GS-X Mk2 Amp

I am curious. What exactly is unclear about the performance numbers?

 

I can check if there are any marks on my case at home. I don't remember that there were.

Headlamp's website is notoriously out of date but I thought that the specs were published. I guess I will go sifting through the gargantuan HF thread.

 

I'm not understanding your certifications concern tangent. If it doesn't, it's likely because Justin didn't feel it was worth the investment to obtain the certifications rather than it not being passable. Does Craig have certifications? Does he care and how much does it even matter?

 

I get that you like how HeadAmp stuff is, but you wouldn't have to look too far beyond this thread to find people that think its too expensive. Do you happen to own a GSX-Mk2? I've never listened to one myself so I can't comment on quality, but $2800 sets an extremely high bar.

 

I'm inclined the think that it's a non-issue too. I'm glad that my oxygen rebreather is CE certified because it means that they had to limit the number of ways that a stupid mistake on my part will kill me (like attaching the hoses backwards). But on an amp, the question is the quality and integrity of the manufacturer - in this case a truly hands on proprietor.

Even with all the Headcase/Changstar bad blood, If anyone has questioned Justin's quality of manufacture and QC, that is news to me.

 

Regarding price, some of us pay to get what we want. Like buying a car, an analogy previously raised, there is a price for luxury, both performance and styling. I do some work for a certain Italian sports car company. Their cars are hand assembled and rather expensive. People pay for that (not me).

I abandoned tubes after my Earnax Pro experience because I figured out that it was a racket. Nobody is getting the most out of their tube amp - and if they even push 80% of the way there, it makes a sucker rich. The good tubes - not goopy but crystal clear - used to be $200 each. Now they are a $1000. So people don't use good tubes.

Escaping that racket for $2500 (as it was then) was a bargain to my mind. That's my calculus. And I am very happy with the GS-X mk2. But my tastes are the same as some and different than others. I like fast, detailed and crystal clear. And I have not heard another SS amp that matches the GSX2 in that regard. I'm sure that others will disagree. And yes it's expensive and yes it's gorgeous. Why not?

 

It's relevant because you guys are the ones who brought up safety issues and it being a shoddy "hack-job" of an amp. Without even knowing what a lead-free solder joint looks like...

 

No, I think that the "you guys" attribution is false. This thread is populated primarily by people concerned with the GS-X mk2. It is not the anti-Cavalli crowd. Two wrongs don't make a right.

 

Yes yes feel the hate within you yes

 

I'm sure the GSXmk2 is perfectly safe, just don't ask ultra why he's bringing up certification when he's responding to the issue of specs and openly tested performance. Justin makes a brief list of the specifications and I'm sure they're all honest, but if we wanted to be dicks and question people's integrity we could really let our imaginations run wild and poison that well

This should all go in the other thread probably. I'm getting confused.

 

What am I supposed to do now, Ultrabike, criticize your wife? I will not. I expect that she is a very nice lady. Send her my regards.

 

They sell faster than he can build them. Why bother updating the site or publishing performance numbers, or getting certifications...

I've said little here since my review says it all, but there seems to be lots of only-defenders and lots of only-attackers, so I will say a bit. The build quality of my GS-X2 was fantastic. There were a few operational oddities I'd have ironed out before shipping that setup (mostly the stiff switches that caused the amp to slide unless held), but I have no doubt it is safe and carefully and cleanly assembled. I did have issues with the sound with HD800s (mm might not be able to pluralize HD800 like that much longer). Most of the sound was great, the one problem spot ruined it for me though. In the end I felt that not only was the Ragnarok better, I preferred the Black Diamond over the GS-X2 as well, and we all know how ECP rates at HC. Interestingly enough, my 3 way solid state review was all designs fully embraced by the HC crew.

edit - @cooperpwc - I agree whole heartedly about the tubes thing. Buying the amp is increasingly the cheapest part, the gateway drug to exotic rare tubes that cost more than the amps do. Going one step beyond what you stated, however, is that it is impossible to tell if one is ever at the performance cap of the circuit because all tubes are slightly different, AND who's to say you'll like those $1000 tubes over the stock set worth $200? It's a crazy world in valve land. I prefer the known quantity, stable, solid state, even if it is less sexy.

 

Maxvia, I really do understand the "problem spot" to which you refer. And because I use Ozone 5, I have been able to isolate it. It is exactly the same problem spot as the HD800, i.e. an emphasis at 6 Khertz. It really is nothing more than that but it certainly is that. I fully understand why some people therefore do not like the GSX2 with the HD800. Even with the HD800 modded (which, full disclosure, I have not yet tried) the 6 Kh peakiness is probably still more than many people want.

In my case, rather than mod the HD800 I have killed the proverbial two birds with one stone, developing three Ozone 5 profiles that reduce the 6 Kh by 1.5 db, 2.5 db and 3.5 db respectively. I use the 2.5 db setting about 95% of the time with the HD800. (I posted it before in another thread that got trolled off its rails and linked it on page 2 of this thread above.)

So should one EQ one's setup? Is the need to EQ a good argument against one's setup? All valid questions that each can consider according to their own beliefs. My experience with both the Lotoo PAW Gold (absolutely my favourite DAP; later to AK) and the GS-X mk2 is that super clean, dynamic systems can require EQ but the results can then be very very good. The PAW Gold has a remarkable DSP-based PMEQ, and Ozone 5 is studio-master quality. So I just do not have a problem with it.

So I agree that the GS-X mk2 + HD800 is an aggressive combination. But it is just that 6 Kh issue that causes, as Mike put it, the "sizzle". When you remove that, it suits my tastes very well.

The only issue for me now is that I have a truly organic, musical source in USB Monica but the above combination does nothing to mask the limitations in resolution of the 1980s Philips TDA1545 NOS DAC chip. That is why Gungnir Multibit is on order.

 

I've not had the sizzle problem with any other amp, though, even the Bryston which could get uncomfortably close at times. I've never modded or EQ'd my HD800 as I've never had the reason to. With the GS-X2 the sizzle was ever-present, not just a rarity like the Bryston. That's the main reason the GS-X2 went back in its box for a month or so as I stated in my review. I just couldn't take the tension fatigue and settled for the slightly more relaxed, intimate Black Diamond until the Ragnarok came and tightened things back up while preserving listenable treble.

 

Stranger than fiction. I do not remember this sentence being part of the post that I replied to.