Buckeye Hypex NC252MP Amplifier Teardown

[Loron]

Have fun moving that thing out of your rack!

Honestly this is a change (note “change” not “upgrade,” which is not a slight on nCore/Buckeye but rather a comment on amps generally) that surprises me. A965 is a great amp, but it’s heavy and has no resale value. (I used one for a while. I tried to sell it years ago but had no takers. In retrospect I would not have replaced it, even through the ATI amps are unimpeachable.) Unless it’s acting up, you need the balanced inputs, or are moving anyway and want lighter stuff, I’m not sure what the gain is here.

Agree that it isn’t a huge upgrade. I had the A965 I inspected and checked a year ago. All capacitors were checked and still in spec! At the time I wanted to recap it. Lol. The tech said they tested good and he wouldn’t change them. Some resistors were changed. Total cost $350. Lol. It works just fine.
The real reason of the change…. I wanted to try class D and me media room outlets are on a single 15 amps circuit. I have 3 subs, two amps ( Rotel RMB 1585 + the Sherwood A965 ) two Goldenear Triton with integrated amps, tv, receiver, sacd, Blu-ray players, sound processors all on that single 15 amps circuit. My end goal would be to also replace the Rotel by a Purifi based amp. This way I would feel better about my main power circuit being able to cope.
so far I have just tried not to push the volume too high. I installed the Buckeye I would say it sounds just as good and has a lower noise although in both case I need my ear touching against the tweeter to hear anything! I love it.

I love the A965. I love how it look I side. I love the weight too. Just feel extremely well built.
moving to Class D sure make some room in the rack! I might even be able to get rid of one rack.
Like many of us, i guess I like to buy equipment even if I know it won’t be making an audible difference. So I decided I needed to change because of the single 15 amps circuit issue. Lol. I will try to sell the A965 maybe I can get my inspection cost back…. Or I will just keep it but I don’t want it to be idling too long so I still power it up weekly and will use it in the base for the time.

 

[tparm]

Anyone care to itemize/list the evolution of these builds since Amir’s measurements and teardown? I’ve followed from a distance and know many changes for reliability and not audible; I’m simply curious. Thanks.

 

[Buckeye Amps]

- Double insulated power wire
- Proper color coded wiring for AC
- Kep nut for proper grounding implementation
- Bottom panel cutouts
- Bare aluminum inside bottom and rear panels for better grounding and heat transfer
- IEC integrated fuse
- push mount cable tie mounting
- more rigid 2-piece cases
- speakON option
- rackmount option

 

[tparm]

- Double insulated power wire
- Proper color coded wiring for AC
- Kep nut for proper grounding implementation
- Bottom panel cutouts
- Bare aluminum inside bottom and rear panels for better grounding and heat transfer
- IEC integrated fuse
- push mount cable tie mounting
- more rigid 2-piece cases
- speakON option
- rackmount option

Why thank ya. That was quick. I appreciate your willingness to hear suggestions and find solutions to improve your product!

 

[RickS]

I'm curious about the need for the relay. Why not just connect the DC trigger input jack directly to the PS Enable pin of each module? It will use less current (0.5 mA per module) than the relay coil, and saves the cost of the relay.

Other than potential isolation considerations, seems fine. Strangely, when I asked Hypex, they did not suggest!

 

[tvrgeek]

Well, I have about 10 wire strippers and I hate them all. I do AWG, Metric and "automotive" wire which is smaller than AWG.
So, while I am waffling, getting more tempted every day, I am at least ordering new stripers! Thanks.

So now, Ncore or Purifi? On paper different. Audible? I venture not.

Waffle, waffle, or keep my pancakes. Need some coffee.

 

[Rottmannash]

Well, I have about 10 wire strippers and I hate them all. I do AWG, Metric and "automotive" wire which is smaller than AWG.
So, while I am waffling, getting more tempted every day, I am at least ordering new stripers! Thanks.

So now, Ncore or Purifi? On paper different. Audible? I venture not.

Waffle, waffle, or keep my pancakes. Need some coffee.

I have them both and after minimal sighted comparison couldn't really discern a difference but didn't listen for hours to the 252 but in a short listening session at varying loudness levels I couldn't hear anything untoward. It drove my F208's easily to incredibly loud volumes. But the Purifi, for some reason sounded better-can't place my finger on why though.

 

[tvrgeek]

Bingo. Differences we can't quite put our finger on, ( and those who say it does not exist)
Buckeye is a heck of a bargain. Strait forward.
March a bit more
VTV even more
I can have respect for these companies as no hyperbola, no made up words singing the praises of who knows what.
But after butting my old amp back in, hard to put a finger on any deficiency. Still, on "bad" recordings, I get just a touch of that 3100 Hz glare.
Atom dac helped, as did dumping the Parasound. We can go to live music, hear it much louder, and those frequencies do not bother us, so it is in the playback chain. As if I need another project, a 4 channel would be a nifty way to do my next speakers bi-amped using my X-Kitx crossover.

 

[tvrgeek]

How sensitive are the input stages to impedance? In other words, if I were to build a bi-amp system and needed to add a trim pot to one stage or the other, are they as sensitive as the typical AB diff input stages are? Or should it be buffered? Could just do L-pad on the tweeter, but wondering. Providing my preamp (Asgard) has plenty of drive which it does, would a 10 or 20K pot cause additional distortion? Single ended. I would be doing eq on the host.