[grizzlybeast]

Has anyone compared the pulse xfi (no lps) to the gungir multi bit?

 

[greenkiwi]

In the past they have said that your place in the queue is determined by the date of the initial backing. For Gery, that would be Nov. 4 and 29. Now, where that places him in the actual shipping queue, who knows???

Me? I backed my base Pulse Dec. 21 2013 so I should be some time after Gery. At 30~50 units a week, I think that puts me some time mid November. That's only about 23 months from backing to receiving for many of us...

J.P.

That is what I've always heard... and it even seemed like it might even be just per user, based on the first backing from that user, rather than the first order of the upgraded pulse.

 

[oneguy]

I know this doesn't add much but for what it's worth I backed on 28 Nov and was told I was "right there in the middle" by customer service.

 

[cbar]

Just received my vanilla pulse from the FF campaign. FWIW...
 
PRO: It's here. Looks nice on it's own and when stacked on LPS.
 
NEUTRAL: Sound is not bad out of the box, but not great either. Haven't A/B'd them, but my perception is that the sound is not quite as full in the mids, less defined bass, and tinnier trebs compared with Geek Out 720 through LPS. Early days though; still breaking in.... withholding judgement for now.
 
CON: Redesigned 1.1 chassis is so light that I have to firmly hold the unit whenever plugging or unplugging HPs. I really prefer the build quality of the LPS chassis. In terms of assembly, the power button seems barely secured and moves more than I'd like when plugging in power from LPS or when turning unit on/off. I plan to leave it on, but still. And lastly, the unit is missing a screw (on AES input) in the back panel. Small detail, but undermines confidence in QC.
 
EDIT>> Additional PRO: LHLabs was very responsive in responding to a support ticket and addressing the missing screw. Well done!

 

[Benfica1]

Just received my vanilla pulse from the FF campaign. FWIW...

PRO: It's here. Looks nice on it's own and when stacked on LPS.

NEUTRAL: Sound is not bad out of the box, but not great either. Haven't A/B'd them, but my perception is that the sound is not quite as full in the mids, less defined bass, and tinnier trebs compared with Geek Out 720 through LPS. Early days though; still breaking in.... withholding judgement for now.

CON: Redesigned 1.1 chassis is so light that I have to firmly hold the unit whenever plugging or unplugging HPs. I really prefer the build quality of the LPS chassis. In terms of assembly, the power button seems barely secured and moves more than I'd like when plugging in power from LPS or when turning unit on/off. I plan to leave it on, but still. And lastly, the unit is missing a screw (on AES input) in the back panel. Small detail, but undermines confidence in QC.

EDIT>> Additional PRO: LHLabs was very responsive in responding to a support ticket and addressing the missing screw. Well done!

Just received mine this week also from the FF campaign. Waited almost one year and.....it doesn't work. Not through any input. Tried them all. For now I remain hopeful that through some miracle this will not need to be sent back.

 

[foreverzer0]

For the people that receive their Pulse already and updated to version firmware 2.29, what is the lowest volume setting? If I turn it all the way to the left it goes to about -127.5.

Firmware 2.29? I have Main 2.0/MCU 2.4/1v5; what is 2.29?

 

[Semont]

The LH website says they don't recommend updating the firmware and at the same time they provide firmware as well. How do you know if you should or should not update the firmware?

 

[Jupiterknight]

Yesterday, I received a Geek Pulse standard with the 1.1 chassis. This unit was ordered from the FF campaign, late October 2014.   
 
I also have a Geek Pulse 1.0 chassis that I picked up from Ebay around 9-10 months ago since I had sense it would take a while before my original order would arrive!  Anyhow, I managed to convince myself that I needed two units for two rooms and setups, speakers and headphones!
 
The physical attributes are different. Not size wise, but the 1.0 chassis is almost twice as heavy vs. the 1.1 chassis.  I personally prefer the 1.0 chassis since it feels, not just by pure weight, but more like a solid build metal enclosure that matches my Marantz amplifier and that doesn't sound like a piece of cheap plastic when I tap my finger on its chassis.. solid vs. hollow. This is of course my preference and it may not matter to anyone else... 
 
I also a/b the two Pulse standard versions. Using two PC's, J River Media player, everything setup similar and using a splitter so I could a/b back and forth by the switch of my splitter device into the same headphones (HD600 and KSC75).  So units were pretty much volume matched and I also changed PC's and USB cable's during my test, one was the Geek 1G cable and the other one was a standard USB cable. None of these alterations seemed to have any impact, at least I didn't hear any! I also switched between the two different external power supplies + my own regulated 12 volt unit and I couldn't detect any difference.
 
So the Pulse 1.0 probably had way above 200 hours of use + been turned on for almost 10 months constantly.  The 1.1 Pulse only had an initial 10 hours of run in + turned on for 24 hours.  So different circumstances at this point!
 
It was fairly easy for me to hear a difference, which is certainly not always the case when I a/b units, not truly blindfolded since I was the only one present during my "test", although I did try to switch cables quickly around so I didn't know which unit I was listening to!
 
Anyhow, the major difference was that the Pulse 1.1  sounded much leaner with a brighter presentation in the midrange area whereas
the Pulse 1.0 had a much more natural presentation in this area. Vocals on the 1.0  sounded more spot on, more direct/upfront/natural and with less harness, graininess. Treble sounded at bit boosted/aggressive on the Pulse 1.1 vs. a more smooth treble compared to the Pulse 1.0.
Soundstage and bass impact/level sounded to fairly similar. Overall my Geek Pulse 1.0 sounds more warmer than my Geek Pulse 1.1, that might change but it won't change that I prefer the Geek Pulse 1.0 enclosure/feel better!  The new Geek Pulse 2.0 enclosure for commercial sale, no comment!
 
I will of course in a couple of weeks repeat this test to see if anything soundwise has changed or become similar. 

 

[kenshinhimura]

Firmware 2.29? I have Main 2.0/MCU 2.4/1v5; what is 2.29?

Windows drivers 2.29 from their website. Ships with 2.20 as far as I can tell.

 

[wingsounds13]

So, we have a direct side by side A/B comparison suggesting that burn in truly is significant for the Pulse. I look forward to future reports from Jupiterknight to see whether this is true or recent production base Pulses do not sound as good as earlier production. Reports seem to point towards 100-200 hours is needed. Some equipment takes longer: my PerfectWave DAC took somewhere between 400 and 1000 hours to truly settle in. 400 is a number commonly reported for that DAC.

Jupiterknight, keep it playing for a couple of weeks and report back with a comparison after several hundred hours are on the new Pulse.

J.P.

 

[foreverzer0]

Windows drivers 2.29 from their website. Ships with 2.20 as far as I can tell.

I really wish they had a change log and update notification

 

[lobehold]

Exactly one week has passed since I started to burn in the Geek Pulse Xfi.
 
Bass has CLEARLY improved, from absolutely zero impact to within a stone's throw to my Sony UDA-1, but not quite.
 
So far the one real positive I can say about the Geek Pulse Xfi is that it is completely silent even with HD800 and that is with the switching power supply. My Sony UDA-1 however has this tinniest of humming sound on the HD800 that frustratingly only I seem to be able to hear, albeit quiet enough that it's only noticeable when you turn the unit on and off.
 
I guess I might be expecting too much for the Geek Pulse Xfi to beat Sony UDA-1 handily, I think this says more about the Sony than the Pulse, still there's more room to improve, l'll see what another week or two of burn in will do.

 

[Jupiterknight]

So, we have a direct side by side A/B comparison suggesting that burn in truly is significant for the Pulse. I look forward to future reports from Jupiterknight to see whether this is true or recent production base Pulses do not sound as good as earlier production. Reports seem to point towards 100-200 hours is needed. Some equipment takes longer: my PerfectWave DAC took somewhere between 400 and 1000 hours to truly settle in. 400 is a number commonly reported for that DAC.

Jupiterknight, keep it playing for a couple of weeks and report back with a comparison after several hundred hours are on the new Pulse.

J.P.

 
Sure, I will repeat my test when I hit around 100-200 hours, report and then again later on since I'm very interested in this as well, of course as objective as I can be!  My only bias are related to the design/enclosure/weight which are obviously different, change of direction for many reasons... I have no sonic negative/positive bias towards either units since I intend to keep both for different purposes and matchups with speaker/headphones/amplifier.  

 

[FayeForever]

  Yesterday, I received a Geek Pulse standard with the 1.1 chassis. This unit was ordered from the FF campaign, late October 2014.   
 
I also have a Geek Pulse 1.0 chassis that I picked up from Ebay around 9-10 months ago since I had sense it would take a while before my original order would arrive!  Anyhow, I managed to convince myself that I needed two units for two rooms and setups, speakers and headphones!
 
The physical attributes are different. Not size wise, but the 1.0 chassis is almost twice as heavy vs. the 1.1 chassis.  I personally prefer the 1.0 chassis since it feels, not just by pure weight, but more like a solid build metal enclosure that matches my Marantz amplifier and that doesn't sound like a piece of cheap plastic when I tap my finger on its chassis.. solid vs. hollow. This is of course my preference and it may not matter to anyone else... 
 
I also a/b the two Pulse standard versions. Using two PC's, J River Media player, everything setup similar and using a splitter so I could a/b back and forth by the switch of my splitter device into the same headphones (HD600 and KSC75).  So units were pretty much volume matched and I also changed PC's and USB cable's during my test, one was the Geek 1G cable and the other one was a standard USB cable. None of these alterations seemed to have any impact, at least I didn't hear any! I also switched between the two different external power supplies + my own regulated 12 volt unit and I couldn't detect any difference.
 
So the Pulse 1.0 probably had way above 200 hours of use + been turned on for almost 10 months constantly.  The 1.1 Pulse only had an initial 10 hours of run in + turned on for 24 hours.  So different circumstances at this point!
 
It was fairly easy for me to hear a difference, which is certainly not always the case when I a/b units, not truly blindfolded since I was the only one present during my "test", although I did try to switch cables quickly around so I didn't know which unit I was listening to!
 
Anyhow, the major difference was that the Pulse 1.1  sounded much leaner with a brighter presentation in the midrange area whereas
the Pulse 1.0 had a much more natural presentation in this area. Vocals on the 1.0  sounded more spot on, more direct/upfront/natural and with less harness, graininess. Treble sounded at bit boosted/aggressive on the Pulse 1.1 vs. a more smooth treble compared to the Pulse 1.0.
Soundstage and bass impact/level sounded to fairly similar. Overall my Geek Pulse 1.0 sounds more warmer than my Geek Pulse 1.1, that might change but it won't change that I prefer the Geek Pulse 1.0 enclosure/feel better!  The new Geek Pulse 2.0 enclosure for commercial sale, no comment!
 
I will of course in a couple of weeks repeat this test to see if anything soundwise has changed or become similar. 

Thank you for your impression, do you mind posting pics of your 1.1 chassis? I didn't even know this 1.1 chassis exists!

 

[Jupiterknight]

 
Thank you for your impression, do you mind posting pics of your 1.1 chassis? I didn't even know this 1.1 chassis exists!

 
Sure, I will post a couple of pics. of both units side by side, tomorrow or the day after.