Received my GR headphone amp on Sunday.
First off, don't make the mistake I did. I didn't understand the included note nor did I think to look at the picture on the web site before installing the tubes. With this amp, the output/driver tube goes in the front socket and the input tube goes in the rear socket. I installed the tubes the way I'm used to and ended up with the tubes backward. Couldn't figure out why I was getting minimal output. After a couple calls and a few emails with Danny, it was asked if I might have installed the tubes backward. I had
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After properly installing the tubes, I was able to do some listening. I have four pair of headphones that I listened to: Verum 2 (8 Ohm), HiFi Man Arya V2 (35 Ohm), Sennheiser HD700 (150 Ohm), and Swansong Audio Explorer (12 Ohm). Here are my initial impressions:
Overall impression, Danny understated the sound of this amp in his video.
Yes it sounds fantastic with the Verum 2s but as I move up in the line in my headphone stable the sound keeps getting better.
Rich and lush with the Verum 2s, still rich with the HiFi Man Arya V2s but with more detail. Similar with the HD700s. My favorite headphones are the Swansong Audio Explorers. These headphones have an extremely low noise floor, the resulting black background, are very detailed, and highly sensitive. As such, they are particular about the signal they are fed. If there is any noise in the signal these will let you know it. They aren’t forgiving.
This results with them being less than pleading with a lot of amps. Even with my McIntosh MHA200, the stock tubes were too noisy. I had to replace them with very low microphonic tubes to truly enjoy the Explorers. With the GR amp, using the 6AS7 output tube, the Explorers are incredible. No background noise, deep bass, exceptional clarity, separation and detail are easily top notch, and still very musical.
I haven’t had a chance to compare this amp to the McIntosh in an A/B setup yet but the GR amp is definitely a keeper.
