Actually I found a uk retailer selling this for £400. Still far off $300!
So with that short comparison with the nuforce it looks like this thing may loose out slightly. More bright than the hdp- maybe only suited for dark cans then.
One slight thing of concern that i haven't been able to deduce from online reviews is whether or not the headphone jack would be noisy if used with iem's/customs. Could someone with them test this if possible.
They say it's darker? Oh yeah.
I don't know exactly what dark is like but I find the GT40 bassy. And I'm not alone I have read it in a few reviews. When I use the headphone amp with different DACs I never get as much bass as I get when I use the dedicated internal DAC of the GT40 via USB. Two reviews I have read said the GT40 paired well with the Grados (which is good for me
, and one of these stressed that the GT40 and the Grados had *very good* synergy together.
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http://www.goodsound.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=239:furutech-alpha-design-labs-gt40-dac-and-headphone-amplifier&catid=56&Itemid=37 (one of the best reviews around, because it tells a lot about every components, only problem is that not enough emphasis is put on the DAC and the Amp portion of the GT40)
Even though Head-Fi doesn't talk about it (even though Alpha Design Labs has been added quite recently in the list of the sponsors), this thing has been reviewed many times around the globe: http://www.adl-av.com/products/usbdac/gt40/#reviews (list of all the review)
It's
dead silent (but not at all silent of the music) with any headphones including IEMs
,
up until half-way on the volume knob. With IEMs at this point you start hearing a very slight pink noise, but you can't really notice it between songs yet. With other headphones you don't hear anything at that level yet. At 3/4 you hear hiss on both types of headphone and you know its there between songs.
1/4 is more than enough volume for casual listening and for longer periods. 2/4 is already very loud and I won't listen to longer than one song on such a level, because it's excessive already. 3/4 will damage your hears in the long run, but it's still listenable. 4/4, maxed out headphone amp, is pain... I've tried it, but you gain nothing from doing that, try it at your own risk and the risk of your headphones.
While I don't think the GT40 would blow up a pair of headphones, it still drives my T50RP wonderfully, I think its my hardest to drive headphone. I have read at three places that it could drive the HD800 fairly well, but that it wasn't top notch.
There are the first 7% of the volume knob that doesn't produce sound, I am bit annoyed by that I must say.
You hear hiss only with the headphone amplifier. The line out is perfectly clean from 0 to 100% volume (yes you can control the line out volume with the front knob) (it controls both volumes at the same time so you have to shut your speakers to listen to the headphone only, or vice-versa if you want to hear only the speakers). The line out doesn't sound as good as the front amplified jack
with headphones, but the line out gets the job done as a preamp for powered 2.1 computer speakers.
The volume knob is either silent or slightly noisy, when you're leveling during a song.
Finally when the GT40 is on standby (LEDs are shut), but still connected to the power outlet, you will want to unplug your headphones because you hear the current flowing through it. It's not loud at all but it uses the diaphragm for nothing, so I do it.
These were all my nitpicks.
I know the GT40 very well around, and almost all the reviews about it. Don't hesitate to ask me more questions if you have, I can even provide you with a 96/24 vinyl recording by it.
I had mine for a little while now & I love it - or should I say loved it.. because my GT40 started to demonstrate (with) a lot of static build-up, jitter & other beeps & cold war noises, so it's going back tomorrow for a swap.
Rabor, you look to be referring to a part of the issue likw this guy on Amazon had:
http://www.amazon.com/Furutech-Gt-40-Phono-headphone-Amp/product-reviews/B005KSKPHK/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1
I think I know what you guys are talking about, or at least one part of it.
Know that the volume knob isn't perfectly insulated. From 1/4 to 3/4 you hear a fair amount of a trembling, oscillating static/machine gun noise (not the same hiss of the amp, but those add up together), but
only when you're touching the volume knob! Remove you fingers and you're back at silence. This is only annoying when you're playing to find the perfect low volume of a song when the instruments aren't playing loud, you hear the oscillating sound. Otherwise, when music is playing back normally and you're adjusting the volume, you can't even hear it because it's not loud. I don't put it in my nitpicks for that reason, it's only audible when music isn't playing back or playing back not loud.
I think it is only a problem with the headphone amp as you don't hear it when listening to the line out, or in the recordings (those are automatically volume adjusted if I remember correctly).
I don't know what jitter you're hearing. I don't know what jitter sounds like. Once a day max the GT40 might skip when your processor is fully loaded, but it's nothing to care about lol.
Static build-up again I'm not sure of what that is in the sound being played back. Sometimes when I lift from my chair the sound cuts off, I think it is some kind of protection against static, the GT40 locks up and even Windows Media Player or foobar2000 stop playing back music and put it on pause, and you can't unpause or press play to change that (it seems to be a driver thing). What you do is just push the on/off button in and out and it gets back playing by itself, just like it was doing, in the same moment it had cut. Again that's a once in a week thing, nothing to get alarmed out of.
I think every device has that kind of nitpicks and I'm sharp and demanding enough to find them all, usually. I haven't played much with the ADC but for playing back music all that I said here you will also have to deal with them (most probably). But believe me, it's just like nothing! Those are the smallest possible issues one can have with that kind of device, and dealing with them is plain easily. Those are either tiny issues, or rare and easily fixable ones.
*Edit: Oh and if you want to hear how bassy the GT40 can be, just listen to it straight out of its line out. It will give you a more neutral sound and let you appreciate more all the bass that is already present in the amplified headphone jack
. It's bassy, but not overly so to think you would be listening to the bass boost of a DAP or something. I love that bass for my headphones that needs it. With my most bassy headphones I sometimes listen to the line out, for the reason I just stated. But keep in mind that the amplified jack still sounds better most of the time (with headphones) than the line out.
, even more for me that currently uses one. I would like it to last much longer in my hands, lol :-/.
Can you compare it with previous headphone amplifiers and DACs you've owned in the past, or still own? Have you noticed some synergy with headphones others than Grados (I could talk you about the GT40 and the Grados all day long already because those are really the only things that I own, lol).
