HeadAmp GS-X Mini Balanced Headphone Amplifier/PreAmp

Official AMP/DAC/DAP Model Discussion
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First off, thank you @rrwwss52 @angstorms @ProfFalkin @eric75 for all of the replies! Definitely a lot to think on here.

@angstorms, I’d be very curious to hear you compare the sound qualities of the Pendant vs. the GS-X Mini if you’re willing! I assume if you kept the Mini, you must still find value in it despite having the Pendant, so I’d be interested to hear what endears it to you.

@ProfFalkin Always hard when you reach the summit of a quality on your first swing, makes everything that follows a lesson in appreciating other qualities :smiley:

@eric75 Unfortunately, yes. The VC live on high gain on the Pendant. I did another round of A/B tests today just to test my own sanity given how much praise the VC/Pendant pair gets everywhere. Either the Rad-0 are truly amazing or my ears are whacked (or both haha).

@rrwwss52 I believe I recall seeing you write about that before either here or elsewhere, and I remember noting that I would take your advice on the fan if I ever bit on the Mini. What would you say is the difference between the Mini and the MJ2 outside of the enhanced accuracy and blackness? I’ve read a good deal about the wideness of soundstage the Mini imparts. Is that your experience with it?

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GSX-mini versus MJ2. GSX-mini sounds better to me, is accurate and doesn’t add anything to the music. The MJ2 is a nice amp, but the extra refinement and blackness set the GSX-mini apart from the MJ2. For me the MJ2 was a stepping stone amp. I outgrew it quickly.

I am a big fan of tubed amps and have two of the same style (dual tubed output, single tube input, and solid state rectifier). An amps and sounds Kenzie, and a Kenzie Encore. The MJ2 was sold after I purchased the second Kenzie.

I would prefer to use the Encore over the MJ2 and after a time, the MJ2 didn’t get a lot of use since the Kenzie amp just sounded better. I reconfigured my main cabinet to put the Encore in service in the living room. I moved the MJ2 to the office, and replaced it shortly thereafter with a Kenzie OG.

The Pendant is a very capable HA. It is made by ampsandsounds so the craftsmanship is top notch. Same with the headamp gear.

My preference is listening to the ampsandsounds tubed amps over the GSX-mini, but that is a choice of preference, not performance. Both do a great job reproducing music into my headphone collection. I probably would not have purchased the GSX-mini, except I needed something accurate to drive my HE6se. The tubed amps and my other solid state amps lacked the 2+w of horsepower I needed. Hope that helps.

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Trust your ears. Preferences and synergy play a critical role in our enjoyment of equipment. If the MJ2 is sounding better to you, then it IS better for you. I’ve learned to just try my gut/ears when evaluating, even if it seems counter to trend. The MJ2 is a really fun amp, my buddy had one and let me borrow it at will, so I’m quite familiar with it. It’s a highly engaging amp, especially with the right tubes. I can see where it’s tuning would sound better to people vs the Pendant.

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Looks like this AMP does 4W into 50Ohm’s, does anyone know what the GS-X MK2 does?

I reached out but they have not replied about it. Cannot locate specs on the site either.

Thanks everyone. I checked the form above, I didn’t see it, I will keep looking, if I find it I will delete the post, sorry if this questions been asked before.

Edit: I didn’t find it in this thread, thanks everyone :slight_smile:

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I absolutely love this amp. It makes everyone of my cans sound better then any other amp I have tried on them. There is a holography to the sound that I hear and the touch of warmth and texture it adds in the bass and detail make it a very enjoyable experience for me. This is probably the best purchase I have made to date. I’m feeding it balanced with a Gustard a18 and single ended at the moment from a Burson Composer via optical. The Burson had a bad USB module so Burson is going to send me a new one for me to replace. This, to me, is an amp everyone should at least hear if not own (if you have the budget for it). The DACT stepped attenuator is excellent as well.

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I just wanted to follow up, the GSX Mini I think does 4Watts but IDK if that’s at 50Ohms, 16ohms, its unknown.

Same thing with the GSX MK2, I think that does 6Watts but IDK what Ohm that is at.

Both amps could do 4w & 6w into 16ohms, meaning at 50 ohms that’s like 2.5 or 4watts depending on the amp. The A90 does 4.8 watts at 50ohm’s, I already have that amp. I was hoping this mini or MK2 could do more, but they don’t want to divulge that information oddly enough. At the price point I was hoping for more information :frowning: that’s a bummer.

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Headamp have actual specs for the GS-X Mini on the product page now (they didn’t used to).

6W @25Ω / 4W @50Ω / 2W @100Ω Balanced Output
1.5W @25Ω/ 1W @50Ω/ 500mW @100Ω SE Phones Out

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Well I placed an order last night for a GSX Mini in Satin Blue! Already excited but I also know in the current climate I might be waiting a few weeks.

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This is new, about a month ago when I was looking at solid state options they did not have this information up. Ironically I checked their big boy GSX amp and no specs listed there, perhaps they are updating one at a time their webpage?

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Oooh! You have a Soloist, right? Would be awesome for a comparison of these two…do share your thoughts if you are able to!

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No unfortunately I don’t have a Soloist. I’m a channel Patreon of Passion for Sound, and he loves his so I know a lot about the design and have asked him questions. It was on my short list as well but ended up going with the GSX Mini!

I think @Phil_Bog said he might grab one and compare though.

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I’m a huge fan of the GSX-Mini. As @Gravitas mentioned, there’s just the right amount of warmth to the sound. I agree that holographic is another great descriptor for this amp. For me it combines the best strengths of solid state (dead silent background, speed, dynamics) with some of the best tube qualities (holographic presentation, sense of space around instruments, slight euphonic presentation). I honestly didn’t know I could get those qualities from a solid state amp until I heard this one. HeadAmp did a great job with it.

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Friend of mine is sending me his Soloist 3X in a few days. I can compare with my GSX mini then to whoever is interested.

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Very interested! Specifically with overall neutrality vs coloring and clarity.

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Yeah, I’m definitely interested in that as well :+1:

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Would love the comparison thx.

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I absolutely love the Headamp GSX-mini. By far the best solid state amp I have ever heard. Currently running it on my HD 650, they scale great with it. Looking to upgrade my headphones shortly but the 650 will do for now.
I love the class A warmth of the GSX-mini and the absolutely black background. Very happy with my purchase.

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GSX mini vs Burson Soloist 3X

So I’ve been listening to both of these amplifiers to see what the fuss was about. And I think I get it now. Well, sort of.

Keeping in mind:
The GSX mini is an $1800 fully Class A amplifier with an optional $200 DACT attenuator upgrade.
The Burson Soloist 3X is a $1145 fully Class A amplifier with optional op amp rolling options.

I did all my listening using headphones via the balanced 4 pin XLR outs on both amplifiers.
I don’t think you should use these amplifiers single-ended unless you have to.

As far as power, GSX mini seems to have more power, especially at higher impedances.
Mini: 6W at 25 ohms, 4W at 50 ohms, 2W at 100 ohms (from HeadAmp’s site)
Soloist: 8W at 16 ohms, 4W at 32 ohms, 1W at 100 ohms (from Bloom audio)

First the GSX mini. The music sounds powerful yet smooth and controlled. The impressive technical performance is really apparent. The background is shockingly black with no music playing.
I think the amplifier is mostly very neutral sounding though it might slightly lean bright. I have not heard the GSX MK2 but some say that the Mini retains some of the signature brightness from the MK2. The amplifier is also quite holographic and full bodied. I really like it. When I first had this amplifier I compared it with my Topping A90 and the A90 sounded like a brick wall of sound in comparison to the holographic GSX mini. It’s probably not tube amp levels of depth or staging at this price but it’s still impressive. Not everyone wants to deal with tubes or distortion.

Now the Soloist 3X. With the default red Vivid op amps installed I liked the presentation the most. It wasn’t trying to outright impress me in its technical performance but it was more fun and laid back and surprised me occasionally with its dynamics. It didn’t have as much weight to music but was more airy sounding. It also retains that holographic presentation to my ears, which I believe people associate with Class A amplifiers. It’s not as bright as the mini, but I suppose that means it’s closer to neutral? It’s certainly not warm though I’m sure my Bottlehead Crack has skewed my perception of what warm is.
I wonder where this stereotype that “Class A amplifiers sound warm” came from. :thinking:

Anyways when I swapped to the orange Classic op amps, I could notice a slight edge to the music now. I wasn’t particularly fond of it to be honest. If you prefer that sound then more power to you, but I think it made the amplifier too lean sounding for a marginal detail improvement. The op amps also cost a pretty penny.

As a bonus, I swapped in some Sparkos Labs SS3602 dual op amps. Unlike the Burson op amps, you need to be extra careful to orient them properly or you’ll probably damage the amplifier. The Sparkos were quite different. They sounded very clean, wide, and detailed. Unfortunately this came at the cost of being too bright. Brighter than I was comfortable with as my planar magnetic headphones especially just sounded sibliant.

To my ears the Mini has better resolution, imaging, and fullness to the music overall. Partially due to more power I’m sure. HOWEVER, as everyone knows you really need to get into synergy balancing. The DAC I used throughout this comparison was the Schiit Bifrost 2 which some have called warm.
If the Bifrost is masking the GSX mini to seem less bright than it is, that should be accounted for. If you have a brighter, harsher sounding DAC you may prefer the tonality of the default Soloist over the GSX mini. As a rough estimate, I think the Soloist hit around 75-80% the technical performance and fullness on the GSX mini for my planars and 85-90% the performance on my dynamics.

I prefer the GSX mini more on my chain and I hope to upgrade my DAC and tube amp in the near future. (Holo Spring 3?)

TLDR
To my ears, you get what you pay for but make sure to balance the synergy in your audio chain.
The Mini was fuller bodied, brighter, more technically capable, and more powerful.
The Soloist was more fun, neutral, airy, and has the added benefit of op amp rolling.

As far as my preference:
For my planars the GSX mini was a clear cut above the Soloist.
For my dynamics the GSX mini was still the winner, although by a slimmer margin.

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Great comparison, thanks for taking the time to share

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Sure no problem. There were more people interested in this comparison than I thought so I just typed whatever I felt like I could.

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