Nuforce

We made the changes in version 9.02 to fix overheat protection and sonic performance improvement.
We had a debate at that time whether to release it or not.
The advises that I (yes, I personally is responsible for this decision) received from dealers is that we should just follow what many manufactures do in the industry. Track the chances internally with the serial number and don't announce it. Ship new products with the upgrade quietly. If customers have problem, we quietly replace it for them. Then nobody is going to complain that we have to many revisions (after all the upgrades for Ref 8, we should avoid doing that).

My biggest problem with this decision is that I will leave all my previous customers in the dark and deny them of an improvement. We want to build a company with superior product and customer satisfaction. So I decided that we should bite the bullet and not compromise our integrity. I told my guys that we'll take the heat and just try our best to explain our philosophy. Someday people will understand. Having said that, there is no more upgrades for Ref 9. version 9.02 is the last one. We beat the design to death. Ref 9 SE is a higher end product costing a lot more. But keeping our strategy of offering the best as an option to Ref 9 customers, Ref 9 can be upgraded to the SE.

All Nuforce Reference series products can be upgraded with new circuit board or power supply when new technology becomes available.

Wow, unbelieveable, what a hornet's nest this thread has become...

Redkiwi and Stehno, I want to thank you for posting. I hope some folks can see what's really going on here.

My opinion it that the NuForce detractors suffer from a few common human failings, which certainly isn't damning, but it is rather disappointing. I'm talking about shortsightedness, failure to see the big picture, and dare I say -- a certain amount of jealousy.

Personally, I'm extremely thankful for NuForce's novel contributions to home audio reproduction. It's not like their early designs sound bad by any means. But they are improving all the time and that seems to scare some people.

No one says that you have to send the amps back every time there is a small change. My feeling is that if you like the sound you are currently getting then stick with it for a while. If you want to stay current then fine, send the amps back once or twice a year and have them upgraded for very reasonable fees.

NuForce is also unique in offering this level of customer support and service. A lot of other companies will just tell you to sell the old model and buy their new one. Either that or they charge very high prices for their upgrades.

NuForce is a very proactive and progressive company and some folks just can't stand it. I say too bad for them. As for me, I'm enjoying my music more than ever since I changed my reference amplification to NuForce.

Oh yeah, and I'll put my current Reference 9's (nevermind the SE's) up against all comers regardless of price. They will certainly beat the bulk of amplifiers on today's market, and those that can compete will likely cost much more.

I am happy with Nuforce's policy. I am happy that the market is 'buyer beware' unless there have been misrepresentations. I am happy with the Nuforce amps I have and I am upgrading to some new Nuforce amps.

I also appreciate that it is tough being a new guy where you have to pay the bills by selling what you've got, rather than wait till the next round of R&D is spent.

I can understand all that.

Just remember the customer is always right about how he feels about a firm, product or service. He may not be right about the facts, and he may not be listening to you when you tell him the facts, but he is the one that is right, because his decision to buy from you is based on his views, not the vendor's. And he is always right about how he feels.

There is no doubt that Nuforce's teething problems have impacted how customers feel about buying a Nuforce amp. The justifications or rationalisations from Nuforce or its dealers don't change any of that much at all. The upfront nature of Jason at forums here can change things, and I hope already is.

Some of us just need to put it down to experience that a new product from a previously unheard of firm is not likely to have a fully-developed product at its first outing. There are no rules that say they must have a fully developed product either.

Some of us just need to listen to the voice of the customer and understand that the emotions behind the words are driven by real (and always right) feelings about the product or service experience or about the pride, or otherwise, of ownership. And the fact that you know the expressed facts are wrong doesn't change that.

For all the positives about the intrinsic product, the perceived failings are real because customers feel them. That's just the way it is, and if you don't accept it, you may not deserve to have customers. Of course those dopey customers are wrong about how it really happened - you only have to be in business to know that will always be the case. But the only reality that matters is how it occurs to your customers. Be thankful your customers still use your amps, upgrade them and are still interested enough to let you know what they are feeling on this and other forums.

I believe that the future of audio power amps lies with use of prepackaged modules such as ICE or UcD (especially the latter). These modules are intended for application not only in many brands of audiophile equipment but also in Pro Sound and other audio arenas. Because the market is so broad it can support extensive R&D and volume production which leads to low cost without quality impact. And, because of the volume, any bugs get quickly found and fixed.

In the military electronics field wherre I worked for more than 20 years we used to design all our own stuff. No more. Nowadays we mostly use commercial designs, sometimes modified for any unique requirements of the military application. Not only is this a lot cheaper (good for the poor taxpayer) but we have to admit that commercial "off the shelf" electronics are almost always superior in performance to what we could do. This should be no surprise. Think how many millions of dollars TI, Intel, AMD, can invest in the design and development of, for example, a microprocessor. Our volume requirement for an "end of life" production run is typically measured in the hundreds.

A "roll your own" design approach such as used by Nuforce makes for interesting technical work, but perhaps is a commercial dead end. Good thing this audio business is a hobby!