[ElMuchacho]

To follow up my own question above:

I emailed Lake People to see what they had to say about the sound of these amps. Ended up getting a reply from Fried Reim himself! That was unexpected. I'm guessing he won't mind me passing on his comments.

He said that the G103-108 series "are 100% neutral in terms of THD figures under standard conditions - which can be a bit boring to listeners used to stuff which is generally a bit coloring – like hi-fi gear normally is", but put it that the G111 "is neutral too - but a step towards the warm side. Meaning that the very low harmonics are shaped so that even harmonics are most time a bit higher than the following uneven harmonics". And then went on to add that "this behavior is even more pronounced by the Violectric amps which are known for their smooth sound".

I actually currently have the V226 but find it is a bit too smooth for my personal preferences. I'm thinking perhaps the G111 mk2 might get my vote as it would be a step down in that smooth characteristic and still be pretty versatile - I used to have an Arcam rHead which has a similar form factor with single-ended and balanced inputs coupled with a single-ended output. That amp was pretty good, but lent itself to a slightly slower, fuller presentation that worked well with mid-paced and slower tracks, but didn't suit faster music as well in my experience. On the other hand, the G108 intrigues me since there's so little out there about it. I'll see if I can find somewhere to trial them, but even if there's a store that has them in stock here in Shanghai, travel times etc. sometimes mean it's easier just to blind purchase and get to know something in your own space.

fWIW,
I emailed power-holding regarding G111 MKII topology and Arthur replied with, "It's an A/B design using discrete power transistors. It's an evolution of the G109-P model. If you see any reviews on that model that discuss the circuit design it will be very similar."

 

[someyoungguy]

We’ll, time to start some experimenting

I’ll try to burn the G111 mkII in for a good time first, then get down to some listening.

 

[ishmaelk]

We’ll, time to start some experimenting


I’ll try to burn the G111 mkII in for a good time first, then get down to some listening.

Great! Let us know how it went!

 

[ElMuchacho]

We’ll, time to start some experimenting


I’ll try to burn the G111 mkII in for a good time first, then get down to some listening.

We’ll, time to start some experimenting


I’ll try to burn the G111 mkII in for a good time first, then get down to some listening.

Nice, what DAC and headphones will you be using with G111?

 

[someyoungguy]

Nice, what DAC and headphones will you be using with G111?

I’ve got the Mojopoly and Violectric Chronos (there in the pic), and still have a Plenue M2- which actually sounds quite good paired with the 226. Then of course there’s the onboard DAC on the 226 - it doesn’t seem to get much love but it’s still pretty good.

For headphones my daily use cans are the B&W P7s and then the HD660S2 are in the mail. I’d previously been using the HD58X with the 226 but I wasn’t so much of a fan - it’s the second time I’ve owned the 58X and appreciate the extra bass but it never really gelled with me. Be interesting to hear how the 660S2 compares.

 

[ElMuchacho]

We’ll, time to start some experimenting


I’ll try to burn the G111 mkII in for a good time first, then get down to some listening.

We’ll, time to start some experimenting


I’ll try to burn the G111 mkII in for a good time first, then get down to some listening.

I’ve got the Mojopoly and Violectric Chronos (there in the pic), and still have a Plenue M2- which actually sounds quite good paired with the 226. Then of course there’s the onboard DAC on the 226 - it doesn’t seem to get much love but it’s still pretty good.

For headphones my daily use cans are the B&W P7s and then the HD660S2 are in the mail. I’d previously been using the HD58X with the 226 but I wasn’t so much of a fan - it’s the second time I’ve owned the 58X and appreciate the extra bass but it never really gelled with me. Be interesting to hear how the 660S2 compares.

I've considered the 660's. I like the mid range of 6XX's and detail of sumdara- the 660'seem to be a hybrid of the two.

 

[kRed]

Since my post in february, I've added some higher tier cans to my collection and I must say, the G111 Mk2 is really keeping up the pace.

Both with the HE1000 Stealth and the Verite Closed I enjoy its neutral but still slightly warm presentation. It's a great amp!

 

[kman1211]

Just got the G111 MKII in today, going to have to reevaluate all of my headphones.

 

[FritzS]

Have anyone compared them with SPL Phonitor One - are in the same price range.

​

 

[kman1211]

Quite liking the unit so far, was having some noise from my DAC, so I opened it up and changed the ground jumper to the "Lift" position which fixed the noise. Leaving the gain settings stock. Have multiple headphones to try at length on the G111 MKII, so far mostly spent time with the T1 Gen 3, HD 660S, and HD 650. The T1.3 is still my favorite headphone, but I think I am preferring the HD 660S over the HD 650 on this amp, will see if it stays that way.

 

[kman1211]

Okay managed to spend time with all my main dynamics on the G111 MKII. I would say my Beyer T1.3 and my modded Beyer DT 480 seem to of benefited the most from the amp, which is good as they're my favorite headphones. The Cal1H, K612, and A990Z are all really nice pairings with the amp as well, it brought new life to these headphones, I will spend more time these 3 to determine how much they have improved. They all sound better and more effortless.

Spent a lot of time with the HD 660S and HD 650, I have problems with both headphones for different reasons on this amp. With the HD 660S, while it brings out it's good imaging more and the HD 660S's great tuning, it also highlights a longstanding problem I've had with the HD 660S, a propensity to sound strained and lacking a sense of effortlessness. This is a problem I've always had on the HD 660S regardless of system and I view it as a flaw of the headphone not the system, but it was highlighted more on the amp. This issue is what prevents it from being better than the HD 650 and HD 600 imho.

The HD 650 doesn't have this lack of effortlessness and it never sounded strained to me. My main problem with the HD 650 on the G111 MKII is I don't really like how it stages and images much on the amp and I feel a bit mixed about it's presentation on the amp. I may change my opinion as I try more DAC's and spend more time with the amp but so far not my favorite pairing.

 

[equalspeace]

Okay managed to spend time with all my main dynamics on the G111 MKII. I would say my Beyer T1.3 and my modded Beyer DT 480 seem to of benefited the most from the amp, which is good as they're my favorite headphones. The Cal1H, K612, and A990Z are all really nice pairings with the amp as well, it brought new life to these headphones, I will spend more time these 3 to determine how much they have improved. They all sound better and more effortless.

Spent a lot of time with the HD 660S and HD 650, I have problems with both headphones for different reasons on this amp. With the HD 660S, while it brings out it's good imaging more and the HD 660S's great tuning, it also highlights a longstanding problem I've had with the HD 660S, a propensity to sound strained and lacking a sense of effortlessness. This is a problem I've always had on the HD 660S regardless of system and I view it as a flaw of the headphone not the system, but it was highlighted more on the amp. This issue is what prevents it from being better than the HD 650 and HD 600 imho.

The HD 650 doesn't have this lack of effortlessness and it never sounded strained to me. My main problem with the HD 650 on the G111 MKII is I don't really like how it stages and images much on the amp and I feel a bit mixed about it's presentation on the amp. I may change my opinion as I try more DAC's and spend more time with the amp but so far not my favorite pairing.

660S only sounds effortless on phones and DAPs. It's a really weird headphone.

 

[kman1211]

660S only sounds effortless on phones and DAPs. It's a really weird headphone.

It is, I have noticed it sounds more effortless on my Apple dongle and the like than most amps I’ve tried them on. I do plan on testing gain settings on the G111 and see if I can make it sound more effortless because I love everything else about the headphones sound. I get the feeling the 660S may prefer low gain settings.

 

[Angel III]

It is, I have noticed it sounds more effortless on my Apple dongle and the like than most amps I’ve tried them on. I do plan on testing gain settings on the G111 and see if I can make it sound more effortless because I love everything else about the headphones sound. I get the feeling the 660S may prefer low gain settings.

Set the PRE-GAIN to +6dB for the HD650s and -6dB for the HD660s. If PRE-GAIN is set well, it opens up the soundstage a lot.

 

[someyoungguy]

Hello people,

Just a little update on my experiments with the V226 and G111 mk II. I tested them using:

1. The onboard V226 DAC (i.e. using V226 as all-in-one, compared to V226 as pre-amp out in G111 RCA).
2. Mojopoly, Violectric Chronos and Plenue M2 into RCA input of each
3. Sennheiser HD600S2, B&W P7.

Across all of them I found that the 226 had a larger, deeper sound-stage. More three dimensional whereas the G111 - while still having some sense of 3D - is more tilted to a left-right presentation. Oddly I also thought the left-right 'plane' sat higher up on the G111, as in the left-right space on the V226 seemed a little lower to towards my jaw line or so, whereas the G111 left-right seemed more up around my upper head. Although the G111 doesn't offer up as large a space, it has a good gradation of left-right positioning.

The G111 doesn't have the same sense of space between instruments, and the 226 has more a better delivery of what you might call transients - the sense of sudden on/off differences from when a note is struck come across as a touch more vivid. In addition, multiple harmonic lines were more distinguishable on the 226 and drums have a bit more body and realness to them.

All of the above spells 'better' for the V226, which makes sense given the price difference. But I think the big factor is really personal taste and which will deliver the best for your own needs and preferences. Although the 226 does have plenty of space and resolution, it does have a slightly smoothed presentation which can make it seem a darker at times to my ear, with some guitar lines seeming a bit further back in the mix and veiled a little compared to G111. The G111 in this sense can come across as 'brighter' (in comparison, not that you'd think it's bright on its own) and sometimes like it pulls a bit more detail or a more complete tonality out of some tracks and instruments - at the trade-off of a smaller soundstage and less space between instruments.

In balanced the V226 loses some of that smoothness, the bass is tighter but with a bit less body. Although it is more detailed, in a sense, I personally prefer the single-ended output as the balanced can feel like notes are a little too finely 'etched', with better coherence in SE.

The interesting part of going through all this is that I'd found the cliche of synergy really comes into it. The HD660S2 really needs an amp to come alive. Straight out of Mojopoly it's not good at all. Out of curiosity I tried it straight out of Chronos and it actually isn't too bad - not as bad as I expected - but the treble is noticeably more brittle than with with either G111 or 226.

When it comes to the B&W P7s, however, I find that the best synergy (for me) is actually just straight out of the Mojo or Chronos, without either amp, as while each amp adds a bit of body, bass depth, soundstage etc. there's also a certain loss of resolution compared to straight out of Mojo or Chronos. It's the old issue where often one piece of gear isn't necessarily better across all use cases, but different, and it depends what you want out of it. The million dollar question for me is whether I really want to keep the 660S2 (or a future harder to drive headphone) or just keep my gear more minimalist without an amp. Also the Chronos has kind of "ruined" a lot of gear for me - as in I've sold some DAPs after thinking "do I really still need this when Chronos sounds so good for such a simple product?", and now I'm asking the same when it comes to my easier to drive headphones and Violectric/Lake People's desktop products. For the time being I'll hold onto both while I mull my future options.

I'm also still curious how the G105/8 would sound given the different topology and tuning. There are some aspects of the G111 sound that I prefer over the 226, so I wonder if that trend would continue into the G108, G111 and V226 seem to exist on a neutral to smooth spectrum. As always there's so much gear out there and only so much time (and money) to try it all out with.