After initially reading this post I immediately put in my order for the Schitt Buf and used it extensively for the last month. My system is a pair of Sonus Faber Maxima Amator’s fed by a Luxman L-590AxII integrated. Sources are a vintage Linn LP-12/Ittok/Troika (refreshed)/Ortofon ST-80 SUT, a Yamaha CD-S2100 disc player/DAC and a Pioneer TX-9500II tuner. The Luxman thankfully still has a tape monitor loop selectable from the remote to make instantaneous comparisons without the annoying pop when you switch off the Buf.
My thoughts: Using the included twin triode 6N1P tube at the 0 gain setting I pronounce the Buf as being essentially transparent. By essentially, I mean at that at high volume levels, louder than I would normally listen to without alcohol, there is an almost imperceptible shift in sound. No tonality differences, no soundstage differences, just maybe silences slightly less deep if the source allows. At the +12 dB gain setting there maybe is 2 hairs less blackness than the 0 gain setting but that’s hard to verify being the time it takes to compensate for the gain difference during comparisons.
Methinks the differences some people are hearing is that the Buf creates a better impedance match between a weak/dodgy output stage of the incoming source and the input of the following amp or preamp. Remember the Buf is actually two buffers, the tube doing its thing with an easy to drive high input impedance, a switchable local feedback resistor selecting gain with the tube feeding a pair of BJT output transistors biased into Class A (probably operating at unity (0) gain), buffering the tube and offering a nice chunk of output current giving the Buf a studly low output impedance of 75 ohms. Gotta hand it to the manufacturer-this is an intelligently executed, well-built piece of Schitt offered at a steal of a price.
