Just got mine last week. After 24 hours of play all I can say is that this is not your father's class D amplifier. There is not one thing about its sound that reminds me of the class D gremlins that I do not like. The low end filled in and now has deep impact, the midrange is the love child of a beautiful tube and clean hybrid amp - just gorgeous. Highs are very clean and extended. Spatial cues are top notch. My system has had some damn good tube and solid state amps in it before and it has never sounded this good. I am blown away with the quality of sound coming from class D amplification at this price point.
I don’t think the mods will be a huge factor but what the heck and try it out given the glowing posts here by Ric’s customers.
The descriptions of the Voyager make me believe it sounds more like my CODA #8 than the AHB2. The AHB2 is a little clearer and not as warm (but smooth) as the CODA. Though the CODA #8 blows the AHB2 away with my Thiel CS3.7. It is a power spec thing with this speaker and amp.
The AHB2 (mono) is my favorite sounding amp especially so with the CODA 07x preamp. I use the AHB2’s in another system.
I need a 3rd amp for my RAAL SR1a and that is where I hope the Voyager fits in. My old amp was good but not as good as the AHB2 on the RAAL SR1a. I just don’t want a 3rd AHB2. I was thinking Purifi but the current implementations did not excite me. The Voyager hype has pulled me in.
I decided today to try and get it shipped directly from Walter to Ric. I just started getting that going tonight. Not really about being first. More about not having to spend time setting up and tearing down and shipping.
I have a 20 year old modded Sony SCD-1 SACD player and am still blown away by that. Ric told me he was actually in line to do those SCD-1 mods 20 years ago in the Bay Area, CA but did not have the time to do that business. We also talked about the mods he has done and that made me want to try it out. This Voyager amp is going to be my RAAL SR1a headphone amp (if it is good enough). I traded in my headphone amp for the Voyager.
I will compare a CODA #8 amp, a Benchmark AHB2, and a Voyager 350 with my Thiel CS3.7 (hard to drive) and also my RAAL SR1a headphones (likes power). Everything will be connected to my CODA 07x preamp which has dual XLR outputs for 2 sets of amps. It is real easy to make Thiel CS3.7 comparisons. I will likely have 2 RAAL amp/speaker interface boxes by then to make the headphone amp comparisons even easier.
@jaymark, I see Ric has a list of simple mods already up on his tweakaudio site, better wiring, and a Furutech AC connector, no major mods until he sees one in person. What are you thinking of changing already jaymark? I wonder if Ric can
change the output inductor from a ferrite core inductor to a custom made high gauge OFC air core coil like he does on the Purifi mod? Most importantly, the Voyager is superb after a brief burn in without any enhancements.
I was not put off by the restocking fee. I really did not expect to like the Voyager amp but was intrigued by the gallium aspect of the amp. I was prepared to send it back and pick up the Audio GD class A monoblocks. That is, till I got about 24 hours on them. No way I am sending them back. However, modding this amp is a different story. .
You would think that they would have several amps set aside for home trials. If you decide to buy they send a new one and you send the trial unit back. Later they can sell those units as demo units.
Peachtree Audio is proud to announce the GaN400. The GaN400 is a “class-D” stereo power amplifier that utilizes GaNFETs (Gallium Nitride Field-Effect Transistors), an 850-watt RMS regulated power supply, a fully balanced topology and a low global negative feedback design to achieve an astounding 400 watts-per-channel while achieving sound quality that is remarkably neutral, musical and faithful to the input signal.
I spoke to Walter on the new amp and said there is a 15% restocking fee. Most likely he is offering this on his LSA line only. Pretty expensive trial if you send it back! We spoke late last week.
In another thread I recently read that Underwood offers no home trial/return policy. If I'm remembering correctly it was tvad w.r.t. some power conditioning equipment. Can anyone confirm?
@ricevs I told you last month that I would buy and send you the VTV Purifi amp to mod. However, I changed my mind on that and bought the LSA 350 today. I will give it a few hundred hours and give you a call to mod.
Grannyring, I will be very tempted to mod this amp trying to eek out a bit more performance. That is just my audiophile sickness. Always chasing better sound. However, based on what I am now hearing, getting it modded won't be a high priority.
Very exciting times for audiophiles. I am listening to ricevs’s EVS1200 and am awestruck! If this new GAN amp is better, or can be made better with some mods, then I bet the OP is mesmerized!
Gremlins for me has been the class D amps I have listened to did not have the heart, soul, guts nor finesse of the best solid state class A or AB, hybrids or tube amps. The Voyager has a beautiful midrange presence and bloom with rock solid low end and extended bur very clean highs. Straight out of the box, the highs were hard, harsh and irritating yet I could sense this amplifier had promise.
I have not listened to many of the top notch class D offerings available. I had a pair of class D monoblocks built for me and they were just not my cup of tea. Years ago, I had class D amp from Underwood Wally that had an exceptionally smooth sound despite missing the midrange presence and bloom.
I don't doubt it is as good, or better than advertised. I should have one in my home in about 10 days. Im not as excited as I would have been had I not replaced an optical cable with a Pangea XL coax ($150/1.5m), which has ripped the cover off how good my Audio Alchemy DDP-1 + PS 5 actually is with my EVS1200, an amazing class D amp based on dual mono IcePower modules with lots of Ric Schultz magic dust
Ooops my bad! That was for the LSA Discovery Warp One amp
The LSA Voyager it’s even better though not selectable still at low sensitivity 2v, good for direct still and even better 100kohm input impedance : Sensitivity: Two volts input, gain: 26dB : Input impedance: 100K Ohms
George or Jaymark, Where does this gain setting info come from? The website says 26db....and no mention of internal dip switches.
Actually, for very sensitive speakers even lower than 22 db would work best. Some DACs put out more than 4Vrms in balanced mode.
This is a great first review. I would like more info. What amps did it beat and in what ways? Hopefully, there will be more comments and reviews soon.....and with plenty of info (system details, types of music tested, direct comparisons.....well, you get the idea).
With these sort of gain selections (below), perfect for using a dac direct into it that has a digital domain volume control, set the LSA gain so the dac’s volume is just 30-10% down from max for normal loud listening level and still have some left in reserve, that way you won’t be "bit striping"
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