[i019791]

No.
You have to go for their higher models, which use pre-gain.

 

[0rangutan]

Is it possible to change the gain for G103-S or have a custom gain levels. I'm afraid the low gain setting is not low enough for sensitive low impendance phones and would not have much tracking range with volume control.

Yes, there are two gain settings, but the jumpers are inside the case so not something that you would want to change regularly.

 

[headwhacker]

Yes, there are two gain settings, but the jumpers are inside the case so not something that you would want to change regularly.

I know about the gain switch which defaults to 2.5X and 5X. For very sensitive headphones and iems 2.5X is too much especially if your source puts out > 1.5Vrms line out signal like DX90 and ODAC.

I just wish their entry level amp has the -4 and +14 gain by default, or at least can be customized. I don't need more than 2 settings. I just need 1 low gain for sensitive phones and iem and the higher gain for 600-Ohm phones.

 

[Tuneslover]

Anyone residing in countries that are on 115V be warned that if you order any Lake People headphone amps from Thomann.de they will send you a pre-set 230V unit. After ordering mine I thought that I should clarify that I live in North America and would need the 115V pre-set model, however Thomann assured me that I could simply swap the German power cord for a North American one and all would be fine...so they ignored my request and sent me a pre-set 230V unit anyway.

Fried Reim, the Lake People CEO, made it very clear that my unit will work but will not achieve it's full potential pre-set this way (see post #181). Thomann.de was made aware of this concern and even after numerous emails to them they simply chose to disregard my situation. Fried provided me with illustrated photo shots and simple instructions on how to re-set my unit to 115V. The other option was to simply purchase a Step Up Transformer (Amazon $27) to convert my in-coming voltage from 115V to 230V. It worked perfectly and I got to use the German power cord.

Morale of this story...if your native voltage is 115V...DO NOT buy from Thomann.de!!

 

[devhen]

  Well my Lake People G109-S just came. Liking it a lot so far, I like the gain being from factory at +0 (pre-gain), and may consider even moving it to the -12dB (pre-gain) setting as I do most of my listening on high sensitivity, low impedance headphones. It's nice that I can get almost half a knob of effective volume.
 
Additionally, it seems to increase bass response, which would lead me to agree with the warm/dark character of this amp. I'm liking it a lot. Switching back and forth between Schiit Magni and this, The G109-S's bass is more pronounced and well defined, and decays faster, and the Highs are less grainy. And of course, Schiit Magni had channel imbalance issues at low volume, probably due to it's internal gain setting, G109-S has no channel imbalance at all, which is nice.
 
The mids seem to take more presense and be clearer now too, though I have no listened to enough mid heavy songs yet to confirm this.
 
Edit: Just did the gain switch, down to -12 relative (-4 absolute)
Was very painless, inside was clean, and now I have even more volume to work with Lets me go all the way to 3 o'clock (that's the loudest I would go probably)

 
The Magni is widely regarded as a pretty bright amp so it might be that the G109 is neutral and you're just used to the Magni's signature.

 

[devhen]

Anyone residing in countries that are on 115V be warned that if you order any Lake People headphone amps from Thomann.de they will send you a pre-set 230V unit. After ordering mine I thought that I should clarify that I live in North America and would need the 115V pre-set model, however Thomann assured me that I could simply swap the German power cord for a North American one and all would be fine...so they ignored my request and sent me a pre-set 230V unit anyway.

Fried Reim, the Lake People CEO, made it very clear that my unit will work but will not achieve it's full potential pre-set this way (see post #181). Thomann.de was made aware of this concern and even after numerous emails to them they simply chose to disregard my situation. Fried provided me with illustrated photo shots and simple instructions on how to re-set my unit to 115V. The other option was to simply purchase a Step Up Transformer (Amazon $27) to convert my in-coming voltage from 115V to 230V. It worked perfectly and I got to use the German power cord.

Morale of this story...if your native voltage is 115V...DO NOT buy from Thomann.de!!

 
Care to share the photos and instructions Fried gave you in case other head-fi'ers find themselves in that same situation? Thanks

 

[linglingjr]

   
Care to share the photos and instructions Fried gave you in case other head-fi'ers find themselves in that same situation? Thanks

I'd really appreciate this as well.  I bought my G109s in December and it came with the German cord too.  I wonder how much of a difference it would make driving LCD-2s.

 

[Tuneslover]

     
Ok here you go, this is what Fried sent me.  There are 6 pages in above attachment.  Each page has 2 images and instructions under each image.
Page 1 is top left...Page 2 is top right...Page 3 is 2nd from top left...Page 4 is 2nd from top right...and so on.

 

[Tuneslover]

...OR...you can simply purchase a STEP UP TRANSFORMER from Amazon (I have the Simran AC200-W)...set it to your native voltage (mine is 110V)...plug in the German power cord (round head with the 2 prongs) into the TRANSFORMER...the other end into the G109S...turn the TRANSFORMER on...turn the G109S on...and the TRANSFORMER will step up your 110V to 220V to your pre-set 220V G109S.

 

[Tuneslover]

I agree with Devhen that the Magni is bright sounding (I also have the Magni). The G109S is a much nicer sounding amp, refined, well controlled power, perfectly balanced from top to bottom. Simply amplifies the source without adding any signature of it's own.

 

[Tuneslover]

Incidentally, the images from Fried that I just posted on this thread are obviously not the G109S. He indicated that the internals of the Violectric model is very similar to the G109S.

 

[linglingjr]

Thanks for the info.  Just bough a step up converter instead, can't really go wrong for $20 plus it saves resale value of amp imo.  bought the same one you have actually haha hope it has worked well for you.

 

[devhen]

Thanks @Tuneslover! That info will probably come in handy for other head-fi'ers in the future. I'll link to it from the first post.

 

[Headfire]

Hi all,
 
I've got my G109-P and enjoy listetning to them. I may write some impressions near future.
 
Anyway, I want to say here, if you are interested in LP product and you don't have local distributer in your country, I recommend you to buy them directly from LP. As for those have looked through this thread might have already recoginezed it.

 

[torta]

Any one uses G103 with Hifiman or Mrspeakers headphones?