GaN amps: Peachtree or LSA Voyager?

@atmasphere 
 

One thing I don't understand from much of the above discussion....  Is it not possible with both Class d and Class A/B amps to engineer the amp to the lowest possible distortion and then add back enough 2nd and 3rd harmonics to give the amp the degree of musicality desired?  And if so, could a "distortion" dial be added to allow the user to fine tune the sound to their liking?

@deludedaudiophile 

I guess I've thought of amps as being in several varieties of late...

those that are either class a or class a/b operating in class a for a while that are using their class a operation to emphasize the lower orders of harmonic distortion in order to be more musical

those that try to drive distortion as low as possible, Benchmark and some of the class d and ganfet amps come to mind, that feel that any distortion that influences sound is wrong

and obviously tube amps

I've thought of DSP as trying to offset room issues by modifying frequency response and possibly reflections and timing..but not the distortion profile...is this even possible?

@markmuse 

It would be great if you continue to report back on your experience with the M225s.  Frank Van Alstine is quoted in the Absolute Sound review as saying that one of the goals with this amplifier was to, as much as possible, completely eliminate harmonic distortion.  And I'm guessing that this design goal in conjunction with the amp operating in Class A...possibly up to 20 watts are the reasons it has been getting great reviews.

It doesn't seem like anything revolutionary, but then again as with most things audio, the implementation is the key.  To his credit, Frank says that this is not the be all end all design and it has been his experience that they are many designs that have ended up with excellent amps.

@twoleftears 

I went back a reread the absolute sound review...and Frank gives a lot of credit to both the differential balanced design and the Exicon power mosfet output transistors...so hopefully Ralph can shed some light on why this might be some kind of secret sauce??

@markmuse 

LSA doesn't talk much in their literature about lowering distortion instead mainly focusing on the advantages of GaN.  San Francisco Audio Society liked the amp, Audio Science Review did not.  It will be interesting to read your impressions. 

@markmuse 

It will be interesting to read your comparison of the Voyager and the Atmasphere Class d monoblocks.  Based on the specs of your speakers...it appears that the Atmasphere could easily drive them to over 104db at a listening position 10' back so I'm not sure more power would really be of much value, especially since the speakers are rated at 90 watts max continuous power handling.

The AVA's will also be an interesting comparison as they have had a lot of good press lately as well.

@markmuse 

During your listening test, in addition to your analytical listening did you also do what I like to call musical listening… no analysis, just close your eyes and see which amp is the most musically and emotionally compelling… and with no fatigue from an hour or two of listening  

Its hard to turn off the brain and do this but at the end of the day it’s not the minute detailed differences in the amps that matter, it’s what makes you want to listen rather than do something else. 

🤣

@markmuse 

 I haven’t read this anywhere about the M225s, so I’m wondering, some  amps seem to need an hour of warm up time to sound their best….is that what you found with the M225s?

It is pretty strange that in this day of measurements, that LSA would allow a product that measures this poorly to hit the market without a few tweaks that would drastically improve its sinaid and other measurements and maybe even the sound.

But, what I really appreciate about ASR is their teardowns...lots of people measure and listen...but that doesn't tell the whole story about safety and reliability.  It looks like the gan350 is a mixed bag: