K Designs D~400 Amps (Finally Done)

[GreenKiwi]

The Tannoy's look cool... something about them makes me think Dr. Who

[dcg44s]

Jun 20, 2013 19:05:26 GMT -5 @kraemerkid2119 said:

One of the cases had small scratches on the front.... Damn platters!!!

So i went to sand it off and hey look at this!! If i sand it all off, it looks amazing ;D

Dang,that looks nice! 

[GreenKiwi]

So I finally got my set up and going, but unfortunately it's late and people are sleeping so I'm going to have to wait until the morning.

The whole setup process took way too long, as my new XDA-2 had USB issues and wouldn't play any music at all. (Optical might have had some initial issues too.) At any rate after a few restarts and plug/unplug/plugs, it was all working.

My very first impression is that they are very very clean. They seem like the equivalent of the ultra black projectors. The lack of sound is so so "black" that everything sounds even cleaner above it.

I'll get to do some more listening tomorrow when it's a bit earlier and others aren't asleep yet.

[klinemj]

Any more impressions?

Mark

[GreenKiwi]

So I finally got to give them a really good listen on Friday... and WOW!

I few highlights were listening to the separation and voice quality of Jennifer Warnes - Famous Blue Raincoat - Joan of Arc
www.discogs.com/Jennifer-Warnes-Famous-Blue-Raincoat/master/104357
The voices are incredible and I always enjoy the Duet between Jennifer and Leonard Cohen for listening to the way systems sound.

I then listened to a high rez version of DSotM... and there just seemed to be more detail than before.

The last two highlights were listening to Eric Bobo's - Meeting of the Minds. This album has lots of percussion and there seemed to be an improved level of impact.

And listening to some well recorded jazz tracks on an HDCD sampler that I had from Reference Recordings. The music seemed to have more layers or presentation than before.

My overall take away were two things.

1. This amp seems to have almost no noise... it's "black" is just black. Like going out into the country side, away from all light pollution and looking up at the stars on a crisp winter night (note, it's even more impressive in the winter than in the summer. I grew up in Vermont, and getting out into the middle of nowhere to look at stars was something we did a lot)

2. This amp's performance seems effortless. It never seemed to strain.

(Oh, and KD is the the god of AL... the build quality is wonderful. While I don't know if the speaker connectors on the back of the amps have any sonic improvement, they do have a very nice tactile and ocular improvement. I'm glad that ufokillerz pushed for them)

That being said, I am going to have to plug the XDA-1 back in and see whether the differences were the nc400, or the XDA-2. I'm guessing that it was a little bit of both.

And on another note, I'm going to be upgrading to the DC-1... I figure it will be the last DAC I need to purchase to go along with the last amps I'll need =D

[klinemj]

Super...glad it's worked out for you so well! These are some very impressive amps, for sure....hard to believe they can be so small and perform so strong.

Mark (PS...I'm looking forward to the DC-1 also!)

[GreenKiwi]

Nick spoke very highly of the DC-1 (guess he should as he's the sales guy...) but the features he talked about seemed to make lots of sense. I'll wait until they post on the site before discussing features. And do it in another thread.

[ocezam]

Jul 1, 2013 14:53:04 GMT -5 klinemj said:

These are some very impressive amps, for sure....hard to believe they can be so small and perform so strong.
Mark (PS...I'm looking forward to the DC-1 also!)

Class D is definitely the way of the future. If I manufactured AVRs, there is no way I'd mess with squeezing big, heavy, and hot class AB amps into them. Class D seems to do everything well.


...

[Deleted]

I totally agree with Ocezam, Class D is the wave of the future. And implementing them in AVRs makes a ton of sense. I will probably eventually make the switch, but not until my current XPA-5 gives up the ghost...

-RW-

[Gary Cook]

I have no idea whether this relates to Ncores or not, but in general this is what I have found when using Class D amplifiers in band, theatre and concert use;
Emit RF, enclosing them in a nice, chunky, alloy block helps but the RF energy still gets out via the external wiring. Some (most) associated hifi gear doesn't like EMI/EMF so having a Class D amp close to other gear is not a good idea.  Having them in the same case (like an AVR) would be interesting.

Speaker sensitivity, they are very sensitive to different speakers, the same Class D amp can sound very different when coupled with different speakers.  Noticeably more different than experienced with Class A or AB amps .  I imagine this would be an even larger problem in an AVR where 2 or 3 different types of speakers can be plugged into a 5.1 or 7.1 set up.

Damping factor, sort of related, Class D amps as a rule don't have good damping factors (when compared to Class A or AB), 

Gain, frequently we see posts from guys with excessive gain issues from XPA amps which at 32 db is, from memory, similar to the Ncores.

Strangely enough there are some people who would list the light weight of Class D amps as an issue, the "heavier the amp is, the better it will sound" brigade. 


Cheers
Gary

[GreenKiwi]

With regard to the nc400, I believe the gain is closer to 26db, while the output impedance is supposedly ultra low with a damping factor is claimed to be over 10,000... For what that's worth.

www.6moons.com/audioreviews/acousticimagery/3.html

[GreenKiwi]

Now I don't think that many avr makers are going to pop in $500-700 per channel modules.

But some of the ice modules are quite attractive in their price ranges.