What are the best GaN Amplifiers available today?


There have been a number of threads discussing the wonder of GaN and some of the individual amplifiers that have caught peoples attention, including those from AGD, Atma-Sphere, Peachtree, LSA, etc. Has anyone done a shootout against two or more GaN amps? If so, which did you prefer, and why? And on what speakers?

Also, of the one you preferred, do you prefer it over every other amplifier you’ve ever heard? If not, what non-GaN amp do you enjoy more?

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For reasons so obvious they don't bear mentioning, Ralph has earned credibility with his products over decades. The endless essay writing challenging Ralph in seemingly every class D thread is tiresome, and I simply read all the atmasphere posts so I can learn about this technology, skip all the posturing, and try and see if any on-topic posts might be spotted among the dross.

I have the Shultz midded LSA Voyager GAN amplifier. The error is by omission not commission. It is a fantastic, clean, crystalline and extended amplifier from the midbass on up. What it lacks is that meat on the bones from the midbass and lower frequencies. My modded JC1 Parasound monoblocks and Pass Labs X250.5 amps by comparison have a bit more meat on the bones to my ears.

Since we have some tech heavies in the thread, I am hoping someone can explain the mechanism by which a ‘break-in’ period can change the sound of a class D amp? The caps? The FET?

@koh_i_noor We believe its the filter caps in the power supply forming up to their operating voltage. We thought that since our amp runs a lot of feedback and is thus able to reject a lot of power supply issues that break-in would not happen. But very consistent customer reports indicate otherwise.

Mytek Audio of New York has been working on our own version of the GanFET amps and we just began shipping the Empire Stereo Monoblocks which are exceptional. Tube like top and midrange, non fatiguing for hours of listening, detail and resolution throughout the whole spectrum, transistor tight controlled bass, the best of both worlds (tubes or transistors). Minimal feedback, behavior reminiscent of Class A, they work well without feedback too. IMO this technology is so good it will be a dominant amplifier technology in 10 years. There is a magic to the smooth velvety tube like top the no class AB amp can do due to absolutely linear transfer function of the amp that does not need feedback to correct the AD transistor curve. We just showed The Empire Stereo  Monoblocks at Munich High End 2024 and had repeated visitors returning to the room again and again because of this. 

Michal at Mytek, Chief Designer