Anybody else waiting for GaN and Purify to have a baby?

pinwa
I generally run my DAC straight into the amplifier. I do have the Schiit Freya, Elkit TU-8500DX, that I have tried with the GaN 400 etc. but generally I find I like the sound straight from the DAC better. The Elekit TU-8500DX does give the GaN 400 wonderfully liquid vocals but I seem to lose that holographic soundstage when I use a preamp.

I also have that Elekit pre that was given to me because the owner of it that didn’t realize it was a fairly complex kit, and way above his pay grade to make up, so he gave it to me for fixing his Pass Labs power amp.
I made it up with even better coupling caps and a better tube compliment, I had to beef up the heater current circuit though, for the beefier tubes I used, and yes for a tube pre it is very very good, and very silent, but as you found also, direct was better.
Maybe on bad recordings the Elekit would be more forgiving, but that’s not what I want, "to lower the best, so the worst is a little more acceptable but still bad".

Cheers George

@rh67 -- thanks for the clarification. It wasn't clear from your post that you were making an exception for AGD. I've been reading lots of positive comments about this company and their products. I'm glad you found sonic bliss with these amps. In the end that's all that matters.

+1.