the reasons BK chose class D sounded like "since the sonic advantages of class D seem slim so I'll just disregard all the other disadvantages of class A and stick with it" :)

No then you did not interprete my words correctly.
BK concluded he had a marginal sonic preference for the Lipinski amplifier compared to the Pass XL250, and together with the practical advantages of the Lipinski amp decided to make it part of his mastering systems.
A pity however that there was no further technical description of the Lipinski amp.
You seem to think that class d and pieter t are enemies, which is not the case :)
 
I can't find any reason to find that surprising.
FYI mastering engineer Bob Katz gave up his Pass amp (commercial, not DIY) in favor of class D Lipinski amps. and if he doesn't know better, I have no idea who does :)
here's a pic of his mastering system with Lipinski speakers and the old Pass Amps (looks like XA160?).



Perhaps he preferred to benefits of the active speakers as opposed to his previous speakers with a passive crossover?


Hard to separate the amplification in this case since the speakers are active.
 
Apologies for not having made it through all 87 pages. I have just stuck to the last 20 or so, but I imagine other newcomers to the thread will have similar questions.

My questions:

1) If I understand it correctly, this is a largely plug-and-play setup? Connect the ncores to the hyped power supply wire them to RCAs, Speaker binding posts, and AC power and you are done?

2) Can someone give me an idea of what sonic improvements two of the power supply modules might give? Or phrased differently, in what situations dual power supplies might be preferred?

3) These have been described as 400W amps. Is this into 8 or 4 ohms?

Apologies if this is asking for info already buried in the thread, but I imagine I am not alone coming here thanks to their release yesterday.

Look forward to seeing the data sheet.
 
Perhaps he preferred to benefits of the active speakers as opposed to his previous speakers with a passive crossover?


Hard to separate the amplification in this case since the speakers are active.

If these are the Lipinskis I think they are, they're not active but just self-powered (if you buy the amps as well - which you don't have too).

Btw, based on tests/pranks a friend has done, these amps are just "good amps" and have put to shame quite a few "big name" power amplifiers (powering speakers other than the ones they were intended to be used with)...

Not sure which class D tech they use though.. Is it UcD?
Perhaps Bruno will tell us - or perhaps he's not allowed to. :D
 
If these are the Lipinskis I think they are, they're not active but just self-powered (if you buy the amps as well - which you don't have too).

Btw, based on tests/pranks a friend has done, these amps are just "good amps" and have put to shame quite a few "big name" power amplifiers (powering speakers other than the ones they were intended to be used with)...

Not sure which class D tech they use though.. Is it UcD?
Perhaps Bruno will tell us - or perhaps he's not allowed to. :D


Thanks for the info I thought looking at the site they were integrated as an active system, since I didn't see them being sold seperatly.

I mentioned active speakers since I have heard active speakers with not really good amps sound better than speakers with 'better' amps.

I remember the Braun LV1020, cheap looking amps but a really good speaker at the time (35 years ago).

Sorry to get off topic. The NCores are really interesting units lookig forward to hear the reactions from the first set of builders.
 
Im not questioning your expertice, not at all
but 3 hours sounds a bit short, and a bit stressed
I often say to friends who are fast with to form an opinion that they should try and live with it fore a longer period, and then tell me what they think about it

could go both ways, but almost always different
I dont rate short term evaluation very highly

since you seem to have OEM modules, is there any risk you could feel 'obligated' or 'biased' ?
Don't know aboud you but 3 hours is a lot because I don't have to listen to my own amp because I listen to it almost every day.
And the differences where big enough to make some conclusions.
Maybe I should ask Hypex €10,- per sold Ncore after my raving review.

Rob
 
Don't know aboud you but 3 hours is a lot because I don't have to listen to my own amp because I listen to it almost every day.
And the differences where big enough to make some conclusions.
Maybe I should ask Hypex €10,- per sold Ncore after my raving review.

Rob
this "a few hours is not enough" thing is a back up excuse used by magazines.
a trained listener, listening to known music on a known, resolving system should get say 80% of the picture within hours. this is not to say that there can't be other more subtle differences but to say that one can't tell good or bad gear in a matter of hours is suspect.
 
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