[lecky]

I posted about this little amp, on the Bravo thread - I'll paste my initial thoughts from there:

I got my Indeed G2 today, and tried a few tubes in it and compared it to my modestly modded Bravo (2nd iteration of the first design), swapping tubes between them and adjusting bias each time.

The first thing that is immediately apparent is that the Bravo has a lot of background noise by comparison. The G2 is absolutely silent. In the G2 fine detail is more apparent, which could be an effect of the low noise floor, but doesn't seem to be. The modded Bravo also has a warm coloured sound compared to the G2. In all the G2 provides a very obvious upgrade from the Bravo - it absolutely justifies the extra cost (it cost me about £60, shipped to the UK) - I can really recommend the G2 over the older model. I strongly suspect it's as easy a platform for mods as the original too.

My usual amp which is an old Cyrus One, is out of action at the moment - the Cyrus very clearly betters the Bravo, as it should (except for the use of QP85s which like the little Bravo). I look forward to hearing how it sounds against the G2, but obviously the comparison won't be of great use to most here.

I hope anyone else who has this little amp will post their impressions, and hopefully post on any modifications that improve it.

 

[lecky]

To follow up. Certainly the G2 sounds better than earlier models of this kind of amp (Bravo, Indeed, MiriDIY). The original amp has problems with crosstalk and the G2 is not an improvement in this respect, and perhaps a little worse. It's surprising how reasonable the imaging is considering the crosstalk.

I'm going to put in some IRL530 Mosfets in, which I understand should extend the highs somewhat and at the same time improve crossfeed because they will make the LM317s run hotter. This is information garnered elsewhere, so the proof of the pudding will be in the eating...

 

[lecky]

Seems like I'm a bit on my own in this thread. Never mind, perhaps someone will find it useful at some point...

I fitted the IRL530 Mosfets today, and a couple of days ago fitted a big 10k uF 50v input cap, the effect of the Mosfet change was more marked, really opening up the treble. It's a significant improvement. The crossfeed is also reduced significantly, although not eliminated altogether.

My main amp is working again, and whilst my it's certainly better than this little amp: more detailed; with better dynamic contrast; with better imaging and soundstage... It's also a different flavour though, the indeed is a little warmer, has more and a different quality of bass. That said my main amp was a fair bit better for my headphones than the Canamp that I had previously, so it's no disgrace to the Indeed at the price. The Indeed remains worth listening to.

 

[dana789]

enjoyed your comments and observations. I'll hunt for a G2.

 

[DeadMeadow]

Quote:

 enjoyed your comments and observations.

 
     Let me echo that. I have a G2 on the way and they now fit IRF510's as standard.
 

 

[Roscoeiii]

Just got a G2, and I am enjoying it thus far (but certainly too soon to start posting more specific impressions). Surprised how low on the volume knob I am on this amp. 8-9 o'clock for HE-5LEs.

 

[AudioKarma]

Hello lecky. This is my first post on Head-Fi and pretty excited to join the community.
 
I'm sure you haven't been able to listen to your G2 much more since the initial review, but I am interested in joining the tube community and figured this would be an inexpensive start. Is it worth having this product as a headphone preamp or should one pursue a used preamp at the same price point.
 
I should mention I am still in the hunt for a good set of headphones - likely the stereotypical Grado 80i. All I have now is a pair of Thinksound Rain earbuds (LOVE the wood enclosure).
 
Thanks!

 

[maverickronin]

I don't know about using it as a preamp, but the G2 does sound great with SR80s.  I don't like the SR80s a whole lot on SS, but the indeed smooths them out without changing the overall style.

 

[HK_sends]

 
Quote:

Hello lecky. This is my first post on Head-Fi and pretty excited to join the community.
 
I'm sure you haven't been able to listen to your G2 much more since the initial review, but I am interested in joining the tube community and figured this would be an inexpensive start. Is it worth having this product as a headphone preamp or should one pursue a used preamp at the same price point.
 
I should mention I am still in the hunt for a good set of headphones - likely the stereotypical Grado 80i. All I have now is a pair of Thinksound Rain earbuds (LOVE the wood enclosure).
 
Thanks!

Welcome to Head-Fi, sorry about your wallet!  I started on SR-80s, then 225s, 325i's, HF-2s, and RS-1s.  You are standing on the brink of a fun, exciting, and downright expensive hobby.  Good luck!
 
Cheers!

-HK sends
 

 

[beachgeek]

Just bought the G2 on ebay, and excited because this is my first headphone amp.  Probably take a while to get here as it is coming from China. 

 

[letsreboot]

Got the G1 for about 9 months and I've rolled a couple of tubes.
The bugle boys were the best so far.
 
I'm considering getting the G2 version depending on how the sound is improved by the use of a larger capacitor and of IRF510.
 
The IRF510 idea was mentioned in one of the threads here ([size=10pt]http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/444400/bravo-audio-funny-looking-little-tube-amps/705[/size]
) along with other mods (particularly the cathode bias bypass capacitors which seem not to have been implemented in G2).
 
Has anyone made an A/B comparison between G1 and G2 ?
 
Thanks!
update 1: [found this thread http://rockgrotto.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=b&action=display&thread=5148&page=1 - will update the post with anything worth mentioning I find there]

 

[stef50millbay]

Well I have gone amp nuts lately and brought a G2 from e-bay.I think it was $60 ..I didnt expect much but was I in for a supprise..This is a quality product..RCA in and mini in,rca out,with one single end hp plug(big)..I had so much stuff hooked up I was getting a ground noise.Trojan battery and magnum pure sine wave cleared it up nice.The amp sounded clear and has the ability to get every grain of sound.I eventually used it as a pre-amp to my concerto.This combo would probably drive a He-6.,and in the fullnes of time ,I will try just that..I must say the HD650 on this setup is the best I have ever heard them..So now you know the secret..One solar panel-two good batterys like trojan L16-one magnum 1012 pure sine inverter..Now whatever music product I get goes through this.Its superb and wont suffer outages.charges every day by itself..50% of Electricity is lost in transmission.Coal puts mercury uniformally into the world straight into our water and food.Governments have been corrupted by oil money.Time to give a hoots about global warming,because the future is here now.

 

[zest]

I love the sound with HD580.

 

[Judge Buff]

I thought I'd post a few pics of my modded G2 here in Lecky's G2 thread. While the G2 is a very good amp as bought from Indeed, it becomes borderline phenomenal if modded...
 

 
4 small stand-offs and the bottom of the PCB becomes prime real estate...
 

 
We're just talking replacing or adding caps here, though I did change the blue LED to an ultraviolet one just for grins.
 

 
I could have probably used a larger PS electro topside, but why force the issue when you can add components down below. Note the decent, Vishay single-turn, trim pots.
 

 
Simple mods, great components and a big return sonically. The red leads you see are used to bias the tube's cathodes (from the Rock Grotto folks), which makes rolling tubes "easy-peasy!"  I seldom go for more than a day or so without listening to this. I am always blown-away at how powerful and crisply detailed the sound is from this simple little amp. Exceptional tubes create incredible concerts with this little platform of components... Great budget-fi addition!

 

[real128]

I recently added a Tesla tube to the G1 and it made quite a bit of difference.  In regards to using it as a pre-amp, I've used it as a buffer between a cdp and receiver and suprisingly works quite well.  The G2 might make a good pre-amp as long as you don't need switching.  I've also driven some (crappy) rca plugged speakers to good effect.  It shows what a good hybrid can do.  
 
Judge, I need to review how some of you guys did the mods as there doesn't seem to be any room on the pcb (in most spots) for larger caps on mine.