Smart people learn from the mistakes of others and build on the knowledge they gained from those mistakes. Others keep repeating those same mistakes over and over. You can't build on existing work if you don't know what that existing work is. The person who "already know how things are", is the person that refuses to make use of all the knowledge that is at our finger tips, preferring to just wing it, while proclaiming those that educate themselves stagnate.
Peachtree GaN 1 Beta
Before I start my post here is my current system for reference:
Auarlic Aries G1 --> Denafrips Terminator or SW1X DAC --> Audio GD HE1 XLR preamp or Sachs preamp --> various tube amps --> Cube Nenuphar Mini's w/ a pair of REL S510 subs. Cables and power conditioning commensurate with the rest of the system.
__________________________________________________________________
As warmer months approach I have been looking for a cool running amp to replace my Line Magnetic LM-518 and other tube amps for a few months as they run pretty hot.
I've been interested in the GaN FET amps and just purchased a used LSA Voyager 350 Gan FET amp which I should receive in a few days. I've tried class D amps before and while they checked a lot of boxes I just didn't feel drawn in. However, I like to explore so I figured I'd try the GanFET and since the amp has zero feedback and my speakers seem to prefer amps with little or no feedback I figured it be worth checking out.
Today, Peachtree Audio sent out an email inviting users to a beta of their new Gan 1 amp. Here are some excerpts from their email:
What is the GaN 1? |
In basic terms it is a 200 Watts-Per-Channel (WPC) Power Amplifier designed to be the sole interface between your digital audio device with a variable output, like a Bluesound NODE, and your speakers. The GaN 1 is a simple, pure and cost-effective audio solution: connect the GaN 1 to a streamer and a pair of speakers and you have an amazing Hi-Fi system. That's it...no DAC, no preamp and no input switching. The signal path from the music to your speakers is remarkably short and free of artifacts. Want to hear the intricate details in your music that have always been there, but you couldn't quite make them all out before? Then the GaN 1 is for you!
|
Showing 14 responses by thespeakerdude
I am with @kuribo on this topic. I read the manifesto, which I later learned was written by @ricevs after I made my comment. I am not an EE, but I have been involved in professional speaker development and management of for closing on 2 decades. I am technical enough to have picked up more than a few things. It is not hard to see that was @ricevs is writing about is a laundry list of audio cliches. In our products, we are responsible from everything from the input, which is often digital today, to what comes out of the drivers. We know, in great detail, everything that affects the sound coming out of the speakers. None of the items on that list of modifications would even begin to be a consideration unless there was an identified fault to start. There is as much chance, probably more, of creating a new issue as there is of fixing an unidentified issue that probably does not even exist. |
You are right. I don’t listen to people who don’t know the difference between Class D and a digital amplifier. I don’t listen to people who make wild claims so obviously false. I don’t listen to people who post manifestos on the web filled with easily recognized errors. I do listen to the many speaker designers, acoustic physicists, and EEs i work with who in total have many hundreds of years of audio work experience. I listen to our panels of experts listeners working in controlled conditions. I listen to my customers who include mixing, mastering and recording engineers, and even artists. Call me crazy. |
My vote is with the guy who has built a Class D architecture from the ground up and "the other guy". I don’t place much faith in someone who does not know the difference between Class D and a digital PWM like amplifier. @kuribo , fraud or charlatan may be a bit harsh. In result there may be no difference, but I believe the person in question faithfully believes what they believe though the lack of knowledge is obvious in the writing and the hubris is shocking to me personally. The best people I work with in audio are very confident but also very humble in their abilities. They would never think to make such claims. If we make a change to a product and a difference can be heard by anyone, we can always measure a change. Always. Those best people I mentioned, they usually have a very good idea what it is before we have the measurements. It does require having measuring equipment. |
@arafiq +10, @donnylovely , we are responsible for our action and what we write.
|
@ricevs have you delivered the modified unit back to the customer? You keep describing the GAN1 as Class D analog switching. I do not think that is correct. Class D and PWM are not the same. |
@ricevs , it would probably be best not to post links to technical articles you do not fully understand. I was trying to be nice before and give you a way out. Class-D and PWM are not the same thing. A Class-D amplifier may use PWM. However, that is not what you said, you said this,
Class-D may use PWM, but PWM is not Class-D. Put in simpler terms, an Orange is a fruit, but not all fruits are Oranges. Class-D is an amplifier architecture. Peachtree may call it Digital Class-D, but that is marketing. There is no such thing as "Digital Class-D". You are more accurate to call it a power DAC as you did because that is what it is. They call it an amplifier but it does not amplify anything hence why it cannot be a "Class-D" amplifier. Did you measure the switching frequency on your oscilloscope? I was curious as to what it was.
|
What the heck are you talking about. Nitpicking? I expect someone going in with a soldering iron and modifying someone else's amp to be an expert and understand what things are. Paragraphs of flowery language does not excuse that requirement. Caveat emptor. @atmasphere 's prior warning is ever more salient. |
@donnylovely - No, I know I am not an EE, but I have quite a few who work for me and I have managed a lot of projects with EE involved. I understand my limitations especially when working on someone else's equipment. This is not a simple tube or transistor amplifier. @atmasphere who is an EE I believe and an expert has discussed the issues of modifying a Class-D amplifier when you don't have the proper tools or experience. |
@atmasphere do you care to comment? I think the removal of an output filter for Class-D will be very measurable. I guess when you don't have to worry about compliance testing, anything is possible. @atmasphere what would happen if you hooked these up to a big electrostatic speaker or something like a Magnepan? Aren't these switching at frequencies right in the middle of the AM band and then hooked up to all that wire in the speakers? Aren't those speakers big capacitors? What is going to happen without those filters?
I think what you meant to say is it is not needed for anything other than safety. If you are going to break EMI compliance, may as well go all in and break safety compliance too.
|