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PS Audio GCHA in the house

post #1 of 34
10/10/10 at 5:11am
Thread Starter 

I received the GCHA on Friday and it still burning in and I will do a full review on this in a couple of weeks. Early impressions are very favorable with all three of my reference cans.

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Gear mentioned in this thread:

PS Audio GCHA Headphone Amplifier
post #2 of 34
10/10/10 at 2:35pm

Awesome! I got mine last week and burned-in nearly 200 hours. I'm not sure if I should burn-in for more hours, but I definitely heard very big difference. At first it sounded so neutral and boring that I thought I regreted buying the amp. But not anymore!

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post #3 of 34
10/10/10 at 4:41pm

Congrats Frank. Listen well Marine! I'd like to hear it. I have to arrange a visit. LoL

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post #4 of 34
10/10/10 at 6:07pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by gzone3lement View Post

Awesome! I got mine last week and burned-in nearly 200 hours. I'm not sure if I should burn-in for more hours, but I definitely heard very big difference. At first it sounded so neutral and boring that I thought I regreted buying the amp. But not anymore!



I have left it on since Friday and used it primarily all day. Needs a good week or so to give impressions.

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post #5 of 34
10/10/10 at 7:55pm

I'm glad we will be hearing more on this amp. I've had mine for a month today and I'm finding I like it a lot. It did get better with use.Others have said that at the sale price it is a steal, and I won't disagree with those observations. 

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post #6 of 34
10/11/10 at 5:23am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jazz1 View Post

I'm glad we will be hearing more on this amp. I've had mine for a month today and I'm finding I like it a lot. It did get better with use.Others have said that at the sale price it is a steal, and I won't disagree with those observations. 



It is getting better each day. Need to run in through all my music but I like what I hear so far and enjoying the music,

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post #7 of 34
10/11/10 at 12:42pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jazz1 View Post

I'm glad we will be hearing more on this amp. I've had mine for a month today and I'm finding I like it a lot. It did get better with use.Others have said that at the sale price it is a steal, and I won't disagree with those observations. 


I had seen GCHA for sale around here too. Lowest was just below 300 dollars. Now that was a steal!

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post #8 of 34
10/11/10 at 1:03pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by gzone3lement View Post




I had seen GCHA for sale around here too. Lowest was just below 300 dollars. Now that was a steal!



there is one on here now for 339.00 and someone should gobble it up. I paid 499.00 through audio advisor and feel obligated to keep it instead of return and play games. Its a great amp for the money

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post #9 of 34
10/11/10 at 3:37pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Frank I View Post





there is one on here now for 339.00 and someone should gobble it up. I paid 499.00 through audio advisor and feel obligated to keep it instead of return and play games. Its a great amp for the money

Same here. That is where I got mine.  I'd love to have a second one for work if I could get away with listening to headphones. But I'm in the public eye most the time. Plus I'd be too distracted.
 

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post #10 of 34
10/11/10 at 8:35pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Frank I View Post

I received the GCHA on Friday and it still burning in and I will do a full review on this in a couple of weeks. Early impressions are very favorable with all three of my reference cans.


I will be very interested in your findings because PS Audio is a very respectable company and they've just discontinued the GCHA and have no plans on replacing it. They also dropped the price by half.

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post #11 of 34
10/11/10 at 9:44pm

Has anyone tried the GCHA with the Beyerdynamic DT 990?  I wonder if it will be better than the built-in headphone amp of the Peachtree Nova.  There are so many good reviews of the GCHA, and now that it's half-price, it makes me want to try it. 

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post #12 of 34
10/11/10 at 9:48pm

I also have a GCHA and I absolutely agree that burn in makes all the difference in the world. I had one with 200 plus hours but due to some problems, I had to send it in and they replaced the main board. So, basically it was a new amp. I immediately heard the difference - without burn in, the amp is annoyingly bright and thin. After some hours on it, I am enjoying it as much as my old one. Really an awesome amp, no question about it.

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post #13 of 34
10/12/10 at 4:05am
Thread Starter 

I am still listening and will continue to for a couple weeks and post my impressions. It is powerful enough to drive the LCD2 and sounds pretty good but not sure if it will change more as it plays more. I have the D7000 working in it now to see how synergy will be. The Matrix was very good with the D7000 so this may be the telling point as to how well this amp performs and then the T1 before I make my final conclusions. Thats whats great about a 30 day trial.

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post #14 of 34
10/13/10 at 4:29am
Thread Starter 

The major difference that I have seen with the PS audio over the Matrix is more refinement and better sound stage. The bass on the Matrix is deeper and has more slam. The treble on the PS Audio is rolled off and dynamics not near my Decware tube amp but still overall pretty good. I will post final impressions and have decided as good as the amp is for the money I am  a hopeless tube fanatic that is most happy with tube amps which both my LCD2 sand T1 really come to life. The LCD2 liked the PS audio and had a wide sound stage with great space and for people who do not like tubes this is a good 500.00 alternative built by the legendary Paul McGowan. For me I prefer the tube scenario so I have sold my SS Matrix and will be returning the PS Audio but in my review I will recommend it as I found it better than some other SS amps I have heard that were more money.

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post #15 of 34
10/14/10 at 5:02am

thanks for the  helpful impression, i look forward to your final analysis, and i am very glad u prefer your csp2:)   i have been using the matrix and need at least one ss amp, maybe that gcha would be better.

 

also if  anyone has heard both the gcha and the vioelectric v200 i am very curious how they compare.

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Gear mentioned in this thread:

PS Audio GCHA Headphone Amplifier
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