Nord's new Value-Line Hypex NCore MP series

[john11]

Is there a general concensus about the reliability of nord amps. There are a lot of people using hypex modules, all with their own design twist.
Does any brand stick out more than the others for reliability or unreliability

 

[somebodyelse]

Is there a general concensus about the reliability of nord amps. There are a lot of people using hypex modules, all with their own design twist.
Does any brand stick out more than the others for reliability or unreliability

I don't remember hearing anything bad about Nord's reliability. Beyond anecdotes we'll probably never know how they compare - that's not the sort of info manufacturers make public. I'd be looking for ventilation of the case to keep things cool, and a manufacturer with local warranty support so you don't have to deal with unexpected shipping and/or customs costs in the unlikely event of a failure.

 

[exm]

Is there a general concensus about the reliability of nord amps. There are a lot of people using hypex modules, all with their own design twist.
Does any brand stick out more than the others for reliability or unreliability

So far, so good. Ventilation and build seems to be good.

 

[Count Dacula]

At 1 year, mine is humming along....no, wait. Seriously happy. It runs in the same league as my old amps, Adcom 545-II, Parasound 2125 v2(?), and Vidar... was sorta disappointed in those last 2, but my NORD cured things.

I still cannot understand how people fawn over their colored amplifiers. they just don't "get it" ...for a multitude of reasons. Yeah, it sounds clean, uses less power, more reliably and is modestly priced. Considering how Buyer's Remorse is huge in this industry, I don't have any second thoughts.

How about my crappy set-up? I'm busy working on several unique properties at once, and dread doing and re-doing hook-ups.... but I'll tidy it up with some longer Y cables, now that I'm committed. The passive pre drives the subs....

btw all my old amps are present and doing their job on other set-ups at other locations. I think I have ten systems.

 

[Count Dacula]

Ya know...

 

[john11]

I don't remember hearing anything bad about Nord's reliability. Beyond anecdotes we'll probably never know how they compare - that's not the sort of info manufacturers make public. I'd be looking for ventilation of the case to keep things cool, and a manufacturer with local warranty support so you don't have to deal with unexpected shipping and/or customs costs in the unlikely event of a failure.

I have heard quite a few negatives about nord on diyaudio and other sites, nord amps blowing after only two years of use and nord saying they are too busy to repair them, why not just buy another amp from us.
What do you think about fitting in a small 12v PC type fan, or fitting in more heat sinks. Difficult to say as the psu and amp boards are so overpopulated with components nowadays compared to my quad 405 and 909 which are simpler, easier to understand and seem to last forever

 

[somebodyelse]

I have heard quite a few negatives about nord on diyaudio and other sites, nord amps blowing after only two years of use and nord saying they are too busy to repair them, why not just buy another amp from us.

Got any links to those? Were they within the 2 year warranty or just outside? If true that's not an encouraging reaction.

What do you think about fitting in a small 12v PC type fan, or fitting in more heat sinks. Difficult to say as the psu and amp boards are so overpopulated with components nowadays compared to my quad 405 and 909 which are simpler, easier to understand and seem to last forever

You could add fans and heatsinks, but then you might be better off making your own. As for the Quads being simpler, I'm not entirely convinced. Certainly the SMPS part is more complex than the transformer, rectifier and caps in the Quads, but I don't think there's much in it between the amp stages - I've got a 520f and UcD180 based amps to compare. Class D is different to AB, but not inherently more complicated or less repairable.

 

[Multicore]

No-one wants to buy kit that advertises "I am cheap" to guests.

/me raises a hand.

 

[exm]

I have heard quite a few negatives about nord on diyaudio and other sites, nord amps blowing after only two years of use and nord saying they are too busy to repair them, why not just buy another amp from us.
What do you think about fitting in a small 12v PC type fan, or fitting in more heat sinks. Difficult to say as the psu and amp boards are so overpopulated with components nowadays compared to my quad 405 and 909 which are simpler, easier to understand and seem to last forever

At 1 year, mine is humming along....no, wait. Seriously happy. It runs in the same league as my old amps, Adcom 545-II, Parasound 2125 v2(?), and Vidar... was sorta disappointed in those last 2, but my NORD cured things.

I still cannot understand how people fawn over their colored amplifiers. they just don't "get it" ...for a multitude of reasons. Yeah, it sounds clean, uses less power, more reliably and is modestly priced. Considering how Buyer's Remorse is huge in this industry, I don't have any second thoughts.

How about my crappy set-up? I'm busy working on several unique properties at once, and dread doing and re-doing hook-ups.... but I'll tidy it up with some longer Y cables, now that I'm committed. The passive pre drives the subs....

btw all my old amps are present and doing their job on other set-ups at other locations. I think I have ten systems.

I would like to hear the negative stories also. Really, most of these amps are the same except for the casing and the control board. Personally, I spend a few extra dollars over the likes of buckeye because I like the way the Nord amps look (even though it's hidden in a cabinet).

 

[erniek]

I now have my Buckeye Hypex NC252MP Amplifier powering my KEF speakers and it does sound very good even though I only have a few hours on it. I like the fact also that it is small, tidy and gives off very little heat.

 

[exm]

I now have my Buckeye Hypex NC252MP Amplifier powering my KEF speakers and it does sound very good even though I only have a few hours on it. I like the fact also that it is small, tidy and gives off very little heat.

Yeah, nothing wrong withe Buckeye (except the way they look lol)

 

[DSJR]

I have heard quite a few negatives about nord on diyaudio and other sites, nord amps blowing after only two years of use and nord saying they are too busy to repair them, why not just buy another amp from us.
What do you think about fitting in a small 12v PC type fan, or fitting in more heat sinks. Difficult to say as the psu and amp boards are so overpopulated with components nowadays compared to my quad 405 and 909 which are simpler, easier to understand and seem to last forever

I'd keep the bloomin' Quads if I were you. The Quad 606 models offered a lot over the 405-2 as the extra power into 4 ohm loads is really useful (now more common than ever) and as you suggest, they can be serviced (some early far eastern 909's needed recapping apparently, as the electrolytics were sub-standard, but that's a long time ago now and audible at the time). The current Artera Stereo is an absolute delight for those that know it and no desire to sell ever more expensive amp confections with no real advantage at all apart from profit in the till, no character at all apart from a lack of harshness as some other UK amps have if pushed slightly too hard and that darned breeze-block-in-drag with 'light bar' when powered, will see most of us out and still have more to offer

 

[Count Dacula]

I would like to hear the negative stories also. Really, most of these amps are the same except for the casing and the control board. Personally, I spend a few extra dollars over the likes of buckeye because I like the way the Nord amps look (even though it's hidden in a cabinet).

Yeah, maybe some links to these supposed goofball blown amp stories. We should take them on a case-by-case basis.

 

[john11]

I'd keep the bloomin' Quads if I were you. The Quad 606 models offered a lot over the 405-2 as the extra power into 4 ohm loads is really useful (now more common than ever) and as you suggest, they can be serviced (some early far eastern 909's needed recapping apparently, as the electrolytics were sub-standard, but that's a long time ago now and audible at the time). The current Artera Stereo is an absolute delight for those that know it and no desire to sell ever more expensive amp confections with no real advantage at all apart from profit in the till, no character at all apart from a lack of harshness as some other UK amps have if pushed slightly too hard and that darned breeze-block-in-drag with 'light bar' when powered, will see most of us out and still have more to offer

I was thinking of buying the quad artera but was put off by reports of the new chineese owners having lower quality production than quad huntingdon

I've read on line comments from people who own the quad 909 and hypex amps, they are all saying that there is very little between them - you are right !!! some of the quad components are of poor quality which affects sound quality, modders who are taking out old components from the quad 909 and replacing with modern high performance are reporting a good increase in performance, also removing the bus and connecting the input rca jacks straight to the quad circuit board helps- might have to whip the old soldering iron out to investigate further.
Because if the stock 909 sounds as good as a hypex then an upgraded 909 may take on a purifi

 

[Julf]

Because if the stock 909 sounds as good as a hypex then an upgraded 909 may take on a purifi

Do you believe there is an audible difference between the hypex and the purifi?

 

[john11]

I would like to hear the negative stories also. Really, most of these amps are the same except for the casing and the control board. Personally, I spend a few extra dollars over the likes of buckeye because I like the way the Nord amps look (even though it's hidden in a cabinet).

Trouble with Nord

Has anyone else had the power supply on there Nord amp fail ? Mine started playing up after it was off for a while. It was stored in it packaging on top of the wardrobe for maybe 8-12 months. On switching on it took about 5 mins for one channel to power up and about an hour for the other. I...

pinkfishmedia.net

 

[john11]

Do you believe there is an audible difference between the hypex and the purifi?

Good point, there is a suggestion purfi may have the edge with better treble

 

[DSJR]

I was thinking of buying the quad artera but was put off by reports of the new chineese owners having lower quality production than quad huntingdon

I've read on line comments from people who own the quad 909 and hypex amps, they are all saying that there is very little between them - you are right !!! some of the quad components are of poor quality which affects sound quality, modders who are taking out old components from the quad 909 and replacing with modern high performance are reporting a good increase in performance, also removing the bus and connecting the input rca jacks straight to the quad circuit board helps- might have to whip the old soldering iron out to investigate further.
Because if the stock 909 sounds as good as a hypex then an upgraded 909 may take on a purifi

The late production Quad 606mk1, which was basically the mk2 without the styling change and onwards, were excellent amps which should all 'sound' the same!' Our first dem early production 606 needed a couple of hours from cold to remove some 'grain' from the sound, which was audible and predictable and something that didn't exist in all other samples I ever heard, the amps 'coming on song' pretty much from switch-on and staying that way thereafter, which is what any amp worth its salt should do.

There was one early batch of far eastern made 909's which for whatever reason, had less than idea electrolytic caps fitted, causing noise and audible distortion I gather. There's an entire tale as regards how these caps were produced over the computer industry and so on and once this was dealt with, I've heard of no reliability or sonic issues at all! It was only the electrolytics used I believe!

The current Artera version has I believe, a slightly wider bandwidth according to one review I read. No idea if this is audible at all (I very much doubt it with most speakers), but the only criticism I could remotely make of it is that it's not a *showy* looking thing. With matching preamp, it's lovely and can drive all manner of speakers without stress (the preamp is a luxury thing at a not 'luxury' domestic price and I'd have one like a shot). My local audio salon appears to have dropped the brand, as it sat in the cubic display unit with their HiFiMan and deluxe Grado headphones, deluxe catalogues and so on and seemed totally anonymous when acres of Naim, Chord and now Accuphase is set up nearby in racks costing many hundreds per tier, none of it really any 'better' at all, but sure as heck making a statement, financially as well as visually. My photography is terrible, but spot the Artera bits in this display rack - I wish Quad had adopted the 500 series pro amps stylee, which look naughty in the flesh even switched off

The Quad bus enabled balanced connections, but I also read of bypassing the bus. Quad's service dept may be helpful as they do full refurbs on old gear now, not simple repairs (a pal sent back a 34/FM4/405-2 and they really went to town on all three items, even to the point of a new memory chip in the tuner adding extra presets apparently.

 

[exm]

Trouble with Nord

Has anyone else had the power supply on there Nord amp fail ? Mine started playing up after it was off for a while. It was stored in it packaging on top of the wardrobe for maybe 8-12 months. On switching on it took about 5 mins for one channel to power up and about an hour for the other. I...

pinkfishmedia.net

Thanks for sharing. Luckily that's an older thread, and it looks like only a handful of users are reporting issues.

 

[Julf]

Good point, there is a suggestion purfi may have the edge with better treble

Where is that suggestion? Measurements don't seem to support that, and I really doubt the difference is audible in a proper double blind test.