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
Muscularity, meat on the bones…Density?  Audiophiliac on YT did an episode a while ago addressing what, in his view,  is needed for hifi to go that last bit toward the ultimate goal of sounding like live (presumably un-amplified) music.  Aka, lifelike.  He posited: Density.

Maybe Density, Muscularity and Meat on the bones are describing the same thing?  I dunno.  The last two seem like the same—anatomically, at least.  Lol.

+3 granny

Density is the precise word I could not pull from my brain when I instead said the Voyager couples better to my room.

Also, no matter what the instrument I want to hear the leading edge of the notes as well as the body of the instrument, plus the harmonics and decay. The Voyager is capable of doing those far better than any amp I can recall owning, with 2 very distant possible exceptions being the Accoustat servo tube amps and a Kinetics KB 75 class A amp. I say capable, as the ability to sound live is recording dependent


hth
Totally correct--"Also, no matter what the instrument I want to hear the leading edge of the notes as well as the body of the instrument, plus the harmonics and decay."  All these are attributes of live music.  However, in audio systems which lose detail at all frequencies, "body" is dominant over fine detail.  The audio system "body" is usually fuzzy, distorted mush, most notably from euphonic tube amps and most dynamic speakers.  There is a difference between live unamplified instrumental "body" and this audio mush, which people with insufficient live unamplified musical experience do not fathom.
Blah, blah, blah went the "detail is king" sheep. Do you have any other wise words? Or you stuck in that creation chapter forever? Does that post represent the sum or your knowledge? Creation is infinite. Love and joy are infinite.
Body is not fuzzy mush.  That is funny however. It is as described above.   It sounds right and attracts the listener.