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Buckeye Amps musicality? Not measurements, musicality....

Hey Everyone.... question, I am contemplating the Buckeye Amps 9040 Purifi monoblocks. I am, at the same time, considering the Musical Fidelity M6x 250.5 (5 channel) all of this in an effort to run my LCR up front. (Arendal 1723 THX Monitors)  - everything I read from Dylan at Buckeye and hear from his interviews in YouTube videos all surrounds measurements. Let's assume that every amp, in particular these two options, measure incredibly well. I get that.

But I also get that amp measurements are only a piece of how an amp ACTUALLY SOUNDS in the real world with my room and my speakers.  Which is why its a red flag that Buckeye hides behind measurements as the end-all-be-all of buying an amplifier. If measurements were the absolute end of the discussion, there wouldn't have been a Class A or A/B amp sold in the last 5 years. I get that the Purifi stuff measures well, incredibly well, but to never say anything in public forums or in public interviews about how your amps actually sound or how musical they are compounds and continues the notion that while Class D measures insanely well, they sound cold, brittle, analytical, bright, shout'y and too forward. Class D or no Class D, it boils down to the amp designers' actual implementation of the technology in how it sounds, e.g. the input stage, the output stage, the signal path, etc.

So what I'm looking for I suppose is owners of exceptional Class A/B amps (like Musical Fidelity, Parasound, Rotel et al) who have made that leap of faith to the Purifi Buckeye either 7040 or 9040 modules and how your experience has been.....  ??  Thanks immensely! 

audiotruth
samureyex's avatar
samureyex
269 posts
 

@audiotruth The reason Buckeye doesn't talk about his amplifier sound is because, and I quote this is coming from him all his amplifiers are "true to source". A straight wire with amplification. What about other amplifiers like the AHB2? Well they are also "true to source" and thus sound completely identical. 

That is his claim, whether they sound identical or true-to-source or not, I cannot report. 

Personally I find him very lacking in knowledge. Saying things like "all op-amps sound identical when implemented properly" and "measurements tell the absolute truth". 

ericrhodes1's avatar
ericrhodes1
61 posts
 

@samureyex ​​​​​​, that is true. I even asked him what the difference between two brands of modules that he offers were, and he told me, "nothing. They'll sound the same." Maybe, but I like being able to roll opamps in my Nord monoblocks. I certainly can here a difference. 

kofibaffour
464 posts
 

@samureyex you find him lacking in knowledge because of ideas based on experience designing solid state, low output impedance, high damping, wire gain ish amps?

I'm not sure I follow your logic here. Unless you're Bob Carver, or some mysterious electroacoustic engineer, this is just your hubris talking.

corelli
1,067 posts
 

I could never own one, well, just because of the name.  Now if they were Wolverine amps, that would be another story.

audiotruth's avatar
audiotruth OP
3 posts
 

@samureyex  - @ericrhodes1  mostly agree. I find him maybe not lacking in knowledge so much as having a really poor bedside manner. If you contact Dylan directly, he makes you feel "less than" or you’re asking a inconsequential/unimportant question. I sent him an email once asking he had any plans to offer different op-amps, sort of like Apollon and Nord do..... his response was a VERY dismissive, "that would make utterly no difference in sound quality." Really?  OK, maybe, maybe not. But I’m not a dumbass for merely asking. And maybe give me some tangible reason that op amp rolling "makes zero difference in sound."
@corelli  -  LOL, I love that!      

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