10 MORE THOUGHTS on the Peachtree GAN-1 ✍🏻 ('Dear John')

Hey John, it’s been a while but have to weigh in on this one. The PCM-PWM conversion technology has been around for some 20+ years now. I believe Tact and Sharp were early manufacturers on the scene with stereo amplifiers/integrated amplifiers, then Panasonic, Sony and JVC soon thereafter with multi-channel home theater receivers. There may have been others. I was an early adopter of this technology soon after realizing how clear and dynamic it sounded compared to very good analog systems I had at the time. That these solutions were much less expensive (except the Tact and maybe the Sharp) was a huge plus. At the time, I also found Tact room correction and digital crossover units to work very well with my three way, Apogee Mini-Grand speakers. I found the Panasonic units (SA- XR 45, 50, 55, 57, 70, 300 and SA-BX 500) to sound excellent and offer many features and options for bi-amping, tri-amping, channel time-delay, etc. to be very versatile when used with the digital outputs of the Tact digital preamps/room correction units. Later, NAD began manufacturing an M2 amplifier (2008?). At 250 WPC and $6000, It was much more powerful than predecessors. Later yet, 2009? NAD introduced the C390DD which had modular input card capability and might I say is still very fictional today with a BluOS card in it, giving it full digital streaming capability along with MQA. I have owned many of the Panasonic units, a Tact digital amp, both the NAD units mentioned and most recently two Technics SU-G700 units using a MiniDSP nano-digi digital crossover to route pcm digital signals to a three way system including Apogee Duetta Signatures and open baffle servo subs from GR-Research. With no analog in the signal chain and no passive components between amplifiers and speaker drivers, the sound is super holographic, dynamic, and distortion free. Anyone wanting the hear the fully digital difference on a budget should find themselves a used Panasonic SA-XR 70 or 57 on eBay and give it a try. I think you will not be disappointed!😊

I have this node/Gan1 setup and find it to be exceptionally clear, clean and lively.

I will say, I appreciate that you don’t slag manufacturers for telling you no. They don’t owe you anything, especially free time with their product. That said, “It’d be a lot cooler if [they] did.”

What i really admire about your channel is that you make a huge effort to open the conversation about hifi rather than dig a trench and take a side. Long may it continue. Thank you

Love the B&W speakers behind you. Hope to see a review of them soon.

gan fets are the future. outstanding job mr. darko.

John, your honesty about what you do in these reviews, what you like in a product and in audio in general, and how you do these things is absolutely what keeps me coming back. Love it!

I own the NAD Masters M33 with the Purify Eigentakt amplifier. I would be very interested in a comparison of this amps sound vs the GAN1.

interesting and informative as always! thank you john!

well done! thanks for doing this

Another interesting video John. You always give us something to think about. 🙂

Great discussion. Love these Dear John videos.

Masterful as ever John, thanks for the infotainment. Can’t wait for the CD/amp reviews. Peace and believe etc.

Hi John, just to clarify, yes you "do" get subwoofer out from an SHD Studio. You can map input 1, 2 to Out 1, 2 via Dirac stage. After that you can add high-pass and low-pass filters to the two channels and sum the low-pass output from 1 and 2 into Out 3 which then becomes your subwoofer output. I have a Minidsp Flex which is similar with an added DAC and analog outs. I do the same thing. I use Linkwitz-Riley filters, 24DB per octave slope for the High and Low pass filters. The Minidsp units are extremely flexible. You can even do two subwoofers outs if you do not sum.

Thanks again for the great content. IMO, the sound is the only thing that matters, whether analog, digital or something in between, doesn’t matter.

Best video ever More like this please

I just wanted to thank you for helping me learn about what audio quality is possible. I have returned to listening to music as a listening therapy.

yes, me too. Really think these follow ups work very well indeed. They really supplement and reinforce the initial video piece. Great stuff.

Thanks much, John, for introducing music and audio lovers about these new and interesting technologies. Great stuff as always! 🎵

And yes: I like your attitude in dealing with Hi-Fi gears. Thanks for your efforts, I do appreciate your stick-to-the-point words.