Buckeye NC252MP Stereo Amplifier Review

[amirm]

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Buckeye NC252MP balanced stereo class D amplifier. It was kindly drop shipped to me by a member and costs US $575.

The amp is almost the size of a loaf of bread and literally weighs nearly as much! Amazing how far amplification technology has come. The package is made to be economical and intended to be heard than seen. Back panel is what you expect to see with notable inclusion of trigger input to automatically power the amp from the source:

If you are not familiar with the tests that are about to follow, please watch my video on understanding amplifier measurements.

Buckeye NC252MP Amplifier Measurements
We start with our 5 watt dashboard into 4 ohm:

Nice and competent, landing in our top bracket of all amplifiers tested:

Noise performance is excellent:

Frequency response is flat in audible band and load independent (not all class D amps are):

Crosstalk is excellent:

Intermodulation distortion is very low:

You buy the amp for power so let's see how much we have:

Nice to see it meet spec.

The amp passes reactive loads at 8 and 4 ohms. At 2 ohm, it would go into protection before reaching peak power:

Non-linearity does increase at higher frequencies, and there is noticeable power drop at 20 Hz:

EDIT: a later run of this test produced lower distortion at 20 Hz. I meant to post it but made a mistake and post the older one:

There is good bit of power on/off noise:

Amp is stable on power up:

Conclusions
The NC252MP delivers the promise of the hypex class D module, producing competent and above average performance in every measured category. It is light and easy to carry. And produces good bit of power without much heat.

I am going to recommend the Buckeye N252MP.

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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/

 

[beeface]

At this point how much is there to be said about these class D module amps? It's certainly an amplifier

 

[MacClintock]

Nice performance, pedestrian design.

 

[Grotti]

Add something like RME Adi 2 and a decent pair of speakers and you are golden....

 

[chris256]

This device obviously has problems in bass range and power on / off problems. In short: broken by design. Sorry to say that. This also works much better today.

 

[frabor]

Another great packed hypex module. A little short of power at 8r but awesome at 4.

 

[Descartes]

Good it can drive 4 Ohm speakers!

 

[frabor]

" At ohm, it would go into protection before reaching peak power" , it is missing the Ohms quantity.

 

[MacClintock]

This device obviously has problems in bass range and power on / off problems. In short: broken by design. Sorry to say that. This also works much better today.

??

 

[martijn86]

At this point how much is there to be said about these class D module amps? It's certainly an amplifier

Boring reviews are best reviews. No drama means excellent design and transparency.

 

[xaxxon]

@amirm can you add the passive wattage draw on the device? I was shocked by how high the 502 draw is when I got mine -- I had thought that class D meant efficient, but not so at low power use.

 

[Sokel]

We saw a similar pattern at 20Hz at the KJF Audio MA review (6 channel thought) but it took 100 more watts for the later before the knee.
What's the problem here?


Thanks Amir!

 

[amirm]

What's the problem here?

Likely power supply.

 

[BeQuietZen]

@amirm thanks for one more professional review.

Can we safely assume that this latest version of Hypex NC252MP module going from bad to worse with only 50 clean watts per channel at 20 Hz?
This is not a critique of assembler Buckeye, but Hypex. They need to move forward, we are closing 2023 and they straggling to push new improved moduls in their "budget" line of amps.

BTW, I voted "fine". There is a lot more inferior amps for the money than this fine amp.

 

[amirm]

It doesn't clip until 111 watts at 20 hz. Not 50.

 

[BeQuietZen]

It doesn't clip until 111 watts at 20 hz. Not 50.

I didn't comment about clipping, but clean power before distortion rise. If we go by the clipping numbers, we have close results with Fosi Audio V3 (48V PSU and strictly 20 Hz measurement, nothing else compered).

 

[uwotm8]

While I totally don't like the look, that one seems very good for a reasonable price. Stand-by option is great IMO.

 

[daniboun]

I had forgotten how much the prices had increased... It looks like they used a HIFI 2000 ECO enclosure @$25 (from modushop)... I admit that for $575 we are left wanting....
Get any Audiophonics instead or any IOM NCore 252 with a solid aluminium case .... Best quality price ratio

 

[KenA]

That’s one f.ugly amp. Could have spent just a few dollars on trying to give some kind of style, you’d think.

 

[DSJR]

One poster above claims the 20Hz and switch-on 'pops' performance is sub standard... I'd like to respectfully remind them that thirty odd years ago, the worst case distortion performance here in this amp was common in the MIDRANGE of the best reviewed amps back then and so many 'enthusiast' and commercial less expoensive far eastern made amps back then often fell over at anything less than a four ohm load, leading to the rise and rise of huge amps able to drive almost a short circuit with massive power!

I'd say this is a great little power amp for normal usage domestically with plenty of power for most domestic concerns. I'd ask if any countersunk screws and holes were available for the side screws in an attempt to neaten appearance slightly, but that's it really for the price!