All things about Cymax Power Amplifier

[Pausi]

Congratulations. Mine is working flawlessly and doing its job as a perfect “wire with gain” as Purifi declares.

 

[J84]

Just received my Cymax CY-1ET6525SA-02 Power Amplifier. Price delivered to my door including VAT is similar to the Audiophonics HPA-S450ET. Sound quality through my Lintons is impossible to distinguish. The Purifi 1ET6525SA modules sound just as transparent and powerful on both as expected, but the gain settings are a bit different, 20 dB on the Audiophonics buffer board (with OPA1656) is enough to max out the effect of the power modules at @ estimated 1% THD. On the Cymax you have to set the gain higher at 23.3 dB or a even at 26.3 to get the same effect out of the speakers (with OPA1612). A bit strange, must mean the the Cymax implementation (buffer board) "eats" more gain on the way to the Purifi modules. Or is it the different op amps causing this?

Cymax build quality seems very nice and with a very heavy case, 13 kg versus just 4 kg for the Audiophonics. The weight is not very important in my opinion. The big difference is in height. Cymax is quite a lot taller and take more room in your rack. The power on static noise is maybe a microscopic level lower on the Cymax, but that might just be a coincidence from every power-on cycle. The one great feature I find much better on the Cymax is the front LCD control knob. It's great that you can control all setting from this easy to use button instead of switch buttons on the underside and back. Very nice! There is also two sets of (30W) linear op amps power supplies included in the Cymax but I can't hear any difference with these compared to the Audiophonics without these.

When it comes to warranty, and ease of return, you might go for Apollon or Audiophonics if you live in Europe. Sending the Cymax back to Hong Kong might be troublesome.

I have included some pictures of the internals if you like to take a peek. But all in all, the Cymax is similar in quality to the Audiophonics model, and even more convenient when it comes to the input control button.

"Sound quality through my Lintons is impossible to distinguish. The Purifi 1ET6525SA modules sound just as transparent and powerful"

Hi do both Purifi 1ET6525SA modules sound warm with the lintons?

 

[Pausi]

Pretty neutral or transparent I would say. That does not mean boring, but natural and with good presentation of sounds throughout the whole frequency spectrum, minus 1 kHz that needs a little EQ boost. Just the way the Lintons sound as you can see in the measurements from Erin’s Audio Corner. The Purifi 1ET6525SA have more than enough gain amplification to make the Lintons sing loud and clear if you like wide sound dispersion. I do, but you might like something else, as Erin would say. Your listening room and speakers will determine your sound reproduction and the Purifi class D modules will guarantee that the power (gain) amplification will NEVER be the bottleneck.

 

[J84]

Pretty neutral or transparent I would say. That does not mean boring, but natural and with good presentation of sounds throughout the whole frequency spectrum, minus 1 kHz that needs a little EQ boost. Just the way the Lintons sound as you can see in the measurements from Erin’s Audio Corner. The Purifi 1ET6525SA have more than enough gain amplification to make the Lintons sing loud and clear if you like wide sound dispersion. I do, but you might like something else, as Erin would say. Your listening room and speakers will determine your sound reproduction and the Purifi class D modules will guarantee that the power (gain) amplification will NEVER be the bottleneck.

Thanks

 

[Uncola]

I see they offer linear toroidal power supply versions of their amps.. since I need a silver amp for color matching, I'm attempting to get one!

 

[Pausi]

Good decision. I'm very happy with this amplifier, especially their custom buffer board. It handles all kinds of input signals, from WiiM Ultra RCA-in through old DACs via XLR-in without any problems and stutter. Unfortunately I can't say the same about the Audiophonics variant. Please post about your experiences after you've received it. Which version did you go for?

 

[Uncola]

CY-1ET6525SA-02/02M SE Dual-Channel Digital Power Amplifier ×

This version with dual mono 1000va toroid and upgraded connectors and wiring. I have sparkos 2590 opamps already in hand I can install

 

[Sir Sanders Zingmore]

I have sparkos 2590 opamps already in hand I can install

Why?

 

[Pausi]

If you have them, and don't want to sell them to earn some money, use them. You'll not hear much of a difference, if any, as Amir has shown multiple times. Measurements in discret op amps are often worse and consistency in production pretty variable. Unfortunately, the op-amp-difference-belief is still strong among some.

 

[Uncola]

I Just think they look cool the weiss look even cooler but are expensive

 

[Pausi]

Well, if you’re a fat cat, and you have your mattress full of money, go for it or burn them in your waste bin. But why not just bypass the op amps altogether and feed the Purifi modules directly with 11.3 Vrms from a Topping E50 II DAC. Use bypass mode (gain 5) on you Cymax amp and you’re good to go for the best speed and incomparable high fidelity without any need for these op amps. You will never see your op amps through the thick aluminum chassis.

 

[Srgey]

Hello. I decided to replace my Plinius Hiato with the CY-1ET9040BA-02M MK2 Dual-Mono Sparkos Labs SS2590, it was a difficult decision, but it worked out. Cymax has warmed up and pleases with its smooth sound, which I lacked on Hiato, I chose Gain 4. Packaging, assembly, escort from Cymax are all excellent.

 

[Pausi]

Congratulations! It looks very nice inside. But smooth? That must be compared to a harsh sounding (treble boosted) alternative or because your discrete Sparkos does some distortion also called coloration. Try some adapters and 4 x TI OPA1611, 1655 or 828 and you’ll understand what Purifi means with «straight wire to the music» or no inherent "sonic fingerprint" - just complete transparency.

 

[Srgey]

I didn't really like Gain 5. I don't see any point in changing operational amplifiers. What did you mean by what Purifi means with «straight wire to the music»

 

[Pausi]

Great that you are happy with the sound. Straight wire or transparency is just the words used by the inventor of Purifi Class D EIGENTAKT amplifier modules Bruno Putzeys, meaning no distortion or coloration to keep the sound as true to the recording as possible. Putzeys has recommended using the TI OPA1612 with these amplifier modules.

 

[Pausi]

My setup with the Cymax 1ET6525SA stereo power amplifier that work very well. I have set the filter to no. 6 in the Topping E50 II since I imagine (could be pure psychoacoustics) some less sibilants from compressed audio via streaming services like Netflix.

 

[Uncola]

Really interesting how you have your chain set up with digital volume control and the DAC's super high output getting sent straight to the amplifier module without needing a buffer in the way! They should come up with a cool name for it! Are you able to arrange the gain/output levels so that you can minimize the digital attenuation needed? or are you not too concerned with digital attenuation? This seems like it would be really great for a near field setup where room correction is less necessary. Although in my corner desk setup, I have seen some benefit to dirac when I used it.

Unrelated news: My 6525 amplifier is delayed one week as they found a minor flaw in the latest batch of buffer boards and offered to send me the manually fixed boards now or let me wait a week for perfect new boards. I chose to wait a week. The fact that they told me about the flaw, I consider a sign of honesty and great service.
edit: oh I'm dumb, I see now from your chart that the purifi amplifier modules have a low 12.3db gain when bypassing buffer boards and feeding the dac straight into them.. that WOULD allow you to minimize digital attenuation required.. wow this is really something to consider

 

[boXem]

Really interesting how you have your chain set up with digital volume control and the DAC's super high output getting sent straight to the amplifier module without needing a buffer in the way! They should come up with a cool name for it! Are you able to arrange the gain/output levels so that you can minimize the digital attenuation needed? or are you not too concerned with digital attenuation? This seems like it would be really great for a near field setup where room correction is less necessary. Although in my corner desk setup, I have seen some benefit to dirac when I used it.

Unrelated news: My 6525 amplifier is delayed one week as they found a minor flaw in the latest batch of buffer boards and offered to send me the manually fixed boards now or let me wait a week for perfect new boards. I chose to wait a week. The fact that they told me about the flaw, I consider a sign of honesty and great service.
edit: oh I'm dumb, I see now from your chart that the purifi amplifier modules have a low 12.3db gain when bypassing buffer boards and feeding the dac straight into them.. that WOULD allow you to minimize digital attenuation required.. wow this is really something to consider

There is nothing revolutionary with this setup. The 1 and 2 from the "system advantages" are hypothesis that need confirmation by measurements especially because we have no idea of the E50 behavior when loaded by a relatively small impedance (buffer bypass).
An analog attenuator has a minor impact on SNR at full level and allows a much better SNR at normal listening levels. And it doesn't distort more than a DAC.

 

[Pausi]

I do not diagree with you. The Nano Banana AI did cook up, or hallucinate, some things I didn't want, like system advantages 1 and 2 as you point out. I asked it just to make a fact-based illustration but still it included "end-game", "bit-perfect" and "recommended high-end system". I guess Gemini only wants to please me. I tried a new version below, but the fact remains that the Topping E50 II can output pro-level 11.3Vrms/23.2dBu@0dBFS with a SNR at 131dB@1kHz which is perfect for running the Purifi-modules without buffers/op-amps. How much of a difference this gives certainly is debatable. I have now also EQ-ed the 1kHz band with +1.5dB and reduced the pregain with -2 dB.

Nano Banana must be really simple AI-image creation: "I must have four points on all illustrations to make is symmetrical."

 

[boXem]

the fact remains that the Topping E50 II can output pro-level 11.3Vrms/23.2dBu@0dBFS with a SNR at 131dB@1kHz which is perfect for running the Purifi-modules without buffers/op-amps

Since we do not know the behavior of the E50 under load, this is unfortunately not a fact.
Buffers are here to avoid doubts. Designing a unity gain ultra low noise buffer is no rocket science.