class d

I actually had a different issue with the NuForce V2 SE and my Supratek Chenin tube preamp. The RF emitted by the Nuforce fed back through the tubes in my pre, producing a contant buzz/hum through the speakers, and a very glaring type of sound - rather unpleasant. Be careful matching the NuForce with tube preamps, especially Suprateks. The Supras are very sensitive to RF - I can't have a cell phone in the same room with them, or I hear every ping of the cell tower loud and clear. No such problem with the Gilmores, however.

No guarantees, but the Rowland chassis is designed with containing RFI in mind. Some of the worst of Class D or ICEPower impressions comes from these kind of issues. It cannot be ignored. Besides interacting with pre-amps, setting your CDP and ICEPower amp side by side can be disappointing. With my Rowland Continuum 500 and Playback Designs MPS-5 it's not an issue at all, either in unbalanced or balanced mode.

Dave

08-21-08: Jimmy3993
More conversation with nuforce. They gave me directions to open the pre and
move a jumper to cut the gain by 1/2. So I gave it a shot but when I opened it
up it didnt really look like he picture. Turns out that the demo version i was
sent has an old board without the jumper.

I was going stay quiet on this, but your news above changed my mind.

How can a company send out a demo unit that is not current with the latest
production version? What if you had decided you really liked the preamp, and
you wanted to purchase it? Would NuForce have notified you that the demo
unit wasn't up to current spec and sent you a new one? I doubt it. Sounds like
they weren't aware that the unit you had wasn't a model with the most recent
board.

From the outset, NuForce seems to have been a company that uses their
customers as paying beta testers. During the course of two or three years,
they would release new version after new version of their amps within months
of the previous models, which were touted as the greatest thing
in hifi. One would buy their product, and then two months later the amp
would have to be shipped back to NuForce for the latest upgrades. A few
months after that, the process would repeat. This only stopped with the
release of their Ref 9 V2SE, which I demoed and thought was an excellent
amplifier if paired with appropriate speakers. However, based on your preamp
experience it sounds to me like NuForce still doesn't quite have its act
together with the preamp.

I think if you want a product for the long term, that has been tested and
refined BEFORE it was brought to market, and if you want to avoid being a
beta tester for a product for which you have paid a good sum of money, then
you would be well advised to look at a different brand.

I had not looked at it from that angle, but can't really argue with you either. The p9 demo was not part of their usuall demo process though.
On their web site, they offer auditions for the monos. So I called the to arrange a demo. While on the phone, I asked about the p9. The guy said that they didn't have a demo program for it, but that he had one handy and wouldn't mind sending it along.
So I can give them a "pass" on not knowing that the pre wasn't current because they weren't planning on sending it out.
That says nothing about the rapid rate that they upgrade the amps.
I am really fond of the solidity of the imaging that I get from the pre/mono combo. Plus the pre suits my quirky functionality needs (ht bypass, balanced input and output) and they are cheap.
If anyone has an alternate to consider, let me know!

08-21-08: Jimmy3993
I can give them a "pass" on not knowing that the pre wasn't
current because they weren't planning on sending it
out.

A company should know exactly what they're sending out for customer
evaluation. Otherwise, how can a proper evaluation be performed (as you
discovered)?

You cannot know if the unit you have will sound the same or different from a
unit with the correct board installed.

This service from NuForce is slipshod, IMO.