Fresh From the Bench: A Tale of Two Class-D Amplifiers Orchard Audio Starkrimson and Purifi Audio Eigentakt EVAL1

Stuart Yaniger examines new amplifier solutions from two disrupting audio companies. Purifi Audio from Denmark, founded by Bruno Putzeys, Lars Risbo, and Peter Lyngdorf, together with a remarkable engineering team; and Orchard Audio, with a product developed from the creativity and entrepreneurship of Leonid (Leo) Ayzenshtat, in this case exploring the latest gallium nitride (GaN) semiconductor technology. This article was originally published in audioXpress, July 2020.

Orchard Audio announced that its versatile PecanPi DAC has now received Roon Tested certification from Roon Labs. This is an important achievement for Leonid (Leo) Ayzenshtat's company, which until know has been widely recognized by the excellent quality of it's products and designs, but was lacking the support of a major software player. With the Roon certification, more users will be encouraged to try The PecanPi DAC, knowing they will be able to use Roon, with its superior music browsing experience and rich metadata.

Orchard Audio announced the launch of the Starkrimson Integrated HiFi Stereo Amplifier, a concept that combines two-channels of the company's existing BOSC amplifiers (recently reviewed in audioXpress) and its popular PecanPi DAC into a single slim enclosure. The inputs are either balanced analog, USB or S/PDIF and it already ships with XLR jumpers to allow side-chaining external preamps or DSPs. An ideal system to bridge a streaming source and a Dirac Live processor. Just add speakers.

There is a very interesting new audio project being promoted on Kickstarter. Coming from Orchard Audio, the BOSC is a well engineered hi-fi monoblock audio amplifier that explores the latest gallium nitride (GaN) semiconductor technology to achieve ultra-high performance in a small package. This compact and affordable 150 watt amplifier shows a lot of potential, with an impressive circuit design and high-quality sound, and is available in 3-4Ω (13.8dB gain) or 6-8Ω (16.8dB gain) versions.