Buckeye PURIFI 1ET9040BA Amp Review

[sceptical1]

Here it is:

 

[Sokel]

Here it is:
View attachment 503332

That's not a noise chart alone, it's THD+N, so distortion plus noise, you can't tell the noise alone from that.
SNR is the figure to look at.

 

[sceptical1]

These amps have no distortion. What is shown there is close to 100% noise.

 

[antcollinet]

Here it is:
View attachment 503332

No, We can all see the measurements - and as has been pointed out, you've chosen the wrong one.

I meant what is your metric for "too much"? By what definition do you consider 0.5nW of noise too much? With 87dB speakers, that will generate around 5dB SPL - some 25dB below the noise floor of a quiet room.

 

[Mort]

Are there consumer amps with 1400w at 4ohms with less than 4db noise? (And are they $1300?)

 

[RickS]

Deep dives into parts costs rarely avoid political commentary.

Just deleted a few posts that started down this path. ASR members are supposed to avoid politics. Please keep to product feature and performance discussion here.

PLEASE NOTE THE ABOVE POST. Not going to allow tariff or related discussion here either.

Just culled several posts after a report of speculative political commentary. Hopefully will not need any more deletions or otherwise you may get a warning and/or a thread ban next.

 

[Mort]

PLEASE NOTE THE ABOVE POST. Not going to allow tariff or related discussion here either.

Just culled several posts after a report of speculative political commentary. Hopefully will not need any more deletions or otherwise you may get a warning and/or a thread ban next.

Appreciated! It's hard enough figuring out how much is 'too much noise,' without getting political.

 

[David_M]

The performance ceiling of these Purifi amps is very very high. While all of the integrators make audibly perfect amps, the high performance does make the integration important.



Purifi modules have low gain and low input impedance. Therefore the integrators use input buffers ahead of the Purifi modules. Different integrators have used different input buffers. These input stages need to operate at very high SINAD while providing most of the amps gain.

While not the same difficulty as designing the Purifi modules, the integrators do need to make sure to get a lot right in their implementations because the smallest EMI, cable resistances or grounding problems is a big degradation from 110 dB+ SINADs.

A slight change to your statement. The 9040BA module has 14.4dB of gain. The buffer can provide up to 14dB of gain for a total of up to 28dB of gain (necessary for lower voltage 2V RCA inputs) to drive the amp to its full rated power.

 

[David_M]

These amps have no distortion. What is shown there is close to 100% noise.

"... have no audible distortion ..."

 

[Imakeller]

Thank you, @Buckeye Amps, to ask, no allowance for SE/RCA input which suggests that SE/RCA input is not recommended, is that correct? If SE input is also recommended can you clarify.

@Buckeye Amps can answer as well, but using RCA to XLR connections is no problem. Buckeye even sells their own RCA to XLR cables now.

 

[Guddu]

Thank you, @Buckeye Amps, to ask, no allowance for SE/RCA input which suggests that SE/RCA input is not recommended, is that correct? If SE input is also recommended can you clarify.

……from Buckeye amp website, they have it under every amplifier listed.

 

[Imakeller]

Are there consumer amps with 1400w at 4ohms with less than 4db noise? (And are they $1300?)

A fair question! I doubt it very much.

I don’t have an answer to the noise question being discussed, but if it isn’t audible it becomes a theoretical question for the end user. My 1ET9040BA’s are silent at idle running high sensitivity speakers.

 

[AkodoGilador]

I have a very beginner question. Please pardon my ignorance. Is it okay to use wiim ultra directly connected this amp with a low gain setting? Wimm ultra rca vrm is only 2.1 and the spec sheet says 8ohm low gain needs 7.1.

I have a WiiM Pro Plus connected directly (with RCA to XLR cables) to a Hypex Nilai stereo, on medium gain (+21.8dB). I initially tried it on low gain (+11.8dB), but decided it was a little anaemic, although that's probably because I was being overcautious with the volume. Medium gain is plenty loud enough, however!

This amp's low gain setting is +15.6dB, so unless you want to play really loud, I'm sure you'll be fine.

Alex

 

[David_M]

I have a WiiM Pro Plus connected directly (with RCA to XLR cables) to a Hypex Nilai stereo, on medium gain (+21.8dB). I initially tried it on low gain (+11.8dB), but decided it was a little anaemic, although that's probably because I was being overcautious with the volume. Medium gain is plenty loud enough, however!

This amp's low gain setting is +15.6dB, so unless you want to play really loud, I'm sure you'll be fine.

Alex

Offering these external 14dB-ish low-gain options is meaningless. You essentially bypass the buffer module and go straight to the purify amp, which all by itself has an internal gain of 14.4dB. You'll need a source capable of 10.5 Vrms output to reach the full power of this module, and there are very, very few preamps capable of that kind of output.

Manufacturers offer this option because it generates the highest SNR, and that looks good from a marketing perspective. But very impractical in real life.

 

[Buckeye Amps]

Manufacturers offer this option because it generates the highest SNR, and that looks good from a marketing perspective. But very impractical in real life.

Our reasoning for offering essentially a "bypass" option using low gain had zero to do with SNR measurement and everything to do with feedback/input for those very few people out there who would like to use such low gain.

Can't speak for others and I certainly won't pretend to guess their motives.

 

[TurtlePaul]

You'll need a source capable of 10.5 Vrms output to reach the full power of this module

There are people who like the other aspects of the Purifi (low noise, inaudible distortion, highly efficent, technological approach, etc.) and who like the idea of ‘limitless power’ but have sensitive speakers and modest/safe SPL levels. Those people may want to run their DACs and preamps near the peak of their output to get best performance and thus pick low gain.

For many people the point of Purifi is to have overkill. The SNR is way below audible. The distortion is way below audible. But the power being way above any practical need is the one thing that bugs you as overkill?

 

[David_M]

There are people who like the other aspects of the Purifi (low noise, inaudible distortion, highly efficent, technological approach, etc.) and who like the idea of ‘limitless power’ but have sensitive speakers and modest/safe SPL levels. Those people may want to run their DACs and preamps near the peak of their output to get best performance and thus pick low gain.

For many people the point of Purifi is to have overkill. The SNR is way below audible. The distortion is way below audible. But the power being way above any practical need is the one thing that bugs you as overkill?

Never said I had issues with power at all. Make a 1400W amp or a 3500W amp. All is good. I, myself, would buy a 2000W amp if it's super quiet and has low THD specs, much like the 9040BA module.

My concern was the rationale behind offering a bypass option with these high-performance amps, knowing they'd require higher voltage output sources (which are very few) to drive them to full power. As @Buckeye Amps indicated, it was a request for those few who had such sources. Unfortunately, there are quite a few vendors that spec their purifi-based amps with the same specs as the module itself, which is impossible and extremely deceptive.

The 9040BA module was designed to accept a 10.5V input for full power output, as I indicated earlier, which one of those rare preamps would need to provide. Spec'ing your amp, irrespective of its actual gain options, to this spec is what galls me.

 

[David_M]

Our reasoning for offering essentially a "bypass" option using low gain had zero to do with SNR measurement and everything to do with feedback/input for those very few people out there who would like to use such low gain.

Can't speak for others and I certainly won't pretend to guess their motives.

I appreciate your genuine response, @Buckeye Amps. Now, you may or may not want to answer this question, and it is perfectly understandable if you choose not to...
Is your bypass gain path a direct-to-module pathway into the low input impedance of the module, or is it via a low-noise unity-gain buffer to present a lower impedance to the module? I think the latter, but only you know.

 

[Buckeye Amps]

I appreciate your genuine response, @Buckeye Amps. Now, you may or may not want to answer this question, and it is perfectly understandable if you choose not to...
Is your bypass gain path a direct-to-module pathway into the low input impedance of the module, or is it via a low-noise unity-gain buffer to present a lower impedance to the module? I think the latter, but only you know.

It isn't a bypass as there is still a small amount of gain being applied at the low setting. But if a user really wants a full bypass option we can do that too.

 

[Descartes]

Just love seeing such a relatively small thing being able to produce that kind of power. Compare that to those huge (and stupidly expensive) audiophile things like a McIntotosh this is really nice to see!

But you don’t get the cool vu meters an blue lights!