![]() Two Hypex SMPS1200A700 Power Supply (Stereo).I also used Ophidian Minimo speakers and an M2Tech Young MkIII as a different pre/DAC, to the Cyrus pre/Dac and the Chord Qutest DAC. PMC twenty5 23 speakers, Innuos Zenith Mark 2 source/server, Cyrus DAC XP Signature pre amp with connected Cyrus PSX-R power supply, Cyrus Mono X200 Signature power amps, ISOL-8 Integra power conditioner connected to mains with ISOL-8 IsoLink Ultra power cable, Chord Qutest DAC with matching MCRU linear power supply, Chord Signature tuned Aray XLR interconnects. Maybe reviewer awards should only be given in such ways! The Nord NC500DM MkII more than achieves the 13th Note and is extremely recommended!!! If ever an amp should win an award for best value for money then this is it. You certainly will NOT regret it and I wish I had tried before now! With this in mind and throwing a curve ball, please consider Nord amplifiers next time you upgrade. That said, price probably wouldn’t be as competitive. Just from the point that more people could come across this brand. In some ways and to be fair, I wish the very best adding value dealers did sell Nord gear. Consider before making your next amp purchase, what is possible in audiophile HiFi where the dealer isn’t in the picture. So if you had to come up with a powerful, detailed and clean sound with loads of the qualities you probably need, at this price you must be joking it’s possible? Well you’d be wrong if you thought that. So I’d put it more in these terms which agrees both with the manufacturer view of its balance, and those too of the needs of lots of customers, as to achieving neutrality. With the right balanced pre amp, this Nord won’t do that – it’s balanced. However that type of sound departs from neutral anyway. It isn’t going to be like some ultra smooth Class A integrated from the likes of Sugden or Accuphase. The reason is that this Nord NC500DM MkII offers absolutely incredible performance and value for money for what it is doing sonically. Well at less than half the price of my Cyrus Mono X200 Signatures, and achieving better dynamic, bass and detail performance, I can see with the above in mind, how the claims about the Bell Canto’s could be true. So I thought, oh no here we go… not more egged up HiFi salesmanship. I had my doubts of the claim about Class D with Class A sound, since my experiences with some Class D amps have been one of edgy and sharp detail. We could wax lyrical more with specificity to sound quality traits, but as this is partly a function of the power and control this amp has, I won’t… Suffice to say though, it does have great fluidity. I’ve been trying the Nord NC500DM MkII with some mini Ophidian Minimo speakers and will soon move it to a desk installation with these baby monitors. It certainly loves my PMC’s which have always appreciated power. It is incredibly powerful and as long as you don’t use it anywhere near max output, it will be fine on most speakers. It’s too excavating detail at a rate like JCB’s should be scooping plastics up from rubbish tips in far eastern countries. It has it over the Cyrus amps in these areas. It’s a detail excavator behemoth with lots of micro details in music not previously discernible. This equates to exquisite dynamics, control, and depth, which is just, well, …. It has power and guts over my Cyrus mono amps. So on this score, if you are happy with what your preamplifier is doing, it’s doubtful you’ll have any concerns with this power amp. Possibly it could suggest that the system is perhaps not as balanced as it could be, if this view is held. So doesn’t this mean then that the adage that Class D is sometimes bright, is erroneous. Now that might sound like a pretty vacuous thing to say with pre-amplification directing sonic traits, but of course power amps can impart their own character. This fed into my early impressions that this Nord doesn’t really depart too much from the sound I am used too – ie Cyrus. You get a 14 day money back guarantee on amp purchases, as you’d expect. I know I do.īecause of this direct selling model, Colin offers a service of claiming back import taxes. Yeah right!….slightly old fashioned in an internet world and hardly a glowing beacon of value added sincerity in a climate where consumers spending this sort of money expect more and the best performing gear. I’ll sit back, let you decide, offer a bad discount and take many hundreds or thousands on your purchase in my dealer margin. just come into my ‘living room’ and you can choose based on what you like the sound of in my limited range, which won’t always be most competitive. Many independent dealers don’t really add much value…. Lets be frank, lots of dealer purchases are transactional. Also don’t reviewers have the finger on the pulse of what’s hot too. I like the idea of direct buying from manufacturers as it cuts out the middle men dealers and makes the products so much more competitive.
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