[Voxata]

Surprised there isn't a thread on HF yet for this power amp but it's a solid deal and sounds fantastic. A few of the components are worth replacing, even more of you are an audio nut. It's cheap for what you get though plus building it is a blast. Here's mine:

 

[tomb]

Looks interesting, but a few thoughts:
1. Why would one expect a power amp to have a thread on Head-Fi? What does it have to do with headphones?
2. Damping Factor looks a bit low. Even most budget receivers have amplifier sections that attain a damping factor of 50. High performance speaker amplifiers can reach 100.
3. The inability of the non-Z4 version to drive 4 ohm loads is concerning. Times have changed, but when I was really interested in speakers, most name-brand bookshelf and floor standing speakers rated at a nominal 8 ohms - actually test out at largely 4 ohms. The Z4 seems to address this, but its performance at 8 ohms drops off tremendously. This sort of implies an issue with the basic amplifier circuit design and its ability to handle changing impedances.

All that said, it looks like a very high quality kit and might be worth the experimentation experience. The steel shield, along with the toroid transformer is a great quality enhancement for a power amplifier at this price. I see you've installed some ES caps in yours, which are always a great choice for circuits driving speakers (lots of bass).

 

[Voxata]

It may not have to do with headphones but most listeners here do so at their desk, and many like to switch from nearfield to headphones as they desire. I'm one of those. I'm not sure what the dampening factor rating of this amp is, however it's quite snappy and not muddy and this is using LS50's. The GT-102 is an interesting design and surely not without it's faults, but given the kit nature and it's performance being quite enjoyable I find it hard to fault the unit too badly. LS50's are pretty resolving and I'm constantly impressed by the combo even with an A1 Gungnir. The ES caps were a welcome change in this amp for sure, the bass be good, real good.

 

[tomb]

It may not have to do with headphones but most listeners here do so at their desk, and many like to switch from nearfield to headphones as they desire. I'm one of those. I'm not sure what the dampening factor rating of this amp is, however it's quite snappy and not muddy and this is using LS50's. The GT-102 is an interesting design and surely not without it's faults, but given the kit nature and it's performance being quite enjoyable I find it hard to fault the unit too badly. LS50's are pretty resolving and I'm constantly impressed by the combo even with an A1 Gungnir. The ES caps were a welcome change in this amp for sure, the bass be good, real good.

The damping factor is found in the performance specifications here:
GT-102 Stereo Power Amplifier (akitika.com)

I apologize, because the damping factor of 40 was the result for the Z4 version (I didn't look closely enough.). The version you have has a damping factor of 80, which is pretty dang good. As I remarked up there, top-of-the-line high-power speaker amps usually will have damping factors around 100, so 80 is very excellent and probably better than you would get from almost any receiver amplifier.

In that case, I don't doubt that it sounds snappy - and that's a good thing!

 

[Voxata]

I have the Z4 version which has the lower dampening factor. I must say the stock wire placement was odd and the amp sounded brittle. When I routed the speaker + out above the heatsink areas and kept the RCA in well away things seemed to sound good from there on. Who knows, I just know it sounds good to the point I'm not hunting down anything else

Too high or too low is not a good thing when it comes to dampening factor, but above all else it comes down to how it sounds and synergy.

This is a good read when it comes to DF - indicating something where either the Z4 or regular GT-102 is perfectly fine.

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussi...damping-factor-in-determining-what-amp-to-buy

whew further reading here:

http://ohmspeaker.com/news/amplifier-damping-another-wet-blanket/

Looking like 10ft of speaker wire can drop DF from 2000 to 50. Thankfully the lower DF amps don't degrade nearly as much and all this becomes moot. Lots of interesting reads! Guess I'll look to other measurements for something more tangible as I don't think DF fits that defining number of an amp criteria.

 

[Voxata]

Akitika amp STILL going strong to this day! Shame there isn't much 2CH love here