Buchardt I150 - anyone else? ;)

If you are after the dark oak with black plates, I saw these will be back in stock some time this month. It’'s these ones with the black S400 MK2 I want. Absolutely gorgeous combination.

It all depends on your budget. There are so many options to chose from - a Raspberry Pi 4B, the iFi Zen Stream, the Bluesound Node (needs to be latest model for USB out), Primare NP5. All these range from £45 to £600 for example and can be used as Roon endpoints. Needless to say they have built in wifi and there’s one less network cable you have to worry about :slight_smile:

@Bernd_Kurte How are you enjoying the i150 so far?

Come to think of it… I need to keep my Mac mini… it’s being fed thousands of CDs and albums I had digitized and integrated with Roon/Tidal…

Works great

I have gone quite through a journey with the I150 struggling with a notorious DSP glitch in relation with the subwoofer integration. Was about to quit more than just once, also as Buchardt delivered the device while main features simply weren’t ready at that time. However, Buchardt and Platin kept improving. Yesterday a new beta firmware was published that hit it out of the park. Glitch sorted and (maybe just me getting crazy) also improving SQ re bass delivery and crispness.

DSP is a must for me and the main reason to buy this amp. Subwoofer integration is a breeze. iPhone supported room correction another clever unique selling point. Was wondering why they refused an integrated streamer (I am a happy NP5 user) but looking at the Hegel disaster a good decision.

Long story short - rocky journey coming to a Happy End. Fingers crossed.

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I think you can use USB out of the Mini and into the Buchardt right?

@Bernd_Kurte Happy days then :slight_smile: How does the USB input work with Roon and the i150 remote? Will it pause Roon, skip songs, etc?

I guess(!) (so take with a grain of salt) that the controls on the remote only work with the BT input. But I can hook my MBP to the I150 later today and let you know.

Cheers Bernd.

Also, saw a review on Youtube (Zeos) and when he had the Buchardt app open on the phone and tried to pause/skip music with remote, it did not work.

let me understand this … you are saying that the remote for the i150 “only” works with Bluetooth input ?.. altough my system is not setup and no speaker cables… I did power on with the remote, selected USB… and increased the volume up/down while on USB… so I think the remote will work with all inputs…or were you referring to the App ?

thanks

We are referring to the ability of the I150’s remote Play, Stop, Skip buttons. These will most likely only control a BT connected source (like your mobile phone). Any USB connected source will probably not react on these buttons being pressed.

Another hint confirming this is those buttons only appear on the app(!) when BT is selected as source.

As expected. No remote impact (skip, pause, play) on USB connected MBP playing Roon. BT only.

Does someone have an idea why the USB connected I150 is identified as “Boulder 812 DAC Preamplifier“?

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Oh well. It would have been good if it would have paused Roon though :slight_smile:

No idea but would be curious myself :stuck_out_tongue: You could email Buchardt or Roon and as?k.

Well… happy to provide a quick snapshot of my Buchardt i150 amp and 400MKII speakers

They have been playing for approx 40-60 hours and I have to say … coming from Hegel H390 and Totem Wind Design … I was a little bit under whelmed… having said that … the price point is not at all the same with the Hegel/Totems being 3X the price … so it is normal…

Then…

I played with the room correction DSP settings… I did the Room EQ and it analyzed my room which is complex with 3.5M of top to bottom windows on one side … the difference was somewhat better… here is the Room EQ result … which for those who don’t know … it’s similar to pink noise setting on a Sonos system…

Room EQ result and calculations

Again it was “meh” with really a lack of low end …

Then I started playing with the manual EQ…

To say the difference was dramatic is an understatement… the system came alive with detailed imaging … good centre image … and complete transformation of bass…

I can not understand such a positive difference… but I’m impressed

Here is the setting for my system on manual EQ
Yes… an odd curve but full rich sound … I my lower the uppers a bit by a dB or 2




Anyway… I’m going to let it rest for a month and get used to the sound and stage … and look at tweaking… btw… minimal changes make a big difference on the manual EQ so use caution…

So far … I’m liking what I’m hearing

Note: I did edit the dB after I took the snaps … so it’s off on the 3 settings but you get the picture… your settings may vary… post if you have !

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Running the I150 with S400SE and a subwoofer that can do 20Hz with some SPL I have to speak pro the roomEQ feature. What is does perfectly is blending the sub in. Up to firmware v10.4 which I regard faulty it always was spot on for me. But as one can see from your screenshots roomEQ deals with frequencies up to 1000Hz. The presence and imaging business isn’t sorted here. Never was. So your manual correction higher up the spectrum makes sense while I am surprised by the lower part. Off the charts to me and I struggle to understand given my experience.

My room seems acoustically problematic on a quick glance but isn’t being under the roof with a max ceiling height of 5,5m. Almost no parallel walls and lots of m² in total. So manual EQ was never necessary. RoomEQ always sorted its sub 1000Hz job decently.



Thanks Bernd…
The Sun makes such a difference… which I have not gone that route yet… looking at a micro sub… (room size) not many go below 30-28… I think the SVS 3000 does close…

But I agree … the low end curve is almost bizarre … but it works … :man_shrugging:

I’d be interested in you testing without your sub and your findings if your bored one day :blush:

Hello everyone… I decided to pick up a SVS 3000
Micro sub as it fits in my space

Was wondering if any Lowpass recommendations on the i150 amp and the 400MKII

And what would be a best settings on the sub … I know it’s subjective to the room and taste…

But would a starting point !

Thanks as usual
Matt

Hi,

I did 60 and 80Hz. Both worked fine with my sub (PSB sub series 450). Did not notice any very obvious differences in SQ. Should go without saying but highpass the S400 accordingly.

I believe Mads looked at the cost and selling point with regards to Roon, there probably is a little of the Nordic Hegel Saga, that had Mads Nordic team uncomfortable!

Mine has also identified as the Boulder, did you get a reply at all as to why?
Did you resolve the issue?

Did not follow up on that. To Roon it’s just a generic DAC and that works fine.

Currently I see no open issues. The just introduced version of the app (1.8) plus the v10.7 firmware work flawlessly.

Hi @Bernd_Kurte. Just found this thread on the i150 and wanted to ask: where do you get the v10.7 firmware? I just received my i150 and it has v10.3.

On the buchardt website you can also get v10.4.

I am having quite a few issues with input switching on the i150 and no sound playing. Obviously, it’s great when it works and the S400mkII should be arriving next week for a proper match for it.

So just curious about v10.7 and where I might get it.

Also, you mention that v10.4 in your eyes is “broken”, but according to the changelog it fixes the no sound issues. What about it do you consider broken?

Thanks for any insights!