For Headamp amps
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I had a GSX MK2 for about 3-4 months last year while I was waiting for my eddie current to be built. Very very solid amp especially since the design is getting a little long in the tooth, definitely still competes with other amps in the range like the v281 (maybe the v550 too?) and since the mk2 has been out for a while now you can easily find deals on it for half off or more versus msrp.
I found the amp to be a technical class a beast in that 1.5k range, very neutral with a bright lean, but never harsh and brings great clarity to the sound. I felt it’s strengths were in its low level detail retrieval, speed, and microdynamics, the amps also conveys great energy imo. At the time I didn’t realize but after moving up to higher tier amps I notice in retrospect that the gsx had a tendency to not be the most accurate timbre wise and did come off as slightly unnatural at times, but that is off of memory and i had no issues with those aspects at the time.
it woud be interesting if a mk3 came out in the future to improve further on the design
@elementze you got a GSX mini recently right? any thoughts or early impressions so far?
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I unfortunately did feel that the amp pushed a number of cans harsh and wasnt a massive fan, but yah. It really just mops the floor with all the standard 1.5k options on a technical level.
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I think it is very source dependent in that regard, with my amber 3 I never found it sounding harsh unless it was the recording itself.
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Generally both the mk2 and the mini are reasonably dac picky, pairing with anything cleaner is typically a miss, I personally prefer something that’s a bit more laid back and relaxed side of things, pairing options I’d focus on would be stuff like the holo dacs, msb, metrum/sonnet stuff, actually totaldac was a good pairing, crane song as well. I did like lampi on there but I didn’t think it was ideal with the mk2 but I bet it would be better with the mini
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I agree, it does run on the bright side of neutral, in the same way the V280 runs on the warm side is neutral.
The sense of speed is very present, I never feel like the amp is struggling to keep up with the music. It makes it fun to listen to, giving a sense of unlimited power on tap (like a sports car with the right power to weight ratio - feels effortless).
I’ve only got two DACs to try with it: BF2 and dac2541. The nature of each DAC certainly comes through. The BF2 balances out the slight bright leaning of the gs-x better than the dac2541.
So far I enjoy my lcd-2pf, th900 MK2, Eikons, hd6xx the most (in that order). My Utopia and dt880 600ohm come through more bright than I care for. (But my god, the punch/slam/speed of the Utopia on this amp is in a whole other world).
Running iLoud MTM monitors from it is a real pleasure. The detail and sound stage come though, much more depth of sound stage on these speakers than I’ve heard before.
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I no longer have any HeadAmp gear, but I was a huge fan in 2019-2020 before the DACT-24 module on my GS-X mini randomly broke, causing the right channel to come through at approximately 75% of max volume until reaching that level, then it would continue increasing as expected. It was so weird and happened randomly when I was simply adjusting the volume during one session with the HD800 when I was trying to figure out if I liked them or not (I didn’t). I contacted Justin and explained the whole situation to him and since it was like March of 2020 and I’d just received my GS-X mini from the initial run (SN: #0033 or 36) in November, so it was absolutely under warranty.
It took him days to respond, meanwhile he was regularly updating their Instagram page, and engaging with commenters, so I was pretty annoyed. I even bought a Gilmore Lite MK2 which shipped out like an hour after I purchased it. It took me emailing him two more times before getting an acknowledgement, but he sent a label and I shipped it back.
It sat there for 9 fucking weeks without him even looking at it. I had to email REPEATEDLY to find out what the status was and it was just a defunct DACT-24 module that simply needed to be swapped out and that took almost 10 weeks to do. The experience soured me immensely on him and his brand and despite my love of the GS-X mini and the GLMK2 I was using in the meantime, I didn’t trust him or want to be beholden to his ridiculous timelines any longer, so I started researching additional amps and headphones.
At the time, my daily driver was the MrSpeakers (lol what a ridiculous name his company used to have) Ether 2 and they were incredible through both the GS-X mini and the GLMK2. There was serious synergy there and when I finally got the GS-X mini back, I decided to experiment.
The GS-X mini’s strengths were its incredible bass performance; it was one of the tightest, punchiest, and most bass-detailed amps I’d heard to that point (this was early on in my audiophile journey and was the most expensive/highest-end amp I owned so far), especially compared to the Schiit Ragnarok it replaced, but the stage was somewhat narrow, mids were just decent, and highs were somewhat subdued. I didn’t realize all that about the mids and highs until I had the GLMK2 in my posession.
That amp still has some of the best highs I’ve ever heard. They seemed to reach endlessly up with so much air and space, but with incredible sparkle and detail. Mids were lifelike/realistic and the stage width was huge, especially compared to the GS-X mini. The only place it truly lacked was in bass, and back then, I was definitely still focused more on quantity of bass. The GLMK2 has excellent bass texture/detail and extension, but it’s not overly punchy or present in the mix (from memory). Once adjusting to it, I was fine with it and there was always EQ to boost things, but I was definitely left wanting.
So with the GS-X mini back and hearing it for how it truly is compared to the GLMK2, I decided to preamp the GLMK2 with the GS-X mini. Attenuation was handled on the GS-X mini, with the GLMK2 at 100% volume and the results were amazing: it was the best of both amps without the negatives of either. I could not believe how fantastic the stack sounded (I was using a Metrum Onyx at this point, having rejected the Schiit Gumby A1 fully despite the endless praise for it) and I still think fondly back to it. EDIT: I totally forgot about the Golden Reference Power Supply that Justin made for the GLMK2. I think I had #0016 of those, but that was another game-changer. It improved everything about the GLMK2 so much, I preferred that amp completely to the GS-X mini, comparing them head-to-head. The GRPS didn’t give the same punch/impact or warmth that the GS-X mini had, but it elevated the amp so much, that it was hard to go back to just the GS-X mini. And in the stack with the GS-X mini preamping the GLMK2, it just further refined everything about that already-amazing sound. But, despite all that, I was so focused on what else was out there and what I was “missing” that I didn’t truly appreciate what I had. If this stack sounded that good, then other stacks must sound even better!
I decided at this point, I would keep the HeadAmp stuff while I continued experimenting. The KOSS ESP/95X collaboration with Massdrop was alive back then and after lots of reading, I decided to snag those. They were only like $450 and according to lots of sources, they sounded great stock, but with a cable adapter to use it with Stax amps, they operated at a whole new level. Plus, there were aftermarket leather pads available that also really helped with bass. So I got all that and picked up a Stax SRM-353X after a few weeks of using it stock.
As expected, the aftermarket pads made a noticeable improvement across the board, but especially in the bass. The SRM-353X really elevated the ESP/95X to a whole different plane. Through that amp, those headphones beat the HD800 to me. They didn’t have as enormous of a stage nor as wide of separation, but those were the things I hated about the HD800 anyway: they felt fake and forced. There was another synergy happening with the ESP/95X and SRM-353X that was far greater than the individual parts indicated.
I decided to preamp with the GS-X mini again, with the SRM-353X at full volume and handling the attenuation on the GS-X mini. Once again: this amp made a paradigm-shifting change to the stack. The slight hint of warmth and its insane grip on bass gave the ESP/95X ridiculous levels of slam and a lush, almost wet aspect that truly made music sound alive and in the room, not just a recording being played back.
I stuck with that whole setup for a long time before getting a great deal on the EAR HP-4 and a pair of ZMF Atticus and Verite C. I didn’t find any synergy between the HeadAmp amps and the ZMF headphones, despite both companies pushing the other. I found the sound of the ZMFs intoxicating through the HP-4 and ended up never really returning to either of the GS-X mini-based stacks, finally selling all of that gear previously mentioned.
Now, years later, I’m using mostly studio gear for headphones as I find the ZMF signature to be far too colored and incapable of properly representing the music I listen to. I remember the Ether 2 and ESP/95X stacks quite fondly and wish I’d never sold them now. I might still have ended up at studio gear, but I think I’d keep the ESP/95X stack for sure. I’ve got the Shure SRH1840 right now and they remind me a lot of the ESP/95X, both in terms of sound and comfort, but they’re not quite the same.
Anyway, that’s enough rambling. Great amps, questionable company owner is what my experience comes down to.
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GS-X mini is to this day, many amps later, one of my top favorite pieces of gear I ever owned.
What’s your chain like these days?
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For headphones: I’ve got a RPi4 w/Pi2AES > Monarchy Audio DIP Classic (coax) > Fully rebuilt/customized Adcom GDA-600.
Then, it either goes to the EAR HP-4 (w/a quad of Sophia 6SL7s) and Atticus/Verite C, OR the Rupert Neve RNHP and SRH1840/MDR-7506/ATH-M50x.
I bought the RNHP (replacing a Magni Heresy) to use during the summer because my upstairs office gets sweltering and 4 tubes helps nothing, but it’s such a phenomenal sounding amp that I greatly prefer it to the HP-4/ZMF lineup to the point that I’m seriously considering selling all that stuff and just sticking with the mid-fi studio gear because I love it and the presentation it all provides so much.
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It’s a thing in late stage audiophilia, when you can revisit equipment chains that have a lot of synergy and give you a ton of bang for the buck. When you’re not looking at it as a “giant killer” but just as it’s own piece of gear doing what it does best.
Not long ago I realized that I had well over twice the amount of money invested in headphones than I did in speakers and I consider myself a 2-CH guy. The equipment churn is good for the hobby.
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Honestly, it’s like I experienced the Bell Curve meme in real life with all this stuff. Started with a Schiit Modi Multibit + Vali 2 (after hating the Chord Mojo and returning it) with the HD6XX and was blown away. I thought there was no way to beat this, then instead of just being happy and going on with my life, fell into the trap and started climbing the Curve, trying everything I could before ultimately ending up pretty much right back where I started. The ATH-M50x were the second set of headphones I ever owned and I didn’t like them at all at the time, but now I know it’s because they’re awful with tubes.
I was using them for Zoom calls and other online meetings at work and just put Spotify on one day and was shocked at how incredibly detailed they were along with how hard bass hit. I started using them directly connected to my laptop before getting the Magni Heresy which further improved the sound and performance of the M50x. I greatly preferred them to either ZMF set and started looking into studio stuff. The MDR-7506 are even better from a sound signature perspective (closer to neutral, definitely not the hard V of the M50x), but holy shit they are so uncomfortable. The SRH1840 are even more neutral and have incredible comfort. I swear I hear more background details/layers and better separation on those through the RNHP than any other amp I’ve used. It’s incredible.
And that brings me to the far side of the Bell Curve, having realized it’s mostly a fruitless chase. It was fun (but expensive) and I got to hear a lot of really great stuff, but at the end of the day, the simpler and less colored the signal, the better I like it (at least with headphones).
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I see you’ll fit right in here 
Out of curiosity, why the Mojo V2 then?
If you still have the HD800, try those with the Neve. Its a combo i like a lot.
Ill add that most of the things that are good pairings with the Schiit BF2 or Yggy usually do well with the Mojo stuff. I never tried a mojo with the rnhp, but i would put a small sum on it being 
.
Ill let @kerls tell us though.
The Mojo will be for my 2-channel system, not headphones. I don’t mind some coloration on the speakers, but over time, I’ve found I don’t appreciate it with headphones. Or, I at least don’t care for the ZMF signature any longer. I loved the Focal Clear and Ether 2 when I had them.
But does the Mojo add that much color? I thought it was pretty pure with a unique presentation, not necessarily tuned a specific way.
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I got rid of the HD800s in 2020. I was not a fan in any way. I could not find a situation where they did anything better than the ESP/95X. They were mostly a check-the-box situation along my headphone journey. A necessary stop.
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ZMF definitely have a house sound, not everyone’s cup of tea.
The Caldera is supposed to be a little step towards neutrality but I doubt it’s going to change your mind.
I think that’s best answered by our Mojo owners here as I’ve yet to hear one (it’s on my short list) but my take from everything I read and the discussions is that it’s definitely not studio like. Just my two cents. Still absolutely worth trying according to anyone who had one of their DACs tough. I was very close to buying the one you did!
You make it sound terminal 
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At this point, I think my office desk setup is likely to stay GS-X Mini with BF2/64. It has good flexibility for various use cases, pairs well with most of my cans (but especially the Fostex PW), and isn’t breaking the bank.
And by keeping a Hugo 2 nearby for portable use, I can run IEMs at my desk when needed.
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I loved it with the Ares II and can see how that works well with the BF2 as well. Great desktop chain!