Mini GaN5 Opinion...

Not a review...Just my opinion after living with a www.classdaudio.com Mini GaN5 amplifier for 10 days......

Well, I decided to send the Mini GaN5 amplifier back. I used it for ten days as the "send back" period is only 15 days. ( 15 days over the holidays is really not enough time to evaluate any piece of audio gear. If the trial period was 30 or 60 days I actually might have kept it. But I didn't want to lose my $$ so it went back after only 10 days...Classdaudio.com should think about this)

It is a fantastic amplifier especially driving hard to drive Magnepans. No negative issues what so ever. AMAZING bass response. Very tight and I heard bass on my KEF LS50 Metas and Magnepan LRS like I never heard before! The highs were "sparkly".... I'm a fan of Tube amplifiers and preamplifiers (Schiit Freya and ZeroZone P1)and my reference amp, Pass Lab First Watt F5v2 and this amp is not in the same zip code as far as the highs are concerned. The high frequencies on this amp are not bad by any regard, just not my cup of tea.   The Mini GaN5 might simply be too accurate.... At the same time, I bought a Buchardt i150 integrated amplifier with a class D amplifier section and I found I simply didn't need the extra power of the Mini or another amplifier! And the i150 has a much more TUBE like sound.....But still with the amazing Class D bass! This integrated amplifier, with room correction and full blown parametric EQ is a true world class piece of kit!  I just felt I would rather have the $735 (Black Friday Price) back in the bank..... In Conclusion...If you do not have a tube amplifier or a much more expensive Class A amplifier to compare it to, or you are not a fan of the tube sound, or if you don't have a Buchardt i150 for comparison, for $799 I don't think you can beat this little GaN5 amplifier.