Hypex N core module

Sold Acoustic Imagery NC1200 to go back to the more natural sound of conventional Class A.

Hi noble100, to your statement;

I’ve previously requested you describe what these sonic anomalies specifically sound like so I can more easily identify some semblance of one.

I can add that for over a year I owned and used in my main system a pair of the Acoustic Imagery Atsah monoblocks made from Bruno Putzeys' highly rated Ncore NC1200 amplifier and power modules - the very same modules used in Merrill''s Veritas amplifiers and in the Mola Mola Kaluga amplifiers.  In fairness, the Mola Mola amps have some other tweaks inside that the Merrill and Acoustic Imagery amps do not have, but those who have heard all three of these amplifiers made with the NC1200 modules mostly say there is very little if any difference between them.

I sold them after a prolonged, direct comparison with three other Class A and AB amplifiers.  I liked everything about the Ncore amplifiers, except ultimately the sound.  I really thought these were going to be my last amplifiers and I was very disappointed when it didn't work out that way.  From those of us who do not believe these Class D amplifiers are ready to compete with other very good Class A and AB amps, I have heard varying explanations.  In my case, I described what I heard as a soundstaging type of issue where the music sounded as if it were being played by individual players recorded separately in a sound booth, instead of a band playing on a stage together.  The ambient cues were not present in relation to the musicians to the extent I was familiar with from my other amplifiers.  Another, similar explanation that also describes what I heard can be found in the Mono & Stereo review of the  Mola Mola Kaluga amplifiers linked below (read the concluding comments);
http://www.monoandstereo.com/2015/08/mola-mola-makua-and-kaluga-review.html

I have no idea whether my impressions are related to the switching frequency George describes, but they could be.  There must be some reason why amplifiers that measure so well do not get me across the goal line with respect to sound quality.

The 6 Moons review on these class D mono-blocks that I read concluded that these may be the best amps you can buy regardless of type or price that they have ever reviewed.

The 6moons review of the Mola Mola Kaluga amps was written by Marja & Henk who were early Hypex adopters,starting with a prototype of the Ncore amplifiers. However, all of us have our biases and no review should be taken as gospel.  As another example, read the rave Stereophile review of the NC1200 based Theta Prometheus amplifiers that Statman replaced with D’Agostino Progression monoblocks, which he likes better.  One thing for sure, the Ncore amplifiers measure very well as pointed out by JA in the measurements section of the review.  

In summary, I do believe the NC1200 amplifiers do many things well and provide a sound quality that many enjoy and  live with.  IMO, they just cannot compete with the better amplifiers I have owned.   

@noble100

Just the thought of comparing the diminutive Atsah class D monos at 1/4 the weight and size of the pure class A Clayton monos seems like a big mismatch to me reminiscent of David vs Goliath. I suspect you were not very surprised that, in this modern rematch, the favored Goliath clearly beat the underdog David

Hello noble100, I will try and respond to your question.  First, during my direct comparison of the Acoustic Imagery and Clayton amplifiers over a prolonged period in my system, I did not attribute any performance characteristic or selection bias to the size of the two amplifiers.  In fact, the Acoustic Imagery amplifiers are well-made with very solid CNC'd aluminum casework and excellent Furutech binding posts.  They look cool and between the looks, small size, ability to remain turned-on 24/7, and quiet operation, I truly hoped they would be my last amplifiers.

Could it be that the reason the musical material that you played through your class A Cayton M300 amps sounded so good, while the same recording played through your very accurate and revealing class D Atsah sounded so poor, was due to the musical material not being as well engineered as you originally thought? In other words, Do you think your class A Clayton M300 amps are less revealing and more forgiving of bad recordings than your Atsah?

That is an interesting question.  The Class D Atsahs are revealing, but so are the Claytons.  I did not have the sense that one amplifier displayed more information than the other.  The recorded information was typically Redbook CD burned to a Mac mini and played through Channel D's Pure Music player and then later Redbook CD burned directly to the Antipodes DX.  The DAC is a Metrum Pavane.  Therefore, the material is not high sample rate DSD, or even upsampled to any great degree.  My preference is for a natural sounding presentation so even through the mini I preferred the 24-bit, 88.2 sample rate.  I do not believe the Antipodes upsamples.

I understand your implication that the Atsahs displayed the "warts and all" of poorly recorded material and thus did not sound as good as the Claytons.  I guess I never really thought about that and simply made my choice based on how the two amplifiers sounded in my system with the source I was using.  My issues with the Ncore Atsahs were related to spatial cues and not detail.  I did like listening to music through the Atsahs and particularly liked their rich tone, that not too many SS amplifiers get right IMO.