Hypex Ncore NC400

Hi Hifial, any further findings on your Merrill Veritas amps with NC1200 power conversion modules?

Thanks, Guido

I know I'm reviving an old thread, but was wondering if perhaps anyone else had comments about the NC400 module. I'm always keeping an eye out for an amp setup and this caught my attention.

I was first looking at the channel islands models and my search lead me to Hypex. I looked into building a couple of mono blocks using the NC400 modules to be able to get into a Hypex setup and save myself some money. The CI amps were $1600 a pair for the lowest model.

I looked into building my own using the NC400, but with the exchange rate and the VAT, building my own is going to cost more than just buying them from CI.

Any thoughts? Is just buying them pre built a better way to go for a U.S. resident?

Tony, which Channel Islands amp is based on Ncore? I went to the web site.... Seems both D500 and D200 are based on older Hypex UCD modules. As far as I know, the Ncore NC400 module by Hypex is solde only to the DIY market. OEM manufacturers purchase Hypex NCore NC1200 modules instead for their amps... Currently, Merrill Veritas, Acoustic Imagery ATSAH, Mola-Mola.

G.

It is less than a week that I have playing with a borrowed pair of NC400s, but they have amazed me. They work well with a good tubed preamp. If you have the system for it, they really expose the space around the recording extremely well. This is not a subtle thing. It can really make reality pop! My speakers are only 84dB efficient and are the bare minimum that I would want to use with these amps. Brass doesn’t have quite as much a bite with these as my current amp, but I consider that minor. The NC1200 is said to be better with brass, so it may be just a power thing. If that is the case and your speakers are more efficient than mine then you might not have that issue. Even with that issue, the many virtues of these amps greatly overcome that subtle issue. I currently plan to buy a set to replace my current amp.

Next week I plan to bypass my tubed preamp and go straight into the NC400s from my solid state DAC. If I learn any more, I will post to this tread.

Bob

My post above was badly written. I must have been half asleep. The current bottom of the line Channel Islands amp (from what I understand) is BASED on a UCD200(?). When researching the amp, I saw the name Hypex pop up so I checked it out, which led me to the NC400.

I may have been trading apples for oranges as the CI unit is based on a Ucd module as opposed to the NC400, but I found the NC400 interesting anyway.

As I said, maybe apples to oranges, but I was wondering if it is just more cost effective to get the CI amps rather than build my own based on the NC400 module. As I said, the modules and power supplies, due to the exchange rate and VAT, aren't inexpensive.

I'm figuring after everything is said and done, it's looking like an NC400 build, done nicely, is going to run about $1K each.