Nuforce MCA30 - opinions, experience, advice requested

J

Jsandman

Enthusiast
Hello out there. I am looking for an 8-channel amp, preferably a good-sounding and reliable Class D amp to power all of my surrounds in a Dolby Atmos setup (7.2.4). I am waiting patiently for Monoprice to release their Hypex Class D amps, but those are somewhat expensive at launch, (although not nearly as expensive as ATI's.) In any case, in my search I came across some "older" Nuforce models, like the MCA30, that initially look good on paper. But there are not many reviews about this amp, it doesn't have XLR outputs (although that's not necessarily a deal-breaker but they are preferred,) and the published specs raise some red flags, at least in my mind: power output is only rated with 1 channel driven on an 8-channel amp, SNR is under 100dB (97dB), and things like frequency response, slew rate, etc. are not published. Not to mention that Nuforce has changed ownership at least twice in the last 10-20 years. That all said, if I find an MCA30, should I pull the trigger and purchase, or am I taking too much of a gamble? Does anyone have experience or informed opinions about out-of-production Nuforce Class D amps?
 
G

Golfx

Senior Audioholic
Why would you take a risk when you do not have to? Buckeye Amps, VTV Amps and the British Nord Audio all offer cheap reliable multi8 ncores.


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J

Jsandman

Enthusiast
Why would you take a risk when you do not have to? Buckeye Amps, VTV Amps and the British Nord Audio all offer cheap reliable multi8 ncores.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
I have never heard of any of those companies. I'll check them out, thanks! (I would still appreciate any input about Nuforce, though.)
 
G

Golfx

Senior Audioholic
You listed some cons already. You will find none of those in the recommended hypex ncore amps.


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J

Jsandman

Enthusiast
You listed some cons already. You will find none of those in the recommended hypex ncore amps.


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Do you mean to say that those are not cons, or that all Class D Amps are not going to be good? You seem to have a positive view on Class D Amps based on your response in the thread that @lovinthehd provided, so should I assume that the potential cons I listed are not actually cons? Any feedback from experience is appreciated!
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
There have been issues with class d amps historically, but most of that has been ironed out for a while now. I've been using some Crown XLS amps (and has both balanced and unbalanced connections) for a while now and I'd rather have one of their amps than something from Nuforce myself. There's quite a bit of choice, altho some is fairly new as far as brands go (or you can purchase modules for a diy build).
 
G

Golfx

Senior Audioholic
Hello out there. I am looking for an 8-channel amp, preferably a good-sounding and reliable Class D amp to power all of my surrounds in a Dolby Atmos setup (7.2.4). I am waiting patiently for Monoprice to release their Hypex Class D amps, but those are somewhat expensive at launch, (although not nearly as expensive as ATI's.) In any case, in my search I came across some "older" Nuforce models, like the MCA30, that initially look good on paper. But there are not many reviews about this amp, it doesn't have XLR outputs (although that's not necessarily a deal-breaker but they are preferred,) and the published specs raise some red flags, at least in my mind: power output is only rated with 1 channel driven on an 8-channel amp, SNR is under 100dB (97dB), and things like frequency response, slew rate, etc. are not published. Not to mention that Nuforce has changed ownership at least twice in the last 10-20 years. That all said, if I find an MCA30, should I pull the trigger and purchase, or am I taking too much of a gamble? Does anyone have experience or informed opinions about out-of-production Nuforce Class D amps?
You mentioned some issues above with potential purchase of the Nuforce amps. Those are the cons I was mentioning. I do not know of any real cons with the class d amps I mentioned. I own four after changing from Anthem AB amps (MCA 325 and PVA8). Why wait for Monoprice? Is it their cheapness? You cannot get cheaper than Buckeye Amps. VTV a little more expensive and Nord the most but Nord also offers optional RCA/XLR switch per channel. I have the latter and the added expense kept me from having to buy RCA to XLR conversion cables. So it likely amortized the increased cost of the option.
 
BoredSysAdmin

BoredSysAdmin

Audioholic Slumlord
this is ancient history by now, but maybe still relevant to some degree:
 
J

Jsandman

Enthusiast
this is ancient history by now, but maybe still relevant to some degree:
Yes, I did actually see this among the little other information I could find before I posted this thread. That actually was part of what made me concerned, but I wanted to see if anyone else had experience or possibly even measurements of the NuForce amp; maybe they learned their lesson since this? Maybe not.
 
J

Jsandman

Enthusiast
You mentioned some issues above with potential purchase of the Nuforce amps. Those are the cons I was mentioning. I do not know of any real cons with the class d amps I mentioned. I own four after changing from Anthem AB amps (MCA 325 and PVA8). Why wait for Monoprice? Is it their cheapness? You cannot get cheaper than Buckeye Amps. VTV a little more expensive and Nord the most but Nord also offers optional RCA/XLR switch per channel. I have the latter and the added expense kept me from having to buy RCA to XLR conversion cables. So it likely amortized the increased cost of the option.
Yeah, I checked out those three companies. Thank you! Those are fantastic options and I will likely actually go with one of those. I thought Monoprice was actually offering the cheapest option for Hypex (or any high-quality Class D 8-channel Amps that had reviews with measurements,) but you thankfully proved me wrong. Thanks again!
 
G

Golfx

Senior Audioholic
Yeah, I checked out those three companies. Thank you! Those are fantastic options and I will likely actually go with one of those. I thought Monoprice was actually offering the cheapest option for Hypex (or any high-quality Class D 8-channel Amps that had reviews with measurements,) but you thankfully proved me wrong. Thanks again!
You are welcome


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