"Our new Black EX integrated which you saw previewed in Munich [left with the firm's Michael McCormick - Ed.] uses the new inclusive nCore 500wpc stereo module. After we modify it, I do find it a bit warmer and denser. Prior to modification, it was too lossy and fuzzy for us. Note that unlike NC500 and our NC1200, the new module includes the input and pre/driver gain stage. That's a very dominant sonic contributor. I really like the new integrated. It has a very pleasing sound balance, less liquid than our Black ACI600 integrated but very satisfying. It was interesting to listen to our new EX DAC/control/amp combo and realize how much the system sound was dominated by a pair of 1m balanced interconnects, going from an overly warm older cable to an overly bright forward other oldie before finding the Goldilocks setup with something newer. Since living with our Black system and integrated, I forgot how profoundly this one analog link affects the sound. Note that the Black ACI600 and all of our new integrated amps share some of the architectural approach of the full Black system whereby a separate processor front end drives into a dedicated DAC/amplifier section, each with its own power supply and only a digital interconnection between the two separate functions.


"The core processor platform is an asynchronous processor with three custom DSP units—2xXMOS, 1xhigh-speed ARM—and two dedicated audio processor units. Together these handle the Ethernet, USB, S/PDIF, AES, TOS and analog inputs. They perform DSD conversion, MQA, PCM custom filter processing and integer upsampling. There is a high-performance MM/MC programmable phono stage and two line level inputs that feed a 24/192 ADC into the processor core. Dual dedicated ultra-low phase noise master clocks direct all of the digital processing and strip any incoming jitter from external digital input streams.


"There is a 32-bit ARM processor that handles the user interfacing and coordination of all of these processes. The overall platform also includes a very high-performance HDR-II (high dynamic resolution II) DAC processor on a separate board which takes the digital output from the processor core. This is where volume control happens in 32-bit digital processing. The HDR-II core achieves 127dB of dynamic range, higher than any analog volume could achieve (24 bits = 144dB DR so any residual from the volume control is below analog's dynamic range well into the analog noise floor).


"This board also has an asynchronous interface with a dedicated ultra-low phase noise master clock positioned adjacent to the DAC. We also have a 32/64-bit dedicated audio DSP operating on this board that provides bass management, sophisticated tilt and bass EQ and allows us to fine tune things like the RIAA response in the phono section! There is a secondary DAC (112dB dynamic range) which drives the line output and provides headphone and subwoofer output when the bass management features are used. This DSP will also implement a sophisticated IIR-based room correction algorithm developed by Bert Bohmer of Bohmer Audio. It operates below 500Hz and optimizes the time domain response to reduce smear and masking while not imposing a signature on the broad audio spectrum as typical FIR approaches do. As you can see, we have been busy. This has been a major development effort and I could only justify it if we could use it over a broad range of products.