Apollon Hypex NC2K Monoblock Amplifier Review

[Platinum Highs]

Has anyone heard the NC2000 module? I'm having a hard time deciding between it and the NC 1200 since they are almost the same price. Does the upper mids and treble sound rolled off?

 

[Chromatischism]

I haven't seen a treble roll off on any NCore so far.

This review shows -0.5 dB at 20 kHz which is beyond the audible range.

 

[CDMC]

Has anyone heard the NC2000 module? I'm having a hard time deciding between it and the NC 1200 since they are almost the same price. Does the upper mids and treble sound rolled off?

My dogs and pet bats tell me that the effect of -.5db at 20khz is extremely audible. For humans, except perhaps a 3 year old with perfect hearing, it is inaudible. I would pick the NC1200 as there are more choices between companies using them and unless you are powering some insanely low powered speaker, it has more power than needed.

 

[AnLaoJin]

As shown in the figure, the low distortion power of 4Ω is only 800W instead of the nominal 2000W. . . . . I found that companies like HYPEX Class D amplifiers like to mark the power very exaggeratedly, and this marked power is a distortion power that is completely unreferenced. . Ha ha da

 

[Platinum Highs]

As shown in the figure, the low distortion power of 4Ω is only 800W instead of the nominal 2000W. . . . . I found that companies like HYPEX Class D amplifiers like to mark the power very exaggeratedly, and this marked power is a distortion power that is completely unreferenced. . Ha ha da

Thank you so much for this post. You have saved me a good chunk of money. I guess I will temper my expectations and most likely go with the NC 1200. I know I most manufactures lie on amp specs. I just don't want to pay extra for incremental increase in rms power.

 

[Chromatischism]

It still holds low distortion past 500w which is remarkable. There aren't a lot of amps competing at that level.

That said, this is the first NCore amp I've seen that doesn't have a sharp knee but more of a gradual rise. I'm not an electronics engineer, but I wonder if there are multiple gain stages kicking in there? It's similar to what I see in some digital camera sensors.

 

[Blumlein 88]

The answer about how amplifiers sound clipping is DO NOT CLIP them! They pretty much sound the same if you'll avoid clipping.

With the exceptionally powerful amps available today it is unlikely you could make use of that much power.

With most sources having volume labeled in db or other numerics it is easy to find what volume setting could clip your amps and simply never go to or above that setting.

 

[FrankF]

I haven't seen a treble roll off on any NCore so far.

This review shows -0.5 dB at 20 kHz which is beyond the audible range.

The NC500 treble was down in the ATI measurements. Again, inaudible.

 

[Platinum Highs]

It still holds low distortion past 500w which is remarkable. There aren't a lot of amps competing at that level.

That said, this is the first NCore amp I've seen that doesn't have a sharp knee but more of a gradual rise. I'm not an electronics engineer, but I wonder if there are multiple gain stages kicking in there? It's similar to what I see in some digital camera sensors.

I just went ahead and put in an order for two NC2k monoblocks. I don't want to have regrets since I plan to keep these amps for a very long time.

 

[Chromatischism]

I just went ahead and put in an order for two NC2k monoblocks. I don't want to have regrets since I plan to keep these amps for a very long time.

What speakers are you using them with? I honestly can't think of an application outside of subwoofers.

 

[Platinum Highs]

What speakers are you using them with? I honestly can't think of an application outside of subwoofers.

I am using JBL M2 speakers

 

[Blumlein 88]

The NC500 treble was down in the ATI measurements. Again, inaudible.
View attachment 90139

I might disagree. Especially for younger listeners. I like to see no more than .1 db down at 20 khz. It wouldn't be hugely obvious. It might not be audible with just any music. In a careful comparison however I believe you'd hear that if you were younger and your hearing goes to 18 khz or so.

 

[YogiN]

I might disagree. Especially for younger listeners. I like to see no more than .1 db down at 20 khz. It wouldn't be hugely obvious. It might not be audible with just any music. In a careful comparison however I believe you'd hear that if you were younger and your hearing goes to 18 khz or so.

AFAIK there is no musical content anywhere near that range. To put it into perspective, the flute has the highest frequency of all instruments and tops out at 2096 Hz.

 

[restorer-john]

The NC500 treble was down in the ATI measurements. Again, inaudible.

Bear in mind, that is -0.5dB@20KHz when outputting only 5W@4R at 1KHz (ref). So that 5W has become 4.7W or 6% down at only 1.08A.

I would lay money on being able to hear the difference using pink noise between the NC-500 and the Purifi. Certainly white noise would show it easily, but it's a tweeter killer.

 

[Blumlein 88]

AFAIK there is no musical content anywhere near that range. To put it into perspective, the flute has the highest frequency of all instruments and tops out at 2096 Hz.

A piano has 4186hz for the 88th key. And there will be overtones. Cymbals often are around 8-12 khz with overtones.

Just grabbing at random one I was listening to just now. Buddy Guy, Some kind of wonderful, I filtered out everything below 10 khz and in places what is left is -9 dbFS. A little downward tilt in the top octave with that played at normal level will be discernible vs fully flat I'm fairly sure to younger listeners.

Now I'm trying not to be pedantic. I do believe there is a little change in character with slight upper octave droops. Not going to be a huge difference nor ruin one's enjoyment either way.

 

[YogiN]

A piano has 4186hz for the 88th key. And there will be overtones. Cymbals often are around 8-12 khz with overtones.

Just grabbing at random one I was listening to just now. Buddy Guy, Some kind of wonderful, I filtered out everything below 10 khz and in places what is left is -9 dbFS. A little downward tilt in the top octave with that played at normal level will be discernible vs fully flat I'm fairly sure to younger listeners.

Now I'm trying not to be pedantic. I do believe there is a little change in character with slight upper octave droops. Not going to be a huge difference nor ruin one's enjoyment either way.

Thank you for letting me know about the piano and cymbals. It does however only further my point that if anything is being heard at 18 khz no matter how unlikely it may be that it is unrelated to musical content.

 

[Blumlein 88]

Thank you for letting me know about the piano and cymbals. It does however only further my point that if anything is being heard at 18 khz that it is unrelated to musical content.

Read what I wrote again. About the Buddy Guy recording. Below is a spectrogram of it. The contrast panel shows RMS level before I filtered out everything below 10 khz, and on the lower line the RMS after filtering. There are peaks with a few db of max still left. Those are part of the music. In this spectrogram pink to hot pink to red are showing high levels. It isn't just noise up there. This song has some drums, and screaming electric guitar notes. There is a little something up there.

 

[YogiN]

Read what I wrote again. About the Buddy Guy recording. Below is a spectrogram of it. The contrast panel shows RMS level before I filtered out everything below 10 khz, and on the lower line the RMS after filtering. There are peaks with a few db of max still left. Those are part of the music. In this spectrogram pink to hot pink to red are showing high levels. It isn't just noise up there. This song has some drums, and screaming electric guitar notes. There is a little something up there.

View attachment 90152

I have no doubt that there is something up there but my assertion is that it is not music. And simply because we can measure ultrasonic frequencies in recordings does not mean that those frequencies are an aspect of the musical content.

 

[YogiN]

Read what I wrote again. About the Buddy Guy recording. Below is a spectrogram of it. The contrast panel shows RMS level before I filtered out everything below 10 khz, and on the lower line the RMS after filtering. There are peaks with a few db of max still left. Those are part of the music. In this spectrogram pink to hot pink to red are showing high levels. It isn't just noise up there. This song has some drums, and screaming electric guitar notes. There is a little something up there.

View attachment 90152

I would also like to add that it is an unfair assumption that perceiving those frequencies would enhance one's musical listening experience. I would imagine it to be quite distracting from the artists intention if I had that level of hearing ability.

 

[Vasr]

Thank you for letting me know about the piano and cymbals. It does however only further my point that if anything is being heard at 18 khz no matter how unlikely it may be that it is unrelated to musical content.

Uh, what?

What makes a musical instrument different from a sine wave generator and from each other are the overtone (natural harmonics) spread over the spectrum. A single note from a violin is rich in harmonics at progressively lower volume away from the note frequency and what makes you recognize it as a violin. In addition, musicians often make the instrument produce artificial harmonics with the way they play that could be quite high in frequency.

Depending on one's hearing ability (and musical experience), different people hear up to different limits. 20khz is roughly taken as the limit of human hearing.

So anything produced from a musical instrument is "musical content" by definition. I am not sure what you think musical content is. The notations on a music sheet?