HeadAmp Gilmore Lite mk2 Headphone Amp

[purk]

Looking awesome!  Get some Eidolic connectors, reterminate your cable for even more awesomeness.

Edited September 9, 2020 by purk

[catscratch]

First impressions of linear power supply for the GL MkII:

Compared to the stock switcher the LPS removes any edge or sibilance from the highs and makes the sound smoother, less grainy, and more effortless. The stock Glite was terrific with the HD650 but was a bit edgy with the Utopia, but with the LPS the Utopia now sounds much smoother.

I think the Glite w/LPS and HD650 pairing is a stellar deal. The amp opens up the HD650's soundstage and improves its imaging, getting rid of the 3-blob effect. It also clears up congestion in the lower midrange and tightens up the bass. Just a very synergistic pairing if you like a more solid state presentation.

With the Utopia, it's still a reasonably good pairing, but only if you have the LPS. Stock power supply sounds edgy and harsh, but with the LPS and a little bit of EQ to reign in the highs the Utopia sounds very nice. Open, clear, highly resolving, reasonably punchy, and with a good midrange tone. But with my chronic allergy to highs I still need EQ to make it sound natural.

Overall I think the Glite with the LPS is worth $800 more than the stock amp is worth $500. The stock amp is great with the HD650 and other warmer cans while the upgraded amp is great period.

[ilikebananafudge]

I agree with your assessment about the Utopias and the GL2, catscratch. I'm really enjoying the pairing and I think I'll park here for a while in terms of gear.

I ended up buying the Astrodyne a while ago to tide me over until the HeadAmp LPS arrived, and while the Astrodyne is an improvement over the stock switcher, the LPS is much better than the Astrodyne. The Astrodyne smoothed out the edges a bit and improved the bass response, but it sounded kind of compressed and distant, which the LPS completely solves.

[TheSloth]

On 1/8/2020 at 8:49 PM, ilikebananafudge said:

I got curious and I dug around on HF for a while and found these posts that imply that the Base Station can be used interchangeably with the Desktop Power Supply, so it looks like your guess was correct!

What a blast from the past! It’s almost eerie to see things I posted 15 years ago, long forgotten.

If it’s still relevant, yes the DPS and Base Station are interchangeable, but the current delivery of the Base Station is much lower (the DPS was designed to power 6 devices simultaneously).

I can’t vouch for the pin out, but it was indeed quite common to use HR power supplies for the Gilmore Lite which makes me think they are the same.

[purk]

Yes, the HR DPS can power the Gilmore lite M2.  Justin confirmed it and I tried it out with a great result.

[Knuckledragger]

I'm glad I never sold mine.  (GLite V.1 or its DPS.)  I did send The World's Fattest Wallwart to the World's Fattest Headed Mexican a while back, but I digress...

[Pars]

The DPS or required PSU pinout would match the Elpac wallwart these used to come with.

V1 is V+, V2 is V-. From the datasheet:

[blessingx]

On 9/5/2020 at 1:08 PM, Aura said:

doesn’t suck.

Still doesn’t suck. 
 

[Voltron]

Cool bentwood amp stand. Made by the same people who make the headphone stands? Can't remember who it is but I have one of them 

[blessingx]

I think you have the Sieveking Omega stand. One of mine is also. The other is a newer, cheaper made, random brand X Omega stand (lots of options) that’s 1/7th the price and probably why no one stocks the Sieveking any longer (if they even make them). The amp stand, aka monitor/laptop stand, is made by Navaris, and dimensions work well with the GS-X Mini. 

Edited July 20, 2021 by blessingx