The British professional amplifier brand MC² has launched a new high-end power amplifier for the home market, the Ultrafide U500DC.
The British professional amplifier brand MC², established in 1994, has been a representative of top-quality professional recording studios since the early 1990s. MC²’s amplifier products are used in high-end recording studios around the world, including Abbey Road and Air Studios. MC² believes it is now time to bring their years of accumulated audio professional knowledge and experience to audiophiles at home.
The Air Studio, located in North London, has three recording studios. All Control Rooms are equipped with Dynaudio Acoustics M4 or custom monitoring systems. The amplifiers are specially customized active multi-way power amplifiers from MC².
In 1994, MC² was born in the beautiful countryside of East Devon, UK. This small factory was started by two people who combined their knowledge and passion in their respective fields (professional audio and high fidelity) to form the philosophy of MC². One of their main goals was to produce accurate amplifiers for the global professional audio market.
Terry Clarke, the founder and soul of MC², spent his lifetime designing, developing, and manufacturing truly special and legendary British audio electronic products. Later, Alex Cooper took over the main R&D work and manufactured some special products.
In the early 1990s, the MC series was launched. These amplifiers were designed to reproduce live sound. Due to their high-quality sound, they were widely used in recording studios and quickly made a significant impact in the recording studio industry. Subsequently, these amplifiers were gradually recognized by audio enthusiasts and used in homes, especially in Asia and Europe. MC² also successfully provided power amplifiers for countless stages, theaters, festivals, sports stadiums, and nightclubs.
The MC series has been very successful over the years. In particular, the MC1250 is considered by many to be the best professional audio amplifier ever, so it now has a legendary status. When the MC1250 was finally discontinued in 2012, they were replaced by the new S series reference amplifiers, which were an instant hit. Essentially, the new S series inherited the advantages of the previous generations and improved upon them.
In 2023, the British professional amplifier brand MC² launched a new high-end power amplifier for the home audio market under its new brand Ultrafide. The new product is named Ultrafide U500DC. I personally think that translating it into this Chinese name is also good. Currently, there is only this one product.
MC² has specially assembled a team for Ultrafide, with General Manager Robert Bradshaw Smith, R&D head Alex Cooper, and Technical Director/Company Owner John Austin and Terry Clarke. Two relatively independent departments are located in Devon and Worcestershire in the UK, and production is in Devon. Each product is hand-built by experienced workers!
Although it is designed for home Hi-Fi, MC² claims that the sound quality of this power amplifier can still let you hear the sound that the artist wants: natural, neutral, and accurate.
What kind of power amplifier is the Ultrafide U500DC?
It’s a stereo power amplifier that outputs 500W power at 4 ohms:
The Ultrafide U500DC is a stereo power amplifier that outputs 500W power at 4 ohms. The input stage driver circuit operates in Class A mode. Unlike MC²’s professional amplifiers that use silent fans for cooling, this is a passively cooled amplifier.
The U500DC uses a brand new passive cooling system to ensure that the entire machine operates in an extremely quiet state – the only thing you can hear is the music you originally wanted to listen to.
It has a large linear power supply:
It uses a low-noise custom-wound 500VA transformer, a large linear/toroidal transformer power supply, to achieve excellent audio power delivery, ensuring that the U500DC is not affected by power output. Operating as two channels, this power supply can provide a huge peak power and deliver it to two 27000uF storage capacitor groups, ensuring the final stereo separation and powerful current propagation.
The Ultrafide U500DC amplifier, designed by MC², operates in high-end Class A mode from input to output, with full direct current coupling. It doesn’t use interstage coupling capacitors, only direct copper or electrical wires. Any direct current input error (if any) can be eliminated through a single overall external servo loop, ensuring perfect alignment of transients and excellent low-frequency response.
The U500DC uses an “Ultra Sigma” topology for its amplification output mode. As explained by MC², Class D amplifiers work by using advanced MOSFETs (or other high-speed devices) to switch the power supply directly at extremely high speeds and frequencies. Modulators are used to change the size or density of the switching pulses to achieve the average output power representing the audio. Low-pass filters (usually coils and capacitors) are used to remove the high frequency produced by modulation, leaving only the audio signal to feed the speaker.
This Class D topology eliminates midpoint crossover distortion associated with Class AB designs, thus achieving linear amplification similar to Class A. However, the power switching device only works in linear mode for a small part of the time, making the amplifier more efficient and reducing the need for large heat sinks.
In early Class D designs, even using the maximum switching speed could cause resonance or limit the audio performance under high frequencies. But MC²’s new design uses ultra-fast switching components (operating speeds hundreds of times faster than audio), completely eliminating these shortcomings and often extending the bandwidth beyond linear design.
MC²’s R&D team spent three years developing this push-pull output stage amplification circuit for the U500DC, and it was continuously improved through multiple listening tests. The modern view of Class D topology is based on Sigma-Delta modulation, using ultra-sonic switching technology that is 20 times higher than the human hearing range. Compared with Class AB design, it reduces resistance loss by 100 times and eliminates crossover distortion (similar to Class A amplifier). The overall control of the output stage is completed by a separate feedback loop, which helps the U500DC deliver its open, transparent, and extended sound characteristics.
The U500DC amplifier is not very large in size. The casing is made of thick aluminum plate, with the sides slightly curved inward. The Ultrafide logo is located at the top center of the front panel, and the only function key on the front panel is the slightly recessed power button.
The back of the machine is equipped with XLR/RCA input terminals and eight speaker connection terminals, which can be bi-wired (high/low frequency) as needed. This is a true Bi-Wire amplification connection method.
The signal input has XLR and RCA. There is a small toggle switch labeled “Timbre” between the connections. The options are “PURE” and “VINTAGE”. This switch is used to set the timbre. This clever little switch will slightly change the input circuit. Switching it to Vintage is to operate the amplifier in a more traditional Class A/B sound mode.
Below the input are two trigger input connectors, used to connect other Ultrafide devices, such as the upcoming U4PRE matching pre-amplifier (yes, MC² will launch corresponding pre-amplifier products in the future).
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