[krude]

Also I have no background noise with Utopia on low gain, I do get noisy background on medium and high, but low is plenty enough power wise for Utopia.

 

[Tubewin]

Also I have no background noise with Utopia on low gain, I do get noisy background on medium and high, but low is plenty enough power wise for Utopia.

Yep, no issues with low, but as soon as I put it on medium, it's very audible. I have a suspicion that it was primarily tuned for harder to drive headphones so, to be expected.

 

[rmsanger]

3GT on GT speciffic Supercharger vs 3XP on Supercharger impressions time :

- GT has about 10% more perceived power. 60 on GT = roughly 66 on 3XP
- GT is a lot wider, and this is the main difference
- Tonality is very similar, GT has the 3XP sound characteristics with all the good and bad
- GT on vivids can still produce harsh treble with sets like 1266 TC, but that's why we do op amp rolling which I will do in the next few days after it burns in a bit more

So in short, 3GT is a wider version of 3XP.

For 1266 TC - still has hot top end on vivids but you can op amp roll to change the tuning.
For Empire Ears Odin - it still has audible noise floor (no black background), but other than that it's spectacular. Odins are so wide on it it's unbelievable, the whole range is super smooth, precise, holographic, full bodied, it's a god tier pairing (minus the silightly noisiy background).

Fan noise on mine is audible, had to stuff it on one of the lower shelves next to my desk, but it's still audible. I'm actually disappointed with the fan noise ... I wasn't expecting it to be this loud. It's easily on the level of my 2019 i9 macbook pro, and that's a pretty loud laptop ... not sure, maybe mine has a louder fan than most ... hmm ... I will be keeping it tho, because the sound stage upgrade is seriously impressive.

Crossfeed is implemented well, it's subtle and organic on 1266. It's a nice feature if you want to play with the width of the soundstage and the FR. At the moment I have it off because I'm enjoing the width of the stage comparing to 3XP.

I will follow up with some op amp rolling impressions.

Update :
I have been feeding it with Holo May L2 which is also a full dual mono design, so the GT allows for harnessing the full performance of a dual mono DAC. Your mileage may vary with lesser source, for me the differnce in staging against the 3xp on my DAC is really pronounced.

Now we're talking thanks for the input! On the 3XP I found the Sparkos to be a better pairing with 1266 Phi Tc. It helped smooth out the V shaped curve of the Vivids which god knows the Phi TC needs all the help in the world for mids even if that tames base and treble peaks a bit (good thing for me). I found sparkos had better technical performance as well. I don't have the supercharger yet so can't confirm how that plays in the mix with op amps.

Anyway if you have the sparkos you might trying rolling in 4 or 6 of them at least to the input/output stage to see if that helps the synergy with Phi TC.

 

[krude]

Yeah, actually I've updated the impressions ... not sure if I will keep it becuase 2 days in and the fan noise is already starting to be annoying for me sadly ... as my macbook is when the fans are on. Still not sure if I'll be able to live with it ... also "be able to live with", at this price point I might stretch out a bit more and try Oor, Luxman or something else ... choices choices

 

[Tubewin]

Yeah, actually I've updated the impressions ... not sure if I will keep it becuase 2 days in and the fan noise is already starting to be annoying for me sadly ... as my macbook is when the fans are on. Still not sure if I'll be able to live with it ... also "be able to live with", at this price point I might stretch out a bit more and try Oor, Luxman or something else ... choices choices

I do agree that the fan is audible with nothing playing.

 

[rmsanger]

I do agree that the fan is very audible.

Is it audible if you sit 6-8 feet away or do you only hear it say in a desktop setup 2-3 feet away?

 

[Tubewin]

Is it audible if you sit 6-8 feet away or do you only hear it say in a desktop setup 2-3 feet away?

I have a desktop setup 2-3 feet away. But I have a computer right next to me and the GT's fan is louder than the computer's. It doesn't bother me too much, but I'm sure it will bother others.

Edit: It's not as loud as I initially thought. Not audible when listening to music.

 

[krude]

I have a desktop setup 2-3 feet away. But I have a computer right next to me and the GT's fan is louder than the computer's. It doesn't bother me too much, but I'm sure it will bother others.

For a high end audiophile amp its a bit strange that the fan is this loud isn't it? Its probably on the level of my old gaming rig that is not optimised for low noise at all. Also it's a desktop amp ... hmm ... not sure what to think, I expected it to be whisper quiet not PC fan blowing relatively hard quiet ...

 

[rmsanger]

I have a desktop setup 2-3 feet away. But I have a computer right next to me and the GT's fan is louder than the computer's. It doesn't bother me too much, but I'm sure it will bother others.

If you step back 6-8 feet can you hear the fan? That is my listening distance so 2-3 feet wouldn't bother me. I also wonder if there is audible noise in the signal path introduced by the fan.

 

[ericx85]

The fan is extremely silent for me, I have to put my head next to the amp to hear it. I would take a look at the fan in your units maybe. Not sure if the fan spins up faster when it gets warmer, but if thats the case maybe have some space around the amp to breathe better. For what its worth the GT is an arms length from me. Also no hiss on medium/high via Meze Elite for me, but i stick to low gain.

The amp after a few hours of listening last night was slightly cooler than my 3xp would normally get.

 

[krude]

If you step back 6-8 feet can you hear the fan? That is my listening distance so 2-3 feet wouldn't bother me. I also wonder if there is audible noise in the signal path introduced by the fan.

I think part of the reason why it has a lot more background noise on Odins than the 3xp is the fan. I may be wrong but it would seem that part of the noise is the same frequency that the fan rotates with.

 

[krude]

The fan is extremely silent for me, I have to put my head next to the amp to hear it. I would take a look at the fan in your units maybe. Not sure if the fan spins up faster when it gets warmer, but if thats the case maybe have some space around the amp to breathe better. For what its worth the GT is an arms length from me. Also no hiss on medium/high via Meze Elite for me, but i stick to low gain.

The amp after a few hours of listening last night was slightly cooler than my 3xp would normally get.

Can you post a pic of your fan please?

 

[ericx85]

I'll try to post a pic tonight when I get home. Also from what I remember about the 3xp, some people had hiss due to the op amps not being seated correctly. Maybe give them a check as well or see if the hiss persists from the other op amps youve rolled in the 3xp. I also run everything balanced to reduce noise in the signal.

Theres also the possibility you just have much better hearing than me which I am jealous of if thats the case lol.

Edit: I will say the one annoyance I have with the GT is that the volume knob keeps going backwards almost every other volume level up I try to raise it. Might just end up using the remote to control the volume instead. It was VERY minor in the 3xp

 

[Tubewin]

The fan is extremely silent for me, I have to put my head next to the amp to hear it. I would take a look at the fan in your units maybe. Not sure if the fan spins up faster when it gets warmer, but if thats the case maybe have some space around the amp to breathe better. For what its worth the GT is an arms length from me. Also no hiss on medium/high via Meze Elite for me, but i stick to low gain.

The amp after a few hours of listening last night was slightly cooler than my 3xp would normally get.

If its spin rate is based on temperature, that would explain alot. Do you have it on the cool stand?

 

[Tubewin]

If you step back 6-8 feet can you hear the fan? That is my listening distance so 2-3 feet wouldn't bother me. I also wonder if there is audible noise in the signal path introduced by the fan.

I'll have to check when I get back home. That was my first concern when powering up the GT. At first I thought I could hear some vibrations coming through to the headphones when I had nothing playing at low gain, but it was probably all in my head, I couldn't hear those vibrations again after turning it on and off.