LSA Voyager GAN Amplifier

1. LSA Voyager 350 $3000
2. Wyred for Sound amp $3000 not yet released
3. Peachtree 400 amp $3000
4. Orchard Audio amp $2500 about to ship

What’s with all the love for the LSA stuff & Peachtree stuff (pretty looking boxes) ? I’m sure it sounds pretty good but aren’t they just pre manufactured GaN Amplifier modules with a custom input stage. Kinda like what PS Audio does with the ICE Amplifiers with both FET (M700) and Tubes (M1200)

While I’m a self proclaimed Orchard Audio Ultra Fanboy, I see no recent activity over on the Unofficial page I setup

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/unofficial-orchard-audio-starkrimson-ultra-amplifier-owners

What gives ? Are you all a bunch of "Old Guy Geezer Audiophiles" that don’t takes these younger (under 50/under 40) Audio Engineers (ok...EE’s) seriously and just go buy whatever buzzword/company name is the flavor of the month ?

I seriously think it’s time Audiophiles give more credit and exposure to what’s happening now in the industry and stop reminiscing about the good ’ole days" of Tubes and Transistors.

No argument that the GaN stuff ain’t cheap to build and market. But as I read that people are seriously swapping out their dearly beloved Tubes & Transistors for these devices manufactured by Infineon & GaN Systems. It’s very reminiscent of when people got rid of their LP’s and replaced their collections with CD’s. While that was a mistake (myself included) in the 1980’s/1990’s. Technology’s such as DSD and Hi Bitrate PCM along with advances in CD remastering and come along since those harsh sounding CD’s of the 1980’s.

Hell, I’ve got a BATVK50-SE in front of Leo’s loaner Ultra Amplifier and it sounds fantastic !

These tweak people are like parasites that live off the work of real engineers- what do they produce? Nothing- they take someone else’s
work, wave their hands around and pronounce "I took it up another level".

Exactly !! I don't mind adding noticeable tweaks on old Ancient stuff purely for reliability and maybe sound quality as a bonus.

But when it comes to tweaking new stuff. What's the point especially since it void the warranty. 

Yes, I'm a Fanboy of the Orchard Audio Amplifiers but aside from power supply changes merely cause it will look cool and it save me money from buying 3 switching Power Supplies with the same VAC/Amps. I won't touch what he has done with the very minimalist circuitry that's he's wrapped around GaN Amplifier chips. It sounds amazing. 

If it ain't broke....don't "fix" it. 

And these input buffers are usually $1 op amps.....not discrete stages.....this is true for AGD, Orchard, LSA, Peachtree, and Class D audio.

We have to be careful here. as I'm hand assembling 5 Orchard Audio Ultra Amplifier modules in a a single chassis with two 57VDC/14A Toroidal Transformers along with a 3rd one for some reference voltages. The Chips on the board (including the "$1" Op-Amps) were installed for me by a Customer of Leo's who's workmanship is excellent. I'm hand placing/soldering all the Surface Mount R's & C's and some easy to solder IC's along with big Output Inductors.

Anyway, since I am under NDA regarding the Bill of Materials (BOM), the $1 Op-Amps are actually $10 a pop x4 once each board ! Resistors and Capacitors are all 1% tolerances and I am adding Sonicaps at the output going towards the fully balanced (XLR) output connections in place of what Orchard normally recommends.

Those who Shxt on Class D should have a proper listen to an Amplifier module that's designed form the ground up. The second iteration of last years BOSC (now StarKrimson) increases power output, uses a different GaN chip, and has been improved upon thank's to Leo's efforts and customer input (i.e. it's a Joe Poof....uh I man Proof) design.