Sell your $$$ cables and conditioners... affordable LITHIUM is here!


I wanted to give you a frame of reference as to where I'm coming from and most importantly a first impression after 24hrs!
I've been an addict since my first system of KEF Concord speakers, Crimson Electric amps and an Ariston turntable back in college in '81. Since then I've been down the entire Linn system with Active Kabers, Full Meridian active system with DSP5200's as well as some burly NZ Perraux mono blocks with Sonus Faber when I lived in NZ. Since moving to the US in 2001 I've been through years of altercations between solid state camps from Bel Canto, Levinson stereo 336 to mono 436's, 532H and Mac 452 to speakers from B&W 802N and D2 to Wilson Sophia 2's, Sonus Faber Amati Homage and Revel Studio 2's. I've tried conditioners from Transparent, AQ Niagra, Isotek and others and every time come back to a decent cable straight from the wall.
Three years ago I took the plunge and went down the Devialet rabbit hole, streaming direct from a MacBook Air with ROON my Devialet D200 (soon to become a D400) drives my Focal Utopia Diablos via Analysis Plus Solo Crystal 8 speaker cables (and that's another whole can of worms with enormous cable differences), a JL Audio Fathom F110 (also about to be doubled up) rounds it out. My livening room is about 22x25 with 10ft ceilings and partially treated as best I can accommodate. 
Suffice to say, I've been around the block with hifi, listened to way more than my fair share at dealers and friends with diverse systems and currently run one of the most reveling systems I've ever heard. Sure, there's not that thick syrupy warmth the tube guys will clammer for, but then I'm hearing so much further into not just tonality but intent within the playing. 

If you read the review in Enjoy the Music from Tom Lyle, you'd see he equates the GZ Yeti to the $30k Stromtank. His review was the $400 Yeti 400. The Yeti 1000 was $1099, the 3kW Yeti 3000 is $2999 and will power almost anything. So, like Tom I took the plunge and bought a Yeti 1000 figuring it'd have plenty of 'headroom' for my meagre 600w consumption. (Though I have since plugged my JL Audio Fathom in too)

After playing the "FedEx f'ed up" again game, I finally went to their depot and picked up my new toy myself. After a handful of songs to establish a baseline for the evening, I simply plugged the Yeti 1000 in, reconnected the Devialet and sat back... My girlfriend was first to break the silence and then immediately regretted it as I couldn't help myself interrupting her for the next half hour of gushing over what a profound difference it was making.
H-U-G-E. Truly component level and an absolute game changer. 

I was immediately texting my good friend with his PS Audio Directstream, Gryphon Diablo, Audio Physic Avantera III all powered by the latest Synergistic Research Powercell 12SE and Gallileo power cord with AQ Hurricane to each component - SELL- SELL- SELL it all, get a Goal Zero! 

We stayed up until 2am listening, flipped it back for a handful of now unlistenable tracks and then back again to Yeti 1000 happiness. In over six hours of powering my Devialet and Fathom at 90+db levels it'd dropped to a laughable 98%. I'm guessing that means it'd run off the grid for 300hrs or more? That's probably a several months of listening for most people. Who even cares, it simply sounds spectacular and the single biggest improvement I've ever heard from anything less than a major amp or speaker upgrade. 

I know my system is fairly frugal and green running, my buddy Matts, Gryphon would probably need the 3000W Yeti as his amp pulls 1900W at full song and his full stack of components albeit front end certainly add a few hundred more.   He's headed down to me in a couple of week with a stack of exotic power cables and conditioners  to try and I can't wait to share my results - I'm guessing he'll want to steal it away for his own demo right after. I would imagine he'd even get away with the Yeti 1000, so long as he doesn't run it too hard?
leeagc

Showing 6 responses by aniwolfe

So if anyone is interested. I did call Goal Zero and they said the lifespan of battery is 5-8 years. They will have replacement batteries by the end of the year.

Its safe to have the unit plugged into the wall 24/7 and it will recharge automatically when it hits 92%. You can also buy the solar panels if you don’t want it occupying an outlet.

Keep in mind if you want to buy one of these units. They sell the acid battery types and the lithium ones. Don't confuse yourself. The lithium is the way to go!
If you need more technical questions that can't be answered here, just call Goal Zero. I called and they have nice customer service.
@ozzy 
They are having batteries released by the end of the year. Your battery should last at least 5-8 years. They said they expect the batteries to be about 1/3 the price of the unit.