LSA Voyager GAN Amplifier

IMPE, classical rarely sounded good, but over the decades as my system improved, so did my classical appreciation

yyz,
Glad you like the Mozart CD I recommended.  It is great that you enjoy it even if classical music is not your first love.  Great performances can enable you to enjoy the music as you gain familiarity.  Musically, it is the best version of these pieces I have heard.  I have played and performed them as a solo violinist, and the soloist on this CD is a magical wizard.  There is a YT video of him coaching a talented 16 year old girl violinist.  She plays "correctly" but he has great imagination and artistry and offers inspiration to her.

Take this music in small doses.  Each movement (section) is only about 7 min.  From an audio point of view, early in the first track of Concerto 3, see if you can hear in the right channel several times when the soloist SNIFFS to give a cue to the orchestra.  This is different from hearing the breath of a wind player from the mouth.  The AHB2 is the amp most likely to best reveal the subtleties of the sniff.  HF detail is needed to appreciate this.  

I like the 40 lb dumbbells on the right side in one of your system pictures.  Stay in great shape!

@mapman @ricevs Both of you guys were correct about your interpretation of the hiss. I was wrong on that. This hiss issue is on the front of my mind so this morning I brought back up the AHB2 monos and connected it to the CODA 07x. However, this time I increased the GAIN to the max setting on the AHB2s. Low and behold hiss comes out of the Thiel speaker. Now this hiss sounds much better than from either the CODA #8 or Voyager. It is lower in volume and there is no RIGHT speaker additional noise.

So that must mean the preamp, DAC, wires, are the culprit. My money is on the preamp being a little noisy. I wish I had the Benchmark HPA4 preamp in house still so I can have a nice baseline for my system. The Topping pre90 was supposed to be that replacement but it fails with the Voyager and CODA #8.

I am going to contact CODA today to ask about my observations. There was some discussions in the past to send my unit in for service but a loose wire, fixed by me, seemed to have resolved the issues. Maybe not.

@viber6 when my babysitter comes I will listen to the section of the Classical piece you referenced with the AHB2 monos and the Voyager. I can afford 14 minutes to do this.

I decided to goof off from work some more and try out @viber6 ’s test.

I played Concerto #3 which is 20 min long 3 times. Each time with a different amp into my RAAL SR1a headphones which draws a lot of power from an amp.

1) Benchmark AHB2 monos (lowest GAIN setting) + CODA 07x + Benchmark DAC3B + Audience FrontRow speaker cable + Benchmark 15 foot XLR from preamp to amp

2) CODA #8 + CODA 07x + BM DAC3B + Audience FrontRow speaker cable + Audience AU24SE 1 metre XLR from preamp to amp

3) Voyager + CODA 07x + Benchmark DAC3B + Audience Conductor SE speaker cable + Benchmark 15 foot XLR from preamp to amp

I do not have experience with classical music nor violins to really pick up the nuances in the performance. I also did not have the concentration to listen for the SNIFF. I have many things on my mind.

The Benchmark was the most realistic sound to me it was clear, detailed, and sharp. Sort of how I hear things. I have been to amateur orchestral performances and the AHB2 sounded like the real thing to me. Could be a little fatiguing to some people. My toes were NOT tapping that much to the music but I was not really familiar with it.

The second listen done quickly, immediately after moving the Audience FrontRow speaker wires to the CODA #8. This sound was not as sharp but pretty close. I tried it as first with the same volume on the preamp as the AHB2 test. It was of course much louder and the blue power meters on the CODA#8 were dancing. Normally when I listen to the Thiel the CODA meters do not move, so not drawing huge amounts of power at my volume level. If I crank the volume the meters would fly.

I was tapping my toes a lot this time, but I was now a little more familiar with the performance. The sound had a rounder aspect to it but with heft. I think this is what people say is a musical sound. I could listen to this for a long time without fatigue. I eventually lowered the volume to get closer to the AHB2 test level, to try and do an apple-to-apples comparison. I think the AHB2 sounded more real but the CODA #8 sounded beautiful. First world problems for me.

The Voyager was next and it was not really up to the level of the AHB2 or the CODA #8. It was not as sharp nor was as rounded. When I say rounded I keep thinking this thing is juicy (the CODA #8). Hey, I never said I was an audiophile. So these are my descriptions. The Voyager is a little flat sounding. Not so great at the moment but I have only 40 hours on it now.

I am now playing the same music on the Voyager and Thiel. It sounds better on the Thiel. It was not bad at all on the RAAL SR1a, it was that the other 2 were outstanding and I also had a $3K+ speaker cable on the other 2. The Voyager is using a more value oriented speaker cable. I hear differences in speaker cables that is why I have the FrontRow. The FrontRow does not fit the Voyager due to SpeakON terminations.

I now have enough observations to talk with CODA on the 07x hiss. For the next few days, I will also keep playing the Thiels with the Voyager. The AHB2’s are going back down to not reappear. I like the Voyager and the Thiel combo and love the CODA #8 and RAAL combo. Once the Voyager is broken in I am going to see about keeping it with the Thiel.

BTW - the biggest weakness in my system is my room and the RAAL does not have to deal with it. The RAAL is also very close to a 2 channel stereo sound, it does not sound like headphones. I put a few dollars into the RAAL system because it is incredible.

yyz,
Your observations about the truthfulness of the Benchmark AHB2 are absolutely correct.  I know the AHB2 sound, and of course I know the sound of classical music close up from the stage, 1st row and further back in the audience.  This Mozart recording uses a very small chamber orchestra which has much less heft than other recordings of the same music which use a larger orchestra about 2x the size.  If you heard this performance from the 1st row, the SPL would rarely be even 85 dB, and full orchestral sections would be about 75 dB average.  The solo violin with very soft orchestral accompaniment would be 40-60 dB.  The sniffs are about 20-25 dB.  Even if the live sound is sharp, there is NO fatigue.  Fatigue actually arises from playing a dull audio system too loud, in an effort to reveal detail.  With an accurate, revealing system, satisfying detail is appreciated at much lower SPL's.

There are big romantic pieces like Brahms and Mahler symphonies which use very large orchestras of 100 players.  Mahler's Symphony no. 8 is called "Symphony of a Thousand" because there are 1000 performers--a huge 150 member orchestra plus many different choral groups of adults and children.  Whew--if you want heft, that's the piece for you, but Mahler symphonies are 80 min long.  But this Mozart recording we like has little heft, and the performance and recording emphasize lightness, elegance and sharp quick instrumental attacks.  So the AHB2 is the truth teller.  BTW, what differences in tonality do you find between the AHB2 in stereo vs two monos?

I won't torture you to try to find the 2 or 3 moments of sniff on track 1.  Tomorrow, I'll find the timings in the track so you can listen for them.  I know the pieces backwards and forwards, but if you don't know them, it is harder to find the sniffs.