LSA Voyager GAN Amplifier

ricevs,
When I trialed the Benchmark AHB2 for 1 month, it was quite close to my reference Bryston 2.5B SST2.  At the end of the month break in, the AHB2 was slightly warmer than the Bryston.  Only a guess--the AHB2 was on par with my current Mytek Brooklyn Amp (original version).  My initial reaction to the Rouge was that it was rolled off in HF and fuller in overall sound than the Mytek.  The Rouge still has some variation with the hour of the day, and I think it is evolving for the better.  At 400 hours, I will reconnect my Mytek, re-break it in for a day, and then A/B the Rouge and Mytek.  My Bryston is still king for crispness, although for larger scale music, I need more power, so I am hopeful about your modded Rouge.  I will complete the 400 hours in about 2 weeks, so will contact you soon after that.

Interesting.
FWIW I use a ARC sp16 tube preamp with Bel Canto ref1000m Class D amps. Had this for a good ten years now so yes it sounds very good. One thing is I never hear any hiss or noise except if the tube in the main phono tube slot is not up to snuff. The other slots are tolerant of less than too notch operating tubes but not the main. When ARC ships a set of tubes they always mark and designate the special one for that slot. Anyway my point is that hiss or noise need not be a factor surprisingly even when tubes are involved. Should not ever need be with premium quality/cost gear in good working order ever IMHO

Back to the story of the Voyager. I will cut to the chase and say this amp is sounding mighty fine now.

I think it is at the same level of sound quality as the AHB2 and CODA #8. However, they do not sound the same. They all do their thing at a very high level of quality.

On the Thiel:
The AHB2 sounds just right to me, I wish it had more power for my Thiels. The CODA #8 is very pleasing, powerful, and detailed. The Voyager is the most exciting sound to me. It is an exciting, powerful, and detailed sound. I do not know why but with the Voyager I am tapping my toes and bobbing my head to almost everything (even the BEE GEES again this morning). I now love the sound from this amp.

The CODA #8 is closer to the Luxman m900u amp sound to me. The Voyager is a bit more AHB2-ish. These 3 are staying long term.

On the RAAL:
The AHB2 is super clean and an incredible window to the music. I need to use the Accurate Sound filter to make the AHB2 work with the RAAL. The CODA #8 is an all round great performer with the RAAL. I do not need the Accurate Sound filter for this but use it anyway because the filter improves the sound.

Last night I was listening to some Judas Priest with the CODA #8 and I had 0 fatigue and a great listen. Just love the CODA #8 with the RAAL. The Voyager was not at the level of the other 2 but I have not tried it with the Gustard X26 Pro DAC. I am not going to do that in the short term because I like what is going on now with the setup I have. I was apprehensive about using the CODA #8 with the RAAL due to cost, but what the heck, the sound is great. I will sell some gear to make me feel better about the costs.

@viber6 I will give the SNIFF test later today when I get a babysitter. My son is going crazy in the next room watching some fire engine videos.

@mapman the hiss is now no longer audible from my listening position, I need to get close to the speaker to hear it. With the Topping pre90 or Benchmark HPA4 connected to the AHB2 there is only silence, even with your ear right against the tweeter.

I should add that for anyone considering getting the Voyager. My CODA 07x preamp does a great job of taming harshness. Not that the Voyager has any because when I added the Topping pre90 it did not seem to be harsh. Though the volume was messed up with that setup (too much gain).

In my setup, with the CODA 07x, I have no fatigue or harshness. I am easily susceptible to listener fatigue if the gear is harsh.

If I had the Benchmark HPA4 still in the house I could evaluate the Voyager in a more pure manner.

Sounds like Voyager has made the grade and competes very well with other high quality amps that I have interest in. So it’s made my would strongly consider to buy list already at this point. Thanks for sharing the findings!

Next I would like to hear a comparison with the $800 mini GaN amp just to get a handle on how those two at significant different price points compare.