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Stock Voyager GaN amp (350/600) Contrasted with my EVS1200 (600/1200)

The Voyager (V) I received is well broken in, and as the title says, it is stock. An upgraded version will come later.


I let the V warm up for ~ 24 hours while I listened to my beloved EVS 1200 (~$2300) playing a wide variety of Redbook CDs; The Judds, Chris Issak Heart Shaped World, Leonard Cohen remastered collection, Willie Nelson Across the Borderline, the Eagles Hell Freezes Over, and Jennifer Nettles Playing with Fire (love the music, but the mastering has a few ear bleed cuts- or does it???). I capped the session off with Roger Waters Amused to Death SACD, a huge, occasionally very dynamic, and intentionally phasey recording. While I enjoyed the hell out this listening session, but afixed in my mind was reading others reporting on their not fully broken in V amps frequently mentioning detail/clarity, the music via the EVS 1200 wasn't as focused as I felt it should, but have accepted for 2 years, as it easily outperformed my PS Audio M700s (MSRP $4000), FYI, their M1200s are based on the same IceEdge AS1200 modules as my EVS 1200, but untouched. They simply added their own tube input stage (MSRP $7000), and Audio Alchemys DPA-1 ($2000), wish I could have tried the monos ($4000), but...


Could  the lack of focus be elsewhere, like the Wire World Electra 7 Power Conditioning cord ($240), connected to my Audio Alchemy DDP-1 + PS 5, which is IMO, my weakest PC, all the others are $700+, or my $150 Pangea XL coax cable? How would the V stack up?  Im thinking it can't be THAT much better, and what about the huge power disparity in my ~ 26 x 38 X 12 lively room with lots of glass and open beam ceilings, which adds up to brightness?


I connected the V, but didn't want to start with any of the same discs, just in case the V needed to see some signal before being ready for the comparison, so I chose Getz/Gilberto Jobim and Astrud Gilberto SACD as a nice way to ease into the Voyager. I haven't listened to this disc in months, so no recent memory to taint hearing it now. Did I say 'ease'. Silly me.


I'll cut to the chase hear/here, from the first note, it was obvious that this is a special amp, but at $3500 MSRP? OMG: What a steal!!! The focus reminds me of how much sharper and with greater depth of field pictures taken with Leica camera lens are, compared to all other cameras and lenses. GaNs magic is the equivalent of Tesla EV motor speed- immediate: The V grabbed me from the first note.


More  to come after I go through the Redbook CDs that I started with, but I already know it's a moot point. And wilder, still, LSA has already made a few tweaks, like the internal wiring for an additional $175.


Ric Schultz was right when he said expensive amps will be boat anchors
tweak1
ricevs
1,493 posts
 
What I said is not what you stated.....I will leave it at that.

I am very pleased that we have new and better amps for everyone to enjoy. Yes, the world moves on...we all move on...don’t get stuck in the past. I am very excited to receive the fully burned in LSA and tweak it and compare it to a tweaked out (as of today, 4 straight days of playing into a load) Purifi amp that I have here......this is gonna be fun!
viber6
2,442 posts
 
tweak1,
So you don't find the Voyager tubelike, which are the impressions of others here?  The promotional materials for many GaN amps assert that they are smooth/sweet/tubelike.  This is true with Voyager and the upcoming Mytek GaN amps.  This is what I heard with the Merrill 114 I had for a few weeks.

Everything is relative.  Amp A sounds neutral and clear until you hear amp B which sounds even more neutral and clear, and shows A to be tubelike by comparison.  So is A the EVS1200, and B the Voyager?
tweak1 OP
3,562 posts
 
@viber6

Perhaps you've overlooked this...

I remind anyone interested in this amp to read the Absolute Sounds Technics review in Jul 2021 issue. As I read it the other day, he nailed everything Im hearing, which should help you decipher my scribblings on how the Voyager sounds

ricevs
1,493 posts
 
Viber6,
It is not black and white like you always describe. There is an infinite shade of things. Did not you read how the LSA became faster and clearer (less tube like, to you) after he got rid of the rubber feet? My mods will make it even faster and clearer.....but hopefully even more harmonically correct....maybe even warmer sounding. There is a scale of warmth....and a scale of detail.....you can mix them anywhere along both lines......you could have super clear amp with various amounts of warmth. What is neutral is unknown. What we like is. When some describe "tube like".....they mean something that portrays the correctly warm harmonics of real music (something most transistor gear has a hard time with)........that is what some mean by tube like. Old tube sound always adds color and loss of detail.....new tube sound does very little to the sound. There are no absolutes.....just shadings.

Remember when Jay put those footers under his amp and it sounded cold and super fast?......well, some people might say that is more neutral.....he thought it was bad sound. We all tune to our tastes. The older Boulder gear had a rep for dry, cold sound......now they are even more detailed....yet are more harmonically juicy.......go figure.

Someone just told me this story yesterday. He was at a show and the sound in this room using a particular transistor amp was terrible.....even the rep came outside the room and apologized for the bad sound saying they are looking for a tube amp to compliment the system. The guy came back Sunday and with a tube amp there the sound was way better and he did not have to run out of the room, as before. The guy running the room tells him that he sold several complete systems (that included the zippy transistor amp) when the sound was zippy as hell.......they both laughed......some like it hot!
viber6
2,442 posts
 
ricevs,
Yes, there are many tweaks that affect the sound.  Suppose you have sorbothane feet on amp A and B, then you put better feet on both amps.  The essential differences between A and B will still be approximately the same, although both A and B will advance by the same X increment.  Mathematically, (B + X) minus (A + X) equals (B minus A).  At home, everyone has a different system, but we should use the same ancillary components no matter how good or bad they are, in order to zero in on the essential differences between A and B amps.  

Another meaning of the "infinite shade of things" is that there is a continuum of the tonal spectrum ranging from muddy, old style tube 1950's sound to the other end, which is raw, brilliant, sterile.  Sometimes we think A is neutral, until we hear B, which makes A seem tubey compared to B, even by small degrees.  Vocabulary is usually vague, so there is no substitute for careful, educated listening.  
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