[BoyNamedSue]

Took delivery of my Grounded Grid from Joe and his team a few days ago and finally got it setup last night. Joe and Vince were a tremendous help in getting it set up (e.g., checking voltages, biasing tubes, etc...), especially for a noob in electronics like myself.

My first impressions of SQ were very positive with my 009's. I was tired after the tube biasing process so I couldn't do any concentrated listening, but some qualities that jumped out at me right away were: gobs and gobs of detail, super transparent, expansive soundstage, extends very high with zero fatigue, and bass is fast, tight and impactful.

A unique strength that stood out was the amps ability to resolve distance. It was easy to discern how close and far sounds were. It was crazy that some sounds seemed to emanate from far away given I was listening to headphones. Another example, when listening to a live track, I was able to tell when the artist was closer or further away from the mic, or when there was head movements. No gear I have ever owned has been able to resolve this level of detail.

I previously owned the Woo WES and KGSSHV Carbon. Based on memory, it sounded like a veil was lifted compared to the Woo WES; and more lush, sweet, and musical compared to the Carbon. Comparisons are unreliable though as they are only from memory, and admit that "new toy syndrome" may be at play.

My wife who is usually critical of the expensiveness of this hobby, upon first listening, said "this was a good buy, I think you're going to keep this one," knowing my penchant for swapping out gear. She thought the GG/009 combo was as good as the Sennheiser HE-1 she heard at the LA audio show.

I'll post some more impressions, and perhaps a review at some point, with more listening. So grateful to Joe and his team for building this amp, and Kevin Gilmore for designing it. BTW, Joe did a really nice job with the chassis - super sturdy and pleasing to the eyes.

 

[paradoxper]

My jaw is always dropped upon grabbing GG and 009 regardless of music genres

Oh, your music selection should sing.

 

[Whitigir]

Congratulations on your new toy !

Oh, your music selection should sing.

Well, GG and 009 sings to me regardless of genres LoL or selections

 

[paradoxper]

Well, GG and 009 sings to me regardless of genres LoL or selections

I'm well surprised at how forgiving the 009 is of your selections.

Or, uh, mine, too.

 

[Whitigir]

I'm well surprised at how forgiving the 009 is of your selections.

Or, uh, mine, too.

I know! Gotta have KG a toast, the man, the legend!

 

[BoyNamedSue]

I've listened through all my favorite tracks on the GG, along with a binge of classical/organ music (e.g., Jehan Alain), and have some more impressions paired with stax 009 and audio-gd master 7 as source...

* The sound is so pure and clean. No distortion whatsoever. Can listen at super high levels and still pleasant.
* High extends almost endlessly but not fatiguing at all. No brightness/sibilance/harshness at all unless it is in the recording.
* All sound elements fleshed out. Can discern all sound objects so easy.
* There is air around all the sounds such that the sound stage never feels congested.
* I've been controlling volume using my pre-amp (for practical reasons), and turning the volume on GG to the max. On the Woo WA5 with same preamp, turning volume to max on the WA5 produces some humming which gets drowned out once music starts playing. However, there is zero noise/complete silence with volume at max with no music playing.
* The tone is sweet and pleasant, without being too euphonic. Not sure if this is due to the tubes I am using (vintage Svetlana's, apparently made in original St. Peterburg's factory by the original Svetlana company).
* The amp has no problem with speed. The sound is fast when its needed (each note is clearly reproduced with no blurriness/muddiness during fast and complex passages).
* Overall the music sounds very life like.

Indirectly, I'm impressed by my DAC's abilitiy to resolve this kind of sound. I realize that my previous amp (a Woo WES) was bottlenecking the DAC's performance.

 

[Whitigir]

Hey, welcome to the club now that you have one of the Stax great amp! Would you consider Woo WA-8 for your 009 ? Joking.

You have described the sound pretty well, now, let's bust the "Stax has no bass myth" How is your 009 and GG in bass performances?

 

[BoyNamedSue]

Any tracks you recommend for testing out bass? I listen to mostly vocal jazz so there isn't much deep or hard hitting bass in my musical choices.

Despite my musical taste, instruments that produce deep/low tones sound very natural. In general, the bass sounds detailed, clean (as opposed to muddy), and fast. The GG has more bass impact than my previous Woo WES, but not as much impact as the Carbon. I remember being impressed by how hard hitting the Carbon was when driving the 009s.

Compared to my dynamic system, the bass of the GG/009 combo is not as hard hitting or tactile as my Abyss or HE-6 setups, but the GG/009 sound definitely more refined, detailed ,and cleaner. I think the Abyss and HE1000's have too much sub-bass at times which muddies the rest of frequency range, and the HE-6 sounds artificially punchy which makes them fun to listen to but not as accurate.

The bass on the GG/009 sound accurate and seems to get out of the way of the musical gestalt, in which the focus is more on the tonality of actual instruments versus the gear's sound signature.

 

[Whitigir]

You can try Batman , the Dark knight sound track

 

[BoyNamedSue]

Nice. I think have that one already. Will give it a listen tonight. I remember it having great sub-bass.

 

[Whitigir]

Nice. I think have that one already. Will give it a listen tonight. I remember it having great sub-bass.

Totally , and the 009 has the most beautiful sub bass that I have heard, either pairing with Carbon or GG. The bass on 009 to me is so beautifully balanced, with authority that will strongly present when called upon. It is the perfect bass (well, almost perfect because our world is not perfect!) lol

 

[BoyNamedSue]

To add to discussion on Stax 009 and bass, I did some analytical listening comparing Stax 009 versus the Abyss (one of my favorite cans for bass). I listened to three of my favorite movie tracks that are pretty bassy: Inception - Mombasa, Dark Knight - Dogs Chasing Cars, and Mad Max Fury Road - Redemption. I took detailed notes for each track but will just summarize my findings as my observations were pretty consistent across tracks.

Audio-GD Master 7 was used as DAC, feeing a Audio-GD Master 8 as pre-amp which made it easy to switch back and forth. Both amps have own volume control for volume matching.

KGHV Grounded Grid >>> Stax 009
Woo Audio WA5 >>> Abyss 1266 (non-Phi)

Summary Findings:
* The bass notes on the Abyss had slightly more weight, felt more tactile, and had more impact/attack. However, the bass on Abyss sounded a bit more bloated.
* The decay of bass notes was faster and cleaner on the Stax, whereas the decay on Abyss seemed to linger a bit longer.
* The sub bass was too much on Abyss, especially on the Dark Knight track, which in turn over-powered and muddied the mids and highs. In contrast, the sub-bass on the Stax sounded like the right amount and never seemed to overstep its bounds.
* Bass notes sounded more detailed and textured on the Stax 009.
* Both Stax and Abyss seemed to have no trouble reproducing any low frequencies, including sub-bass. I did not hear any distortion or strain at all. Both seemed to reproduce bass with authority.
* On both cans, the bass notes seemed to emanate from actual instruments rather than just sounding bassy.
* The bass on the Abyss sound like I am in a movie theatre, it has a grand and all-enveloping quality to it. It is also more energetic/exciting. In constrast, the bass on Stax sounded more contained/reserved. I felt more "pumped up" by the bass on Abyss. I think Abyss is hard to beat for watching movies.
* On about 1:50 mark of the Dark Knight track, there is a build up where the sound goes from low to high volume. The Stax presented the build-up really nicely, whereas the Abyss sounded compressed in that the whole buildup sounded loud.
* I found myself more emotionally engaged with the Abyss on the Inception and Mad Max tracks, but liked the Stax better for the Dark Knight track.
* Overall, the Abyss seemed to have more bass quantity (almost like having a subwoorder in the mix), whereas the Stax 009s had better bass quality (more detailed, did not leak into other frequencies).

Overall, I can't say that one is better than the other in the bass department. They seem to differ in their pros and cons. I guess this supports Whitigir's claim that the Stax 009's do bass very well if it is at same level as the Abyss' bass, which I consider one of the best cans for bass.

 

[phaeton70]

Hello there, new GG owner here (almost...ordered, still waiting for delivery ), will power a 009

Can I ask how many other GG owners out there, and if they are still happy with the toy after sometime? I don't see so many discussions about the KGHVGG, maybe is that because it's quite new? I have chosen it versus the Carbon because I like more its tubey sound.

What's the general consesus about tubes? I like fast, detailed sond, but with a touch of warmth. I will use SED =C= but I'm open to suggestions.

 

[Whitigir]

Hello there, new GG owner here (almost...ordered, still waiting for delivery ), will power a 009

Can I ask how many other GG owners out there, and if they are still happy with the toy after sometime? I don't see so many discussions about the KGHVGG, maybe is that because it's quite new? I have chosen it versus the Carbon because I like more its tubey sound.

What's the general consesus about tubes? I like fast, detailed sond, but with a touch of warmth. I will use SED =C= but I'm open to suggestions.

You get that right about the tubes. Winged C is ok, but I found the modern JJ is of almost similar performances and is cheaper.

 

[phaeton70]

ok, great!!! I have 2 quartets of SED =C= (bought some time ago for another project and never used...) so I should be ok for the next years