So, it looks like I’m first. Before starting up, let me give a big thanks to Asr for giving us the opportunity to try some of his stuff. Besides meets, there are not a lot of opportunities to hear different equipment, and especially not in our own homes, with our own rigs. This makes a big difference when evaluating a piece of equipment, and having the Gilmore Lite to test opened my ears a bit.
To start off, let me post a couple of pics. Shown are the amp and its dedicated power supply. I also threw a CD in there to give a little sense of size.
The other equipment used for my listening was an EMU 0404 optical out via Stuart Cobb Glass Toslink to a stock DAC-AH, then to the Gilmore Lite. I also used the analog outs on my Musical Fidelity Xray V3 to the Lite. Interconnects were a pair of DiMarzio M-Path’s. Headphones were AKG K701’s and Senn HD650’s for the most part, with K81DJ’s thrown in for good measure.
I listened to a ton of music but for the most part concentrated on things I am pretty familiar with – A Japanese copy of the Original Master Edition “In the Court of the Crimson King”, Jane Monheit’s “Come Dream With Me” (thanks Ryan), Genesis’ “Selling England By The Pound” and Neko Case’s “Fox Confessor”. Another CD that got a lot of play is the “King Crimson Songbook Vol. 1” by the Crimson Jazz Trio – KC music interpreted into jazz piano, bass & drums that sounds very good.
And let me add that I also did some informal comparing to my first generation Eddie Current EC/SS. It’s the amp I have the most SS experience with, and it was there, so there you go.
First, looks – as can be seen in the pictures, this is an attractive little bugger. The mini-stack effect of pairing it with the power supply looks very nice, and still takes up only a tiny amount of rack space. Also, Asr’s pair have a wonderful matte black finish that is almost blacker than black. I think it looks very cool.
I didn’t know what to expect regarding the sound of this amp. I’ve been an Eddie Current fanboy for about as long as I’ve been on Head-Fi, so I’m very used to a certain sound that Craig seems to do so well. And upon first listening, the Gilmore Lite didn’t give me that sound. Out of the DAC-AH it seemed quite a bit more clinical, less visceral in its approach. Bass was there, but it didn’t whack me upside the head. Mids and highs were better but still it didn’t seem real involving to me. Switching to the Xray CDP, it was mostly the same. It especially seemed to not like the K701’s. The Senns sounded better with this amp, so I spent a lot of time listening to them via the Lite. And that I think was the key – not the Senns so much as the listening to the Lite for a long time, getting away from the EC/SS. As I did that, I started to feel that what was originally thought to be clinical was actually just presenting the music to me in a fashion that was clean all across the range – bass, mids, treble – none were overbearing. As for bass, it wasn’t missing. It was strong well down to the bottom, just not in your face. And because of that I feel I hear a bit more detail down low than I do with the EC/SS. Where the EC/SS seems to go for the warmth + detail that Craig does so well in his tube amps, it seems the Lite just serves your music up to you as it receives it. With the EC/SS I hardly use my HD650’s, but they really came into their own with the Lite. And going back to the K701’s, I found that it was better than what I had first thought. Listening to the bass, instead of feeling the bass, made me appreciate the detail of this amp. Cymbal sizzle and decay were excellent, and the drums on the Crimson Jazz Trio CD sounded very real, very detailed. Vocals were clean and strong, especially female voices. Jane Monheit sounded very real and close from the Lite. And to me, soundstage seemed a little less compressed up-and-down compared to the EC/SS, but maybe a touch less wide. I felt that the Gilmore really lends itself well to acoustic music and jazz, less so with things that rock hard. Don’t get me wrong, it had no problem with rock, but to me it doesn’t ROCK.
I may not be saying this too well, but I think that if you are looking for a pure sound, to truly hear what is in your music, the Gilmore Lite seems to be an excellent amp. I can’t say what it would sound like without the Dedicated Power Supply, but another thing I did notice is that sound across all frequencies seemed better when I swapped the stock power cord for an Iron Lung Jelly Fish. Not a lot, but enough to hear.
Would I swap the Gilmore Lite for my EC/SS? Probably not. Music tends to be an emotional thing for me, so the warmth and coloring that the EC/SS adds is something I tend to like. But in a lot of ways I think this amp does things better than the EC/SS. If you have a lot of very good recordings, this would be an excellent choice to let you hear as much as possible for a very good price. Regardless, I don’t think you could go wrong in buying the Gilmore Lite. I’m curious to see just how much I miss it when I send it off to Febs. I’m betting, with certain music, I will miss it a bunch.
Thanks again to Asr for letting me listen. I enjoyed it!
A_Sr.
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