Buckeye Amps: Hypex NCx500 Official Thread

[Doodski]

wrong post...ooops

 

[MusicMan77]

I have to admit I’m pretty excited to receive this amp I hope it lives up to all the hype. I went from running A/V receivers for 20+ years to having a hard time spending on a pair of used Parasound HCA 1000's to owning 4 different McIntosh amps and a McIntosh pre amp to getting rid of the Mac pre amp to use the MiniDSP SHD because it was cleaner and clearer the the Mac pre. Now the test is going to be the the Mac 452 against the NCx500. I do love the Mac 452 It's big and beautiful and I've owned it for almost five years now and I have to be honest I will have a hard time letting it go if the NCx500 Trumps the 452.

I'm wondering how long companies like Mac, D'Agostino, Boulder, and all the tube companies are going to hold on to Class A or A/B when you can generate so much clean power from such a small, affordable, and efficient design from Class D. Maybe they like to have some coloring of their sound? Perhaps, but the masses are slowly starting to wake up to audio quality and are demanding more of it and Class D at this level of power and affordability is going to be very hard to beat in the future once the masses learn about it.

 

[Julf]

I'm wondering how long companies like Mac, D'Agostino, Boulder, and all the tube companies are going to hold on to Class A or A/B when you can generate so much clean power from such a small, affordable, and efficient design from Class D. Maybe they like to have some coloring of their sound? Perhaps, but the masses are slowly starting to wake up to audio quality and are demanding more of it and Class D at this level of power and affordability is going to be very hard to beat in the future once the masses learn about it.

There will probably be enough hardcore audiophiles who will feel that unless an amp is big and heavy, with huge transformers and electrolytic capacitors, it can't sound right, and that believe "D" stands for Digital, so that can't sound good.

 

[subframe]

the masses are slowly starting to wake up to audio quality and are demanding more of it

I’d argue this is not true. The vast majority of consumers aren’t even aware of ‘audio quality’. They truly dont even know it’s a thing, much less think about it.

The same is true of video quality by the way. I worked in the video industry for 20 years, and most normal people simply don’t even see the most egregious, horrible problems with visual quality.

This is not to say they don’t enjoy high quality audio or video, they just don’t think about the quality in relation to their enjoyment.

 

[chingaling]

I'm wondering how long companies like Mac, D'Agostino, Boulder, and all the tube companies are going to hold on to Class A or A/B when you can generate so much clean power from such a small, affordable, and efficient design from Class D. Maybe they like to have some coloring of their sound? Perhaps, but the masses are slowly starting to wake up to audio quality and are demanding more of it and Class D at this level of power and affordability is going to be very hard to beat in the future once the masses learn about it.

The do make class D amps, I did read somewhere they are manufactured by one of these companies (Hypex, Purifi) whoever and then they build custom buffers in house to give them the amp house sound.
When will they stop building A/B? Probably never they will just keep getting more expensive as less people buy them and just be more of a status symbol. The new Mac 462 cost 10k now the 452 was $7,200 five years ago.

 

[Buckeye Amps]

First build.

And no, Red does not mean bad

 

[ryanosaur]

First build.

And no, Red does not mean bad

Indeed: Red is a good thing!

Very exciting to see.

 

[theblackangus]

The blue down in the lower right hand corner is a good thing for sure!!!!

 

[MusicMan77]

First build.

And no, Red does not mean bad

Congrats! Now I'm seriously excited!

 

[Buckeye Amps]

Just an update:

I *hope* strongly to have the first builds shipped out starting Monday.

There was a "software" change on the NCx500 module from the pre-production units we did all of our testing on to the actual production modules we were sent for assembly. It does not affect overall performance but it required us to tweak the firmware on our input boards and I want to test it for 24hrs to double check stability.

 

[MusicMan77]

Just an update:

I *hope* strongly to have the first builds shipped out starting Monday.

There was a "software" change on the NCx500 module from the pre-production units we did all of our testing on to the actual production modules we were sent for assembly. It does not affect overall performance but it required us to tweak the firmware on our input boards and I want to test it for 24hrs to double check stability.

Thanks for the update and transparency. I'm totally fine with waiting a few more days if it means you get the right tweaks in place. I'm in no rush by any means.

 

[dwalme]

Same here. Make sure it’s right the first time even if that means it takes longer.

 

[CDMC]

Thanks for the update and transparency. I'm totally fine with waiting a few more days if it means you get the right tweaks in place. I'm in no rush by any means.

Agree. Have one on order, at least for me, take as long as needed to feel comfortable you have had an opportunity to check and make any changes. Better a week or two delay than to have to deal with field updates or changes.

 

[Descartes]

I wished your cases looked a bit better!

Like Appolon Audio, Nord Acoustic or VTV!

 

[Buckeye Amps]

I wished your cases looked a bit better!

Like Appolon Audio, Nord Acoustic or VTV!

Low priority on our list of things to bring to market. Maybe one day.

 

[BoredErica]

Imagine a rose gold ncx500 amp.

 

[Doodski]

Imagine a rose gold ncx500 amp.

Champagne. It has been called this in the past.

 

[Buckeye Amps]

Further update:
There is one last "discrepancy" we have to fix so it will still be a few more days until units ship.

A lot of them are built so as soon as the fix is validated, implementing it will be quick and turn around time nearly non existent.

 

[kazsud]

For new orders it would be 20 days?

 

[Ricardus]

I just did a Buckeye order. I'm excited!