[sacd lover]

Has anyone compared the stock power supply to the upgraded power supply?

 

[enzoferrari650]

how much is this thing?

 

[GokieKS]

Quote:

Originally Posted by enzoferrari650 how much is this thing?

$299, plus $200 for the seperate upgraded power supply ($175 if you preorder... not sure if that's still going on).

~KS

 

[andrew3199]

I guess it must be like chalk and cheese but does anyone have both the SR71 and the new Gilmore Lite ( without power supply upgrade) to compare, I am very close to buying one of these amps.

 

[episiarch]

I'm not qualified to give a full-length review, so I won't. The Gilmore Lite is the most expensive amp I own, and the only one I own that runs on wall current. I have had very limited exposure to higher-end gear. The amps I had to compare the Gilmore to are a single-9V PIMETA, a SuperDual, and some earlier stuff that's not as good.

In an earlier post I mentioned that I was still evaluating the amp and had some possible sonic reservations, but wasn't sure. Now that I've fairly extensively A/B'd the Gilmore Lite against my other amps, I'm sure: the Lite is the best amp I own, by a an audible margin with Etys and by a large margin with more power-hungry headphones, and I'm extremely happy with it. It brings out detail in recordings that I never heard before (and the PIMETA was already very good and detailed with Etys). It can drive K271's extremely well, which none of my battery amps can do. And it can drive HD280's to sound good, which shocked the heck out of me because I had never liked them before.

Besides detail, it has great depth in bass, and if there's any limit to the highs, I haven't found it. Sound is steady and clear throughout, at any volume setting (at least, within the limits of the headphones and of human tolerance).

One thing to be aware of is that the amp doesn't hide blemishes: in particular, if there's tape hiss in the original, you'll hear it.

As everyone has noted, it's a very nice-looking amp as well. Here's the obligatory photo:

That's a Sony D-303 sitting on top of it, Zu Pivot coming from the line-out. Since the amp isn't as deep as the PCDP, I asked Justin to sell me an empty enclosure, which you can see in the photo extending the footprint to the rear and slightly tidying up the cable situation.

I've been listening on K271's, K501's, HD545's and ER-4S's, with the Etys as the reference. My test material runs to vocal jazz, especially Patricia Barber's Companion album, but with some DJ Krush, De Phazz and other things thrown in as well. The amp now has, I'd guess, 25 hours on it. I have the stock Elpac power supply.

For those who are curious about my earlier reservations: in my earlier listening I had heard some brass instruments that I though had an unnatural squeezed-out-of-a-toothpaste-tube sound. A/B'ing the song on Etys through both the Gilmore and the PIMETA, I concluded it was an artifact of the source material and that the Gilmore was not to blame.

 

[AuroraProject]

How long did it take to get, from order date to doorstep?

 

[Imyourzero]

I'd like to know how the G-Lite compares to a PPA and the Corda HA-1 Mk II...

 

[episiarch]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AuroraProject How long did it take to get, from order date to doorstep?

About seven weeks, but that includes the silkscreening snafu that has now been ironed out. I imagine he can now ship them in whatever period of time he's currently quoting.

 

[jazpresso]

Does this gilmore come with the new power supply?

 

[grinch]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jester I like your choice of beverage! Did it enhance the sound?

that particular beverage enhances _everything_

 

[mrsl]

I ordered mine in the mid of June and received it last Friday. This is my first amp. It looks very nice and is very well built, however I definitely expected a greater improvement on the sound before trying the amp and reading many articles in this forum. I use Sennheiser HD-600, HD-595, AKG-K340 and Yahama-HP1. The sound is clean and overall it sounds very linear, adding almost no coloration. Bass is tight, but not very strong. The direct output of my externel Audigy 2 NX (with upgraded linear power supply) even has a stronger bass, but not as clean. Treble is excellent and it makes one believe hearing more details, I am not sure if it is really more details or just a gain in the treble. It definitely sounds a bit bright to my taste. The lower midrange is a bit recessed, maybe this is due to the brightness of the amp. When I use the equalizer to slightly boost down the treble (1-2 DB) from 6-20 khz the midrange comes up. The headphone output of my Audigy 2 NX seems to have a better lower midrange. Overall the improvement of the sound is not very large, I would say it is even quite small if not subtle. Although having the mentioned "minor flaws" I enjoy this amp, female vocals really shine and it sounds clean. I can hear no noise. I use a low noise linear dual voltage power supply from lambda power. Since it is so new it only had break in time of about 10 hours. Hope it will improve in the next days.

 

[KJ869]

mrsl, did you stop for a second to concider the issue in your case might be the source, not the amp. Fact is source does matter, even if head-fi it sometimes sounds that amp matters more, its realy the source. crap in, crap out. and from my experiense audigy's are pretty horrible sources...

 

[mrsl]

I own both a Audigy 2 NX and Terratec Aureon Sky. I do not believe that the output of both is totally crap. And I also do not believe that the Benchmark DAC does sound tremendously much better as stated by some people here.

The Gilmore DOES improve the sound, it sounds cleaner, less distorted and the overall sonics is more enjoyable. Now, after listening longer to the Gilmore and adapting my ears to this new amp the direct output (internal amplifier) of the Audigy 2 does sound a bit distorted but still not terribly bad. In the lower midrange and bass the internal amplifier of the Audigy even seems to be slightly better than the Gilmore.

I do not regret buying the 2004 new Gilmore Lite. The more I listen to it the more I enjoy this nice amp and I can understand why people here upgrade their equipment. However, some people here exaggerate very much. For example many say the HD-600 does sound totally crap without an amp. This made me expecting a big bang improvement when using an amp with the HD-600 and this definitely was not the case.

I am also interested in the following equipments: Benchmark DAC or Singlepower PPX. But I wonder if the Benchmark DAC is worth the money considering its high price compared to the much cheaper 200$ EMU which also has a high end DAC and clean clock generator.

How does the bass of the Singlepower PPX compare to the Gilmore Lite ? I want more bass

I will get a Stax SRS-3030 system in the end of october in Japan. But I suspect that the electrostats do not have enough bass slam. So there are no perfect headphone system preventing you from upgrading

Quote:

Originally Posted by KJ869 mrsl, did you stop for a second to concider the issue in your case might be the source, not the amp. Fact is source does matter, even if head-fi it sometimes sounds that amp matters more, its realy the source. crap in, crap out. and from my experiense audigy's are pretty horrible sources...

 

[clarke68]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrsl Bass is tight, but not very strong.

That's funny, I found just the opposite, that the bass is a quite strong, perhaps to the point of being a tad extended. The difference may be in our 'phones, me with my Grados and you with your Senns. I've never heard Senns, so I don't know.

I've listened quite a bit to Dave Holland's "Extended Play: Live at Birdland" (my vote for best jazz album of 2003) and found all of Dave's solos powerful and in my face. I thought at first that the Gilmore Lite's bass was a bit loose & sloppy during moments of dense collective improvisation, but closer listening revealed that the congestion is really only in the lower-end of Billy Kilson's drum solos. Close listening to other drums (including the title track Dave Weckl's "Master Plan", the live "YYZ" from "Exit Stage Left" and, of course, "Moby Dick") didn't reveal the same issue, so I think its just a lack of dampening in Kilson's floor tom.

Other bass-heavy recordings (Rob Wasserman's "Solo", Peter Kowald's "Was Da Ist", and even Bass Mekanik's "Powerbox") came across tight and muscular, perhaps even a little too much so.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrsl It definitely sounds a bit bright to my taste

Hmmm. I'm not getting that, either. Cymbals sound fresh, immediate, and metallic. Definitely hearing the differences between light splash & sizzle cymbals and heavy china boys and rides. I never knew what people were talking about when they say "airy highs" but I get it now...its like you don't just hear sounds, you hear the room they're in as well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrsl However, some people here exaggerate very much.

Um, yeah. Way. Adding the Gilmore Lite to my system (my first amp, as well) wasn't this hit-me-over-the-head, how-did-I-live-without-this-thing-before type of experience. No question that the noise floor went away, but other than that I've been wondering what all the fuss is about.

I think I've figured it out, tho...I think the desire to write stuff on HeadFi makes us want to find improvements in the sound we can put our finger on..."stronger bass, more detail, more 'air', etc." when the real benefits of better gear aren't necessarily so explicit. The biggest thing for me is that, since I've had the Gilmore, I just don't want to take off my 'phones for anything, and I'm listening closer to the music and enjoying it more.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrsl Since it is so new it only had break in time of about 10 hours. Hope it will improve in the next days.

I dunno...the whole "breaking in" of solid state gear still seems a little voodoo to me. Mine's been playing almost continuously for over a week...other than finding things like "oh, that's not loose & sloppy, that's Billy Kilson needing a pillow in his floor tom", I can't validate with any certainty that the amp is sounding different.

 

[tortie]

Both of you have different sources and headphones, so it should not come as a surprise that there is great discrepancy on both your gilmore experience.

Quote:

Originally Posted by clarke68 No question that the noise floor went away, but other than that I've been wondering what all the fuss is about.

Funny thing about this background noise, you'll never notice it was present until its gone