NAD partners with Purifi, working on an Eigentakt amplifier

[digitalfrost]

FYI, the kind folks at Purifi contacted me a while back about me testing the unit. As it turns out, I just received email from them that my sample has shipped!

 

[MZKM]

It is the next generation of class D modules from Bruno, the designer of nCore, and his partner aka "bromace" Lars, as the interview says.
As for tech specs, their excellent measurements can be seen in the PDF attached. Subjectively it is also said to be an improvement on nCore.

Also noted in the interview, that module needs 9.6Vrms for stated performance, and the measurements/specs aren’t using the optional 5x gain buffer, so unless using the Benchmark DAC 3 (>12Vrms), you likely are gonna need to use the buffer. I wonder how much degradation is causes.

 

[bunkbail]

Also noted in the interview, that module needs 9.6Vrms for stated performance, and the measurements/specs aren’t using the optional 5x gain buffer, so unless using the Benchmark DAC 3 (>12Vrms), you likely are gonna need to use the buffer. I wonder how much degradation is causes.

5x gain buffer? How much is the gain for the module without the gain buffer?

 

[amirm]

The Purifi amp arrived and is already on the bench. Review coming soon....

 

[Ron Texas]

I bet it will measure well. Whenever I get a GAS attack, I look at this:

http://matrixhifi.com/ENG_contenedor_ppec.htm

It's the so called folding chair test where a Behringer A500 and a consumer DVD player were blind tested against a stack of high end gear. The preference results were not statistically significant. By no means does this mean we should not measure, but we need to look carefully at what works and what doesn't. Toole spent his career doing that.

 

[watchnerd]

"According to measurements by PURIFI, the Eigentakt circuit is expected to outperform any audio amplifier known, regardless of technology or class, with THD and IMD quoted as below 0.00017% at all frequencies and power levels"

Let's see the noise component as well...

The Benchmark amp would equal or better that as THD alone (minus N).

Their own specifications page contradicts the hype above:

View attachment 26879

When are they going to stop the BS? On their own plot <0.00017% is between circa 70W and 270W@4ohms . Not 'at all frequencies and power levels'. It's blatantly deceptive hype, yet again. Let's have a 450W@1% joke of a specification to sucker people in. How long can the module do 450W? Oh, wait a minute, it's really only 100W@4ohms rated, so about 50-60W@8ohms, but the distortion isn't guaranteed except in a small range near full power.

Let's put the noise into perspective.

The dynamic range (131dB) they quote is with respect to 450W@1%THD@4ohms and calculates to ~11.8uV. (spec 11.5uV)
The Benchmark AHB-1 Amir measured at (worst case) -112.5dB below 5W@4ohms. That calculates to around 10.6uV, so the Benchmark is also quieter.

God I miss the specifications of old. I miss the honesty, the conservative nature of companies, the humility, and most of all, the lack of crowd-sourced group-think and mindless hype.

So is my Devialet Expert 440....

• Distortion at Full Power:
  0,00025%
• Signal-to-noise ratio: 133dB

....now obsolete and due for an upgrade?

 

[March Audio]

Has this interview with Bruno and Lars already been posted?
https://audiophilestyle.com/ca/bits...eaders-qa-with-lars-risbo-bruno-putzeys-r815/

Keith

OMG. FAS42 (remember him?) asked a sensible question

 

[restorer-john]

That shirt of BP's. I think it's punishment for losing a bet.

I'm really looking forward to seeing these modules tested. I think they may just re-scale expectations.

 

[maty]

I bet it will measure well. Whenever I get a GAS attack, I look at this:

http://matrixhifi.com/ENG_contenedor_ppec.htm

It's the so called folding chair test where a Behringer A500 and a consumer DVD player were blind tested against a stack of high end gear. The preference results were not statistically significant. By no means does this mean we should not measure, but we need to look carefully at what works and what doesn't. Toole spent his career doing that.

I would forget about that test. The explanation is obvious: if you have an element in your audio chain that acts as a big bottleneck, it will logically be very difficult to appreciate differences in the final sound. But it is not the thread.

 

[March Audio]

That shirt of BP's. I think it's punishment for losing a bet.

View attachment 28807

I think its fabulous

 

[March Audio]

5x gain buffer? How much is the gain for the module without the gain buffer?

12.8dB

 

[rajapruk]

The Purifi amp arrived and is already on the bench. Review coming soon....

A comparison to an perfect ”correctly” done Hypex nc400 implementation would be really nice. I mean with one SMPS600 per nc400.
Or use the one-channel-only driven measurements for that comparison.

 

[restorer-john]

I think its fabulous

Well I now know what to buy you for Christmas...

You know what'd be funny, a whole heap of us turning up at an audio show (where BP was in attendance) wearing that shirt!

 

[amirm]

A comparison to an perfect ”correctly” done Hypex nc400 implementation would be really nice. I mean with one SMPS600 per nc400.
Or use the one-channel-only driven measurements for that comparison.

Well, that NC400 did superbly so it is not like we have a broken reference.

 

[audioBliss]

Well, that NC400 did superbly so it is not like we have a broken reference.

But the true monoblocks will surely be better in some regards. At least power. After reading your review of the nc400 I bought three monoblocks for LCR and they are for sure the best amps I've had in my system. So it would interesting just to see exactly how they measure.

 

[rajapruk]

Well, that NC400 did superbly so it is not like we have a broken reference.

Yes it is, to me. Because you showed a glimpse of much better performance with only 1 channel driven of that very non-standard nc400-implementation.
I hope you have no kind of agenda here.

 

[audioBliss]

With an amp as good as the nc400 I think it's worth retesting it actually - with correctly assembled monoblocks. With and without the filter like you did for the Nord. Just so that there is now doubt whatsoever Also considering the price of the nc400 they are even more interesting than AHB2 imo. It would be cool to have a list of cheapest amps, dac, preamp etc. with reference grade measurements. Then again what is reference..? The Benchmark is in it's league of it's own right now.

 

[PierreV]

Yes it is, to me. Because you showed a glimpse of much better performance with only 1 channel driven of that very non-standard nc400-implementation.
I hope you have no kind of agenda here.

I'd love to see the monoblock measurements as well. But what kind of agenda could Amir have?

I've got a couple of NC400 monoblocks here and am quite happy with them. The fact that the Benchmark measures better doesn't spoil my enjoyment of the NC400. I don't think the difference would be audible anyway. I've just read the computeraudiophile interviews and noticed that they are very shy when it comes to audibility claims. They talk a lot about engineering and efficiency improvements, new possibilities, but very little about SQ.

As far as pricing is concerned, where I live I can buy 4 to 5 hypex nc 400 mono kits for the price of one Benchmark... Yes, the Benchmark amp looks like an incredible deal when it is compared to high-end non class-D monoblocks, but not when compared to the Hypex kits.

Now and then I get the impression that the objectivist audiophile has a tendency to fall in the same fundamental trap as the subjective audiophile: the 120 pounds of beautifully machined unobtainium are just replaced with the 120dB of SNRium.

BTW, Bruno clearly states he was "only" an employee at Hypex. That must be the main driver behind this venture: design something that measures better (even if it doesn't matter much) and maximize his return/freedom.

 

[rajapruk]

Lazyness, cheapskateness or just uninterest could be agendas, haha

It is more of interest for us current owners of Hypex nc400 than to to others, probably.
But I think Amir got quite a few people to buy ncore kits.

 

[Ron Texas]

I would forget about that test. The explanation is obvious: if you have an element in your audio chain that acts as a big bottleneck, it will logically be very difficult to appreciate differences in the final sound. But it is not the thread.

What was the big bottleneck, the speakers? This is relevant because the folding chair tests what we are able to hear. Ncore based amplifiers already have vanishingly low distortion with low power consumption as a bonus. The sound isn't going to get better. If they could sell it for less money, that would be an improvement.