Hypex nCore vs Class A amps

[NTK]

Yeah, sorry, it is a vague memory!

I think you may be referring to this paper mentioned in this post. The lead author of the paper is none other than T. Oohashi.

There is also another paper by Joshua Reiss of Queen Mary University of London. He performed a meta-analysis by reviewing 18 published papers. His conclusion is summarized in the last line of the abstract.

The overall conclusion is that the perceived fidelity of an audio recording and playback chain can be affected by operating beyond conventional levels.

 

[Rich W]

The problem is not having the measurement gear and doing measurements on their products. The problem is that some manufacturers allow horribly measuring gear to pass and go on sale. Totaldac for example comes to mind.

I recognize you as one of the biggest supporters of Uptone Audio's snakeoil products:

https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/...rements/page/40/?tab=comments#comment-1004761

https://audiophilestyle.com/polesta...eviews-r65/?tab=reviews&sort=newest#review-42

https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/...n-thread/page/61/?tab=comments#comment-995166

How is it that one can support so many different faith's at the same time? You do realize that Amir has proven that these devices make no difference?

 

[Rich W]

Call me agnostic, Sherlock.

Or perhaps hypocritical.

 

[Rich W]

Always judge a man by what they do, rather than what they say.

 

[amirm]

Who's Mike?

That would be you. Banned.

 

[Julf]

I think you may be referring to this paper mentioned in this post. The lead author of the paper is none other than T. Oohashi.

Indeed. One of the old, often-cited but debunked ones.

 

[mocenigo]

I was under the impression this was a science orientated forum. And when people make expensive modifications to existing products in which the performance has been verified, evidence is provided to support the improvements. But perhaps I was mistaken.

I should not reply to trolls, but as far as expensive modifications, I got the various power supplies for just a bit more than a Hypex supply, and I get regulated main voltage as well. The neurochrome UB is an addition, true, and not the most inexpensive (but for the feature set it is actually priced fairly), but it measures fantastically, and on top of that in my opinion it also brings an improvement in SQ.

Expensive would be to take an Icepower 1200AS2, put it into a 1 inch thick aluminium case, wire it with the most high end furutech cables and connectors, and sell it at a significant markup. Which is was this troll has done

 

[BDWoody]

Dan D'agostino's new monoblock is allegedly class A to 100 watts and 6000 watts into 2 ohms. Is that even possible with normal mains?

At 500 pounds each and costing $250k the pair, there's a lot of impossible going on here.

Maybe that includes the required power plant?

 

[DonH56]

You need a 50-A, 220 V circuit for that. In the only reviews I've seen (not that I've looked for them) they used a 220/240 V circuit. And one owner on another forum commented he had an electrician add two 240 V 50-A circuits to his listening room for a pair of them. Wonder if the rest of the service was upgraded...

 

[mocenigo]

You need a 50-A, 220 V circuit for that. In the only reviews I've seen (not that I've looked for them) they used a 220/240 V circuit. And one owner on another forum commented he had an electrician add two 240 V 50-A circuits to his listening room for a pair of them. Wonder if the rest of the service was upgraded...

This is stuff for people that have too much money to understand what to do with it.

 

[Thomas savage]

That would be you. Banned.

Oh you spotted him before me , you win this round damn you Amirm! ( I just identified him independently of this in another thread, now I know why you banned him already)

Still ' who's Mike ' is a fair question for him to ask of himself.

 

[Thomas savage]

Always judge a man by what they do, rather than what they say.

Just focus on paying your own bills and go from there , baby steps .

 

[mocenigo]

Oh you spotted him before me , you win this round damn you Amirm! ( I just identified him independently of this in another thread, now I know why you banned him already)

Still ' who's Mike ' is a fair question for him to ask of himself.

as for “spotting” I think I was faster than both of you ;-)

 

[Thomas savage]

as for “spotting” I think I was faster than both of you ;-)

Ah while this appears accurate to claim superiority like this over the king of audio is against the natural order.

I'm sure Amirm spotted him first but allowed you to out him..

Best you just agree as @amirm will become insufferable otherwise.

 

[DonH56]

Best you just agree as @amirm will become insufferable otherwise.

"Will become"? "Otherwise"? Hmmm...

 

[Audio89]

From what I’ve read here no one is comparing a well designed class A/B amplifier against these class D amplifiers. You cannot say that switching power supplies in these amplifiers are better because it’s simply just not true on paper or to my ears. I’ve heard lots of class D amplifiers over the years and even the most recent and it’s always missing something.

when you understand the design of class D it all makes sense and it will always be limited due to the inherent on and off frequency and switching power supply. Class D does have its place, subwoofers, DJ plate amps, car audio where heat is an issue. If you sat down and compared against well designed equipment you would hear the difference. I live in Chicago and if anyone would like to compare decent equipment I would be willing.

 

[ahofer]

You haven’t read much here then. The prevailing view is that you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference in a blind test. I couldn’t.

 

[Julf]

when you understand the design of class D it all makes sense and it will always be limited due to the inherent on and off frequency and switching power supply.

Would you be able to elaborate as to what makes you believe that?

 

[boXem]

when you understand the design of class D it all makes sense and it will always be limited due to the inherent on and off frequency and switching power supply.

I understand quite well the various class D designs (yes, there is more than one class D design), but I don't understand at all what you typed. As @Julf just typed, care to elaborate?

 

[mocenigo]

From what I’ve read here no one is comparing a well designed class A/B amplifier against these class D amplifiers. You cannot say that switching power supplies in these amplifiers are better because it’s simply just not true on paper or to my ears. I’ve heard lots of class D amplifiers over the years and even the most recent and it’s always missing something.

Indeed class D amps with switching PSUs miss a lot compared to Class AB amps with a linear PSU, and even more so wrt Class A amps: cost and the power bill. In fact KNOWING that the former are much greener makes you AWARE that they must sound worse.

Note that switching and linear PSUs can ne both used with Class A, AB and D amplifiers. They are not “tied”. Indeed, one of the best measuring and sounding amplifiers in the world, the Benchmark AHB2, has a SMPS and class AB circuitry (and, to audiophile horror, a type of feed forward circuitry designed by THX, which means that it cannot be good, right?). There has been significant praise for Tom Christiansen’s Modulus series, and you can either use a switching or a linear power supply with them – in the listening impressions there has never a bias I could notice depending on the power supply type.

FWIW, a few years ago Austrian and German audiophiles and DIY enthusiasts have met in Munich and there was a blind shootout between a 300B based triode (designed by DIY authority Manfred Huber) and a UcD 180 build: the majority thought that the latter sounded better and therefore had to be the Class A SET 300B build. The report can be read HERE.

I am quite sure that in a blind or even double blind test you would not find that a recent Class D build lacks something.