Well, I’ve had my three days with the ncores, I’ve listened to a lot of different types of music, and my conclusion is that these little amps are incredible!
To backtrack a little, I’ve been an on-again off-again audiophile for the better part of thirty years. I started with a solid state adcom amp, moved to mid-level luxman amplification, and then on to the audio research classic 60 and the warm glow of tubes. I’ve had tangent speakers, spendor, omega, and martin logan aerius. Sources have included a vpi turntable as well as various cd-players. See my previous post from Thursday for my current set-up, which emphasizes simplicity and compactness.
Although I’ve heard other great and even state-of-the art systems at shows and dealers, I’ve never been tempted to spend the kind of big bucks required for an all-out assault on the state of the art. I’ve always looked for good value.
These little mono do-it-yourself amps are probably the most value for the buck I’ve ever encountered. I thought my bel canto integrated was highly detailed and revealing, and it certainly seemed so compared to the vintage audio research amp it replaced. But I am hearing more nuance and subtle detail than I have ever heard before. On top of that, it is all presented in a more natural and more realistic way—no electronic veiling, no digititis, no listener fatigue.
I listened to a lot of well recorded audiophile favorites—Jennifer Warnes Famous Blue Raincoat, Jazz at the Pawnshop, the Chesky John Pizarelli My Blue Heaven, the Dorian Sampler Volume 2 among them. I also listened to HD tracks high res version of Paul McCartney’s Band on the Run. I also listened to lots of other recordings I have heard many times over the years, such as Mozart Horn Concertos, Dire Straits Bonnie Raitt and Sting albums, and even recent Cold Play, Rihanna and Adele, some of the latter on the MOG service. Incredibly, even the relatively low -sample rate music on MOG sounded better than I had ever heard it (on MOG). Most of the source material was played from a macbook air through my dac, but some was played through a squeezebox (original) with the digital signal taken through my dac.
All the music I played seemed to be more present in the room, with better front to back layering. The instruments and voices had good body and were fully fleshed out. Complex musical passages and loud crescendos did not overwhelm the system or result in any congealing of the sound (and this is with my extremely inefficient and power hungry small speakers). Micro-dynamics were better, allowing you to notice the small changes in volume and energy that makes music so vital. I did notice a slight tendency toward sibilance in some recordings—but I have no idea whether that is because of the source, because of the dac, or because of the amps. High end: clear and clean. Midrange: full of body and life. Bass—solid.
Bottom line—the best amplification and the best music reproduction I have ever heard in my system. Period. A very exciting time to be an audiophile!