Purifi-Eigentact Amps- Buffer question and asking for opinions

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic. Read 933 times.

Kurtamus

Looking at the options for a Purfi amp (VTV,Nord,Apollon) I see that they all offer their own custom input buffers.  VTV seems to be the only one selling the kit that was shopped to the big manufacturers by Purifi originally, known as the "Eval-1".

I am kinda hung up on why would I not want what the designers shopped to the large equipment makers (NAD, etc), and why I should assume that the third party vendors are doing a better job on their input buffer implementations than the original designers of the Purifi system. 

I know it gives them differentiation from other vendors, and there are already differences in quality of cases and it seems build quality.     It allows them to charge more for their products, but will the difference be an improvement? 

I would appreciate any information/opinions and personal experience you may have on this subject.  Thanks.

firedog

Personally, I wouldn't worry about the buffers.  I think manufacturers exaggerate the influence of them to try and differentiate their amps. Buy the amp that suits you best for other reasons - looks, price, dealer service,  etc. I seriously doubt you are going to hear clear differences. There are also measurements of some of the builds around on the net, if that interests you.

Build - If you don't have the technical chops, you might want to ask the more technically oriented people which ones seem to be built best - best routing cables. etc. There are enough internal pictures around that people should be able to give you an answer. A better build might make you happier long term.

Stercom

I had the NAD C298 and now have the Apollon 1ET400A. They both use the Purifi modules but the Apollon has dual power supplies and the Sparkos Pro input buffers. The Apollon sounds more natural on the top-end than the NAD and has a larger soundstage. The difference in sound isn't huge and I'm guessing its because of the dual power supplies in the Apollon not the input buffers. Both have excellent build quality with the Apollon being slightly better. There are a number of concerns on the web about VTV's build quality but I think they are mostly cosmetic such as misaligned screws and the holes on the cases. Overall, I would recommend the Apollon or the VTV with the dual power supplies and the Sparkos input buffers - you can always change out input buffers if you want to experiment but you can't add another power supply.       

Mike-48

Kurt, I've been following your thread, as I'm interested in the answer, too.

It might be of interest that Bruno Putzeys is the designer of and a principal in Mola Mola, whose power amp, Kaluga, is based on the Hypex NC-1200 board (still considered among the best). The Kaluga (MSRP is $16,500/pair) uses a custom, discrete input buffer.

Just another piece of information that doesn't really answer your question, I'm afraid.