Geek Pulse: Geek desktop DAC/AMP by Light Harmonics

[uzi]

   
Whoa, congrats Uzi! That'll pair nicely with your Pulse X. Jealous that people at the meet got to see the Light Harmonic table. Anything excellent on there, such as a completed Geek Out for demo? I've been watching for an impressions thread but I haven't seen one pop up just yet.

Hah, even the Pulse indiegogo campaign page says:
 
Please DO NOT pledge for LightSpeed USB if you are thinking of using it for your Geek Pulse. It's "way overkill." LightSpeed Jr. or LightSpeed 2G are the cables for you. If, however, you are a rabid, crazy, foaming-at-the-mouth audiophile with a $50,000+ audio system, this cable's for you.
 
So now I have "way overkill" and will try to decide if I want to have "way overkill" or to sell "way overkill".  The warranty is amazing as it states:
 
"No Questions Asked Warranty.  If you break it, we'll replace it.  Warranty is lifetime and transferable, no matter how many times its been traded, sold or given away.  No sales receipt or proof of purchase needed."
 
There doesn't seem to be risk in hanging on to it and testing it out for now.
 
Meanwhile, yes, I got to listen to a beta Geek Out unit they had on display.  It was smaller than I expected, and had a sticker on the bottom which said which model it was ("Geek Out", "Geek Out M", or "Geek Out EM").  There are two buttons on the side, which controlled the volume.  Pressing both at the same time turned the "3D awesomifier" on and off.  I reported a bug in that pressing both buttons cycled it quickly rather than a single state change, sometimes making it difficult to change the state.  I listened to it briefly (with an LCD-XC they had connected to it) and it sounded pretty decent... but I was running around and trying to see what else was at the meet, so I didn't listen to it nearly enough to give an impression I'd want to stand by.

 

[uzi]

  Congratulations uzi!
 
Again, if I had the money I would have upgraded, even if I was doubtful of its performance over the LightSpeedJr. which should still be perfectly fine for the Pulse.  Could you share some quick comments on its benefits to your system?  PLEASE!

Hah, you'll have to give me some time.  I have the day off today, but the wife doesn't... so it's just me and the kids and no headphone listening for now.
 
On some quick listening, it seemed that maybe things were slightly crisper and clearer... but don't quote me on that 'til I've had a chance to really listen.

 

[m-i-c-k-e-y]

Take your time Bro, better than nothing..

 

[kugino]

  Likewise... although I was at the Bay Area meet yesterday, and I won the grand prize in the raffle: a Lightspeed USB cable (you know, the split one that is 0.8 meters long and costs $1k).

that's awesome! congrats!

 

[germay0653]

I did get the femto clock upgrade... I did not get the lightspeed 2G usb cable, mainly for lack of money, but also for the same reasons you guys just talked about.

I thought the same too with regard to the USB cable.  I previously had the highly regarded JPLAY JCAT USB cable and thought I could not do better or that the difference would be miniscule but, to my ears and in my system, the difference was not small.  I have the 1.6M Split Lightspeed and all I can say is that it was not just a small increment but a larger order of magnitude better.  Too many reviewers have indicated the same with relation to SQ improvement (more detail, more sound stage - almost 3D like for me).  You have to weigh the cost with the improvement.  Yes, it's not cheap but, for me, it was a well spent investment.
 
Let us know what your experience is uzi!!

 

[dclaz]

   
 
 
i did not opt for the femto upgrade. like dclaz, i understand that technically, a femto clock is "better" than a clock that ranges in the pico range. however, i am dubious that anyone can hear the difference between a well-designed DAC that utilizes a femto clock vs. a well-designed DAC that uses a clock that "only" registers in the pico range. i believe that the standard clock employed in the geek pulse is more than adequate. i understand that there are people who want to have the best of everything so as to maximize the potential of their system, and i have no problem with that. but i remain dubious that 99.9% of people can hear the difference between the clocks in question.

For the record though, I did splurge on the femto clock because I was seduced by the fact that DAC's with a similar feature cost a lot more and I am a sucker for things that are technically better....
 
However I find it impossible to justify the cost of of fancier cables.

 

[kugino]

  For the record though, I did splurge on the femto clock because I was seduced by the fact that DAC's with a similar feature cost a lot more and I am a sucker for things that are technically better....
 
However I find it impossible to justify the cost of of fancier cables.

i can totally respect that. i had my cursor over that femto button numerous times, but just couldn't bring myself to pay for it. 

 

[FraGGleR]

For me it was a peace of mind type thing. Like others have said, a device with a number of similar features would cost a significant amount more and are generally well regarded. Also, I figured I'd grab every internal upgrade at the reduced prices since you can't add them after the fact.

 

[nick v]

I started with the Pulse X, then over the following weeks I bit the bullet on the Femto Upgrade, the Internal (op-amp) upgrade, the LPS and the LightSpeed 2G. I couldn't help myself. I hope I made a wise decision.

 

[eac3]

  I hope I made a wise decision.

 
I believe only you can answer that question.

 

[AxelCloris]

  I started with the Pulse X, then over the following weeks I bit the bullet on the Femto Upgrade, the Internal (op-amp) upgrade, the LPS and the LightSpeed 2G. I couldn't help myself. I hope I made a wise decision.

 
I think many of us in the thread have taken the same path. I've passed on the LightSpeed 2G cable but I understand the benefit it provides. I started with the Geek Out/Pulse and thought two $200 units will be awesome. Then I upgraded to the X, added the Femto, active components, LPS and eventually took that to the LPS4. Then I upgraded my GO to a Super GO and bought a couple extra units to give as gifts. So my initial $400 purchase became a much, much larger investment.

 

[m-i-c-k-e-y]

I think we need to delete the poll right now since its already irrelevant...right?

 

[nick v]

   
I believe only you can answer that question.

It will be tough to answer that question before I have the chance to hear it playing in my system. Even then, it will be impossible for me to compare it to a standard unit to see if all the upgrades paid off.
 
It will be more about comparing it to other gear (My local hifi shop wants me to bring it in once I have it to compare to Burson, Audiolab M-DAC, Naim, YBA, Cambridge, Micromega, Woo WA7) they carry lots of gear!
 
I feel pretty good about my decision, I had a bigger than expected Christmas bonus that paid for all the extras.  

 

[eac3]

 
It will be tough to answer that question before I have the chance to hear it playing in my system. Even then, it will be impossible for me to compare it to a standard unit to see if all the upgrades paid off.
 
It will be more about comparing it to other gear (My local hifi shop wants me to bring it in once I have it to compare to Burson, Audiolab M-DAC, Naim, YBA, Cambridge, Micromega, Woo WA7) they carry lots of gear!
 
I feel pretty good about my decision, I had a bigger than expected Christmas bonus that paid for all the extras.  

 
I live in Arkansas and I am jealous of the fact that you have a shop that carries such things and the fact that you can demo it.

 

[nick v]

   
I live in Arkansas and I am jealous of the fact that you have a shop that carries such things and the fact that you can demo it.

They also sell some mega-buck gear (Dynaudio, Focus Audio, Modwright, etc..) so it will be interesting to potentially hear it in a super high end system. I'll be demo'ing balanced headphones there (that's why they're letting me take it in) to see what I want to buy. Right now I only have low impedance Sennheiser Momentum over-ear's and HD360Pro's. I know they carry Grado, Audeze, Sennheiser and others so I'm excited to get a pair of phones that will show off the capabilities of the pulse (hopefully).