Nord One NC1200DM Signature Stereo Amp Review

[veeceem]

@amirm does this amp provide listenable volume with your salon2+room?

 

[KxDx]

It would be interesting to test with a standard ceramic fuse.

- Rich

You would lower the veil if you did that!

 

[Thomas savage]

I think it would be good - for those who don't bother to go and read Nord's site for themselves - to mention that this review was on the "no sonic stone un-turned" Signature model. Nord caters to both customers looking for high performance and quality - but at somewhat more affordable price points - as well as those who either want some of the pricier options because they believe they will get a superior listening experience... or just want "the best", and are happy (or even insist on) paying the higher price.

Nord offers the base level of dual-mono NC1200 -based product, starting without a buffer board (which just means using the built-in capability of the Hypex module), and then allows one to add any desired features... and start driving the cost up, of course.

For someone trying to run a business, it certainly seems to make sense to cater to multiple clienteles, from those who only wish to pay for the "sensible" features to those who feel that all of the add-on goodies are something worth paying for.

Totally agree .

 

[Chobes11]

I would really be interested to see the 2ohm performance.

Is it possible to test these amps at 2 ohms?

 

[Matias]

I would really be interested to see the 2ohm performance.

Is it possible to test these amps at 2 ohms?

Check the Hypex's datasheet, it is all in there.
It is quite good.

 

[Chobes11]

Check the Hypex's datasheet, it is all in there.
It is quite good.

View attachment 64805

I meant independent measurements

 

[VintageFlanker]

I meant independent measurements

Hypex datasheets are often very reliable and mostly on par with tier AP measurements.

 

[Chobes11]

Hypex datasheets are often very reliable and mostly on par with tier AP measurements.

Oh ok thanks. That’s good to know

 

[Aerial Acoustic Guy]

Does anyone have any experience with the Apollon NC1200 SLM, especially without the the optional input buffers?

Any Apollo (with Hypex) feedback is also appreciated.

Note, I am considering using 3 Apollon NC1200 SLM to drive a pair of Aerial Acoustic 10Tv2 (very demanding load - as low as 2.7 ohms) and CC3.

Thanks in advance

 

[CDMC]

The NC1200 modules will comfortably drive your speakers. They are rated to below 2 ohms. The input buffers have been tested and all had worse performance than the standard hypex buffer.

 

[Labjr]

Different flavored input buffers are one of the only things glorified assemblers can do to differentiate themselves.

 

[Chobes11]

The NC1200 modules will comfortably drive your speakers. They are rated to below 2 ohms. The input buffers have been tested and all had worse performance than the standard hypex buffer.

Worse performance as in increased distortion? Or other metrics as well?

 

[C. Cook]

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Nord One NC1200DM Signature Stereo Amplifier. It is on kind loan from a member. With the options as tested, the cost is US $4,212. As the name indicates, the amp is based on Hypex NC1200 class D amplifiers plus some value add in the form of Sonic Imagery 990Enh buffers, very fancy speaker terminals and even directional fuse from Synergistic Research!

The enclosure is the same elegant design I have tested before with Purifi modules:

View attachment 41597​

And here is the back panel connectivity:

View attachment 41598​

The massive speaker terminals had no trouble handling my heavy speaker wires.

The trigger input is unusual in that it is supposed to fully shut of the unit, consuming no power (?).

The amps are mounted to the bottom of the case as is typically down. So the top got slightly warm in testing. The bottom though was rather toasty after stress testing. I will post a teardown later.

In use, the NC1200DM never complained, shut down, or go into protection. Even during my intensive power versus frequency that causes weaker designs to bail out, the NC1200DM cruised right on.

Amplifier Audio Measurements
As usual, we start with our dashboard at 5 watts into 4 Ohms:

View attachment 41599

Channel matching is quite good.

Highest distortion is third harmonic at around -108 dB which mostly responsible for 105 dB of SINAD (signal relative to sum of distortions and noise). This puts the NC1200DM near the top of our rankings:

View attachment 41600

Signal to noise ratio was quite good especially near max power:
View attachment 41601

32-tone signal resembling "music" shows exceptionally low intermodulation distortion in audible band:

View attachment 41602

Most meaningful test is power versus distortion and noise so let's get into that with 4 ohm load:
View attachment 41603

We clock nearly 500 watts before the clipping onset. Hypex rates the module at 700 watts which is likely at higher distortion levels (see later). Distortion rises fairly early relative to our reference.

I was surprised to once again see how quiet the NC1200DM was when testing at 8 ohms and comparing to Purifi 1ET400A reference design:
View attachment 41604

Power output leaves 1ET400A behind at 270+ watts. The cost is higher distortion.

Keeping THD+N at 0.1% and sweeping the frequency we get:
View attachment 41605

Now we peak at 600 watts. Drop at low frequencies where we need power is slight (10% or so). The sudden drop at 20 kHz is usually due to ultrasonic noise shaping and wide bandwidth of this test (90 kHz). In real use, we don't need much power at 20 kHz and at any rate, a lot more would be produced than this chart indicates.

Here is the intermodulation distortion for 19+20 kHz tones for those of you who love this graph:
View attachment 41606

Remember that the threshold of hearing is quite high at 19 and 20 khz even for people with healthy response up to these levels. And at any rate, music never has full amplitude signals at these levels.

Crosstalk performance was very good, stopping just short of our reference:
View attachment 41607

Conclusions
The Nord One NC1200M Signature Edition produces tons and tons of clean power with very low noise floor. While other amps have tested with lower distortion, none come to its power output. Audiophiles routinely underestimate how much power they need. As such, it is great to see an amplifier produce so much power while keeping distortion and noise at bay. I see no performance flaws anywhere.

Yes, the "signature" components are of dubious value but they are not hurting things either.

The enclosure is attractive. And the whole package light and efficient. My kind of design.

I am happy to give a strong recommendation to the Nord One NC1200DM Signature Stereo Amp.

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

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Amir,

Late to this game but I'm only just now in the market for a new amp. Looks like this review was before you did listening tests (or is that just with speakers?) so I was wondering whether you think there's a meaningful difference when using, say JBL 4439 (or other relatively high efficiency) speakers between this NC1200 based contraption and the Purifi that you've tested. I've made several purchases based on your reviews/tests and my current reference (for the main reason it's so powerful and has such strong bass) is the IcePower 1200AS2 (with remarkably thin gauge power supply wires).