@art_boston I stand corrected, only 2 people care about. I only care about sound quality. I'll never send my personal stuff to those jokers at ASR. They can buy their own gan 1 and be smug about their measurements.
Peachtree GaN 1 Beta
Before I start my post here is my current system for reference:
Auarlic Aries G1 --> Denafrips Terminator or SW1X DAC --> Audio GD HE1 XLR preamp or Sachs preamp --> various tube amps --> Cube Nenuphar Mini's w/ a pair of REL S510 subs. Cables and power conditioning commensurate with the rest of the system.
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As warmer months approach I have been looking for a cool running amp to replace my Line Magnetic LM-518 and other tube amps for a few months as they run pretty hot.
I've been interested in the GaN FET amps and just purchased a used LSA Voyager 350 Gan FET amp which I should receive in a few days. I've tried class D amps before and while they checked a lot of boxes I just didn't feel drawn in. However, I like to explore so I figured I'd try the GanFET and since the amp has zero feedback and my speakers seem to prefer amps with little or no feedback I figured it be worth checking out.
Today, Peachtree Audio sent out an email inviting users to a beta of their new Gan 1 amp. Here are some excerpts from their email:
What is the GaN 1? |
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In basic terms it is a 200 Watts-Per-Channel (WPC) Power Amplifier designed to be the sole interface between your digital audio device with a variable output, like a Bluesound NODE, and your speakers. The GaN 1 is a simple, pure and cost-effective audio solution: connect the GaN 1 to a streamer and a pair of speakers and you have an amazing Hi-Fi system. That's it...no DAC, no preamp and no input switching. The signal path from the music to your speakers is remarkably short and free of artifacts. Want to hear the intricate details in your music that have always been there, but you couldn't quite make them all out before? Then the GaN 1 is for you!
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He is clueless, don’t waste your time. The FACT is open loop (zero feedback) amps are load dependent - the output filter interacts with the load, that is one reason why modern designs use feedback after the output filter. Simple physics which can't be ignored, as much as one tries.
That’s the gist of the problem, isn’t it, with amps that have load dependency? For modern designs which avoid that issue it isn’t a thing. Try something with a flat impedance curve that is basically a resistive load. Good luck. |
@donnylovely The output filter is one of the most important parts of the circuit, as the overall efficiency, reliability and audio performance depends on it. As previously stated, a LC filter is the common approach, as it is (theoretically) lossless and has a -40dB/decade slope, allowing for a reasonable rejection of the carrier if the parameters of the filter and the switching frequency itself are properly designed. The first thing to do is to design the transfer function for the filter. Usually, a Butterworth or similar frequency response is chosen, with a cutoff frequency slightly above the audio band (30-60KHz). Have in mind that one of the design parameters is the termination load, that is, the speaker impedance. Usually, a typical 4 or 8 ohm resistor is assumed, but that would produce variations in the measured frequency response in presence of different speakers. That must be compensated for by means of proper feedback network design. Some manufacturers simply leave it that way so the response is strongly dependent on the load. Surely a non-desirable thing. As I have stated previously, timing errors can lead to increased distortion and noise. This cannot be skipped and the more precise it is kept, the better the design will perform. Open loop Class-D amplifiers are not likely to satisfy demanding specifications, so negative feedback is almost mandatory.
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@dolfan It could be ignorance on my part. I saw the blurb on Peachtree web site that said they have a new batch being built for Dec 2022. I will give them a call to see if they can put some SpeakON speaker termination for me. That way I can do a real apples-to-apples comparison with my Benchmark gear. I will use the GAN1 amp for my KEF Blade 2 Meta (ordering in Feb 2023) until I get funds for a more powerful amp for the Blades. I was wondering what to do with the GAN1 amp afterwards. I realized that the GAN1 has the protentional to be a great headphone amp for my RAAL SR1a earphones. I want to get a headphone amp for the bedroom and the GAN1 could be a perfect low box count solution. I bought some very short used Audience AU24 SX speaker cables a few minutes ago for that purpose. As a frame of reference, the best 2 channel gear I had on the RAAL SR1a earphones cost over $20K and I sold all of them since it was not as good as my RAAL VM-1a amp. The VM-1a only works on the SR1a and not speakers so it has some advantages in design. So, I now have 2 comparisons to do with the GAN1. 1) Benchmark stack vs GAN1. I will have to downgrade my speaker cable for this comparison to Audience Conducter SE unless Peachtree can do SpeakON termination for me. 2) CODA 07x preamp | KRELL DUO175XD amp | Musetec 005 DAC | Audience FrontRow speaker cable vs GAN1. I still remember how this sounded since I listened for hours each night for over a year. I will use the just purchased Audience AU24 SX speaker cable which is one notch below the FrontRow so it should be a close approximation.
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@wise Santa B Hoping we both get ours next week. They told me last week I would hear sumn about testing and or shipping but nothing so far. u have nice systems Mine will be Gan 1, Node, Tekton Perfect Set, and Rythmik FV15HP. It's a TV and backround music set up. I need a coax cable. Where would u start? |
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