47 Labs GAINCARD, does it live up to the hype?

I think it lives up to the hype. I borrowed a store demo for a week and used it happily with Merlin VSM-SE, Pass Aleph P preamp, Studer CD, and Cardas Golden Cross (which were actually heavier than the amp body, and could easily pull it off the shelf). The power supply weighs about 15lbs and the amp itself weighs about 1! They designed it to channel vibrations (not dampen them) and the entire signal path is only 2 inches long! I think it's rated at 25wpc. I don't have a lot to compare it to, but I'd say it's similar sounding to the Pass Aleph amps, but with more low level resolution, thus more realism (due to the short signal path?). Everything sounded amazing. I heard something new in every recording, the soundstage was great, etc. My only complaint was that I found myself fixating on details, not the music. I had the same issue with the Pass amps. I've decided to check out tube and tube-hybrids for now, but I highly recommend this amp for anyone who prefers a very detailed, then musical, amp (if your speakers can handle 25 high quality watts). It's also tiny, so it would be ideal for offices, bedrooms, picky wives, etc.

By the way...with my particular set-up, I thought the amp sounded best with the Gaincard gain set to maximum. Even one notch down changed the sound for the worse. This meant that I couldn't really listen at lower levels. I'm assuming this is due to some incompatability with my Pass preamp?

I have owned the Gaincard for about 6mos now and it never fails to impress. It is extremely detailed but also very musical. It will make the most of your best cd's and reveal all the imperfections of the worst (along with any upstream component deficiencies). I have mainly used the Gaincard with fairly efficient speakers - Ensemble Animata's, Silverline Sonatina's and (currently) the 2nd ReTHM (a compression horn design based around a Lowther DX3). The ReTHM with the G/C is stunning. The only change I would make to the G/C in this system would be to change the steps of the dual volume pots ... with the 100db + ReTHM's I rarely get past 4 or 5 of the G/C's 11 steps.

Just bumped into Elliott at sound.au.com See his review/assessment of the Gaincard for another perspective.