I leant one of the GaN 5 amps to a friend who has a SS amp MSRP in the $5,000 range, and who also has had class D amps in his system. He liked the GaN 5 amp a lot, not as much as his SS amp but said the GaN 5 bass and dynamics were excellent, grain free highs. A winner compared to the other class D amps he's had. He thought that if he had a tube preamp it might be a great combination but in his system the GaN 5 was just a tad "clean n lean" compared to his SS amp.
Anyone hear the Class D Audio Mini GaN 5 amp yet?
Looks intriguing but not much out there on it yet so wondering if anyone here has had a chance to hear it or, even better, had a chance to compare it to other amps. Thinking of taking a flier on this amp given the tech and price, but we all know implementation is everything so looking for some real-world impressions before ponying up any dough. Also, please let’s not make this yet another measurement debate — I’m purely interested in sonic impressions here so take your measurement comments elsewhere. Thanks.
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Greetings all. Just getting back into the audio game after a 9 year absence. Just got one in today and after only about 2.5 hours of playing I’m very impressed. Best Class D I’ve ever heard and I’ve had the best the like of Bel Canto and Wyred 4 Sound had to offer. No comparison IMHO. The midrange is simply stunning for Class D. Midrange weight, tonality and overall soundstage stand out so far. Base is tight with the high end smooth and refined as others have stated. We’ll see what happens after about 100 hours of break-in time on it. Its a keeper for sure. |
For you measurement folks, looks like ASR just gave this amp a bad review: https://audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/premium-audio-mini-gan-5-review-stereo-amplif... |
Checked out that review thread. Not a place I’ll be frequenting. Ugh! With a few more evenings of listening time, a few more observations. Bass and dynamics are really superb. Both those elements got slightly better with playing time. I find this amp quite reveling and true to recording quality. What I find strange is that lead voice tracks often appear too far back in the sound stage and certain instruments like a piano, lack a bit of the weight expected from a good class A/B SS amp. I moved the gain from mid to low with no discernable difference is sound quality. Nothing that cranking up the volume could not address. No problems whatsoever mechanically (on/off, warm-up time, disconnecting and reconnecting cables, etc.). This amp does a lot of thing really well. Nipping at the heals of good Class A/B. I would not say it surpasses it. But does kick the crap out of previous Class D I’ve used. |
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