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AGD Audion GaN Class D In The House

During the last decade i have managed to try in my home 95% of the Class D amps offered to the public these include the so called break thru offerings of the last year or two. While there has been progress the class D signature remained and this included what was lacking in class D amplification.

When i heard about AGD i thought here we go again because i had been there and done that so many times with class D but the GaN tech had me intrigued so i bought a pair of the Audion amps, i thought i would give class D one more go.

I received the amps two days ago and have about twelve hours of listening. From the first minute onwards these amps had my full attention. There is no connection between this class D amp and class D i have heard in the pass no connection what so ever. Forget classes A, A/B, D or whatever this is just an excellent sounding amp, it delivers music that belongs at the upper levels of Hi End audio reproduction.

It`s only been a couple of days of listening but i`m so taken back at the quality of sound i just had to share. I will add more the more i listen, good or bad.
rh67
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
I find the use of glass a gimmicky turn off.
I had the same reaction. There are simple, practical ways to make a plug-in solid state module. Making it look like a vacuum tube and adding glow lighting is too much false bling for me.
Not only that but all that power supply current has to run through those pins/sockets, which should by any tech standard, be a solid soldered contact.
And which may oxidize with two dissimilar metals having heavy current run through them, time will tell.
Just like it did I remember on all AMC 3030 tube hybrid amps similar contacts ended up charred and high resistance over time on every amp made.   

Cheers George   
rh67 OP
307 posts
 
A week with these amps and all i can say is that listening to music is enjoyable and fun, this hobby is about fun and emotional enjoyment of what we are listening to otherwise whats the point. When we attend a live musical performance at the end we hope to walk away satisfied and entertained what the experience becomes is an event. When listening to the Audion amps i feel as if an event is happening, listening to music and not equipment.
twoleftears's avatar
twoleftears
5,318 posts
 
In that last article you linked, to the mk II iteration, there was a reference to a fairly extensive run-in period.  How many hours do you have on yours now?
rh67 OP
307 posts
 
I have 83 hrs. I believe that i read it takes about 165 hrs. to fully break in. What i have noticed from day one to now is that the soundstage is real in dimension, performers are real in size. Sometimes with even the best and most expensive equipment while the performance can be fine the mental image is that the performers are 3-4 feet tall. Without being forward the Audion is projecting a real life image. I have heard this very few times, that the Audion is capable of doing this at it's price point to me is impressive.
rh67 OP
307 posts
 
In my decade search for a great class D amp i have heard two other amps with with GaN outputs and while they sounded good they were not great. I just came across this video with Alberto of AGD that explains that the GaNs in his amps were designed for audio, this explains for me a big part of the reason that his amps sound not good but great.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3eqQUs5HPc
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