GaN amps: Peachtree or LSA Voyager?

@niodari




There are three ways to go about your search: you can take the educated approach and learn a bit about the different tech used by the different class d amp designers/manufactures and try to understand why and how, and listen to several that spark your interest or impress you with their objective performance; you can be rationale and ignore all the tech and numbers and just listen to several until you find one you like, or you can play craps and spend time on audio forums collecting opinions from random people (many with ulterior motives and little knowledge) and hope that a random opinion agrees with your own tastes and preferences and that said amp has a synergy with your other components and room- maybe you somehow hit the jackpot. Personally, I have never had much luck gambling.

Best of luck to you.



 

@kuribo , if you were going to buy now a class D amp, which one(s) would you choose? Or, do you think that much better class D designs may appear in near future, and hence would you rather wait until then? 

Do you want to experience a more realistic sound?  If the answer is yes......then you need to listen......numbers can tell you something....but not much.

I have been modding and manufacturing and assembling products since the late 70s.......what I found out almost right away.....is, that everything makes a difference.  You cannot measure the differences in wire, resistors, jacks......and tons and tons of other stuff.......but you can tell how they sound different and which one is preferred.......this is the basis of everything I do.  My latest product can be measured because it is a real filter......but WHY it affects the audio band when it is operating so far out of it?  I don't care.....and MOST that want better sound don't care......they want better sound.....and this is exactly what I give people......Try, yes try to find a negative word about me or my products or services on this or any other forum during the entire history of the internet (customer comments)......go on....try......don't think you will find a single one......but maybe I am wrong.....maybe there is one.  IF EVERYONE likes the sonic results of what I do....then I would say I do a great service to those people.....and for very, very little money......sounds like a WIN/WIN to me.

So who are these people that Kuribo is trying to protect from the big bad wolf here?  Is everyone of my customers duped and hypnotized by me that they say nice things?  Are they all deaf?  Are they all sheep?.....being led to slaughter......No, they are happy people with better sound after installing my products......Are people smart enough to know which product sounds best to them?......yes, you are....you are smart......Don't listen to me....don't listen to anyone......listen and decide for yourself.....you will KNOW.....you have the power!

I think the modded VTV Purifi, the LSA, the Peachtree, the Orchard Ultra and the Benchmark amps are the five best solid state amps at $3k and less......Which is the best?  Who knows?.....only those that A/B fully burned in amps in their own system....So, who is going to buy all five and burn them in and listen and let everyone know your findings?.....anyone?......nope.....it never will happen.  People are not that inquisitive........So, you scientists will lean towards the ones that measure best....Benchmark, Purifi and Orchard......and you subjectivists will be all confused.....he he........just the way it is.....But most people would be happy with any of them.

What is so cool is that all these amps are great......it is a great time to be alive for audio.....as the lower price range is getting so frickin good that these super expensive boxes seem more and more silly.

There are many top notch Class D amps out there these days at very affordable price points ( I run 5 different Class D amps in my home at present), however it is still an evolving technology. Like any popular mainstream new technology, the longer one waits, the more good choices there will be. Or, if you need a new amp now or just want to sample the waters of what the latest and greatest technologies out there now have to offer, just take the plunge now. Nothing to lose if you play the cards right.

This topic is like 10 other topics on Audiogon. No one disputes that we all differ in what we like. The issue in this topic and every other one like it is that some people make claims that "something" is audible but never prove beyond their personal account that it is audible. I have enjoyed Atmasphere’s posts over the last few weeks as he is clear and concise and relates specific outcomes for things we hear to how his or similar products operate. To me that indicates someone who understand what they are doing and understands the problem and solution. I have not seen him advocate "what is right", only what the result will be.

@kuribo perhaps you are advocating too hard that an amplifier must be technically perfect. Alternates to perfect can sound better to some. However, I understand also your general frustration.

@ricevs it is good to have positive customer feedback and especially if that is the primary feedback. However, while I was cramming on "how to run a business" before we sold out to the highest bidder, I remember reading in a strategic marketing book how businesses can stagnate because they think they are producing the "right things", but in reality, their customer base is exclusively those already predisposed to "what they are selling". Meanwhile, they miss the vast majority of the larger market who has no interest in what they are selling.

I clicked on the topic purely out of "academic" interest in GaN, but I can’t say this topic convinced me it is anything worth my dollars at this point.