Geek Pulse finally delivered

[garym]

Well, after a year's delay filled with an endless string of emails offering "dog ate my homework" excuses and bait-and-switch pitches trying to inflate a $199 investment into 3 grand, my Geek Pulse DAC finally arrived last week.

I guess I'd have to call the wait worth it, especially since the DAC sounds great and the announced retail price for the Xfi version is $2999.00. I paid a total of $538 for the Sfi version. The two are identical except the Xfi has balanced XLR outputs as well as single-ended RCA outputs. The Sfi has only the RCA outputs. The Xfi and Sfi versions are dual mono designs using dual Sabre ESS9018K2M DAC chips, dual "upgraded" amps, and dual femto clocks. The Sfi version will apparently not be offered at retail. They will offer a stereo version with a single DAC chip and "standard" amps and clocks for $699.00.

marketplace.lhlabs.com/collections/all

cdn.head-fi.org/d/de/de94de7d_Geek_Pulse_Configuration_Technical_Specs.jpeg

The Pulse was LH Lab's second crowd-funding campaign, following release of the Geek Out thumb-drive-size DAC the previous year, which I also backed. They kept pretty close to their planned schedule with that one. Both the Pulse and the Geek Out handle all formats up to 384/32 PCM and 6.144 MHz DSD. So I'm now able to play the few DSD files I have on on my theater system without converting to PCM first. They sound spectacular.

For those with more money than brains, LH Labs also offers the $31,000 Da Vinci DAC. You can connect it to your PC with one of their $999 cables.



www.forbes.com/sites/forbeslifestyle/2014/03/31/supersized-sound-from-davincis-31000-dual-dac/

[garbulky]

Whooee! Let us know more about your impressions of how it sounds to what you have.

[hemster]

Nice! I seem to recall it has class A goodness. Let us know how you like it.

[brubacca]

Yes, i funded a Geek Wave 32 which was promised to be exactly like the Wave 64 except the memory. That promise went away and now the Wave 32 backers have no clue when/if they will get product. I upgradd to a 64 and more than doubled my original pledge in that and some perks (dual DAC, The newer dac than the K2M). Going on a year since me pledge and nothing.

We'll see, there is no end to the offers to spend more money, but not much real information on the development.

Can't wait to hear how it sounds as i hope the Wave also sounds similar.

[garym]

May 17, 2015 18:07:16 GMT -5 garbulky said:

Whooee! Let us know more about your impressions of how it sounds to what you have.

I have only 7 DSD albums. All are excellent audio quality, even converted to PCM. But two of them, especially, seen crisper and more open in DSD through the Pulse. That impression could be skewed, however, because the Pulse outputs a 2.1V signal, so I have to crank down the UMC-200 10 db compared to input from the Sony player. I also listen to the DSDs in Direct mode (if you use any DSP mode the signal is converted to PCM, thus obliterating any advantage of DSD).

Even my PCM files sound better through the Pulse. The differences are hard to characterize, and it could be just my imagination.

The two albums that sound especially good to me are Lyn Stanley's Potions and David Elias's Crossing.

Stanley is a jazz vocalist. If you like Diana Krall you'll probably like Stanley. That album can be had for $20 through June 8. Elias is a New-Agey guitar picker and folk singer.

Stanley:

lynstanley.downloadsnow.net/potions

Elias:

www.davidelias.com/

[garym]

May 17, 2015 18:56:53 GMT -5 brubacca said:

Yes, i funded a Geek Wave 32 which was promised to be exactly like the Wave 64 except the memory. That promise went away and now the Wave 32 backers have no clue when/if they will get product. I upgradd to a 64 and more than doubled my original pledge in that and some perks (dual DAC, The newer dac than the K2M). Going on a year since me pledge and nothing.

We'll see, there is no end to the offers to spend more money, but not much real information on the development.

Yup. That was my experience also. Lots of hype, lots of pitches for "perks," constantly retreating deadlines, endless lame excuses. As one Pulse backer put it on another forum, "we're ready to storm the Bastille."

But if my experience is predictive you'll eventually get your DAC and it will sound good.

[zerafa]

i finally got my Pulse X. I am really enjoying it so far. I have a spare one as a result of the multiple offering of extra / different, new and improved version perks over the years. I combined all my perks up, and went to the Pulse X, but was very tempted for some of the higher end versions. But didn't...

I have only one unit set up right now. A pair of my Pro 5 speakers, and my hifi-man HE 560 have been the starting point.

I was surprised the difference with my XDA-2, its hard to explain, but the sound seems much more natural through the pulse. They really do a great DAC, but the business model is very terrible ... communication in this process was worse than anything i ever experienced. Delay Delay