LSA Voyager GAN Amplifier

One trend I’ve noticed is that every time there is a so-called ’breakthrough’ in class D technology, folks are going gaga over it initially. It is proclaimed with much fanfare that ’class D technology is finally here,’ and how much better it is than class A and tubes and everything else under the sun. After a few months, the same posters have moved on to something different. I don’t mean to rain on anyone’s parade here, but this ’second coming of class D’ story has been repeated ad nauseam on this site and many others. I hope you can see why some of us are skeptical. There’s a reason that valves and class A, despite being heavy and inefficient, have stood the test of time.

As Mark Twain once said, ’the stories of my death are greatly exaggerated’ ... I will check back in 6 months again.

Class D has always been as good as class A......the output stage....that is. The rest of it has needed work.....hence the evolution. All these $3000 new GaN amps are still using op amps for the buffer and modulation stages. We will see a true revolution when discrete stages are used everywhere and every part and power supply is tweaked by ear....just like the $100K Boulder amp is. You are not going to see a $3K amp stock beat a $100K Boulder mono block pair.....no way. However, with some mods these amps could be as good as most anything under $10K.....yes, that would be a big breakthrough. The people that are buying these $3K and less new Class D amps are not the people who buy the Gryphon’s, Boulder’s, etc. amps. We simply cannot afford them....and I find it a silly waste of money so spend that amount on one component.

As these inexpensive new Class D amps start to push the big boys.....you will see the big boys coming to the table. Look for Gryphon and Boulder and Audionet super high end amps using class D output stages......yes, some of them will see the writing on the wall and know it is to their advantage to make smaller more efficient amps that sound just as good as their class A amps but are less than half price to sell. You only need two pairs of GaN transistors to make 400 watts in class d and basically hardly any heatsink area.

Mytek is about to release a $6K stereo GaN amp and $20,000 mono block GaN amps. Will these challenge the big boys....or are they still using op amps and not so great execution?.......we shall see....er hear....very soon. I really don’t trust Mytek.....look at the cables they sell.....look very ordinary.

I predict that within 3 years all these big class A amps will be boat anchors.  Class D is going to take over the world........can you dig it?  Will the "expensive toy group" be listening to the latest class D amp from Gryphon?.....he he.

Up until now, I did not care much for the sonic profile of class D.  I gave it a grudging try when talking with Walter Liederman and honestly thought that I would be returning the amplifier for some Audio GD monoblocks.  I have two high power PassLab amps, a pair of JC1 Parasound monoblocks, Ampzilla monoblocks and a Parasound A21+.  I know what excellent class A, AB, hybrid and tube amps sound like to my ears/brain.  All excellent amps in their own right.  I am just fine with the LSA Voyager in my reference system and don't really miss the big boy amps.  The GAN iteration of class D is not your father's class D.   I would listen and let your ears and brain be the judge.  I am a convert for damn sure.  An unlikely and skeptical one at that.  

@arafiq

Jaymark alludes to your points in his comments as a well seasoned amplifier purchaser


I've owned many class AB, one class A (Kinergetics KBA 75), a goodly number of tube amps and preamps. A and AB amps have one thing in common-they are inefficient, class A much more so;  with class A and tubes in the 200wpc+ adding room warming heat that in many parts of the country/world require room cooling. Imagine the heat and electricity at 350/600+, oh and the cost to replace tubes.

Ric calls high price A & AB amps boat anchors. Well, for sure the used market will dry up, and likely a good portion of the new big money amp sales, should buyers listen to the new crop of GaNs side by side. And it's those guys who can afford to buy to try. Can't wait for those comments. So, Ric how long before discrete inputs become the next version of say the Voyager... are you fast at work?

The first input buffer is easy to change......but the ones following it might require a schematic, etc. to implement correctly.  Then you want better parts, layout, power supplies, output filter parts, etc.  So, a serious (state of the art) class D amp should be designed from the ground up.  I will see how much can be done to these modules as soon as some one sends me an amp.  The modded amp will sound way better than stock.....but to think it will be state of the art (beating every amp on the planet)....is silly.  It will keep getting better and better......but already....we have some really good sound for not that much money.