LH Labs Geek Out GO2A, V2, V2+, Infinity and SE Impressions and Reviews

I have a funny feeling the situation and priority demo units will now get reversed. ha!

 

Apologize for the mediocre picture. I broke my S7 edge and while it's being repaired I'm using a Sony Z5 Compact (secretly I'm loving it and might sell the S7 edge for this little powerhouse).

The GO2A (note the V is being dropped) is nicer in person than I expected. Some observations:

• Tons of power. High gain is still the best. FRM is still da bestest, too.
• The unit feels solid as hell. This is better Than the original metal Geek Out by far.
  
• Blacker background than the regular V2. I'm still astonished at how resolving a little SABRE DAC can be when I listen to this generation's Geek Out.
• SE output is not gimped like the V2. Still lags behind the balanced, but there is more gain and it sounds better.

I have only listened with Andromeda and HD800 right now, but I'll try out more headphones at some point.

Note: this early demo unit is the wrong color. The production units will be ferrari red.

Of course, given I am loosely affiliated with LH Labs, please take my impressions with a grain of salt. I'll be handing my unit off to Christian if he can pry it out of my hands and I can stand to live without it for a week.

 

as I suspected, your demo arrived a bit before mine.

should be opening my USPS box tonight and start listening Sunday and Monday.
more impressions during the week with balanced HE400S and HE500.

 

Hah! I actually didn't ask to jump the line. Mine was a last minute send. I am actually a little confused as I asked for Marv get his first.

Probably August after all upgrades from v2 are processed.

To be clear, this is a mid cycle refresh, not a generational leap.

Whoops, I'm in that newborn phase where your baby only lets you sleep an hour at a time and you forget to follow up on anything. I'll check it out.

 

Small differences. If you still love the original, keep using it. I like the second generation but personally I like to buy every other revision of a product.

 

dammed if ZD isn't spot on!

0. is the FRM filter the green LED? can't say I've ever heard a ton of difference.
1. LOVE the return to metal casing, solid, heft, polished well. perfecto!
2. listening with HE500 balanced GO2A, audirvana+ is up to about 2/3 volume showing -25dB. plenty of headroom.
can get blisteringly loud with 400S and IEMs.

3. listened first with HE400S+FocusA pads balanced to GO2A and: dannnnng mang, that's some tight bass with kick!
don't recall that with GOV2. although it's been a couple weeks.

4. indeed, comparing the tight bass of GO2A to GOV2+Infinity (battery model),
the GO2A bass is more defined, less bloat and delivers in more defined space.

5. GO2A has less "in your face soundstage" and is a 1.5 step back compared to GOV2+Inf.
very welcomed and provides better depth and layering, easily noticed in a side by side listen.
more inviting and perhaps less fatiguing over time.

with CIEM Heir Audio 4.AiS (balanced):

• dead black silent background, no hiss. even with max volume, no music playing.
• still a quick, very TINY quietest of little tick (not pop) heard (in one channel only usually) when resolution changing between tracks. much much more feint than the pop on earlier GOV2, GOV2+Infinity.

IMO, GO2A is clearly back as king of the mini USB DAC/Amps.
this is staying at my desk with HE400S for a long time.

GO2A has firmware v1.5
GOV2+Infinity has firmware v1.0.

moving forward:
a) would die for this full metal casing on GOV2+Infinity !
b) would love to get a v1.5 firmware upgrade for GOV2+Infinity.

thanks to Larry Ho and team there for such improvements.

 

Thank you for posting your impressions!

One thing to note, the product still leans aggressive in overall sound, but the stage is a little wider than the original product. I believe this is due to the blacker background, space a little more defined.

I'd ignore it. Product announcements and roadmap don't happen based off random chatter on the forums