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boXem Arthur 4222/E1 Amplifier Review

Rate this amplifier:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 8 2.2%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 11 3.0%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 61 16.6%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 288 78.3%

  • Total voters
    368

57gold

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Feb 15, 2021
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Looks like the March Audio take on this Purifi unit in mono with higher voltage supply is a few dollars higher in price.

Both look to be well thought out, attractively designed and professionally implemented amps. Nice to have alternatives from each side of the planet.
 

mocenigo

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Dec 8, 2018
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With my locking connectors I need to be able to turn the knob. Close connectors make this hard. In this day and age. I don't see people using rigid dual connectors. So I definitely prefer wider spacing.

All locking connectors I have seen to fare are mechanically crap. Use Z-plugs!
 

mocenigo

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That seems to match up well with the last chart here: Link

The NAD M33 seems to have a very good power supply section and use the capabilities of the first purifi design well. There is even still headroom:
Dynamic power (<1% THD, 2ohm): 815W

I cannot imagine what the new modules would reach then!
 

amper42

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Dec 21, 2020
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I can barely hear the difference between my March Stereo Purifi amp and the Buckeye NC502MP. I really have to listen hard for differences with the Revel F328Be when testing these two amps in an A/B configuration. It got to the point where I really didn't care which one was hooked up as both sounded great.

Buckeye sells the Purifi 1ET7040SA mono amp for $949 shipped. I can't imagine paying another $949 to find out, yeah they all sound pretty much the same to me. :D

 

hansik

Member
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Jan 14, 2020
Messages
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I can barely hear the difference between my March Stereo Purifi amp and the Buckeye NC502MP. I really have to listen hard for differences with the Revel F328Be when testing these two amps in an A/B configuration. It got to the point where I really didn't care which one was hooked up as both sounded great.

Buckeye sells the Purifi 1ET7040SA mono amp for $949 shipped. I can't imagine paying another $949 to find out, yeah they all sound pretty much the same to me. :D

But which one sounds best? ;)
 

dlaloum

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As I said I don't know a speaker in the market with 2@ohm rating, name one if you can.
It isn't about the nominal rating... which is an "average" of its actual impedance across the frequency range.

It is about what a speakers lowest impedance is - typically many nominally 4 or even 8 ohm speakers, drop down to 3 ohm in the low frequencies.

And quite a few speakers that have "exotic" tweeters, have impedances below 2 ohm in the high frequencies. (my own Gallo ref 3.2's, drop to around 1.6ohm on the tweeter, some of the Martin Logan electrostatics, drop to 1 ohm).

Hence it is important to get a chart of the impedance / frequency for a speaker, to understand what its real demands on the amplifier will be.... the "nominal rating" is basically market obfuscation - typically marketing are saying "see how easy our speaker is to drive, you won't need an expensive amp" - by using a nominal rating which effectively covers up the peaks and troughs of their impedance.
 

Kevinfc

Active Member
Joined
May 6, 2021
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198
My opinion is for the most part you’re paying for someone to box the amp up. If it’s done competently, that only leaves aesthetics. I’ll pay an extra couple hundred for that, top.
 

Kevinfc

Active Member
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May 6, 2021
Messages
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198
I can barely hear the difference between my March Stereo Purifi amp and the Buckeye NC502MP. I really have to listen hard for differences with the Revel F328Be when testing these two amps in an A/B configuration. It got to the point where I really didn't care which one was hooked up as both sounded great.

Buckeye sells the Purifi 1ET7040SA mono amp for $949 shipped. I can't imagine paying another $949 to find out, yeah they all sound pretty much the same to me. :D

I don’t see the point in spending any more than this for a Purifi amp. If a prettier box is worth hundreds of dollars to you then buy something else.
 

AndreaT

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Just a thought I wish to share. This is a great review and a great discussion. I confess I wait anxiously for the next review by Amir, with his crystal clear graphs and perfect description of the the testing parameters. While I cannot afford to buy each and everyone of the golfing panther items tested, they are like members of an electronic family that guide me in my progress to better sound and more systems around the house (and portable ones). The beauty and evanescence of Music and hearing is well served when we read clear and concise analysis of what the world has to offer with the best quality/performance ratio. I have discovered so far the excellence of Topping, Buckeye, Gustard and Hidisz, Fiio and Okto, thanks to this superb website. I cannot thank you enough Amir!
 

pogo

Major Contributor
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I cannot imagine what the new modules would reach then!
This has nothing to do with the module itself, but how the manufacturers, e.g. boXem, ... implement it.
Performance depends on physical implementation and system-level circuitry/configuration (thermal system, power supply section, ...).
 

boXem

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Audio Company
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Jun 19, 2019
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Today boXem is happy to offer an interlude with "This World" from Selah Sue.

The people in need to compare the price of our products with non existing ones, backseat engineers, marketing blurbs believers, banned manufacturer puppets, ... can now pursue their activities.

The members who would be interested in understanding what is this "active common mode rejection" that we advertise, how we did to achieve a better noise level than most 1ET400A implementations while the 1ET7040SA is 40% noisier than the 1ET400A, why the power response seems to be high passed, or what is the reason behind this U-shaped buffer can of course participate to the thread.

Have a very nice day!
 

Mnyb

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My opinion is for the most part you’re paying for someone to box the amp up. If it’s done competently, that only leaves aesthetics. I’ll pay an extra couple hundred for that, top.
Not really, there is the design of the buffer board and some other features like auto on and gain selections and general build quality and care in the assembly .
Here all options are slightly different, you choose :)
 

BR52

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Today boXem is happy to offer an interlude with "This World" from Selah Sue.

The people in need to compare the price of our products with non existing ones, backseat engineers, marketing blurbs believers, banned manufacturer puppets, ... can now pursue their activities.

The members who would be interested in understanding what is this "active common mode rejection" that we advertise, how we did to achieve a better noise level than most 1ET400A implementations while the 1ET7040SA is 40% noisier than the 1ET400A, why the power response seems to be high passed, or what is the reason behind this U-shaped buffer can of course participate to the thread.

Have a very nice day!
Thank you for telling the right questions. Please give us the answers. I am really interested to learn. Because a lot of the the post are related to the first category.
 
Last edited:

doug2761

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Mar 23, 2020
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I can barely hear the difference between my March Stereo Purifi amp and the Buckeye NC502MP. I really have to listen hard for differences with the Revel F328Be when testing these two amps in an A/B configuration. It got to the point where I really didn't care which one was hooked up as both sounded great.

Buckeye sells the Purifi 1ET7040SA mono amp for $949 shipped. I can't imagine paying another $949 to find out, yeah they all sound pretty much the same to me. :D

Good set of amps. I'm surprised that you can hear any difference between those two. I built up NC400 mono blocks and an NC252. Both sound the same to me with my Dynaudio Confidence C2 speakers. Those are nominally 4 ohms so thankfully I don't have anything exotic. I applaud the performance of boXem an Purifi but this thing is way overkill for my application and probably the vast vast majority of consumer set ups. I do like the audio sensing feature. I'd like to add that to my NC400 set up.
 
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