The amp has nearly two weeks of run time, so I consider it broken in. It's been fed a continuous stream of music except for a brief moment around the 24 hour mark, when I swapped out the stock PC for an XLO Ref 3 (used, but new to me).
First, just want to note a couple things: the color in product pics online is a serious misrepresentation. Second pic is the unit I received.
At first I thought I got the wrong one; but this is the limited edition ash. Was expecting a kind of grey-washed stain look, but it's more like walnut. A bit bummed, as the rest of my gear is silver, but it's not a big deal, and at least the faceplate is metal.
Second, it runs warmer than I expected. Not alarming or burn-your-hand hot but those top vents are there for a good reason. I adjusted my flexi rack to give it more space. Again, not a big deal.
I'm not good at audio-speak, and I'm not the kind who's heard the kind of jaw-dropping, night and day differences that some have experienced when changing gear. It's always been fairly subtle and incremental with the system changes I've made.
One track I often use to test new gear is
The Emperor's New Clothes by Sinead O'Connor, which starts with sharp drumstick cracks, followed by a kind of chugging sound, which I assume is a processed / modified guitar. This chugging sound can sound muddy and indistinct if the system isn't fast enough. The GaN400 played it, (and the drumsticks) as clearly as I've heard.
In fact, drums sounds are something I especially noticed... the brushed drums that open
Goat Girl by Tanya Donelly were in-the-room convincing.
Since I traded my Cherry monos, I can't do a direct comparison. Those amps were also fast and detailed; I would say the GaN400 is incrementaly more so. Can't say for sure if there's any real difference in bass quality. Staging and dimensionality are on par, or maybe a little better.
I did hear some subtle sounds in familiar tracks that I hadn't noticed before, although some sounds I knew and was expecting seemed
slightly less pronounced... everything is a trade-off. Which is the more accurate rendition? This amp won't smooth over bad recordings, but good ones sound great. Low-level listening is very good.
The GaN400 has more power than the Cherries. With my Coda 07x pre, I would have to up the volume to around 20 to wake up the Cherries, and get any sound. With the Peachtree, I can dial down to 00 and still sound comes through the speakers, which is a little bizarre. (Muting the Coda does silence it.)
I think there is slightly more tweeter hiss with the Peachtree. It's still small, and I can't hear it from the listening position, but the Cherries were quieter when putting an ear up to the speakers. The Benchmark AHB2 I had a while ago was really silent.
I still want to play around with the limited choices I have here in power and speaker cables, and see if there are more improvements possible.
