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I did notice Upstate guy said he could not tell a difference between the 900$ GS-1 and 90$ DIY 02. -- Just sayin..
It's important to note this was at a 9:00 volume levels and with
me doing all the volume balancing, switching and listening by ear..... but at low volumes they sound very similar to me. Still,
the O2 is not a GS-1. But if you want to know what the GS-1, wire with gain, sounds like, on the cheap, by all means get an O2...
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That's not entirely fair: he first declared they sounded different and appears to be gradually finding their sound increasingly similar over time in that the O2 appears to be improving: they already sound identical at low-ish volumes and the differences that distinguish them at higher volumes appear to be diminishing.
This is unexplainable but true.... with the caveat that in this single case there is only
one listener making
all the judgements.
What we really need is Peter and Shahrose to get O2s and weigh in on this with their high end rigs.
Never the less, the
GS-1 is a full featured amp, with 2 inputs, pre amp out, line out, and 2 headphone jacks. It has heavy duty connectors, jacks and switches, a built in power supply, is cased very nicely in aluminum and has withstood years of use with absolutely no problems and incredible sound quality.
So low volume listening aside, there is a huge build quality difference between the GS-1 and the O2. How long do you think the gain or power switch is going to last on the O2? I also get the feeling that the input, output and power jacks are very flimsy. We'll see how long they last before their connections become spotty.
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The Dynahi (which replaced my GS-1).
What Shahrose didn't tell you is that when he turns his Dynahi on it blacks out the east coast of Canada.
Edit: Besides, Shahrose is a Gilmore power snob....