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Class D Crown vs. Hypex nCore


richieb

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I have both an ATI AT523NC (Ncore hypex) amp and a Crown XLS 2000.  I can tell you that i will not put the Crown amp on anything going over 1khz.  The Ncores are so silent and effortless in their power delivery, headroom all day long.  I have yet to hear them with a tube pre but I've read that it can add that bit of tubey majic people like to hear.  The ATI is for sale, I want to upgrade to more channels of amplification.  I've also heard good things from Nord Acoustics out of the UK who ships to the US for a reasonable price.  

 

https://www.nordacoustics.co.uk/

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Have somebody compared the ncore's with Emotiva XPA5 Gen3 and Anthem MCA 50?

I'm looking for a 5-channel AMP and can't really decide, which one to pick. The Anthem MCA 50 would be used, so the price is around the Emotiva.

Or maybe an used Earthquake Cineova Grande 5?

So much nice Amps...

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2 hours ago, shiva said:

I would like to hear some Hypex amps in action.  Like what they are doing on the Nord link.

Nord is doing some good things.  I'm waiting on the Hypex Ncore plat amps to come out this year to make an active powered setup for my office/game room.  

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Pre-amps?  We don’t need no stinkin’ pre-amps.  Although not NCores, I use Pono players (yes I own 2) to feed balanced signals directly to the differential inputs of two Class D amps, a Wiener TPA3118 and a TI TPA3255EVM.  Pre-amps would not be an improvement in my situations.

 

My four tapped horn subs are also powered by a pair of class D iNukes in differential mode.  

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If you look at the FAQ on the Hypex site their number one reason for Ncore failures and needed repairs is using tube preamps with their Ncore modules.  I really want to try these Ncores but all I use are tube preamps.  Hmm.

 

I see there are several vendors selling amps they "made" with the Hypex Ncore modules in them.  Some will use the off the shelf Hypex solutions (fully integrated amp/PS) and others use separate modules and/or that input buffer board that allows them to put their signature on the Hypex sound.

 

Then there are the DIY kits with the standard input buffers.

 

I'm not sure which is better the DIY  kits at 400wpc with the "standard" input buffer, or the OEM MP modules at 500wpc and perhaps a different "standard" input buffer, or the ones other maufacturers are selling with their tweaks on a separate input buffer board.

 

It's clear............when someone says they have Hypex Ncore..............they are not all the same.  You have to look which modules are used and how implemented.

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15 minutes ago, cincymat said:

Do you have link for that document? I've searched their site and am not finding that quote about tube preamps being the #1 cause of nCore failures. 

 

Thanks

Do UcD amplifiers work well with tube preamps?

 

A: Fundamentally there is no problem of course. However, most tube preamplifiers are designed alongside tube power amplifiers which are always AC coupled. As a result, many tube preamplifiers lack precautions against turn-on/turnoff transients. Some are liable to produce the full anode voltage at their outputs during turn-on and turn-off. We find that a large proportion of repairs are due to tube preamplifiers discharging their output caps into the UcD’s input circuit. Note that most solid state amps dislike such treatment, not just UcD.

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2 minutes ago, CECAA850 said:

Do UcD amplifiers work well with tube preamps?

 

A: Fundamentally there is no problem of course. However, most tube preamplifiers are designed alongside tube power amplifiers which are always AC coupled. As a result, many tube preamplifiers lack precautions against turn-on/turnoff transients. Some are liable to produce the full anode voltage at their outputs during turn-on and turn-off. We find that a large proportion of repairs are due to tube preamplifiers discharging their output caps into the UcD’s input circuit. Note that most solid state amps dislike such treatment, not just UcD.

 

That is the one reason I used SS and/or passive preamps when using either the Class D Hypex nCore and now Wyred B&O ICE amps.Class D is at their best when left on 24/7 which is all but impossible with a tube front end. Right now my Wyred mAmps and SS preamp are always on. Takes some of the fun from the firing up of a full tube system but with what the mAmps do with Jubes puts the fun in another direction. 

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On 2/8/2018 at 8:05 AM, rhing said:

I’ve read a lot of positive reviews and comments about the nCore Class D amps. I am curious how they compare to the TI TPA3255EVM Class D amps. I still have to piece together a linear power supply to run two TPA3255EVM in PBTL, but now I am thinking that I would like to build two monoblocs instead. 

It's a more versatile approach. Both physically and electrically.

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13 hours ago, mark1101 said:

What do you Ncore users use for preamps?

I have 2 Refurb (meaning 55% off list price) Yamaha CX-A5000's. One for HT, and one for Stereo. They have the spectacular ESS Sabre DAC chips and a ton of I/O features, like USB ports so I can put "digital music on a stick" and use an old 1080P computer monitor as a display for the 2 Ch. rig. (ok, OR a really small TV if I hook up Netflix to the Sony BR on it.)

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1 hour ago, mark1101 said:

It's clear............when someone says they have Hypex Ncore..............they are not all the same.  You have to look which modules are used and how implemented.

I thought I made it pretty clear that I got the Hypex NC400 Monobloc KITS right from the factory. So let's not complicate things.

 

They are trouble free in over a year, which means they have gone way beyond "infant mortality."

 

I don't get why a tube or SS Pre-Amp would even make any difference to Hypex reliability. It's a high impedance output driving a high impedance input. Voltage is voltage and most times it's way below 1 Volt. I don't put too much faith in the 99.99% IGNORANT opinions on the internet. Those of you here who are NOT part of that popular group know who you are.

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