misterc6
Wasted and wounded, it ain’t what the moon did
I was recently pleased to be given the opportunity of building and testing a pair of new power amplifier boards from Avondale Audio. They are an improved version of the well regarded NCC200 boards and were originally given the designation NCC220 although Les has now opted for the name QUDOS to better differentiate them from their predecessor.
The main differences are that these have a fully complementary output stage rather than the quasi-complementary stage of the NCC200 and have the option of fitting the bias transistor on the main heat sink. A higher level of bias is possible with this arrangement and I'm currently running them at 120mA compared to 38mA on the NCC200.
I've had wide experience of Naim NAPA boards, modified NAPA boards and NCC200 boards but can report that these new boards blew me away from the very first moment I powered them up. The music just flows effortlessly from them and I'm hearing things in familiar tracks that I've never heard before. They are particularly impressive in the way they render percussion and vocals. The intro of Blondie's 'The Tide is High' sounds so much better than it ever has before and I'm listening to Keith Jarrett's 'The Köln Concert' in a new light as I type this.
I'm currently running the boards with the +/- 39v rails in my Naim NAP110 mono amplifiers and, from previous experience, I'm looking forward to trying them with higher voltage rails.
I'm not sure what Les' intentions are about putting the Qudos boards into production but I can definitely recommend them very highly.
IMG_0903 by Malcolm Connah, on Flickr
IMG_0905 by Malcolm Connah, on Flickr
The main differences are that these have a fully complementary output stage rather than the quasi-complementary stage of the NCC200 and have the option of fitting the bias transistor on the main heat sink. A higher level of bias is possible with this arrangement and I'm currently running them at 120mA compared to 38mA on the NCC200.
I've had wide experience of Naim NAPA boards, modified NAPA boards and NCC200 boards but can report that these new boards blew me away from the very first moment I powered them up. The music just flows effortlessly from them and I'm hearing things in familiar tracks that I've never heard before. They are particularly impressive in the way they render percussion and vocals. The intro of Blondie's 'The Tide is High' sounds so much better than it ever has before and I'm listening to Keith Jarrett's 'The Köln Concert' in a new light as I type this.
I'm currently running the boards with the +/- 39v rails in my Naim NAP110 mono amplifiers and, from previous experience, I'm looking forward to trying them with higher voltage rails.
I'm not sure what Les' intentions are about putting the Qudos boards into production but I can definitely recommend them very highly.
IMG_0903 by Malcolm Connah, on Flickr
IMG_0905 by Malcolm Connah, on Flickr