I own Buckeye, Deer Creak, and Nord monoblocks. As far as I know, there is nothing special with Buckeye's "implementation" that would distinguish it from other diy assemblers. That said, if it's for home theater, you should be ahead of the game over more expensive A/B amps. The clarity and bass slam/control are great on all the above. They'll drive almost any speaker very well. If you haven't looked into these other brands, do so. Also VTV have great options. You can roll op amps with some of theirs as well as Nord products.
Buckeye Amps musicality? Not measurements, musicality....
Hey Everyone.... question, I am contemplating the Buckeye Amps 9040 Purifi monoblocks. I am, at the same time, considering the Musical Fidelity M6x 250.5 (5 channel) all of this in an effort to run my LCR up front. (Arendal 1723 THX Monitors) - everything I read from Dylan at Buckeye and hear from his interviews in YouTube videos all surrounds measurements. Let's assume that every amp, in particular these two options, measure incredibly well. I get that.
But I also get that amp measurements are only a piece of how an amp ACTUALLY SOUNDS in the real world with my room and my speakers. Which is why its a red flag that Buckeye hides behind measurements as the end-all-be-all of buying an amplifier. If measurements were the absolute end of the discussion, there wouldn't have been a Class A or A/B amp sold in the last 5 years. I get that the Purifi stuff measures well, incredibly well, but to never say anything in public forums or in public interviews about how your amps actually sound or how musical they are compounds and continues the notion that while Class D measures insanely well, they sound cold, brittle, analytical, bright, shout'y and too forward. Class D or no Class D, it boils down to the amp designers' actual implementation of the technology in how it sounds, e.g. the input stage, the output stage, the signal path, etc.
So what I'm looking for I suppose is owners of exceptional Class A/B amps (like Musical Fidelity, Parasound, Rotel et al) who have made that leap of faith to the Purifi Buckeye either 7040 or 9040 modules and how your experience has been..... ?? Thanks immensely!
Showing 5 responses by ericrhodes1
@samureyex , that is true. I even asked him what the difference between two brands of modules that he offers were, and he told me, "nothing. They'll sound the same." Maybe, but I like being able to roll opamps in my Nord monoblocks. I certainly can here a difference. |
@samureyex he makes them to a price point. Better cases can be had elsewhere for a premium. If I were using his amps for surround channels in a closet, I'd be fine with them. |
All I know is, I’ve owned top of the line Class D modules from Hypex and Purifi and I’ve owned very good Class A/AB amps from the likes of Parasound, Bryston, and Aragon (a brand new hot-rodded Titanium). And my first listening impressions with the D’s always left me impressed. But over time, I would scratch my head in puzzlement. Having gone in afterward, and A/B’ing them to whichever A/B amp I had at the time, I could see that what the D was lacking (though hard to describe) was a soul. I want to say "depth." But that is too simplistic. They have many impressive attributes, but compared to my other power amps, they were more like a well mannered sociopath who has learned to blend in to the masses by studying those of us with souls and mimicking us, but still having no light in their eyes. Soulless. |
Watt for watt, those GanFET amps you mentioned are much more expensive. Yet, they don't dare have a shootout with top-of-the-line Purifi or Hypex modules that are much cheaper. Their only claim is that their specs are better than most standard silicon based Class D amps. Although, for what it's worth, I did just get an admission from a YouTube reviewer that he prefers the Pearl Acoustics Eigentakt based amp over the Laiv Gan amps. |