Has anyone tried connecting a turntable using the 3.5mm input on the Bluesound Node and played it on the amp? How does it sound comparing to your pre/power amp?
Peachtree GaN 1 Beta
Before I start my post here is my current system for reference:
Auarlic Aries G1 --> Denafrips Terminator or SW1X DAC --> Audio GD HE1 XLR preamp or Sachs preamp --> various tube amps --> Cube Nenuphar Mini's w/ a pair of REL S510 subs. Cables and power conditioning commensurate with the rest of the system.
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As warmer months approach I have been looking for a cool running amp to replace my Line Magnetic LM-518 and other tube amps for a few months as they run pretty hot.
I've been interested in the GaN FET amps and just purchased a used LSA Voyager 350 Gan FET amp which I should receive in a few days. I've tried class D amps before and while they checked a lot of boxes I just didn't feel drawn in. However, I like to explore so I figured I'd try the GanFET and since the amp has zero feedback and my speakers seem to prefer amps with little or no feedback I figured it be worth checking out.
Today, Peachtree Audio sent out an email inviting users to a beta of their new Gan 1 amp. Here are some excerpts from their email:
What is the GaN 1? |
In basic terms it is a 200 Watts-Per-Channel (WPC) Power Amplifier designed to be the sole interface between your digital audio device with a variable output, like a Bluesound NODE, and your speakers. The GaN 1 is a simple, pure and cost-effective audio solution: connect the GaN 1 to a streamer and a pair of speakers and you have an amazing Hi-Fi system. That's it...no DAC, no preamp and no input switching. The signal path from the music to your speakers is remarkably short and free of artifacts. Want to hear the intricate details in your music that have always been there, but you couldn't quite make them all out before? Then the GaN 1 is for you!
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So far, the only one I know that has done this is Andrew Clark, president of Peachtree Audio. Here are his remarks copied and pasted from Peachtree's website:
Hope this is helpful!
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@mbolek those are some nice looking mods. Much higher quality parts it looks like. Have you noticed a significant change in sound quality? |
I am. The limitation is in the word length, not the scan frequency. Gentlemen. I see that @kuribo has entered this thread. I've crossed swords with him in the past, but on this point of load dependent frequency response he is correct. @ricevs , if you want to find out what the effect of this might be, try a load that varies between 3 and 16 Ohms over the audio band (which is typical of many speakers) and find out what actually happens. Its not sufficient to look at the difference in FR with a simple resistive load. Now I made a career of building zero feedback OTL tube amplifiers so I have a fair amount of hands-on experience with this. The output impedance of the amplifier plays an enormous role here. So I would expect that the FR of a zero feedback class D amp to be less 'reactive' (if you see what I did there) than that of a tube amp. The variable here though is the output choke, which is a critical part of any class D design, especially a GaNFET, which will require the choke to operate at a lower frequency rather than a higher one, on account of its inductive kickback being used to initiate the off state of the output device. Its complicated. Now how much this will affect the audio FR with a variable load is a good question. The On resistance of GaNFETs is stupidly low, so if it were up to them this would be a non-issue. IOW the output filter choke is really the variable. Based on my own experience (since a number of our prototypes were zero feedback) my guess is its a minor issue. |
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