Last year, i came across a campaign in kickstarter for an USB audio DAC from the makers of Da Vinci DAC. The light harmonic's Da Vinci is a $10K dac and they promised to bring the best practices from that to the tiny little fellow. It created quite a buzz. As i was in market for a better affordable + portable DAC, this looked like a juicy fruit to me. I was eyeing to get the DragonFly for quite sometime. I believe the dragonfly was upper of $250 at that time. It is a well received, reviewed and trusted DAC among many. Geek did get position against Dragon fly with much better spec. Especially promised a much better headphone amp section with Class A amplification.
I decided to back the Geek with the base 450mW. I wasn't sure how they can implement .01%THD with 720mW or 1KmW within such a tiny space. It did look like snake oil spec, didn't it?. The project got funded by several times their original goal of $28K. That prompted them to start additional projects like Geek Pulse, Geek Wave etc. In fact, it created a sour taste as they started new projects before delivering the Geek Out. The juicy fruit looked like sour grapes to me now as the project got delayed by several months. Geek Pulse was funded for more than a million dollars. Geek Wave is also over funded. Coming back to the Geek, it was funded on Sept 2013 with the promise of delivery by Jan 2014. But all i got was updates on progress of development..faulty batches..issues with development etc etc. One fine day in May 2014, i got an email stating they have 720mW Geek available for immediate delivery and they offered it as a free upgrade. I accepted it purely out of anxiety (i waited for 7 months..remember?). Finally i got the product within a week from that email.
As exited as ever on getting a new audiophool product, i plugged in, installed the driver and connected my Fisher Audio FA-011 headphones. My initial expression is :indifferent14:. I am using Asus Xonar STX soundcard for my PC. I have tried so many opamps and finally settled on lme49990. From what i read, Geek also uses the same opamp and the sq is strikingly similar. Quite disappointed that there is no improvement in SQ. It is always difficult to digest when you spend money and effort to get better SQ and you don't get it. The feature that they called "3D awesomifier" sucked big time. It increased the space with apparent drop in mids. It didn't surprise me though. But, people in headfi suggested to wait and try it out after burn in. I think on the first day i listened to music for 5hrs and slept in my computer chair hoping for some miracle.
^^ The image from the product campaign page shows that it has a capacitor. So, i was sure that it requires some burn in and i decided to wait it out. I started to use Geek for all my needs for movies, music, youtube etc etc for the next couple of weeks. No idea how much burn in done by me or by my daughter's cartoon watching spree from youtube.
One fine day, i decided to compare the SQ back again with Xonar STX. I was in for total shock
. The STX sounded muddy and veiled. How the hell?? I did A-B comparison multiple times. Where the Geek shines is in its ability to place different instruments in different positions. It is not just about the staging. The instruments stand distinct from each other. They don't bleed over each other. There is sharp distinction in isolation and placement. The STX managed the placement, but not that isolation. The instruments did bleed over each other causing them comparatively muddy. Besides that, the bass of Geek is full, deep and fast when compared to STX. Granted, my FA-011 is not the best tool to judge on bass. But, it is definitely a better tool than my Shure SE530 to judge bass. Shure can go bit deeper. But, being an iem, it is kind of a bloated bass created under closed area begging for space. The open FA-011 fares far better here. But, it can no where get close to a 12" sub woofer that can go deep and accurate. I am pretty sure, under the laws of physics, none of the headphones can take that place. So, i am yet to judge the limitation of the wonderful bass from the Geek. But, I really really enjoyed Jennifer Warnes - Way down deep..what a sexy bass
Ok..the bass is good. How is the mids. How does it compares to my mid-centric HM-601. I have been ridiculed by many for carrying the brick sized and shaped HM-601 music player. But, i don't care about them just because i love the mids of HM-601. The butterworth filter used there makes the music so so so smooth and adorable. It does have big drop in in frequency response after 10K. In fact, many ridicule the player for not being neutral and extremely mid centric. So be it. I don't care. I just love the vocals coming out of HM-601. To me, vocals are the soul of music. And i get it from my player. I luv listening in that player for hours and hours. Even when i had the complete active setup in my car with Alpine CDA-9887 as the player, i always prefer using HM-601 through aux input. I am so madly in luv with the smooth mids from the player. After using Geek for 3 weeks, i got so used to its signature. But, mind it..i am using HM-601 for 3 - 4 years as my go to source to listen to music. Now, how does it compare. I can just say with a big smile in my face that Geek is better. In what way? Geek's mids is also equally smooth. Might not be as much emphasized as HM-601. But, its ability to portray better instrument separation makes the vocals float on top of the instruments in a magical manner. My headphones does have a V shaped frequency response curve. It sounds quite neutral to me with that. For someone with better setup, it can sound warmer..may be..
What better song than Hotel California to test the overall dynamics. The dominating bass guitar, slamming drums and the sparkling cymbal..everything seems to be perfect for me. The DAC is not shy of airiness. If it can achieve excellent staging means it needs to have the ability showcase the highs accurately. It did exactly that. Hotel California is one of my small collection of high resolution songs. It did portray the very high dynamics present in the 96KHz song flawlessly.
Good representation of Highs does have a drawback. I am a big fan of Ilayaraja and my source of Raja's songs are not of high quality. And this DAC is ruthless in exposing it. Again, my FA-011 also has aggressive high. So, i have to rely on my HiFiMan HM-601 for my Ilayaraja collection.Not a big deal i would say. Because, now the movie watching experience is also super awesome. With the opening of mids after the burn in, the 3D option is also working really nice. Just completed watching Lone Survivor with 3D awesomifier enabled (kiddish naming i would say). With all those bullets fired from all directions, the thundering sounds of the explosions, majestic deep rumbles of the choppers..damn good. I wouldn't mind using this DAC when i don't want to engage my Pioneer elite receiver for movie watching...not at all.
Overall it is quite good for a budget conscious users like me. I don't know how dragonfly or iFi dac. From what i have read, Geek out seems to be better than Dragonfly. iFi with its musical signature, holds on its own it seems. You have to listen to them to decide between them. Especially, DragonFly prices have gone down southwards towards $150 now. But, i would prefer Geek out just because of better and higher amplification stage. Geek does have plenty of clean power to drive the headphones. Many have confirmed that Geek 1000 has no problem in driving LCD-X, LCD-2, HD600 etc. I might add a preamp when i buy my active speakers..the journey continues
I decided to back the Geek with the base 450mW. I wasn't sure how they can implement .01%THD with 720mW or 1KmW within such a tiny space. It did look like snake oil spec, didn't it?. The project got funded by several times their original goal of $28K. That prompted them to start additional projects like Geek Pulse, Geek Wave etc. In fact, it created a sour taste as they started new projects before delivering the Geek Out. The juicy fruit looked like sour grapes to me now as the project got delayed by several months. Geek Pulse was funded for more than a million dollars. Geek Wave is also over funded. Coming back to the Geek, it was funded on Sept 2013 with the promise of delivery by Jan 2014. But all i got was updates on progress of development..faulty batches..issues with development etc etc. One fine day in May 2014, i got an email stating they have 720mW Geek available for immediate delivery and they offered it as a free upgrade. I accepted it purely out of anxiety (i waited for 7 months..remember?). Finally i got the product within a week from that email.
As exited as ever on getting a new audiophool product, i plugged in, installed the driver and connected my Fisher Audio FA-011 headphones. My initial expression is :indifferent14:. I am using Asus Xonar STX soundcard for my PC. I have tried so many opamps and finally settled on lme49990. From what i read, Geek also uses the same opamp and the sq is strikingly similar. Quite disappointed that there is no improvement in SQ. It is always difficult to digest when you spend money and effort to get better SQ and you don't get it. The feature that they called "3D awesomifier" sucked big time. It increased the space with apparent drop in mids. It didn't surprise me though. But, people in headfi suggested to wait and try it out after burn in. I think on the first day i listened to music for 5hrs and slept in my computer chair hoping for some miracle.
^^ The image from the product campaign page shows that it has a capacitor. So, i was sure that it requires some burn in and i decided to wait it out. I started to use Geek for all my needs for movies, music, youtube etc etc for the next couple of weeks. No idea how much burn in done by me or by my daughter's cartoon watching spree from youtube.
One fine day, i decided to compare the SQ back again with Xonar STX. I was in for total shock
. The STX sounded muddy and veiled. How the hell?? I did A-B comparison multiple times. Where the Geek shines is in its ability to place different instruments in different positions. It is not just about the staging. The instruments stand distinct from each other. They don't bleed over each other. There is sharp distinction in isolation and placement. The STX managed the placement, but not that isolation. The instruments did bleed over each other causing them comparatively muddy. Besides that, the bass of Geek is full, deep and fast when compared to STX. Granted, my FA-011 is not the best tool to judge on bass. But, it is definitely a better tool than my Shure SE530 to judge bass. Shure can go bit deeper. But, being an iem, it is kind of a bloated bass created under closed area begging for space. The open FA-011 fares far better here. But, it can no where get close to a 12" sub woofer that can go deep and accurate. I am pretty sure, under the laws of physics, none of the headphones can take that place. So, i am yet to judge the limitation of the wonderful bass from the Geek. But, I really really enjoyed Jennifer Warnes - Way down deep..what a sexy bassOk..the bass is good. How is the mids. How does it compares to my mid-centric HM-601. I have been ridiculed by many for carrying the brick sized and shaped HM-601 music player. But, i don't care about them just because i love the mids of HM-601. The butterworth filter used there makes the music so so so smooth and adorable. It does have big drop in in frequency response after 10K. In fact, many ridicule the player for not being neutral and extremely mid centric. So be it. I don't care. I just love the vocals coming out of HM-601. To me, vocals are the soul of music. And i get it from my player. I luv listening in that player for hours and hours. Even when i had the complete active setup in my car with Alpine CDA-9887 as the player, i always prefer using HM-601 through aux input. I am so madly in luv with the smooth mids from the player. After using Geek for 3 weeks, i got so used to its signature. But, mind it..i am using HM-601 for 3 - 4 years as my go to source to listen to music. Now, how does it compare. I can just say with a big smile in my face that Geek is better. In what way? Geek's mids is also equally smooth. Might not be as much emphasized as HM-601. But, its ability to portray better instrument separation makes the vocals float on top of the instruments in a magical manner. My headphones does have a V shaped frequency response curve. It sounds quite neutral to me with that. For someone with better setup, it can sound warmer..may be..
What better song than Hotel California to test the overall dynamics. The dominating bass guitar, slamming drums and the sparkling cymbal..everything seems to be perfect for me. The DAC is not shy of airiness. If it can achieve excellent staging means it needs to have the ability showcase the highs accurately. It did exactly that. Hotel California is one of my small collection of high resolution songs. It did portray the very high dynamics present in the 96KHz song flawlessly.
Good representation of Highs does have a drawback. I am a big fan of Ilayaraja and my source of Raja's songs are not of high quality. And this DAC is ruthless in exposing it. Again, my FA-011 also has aggressive high. So, i have to rely on my HiFiMan HM-601 for my Ilayaraja collection.Not a big deal i would say. Because, now the movie watching experience is also super awesome. With the opening of mids after the burn in, the 3D option is also working really nice. Just completed watching Lone Survivor with 3D awesomifier enabled (kiddish naming i would say). With all those bullets fired from all directions, the thundering sounds of the explosions, majestic deep rumbles of the choppers..damn good. I wouldn't mind using this DAC when i don't want to engage my Pioneer elite receiver for movie watching...not at all.
Overall it is quite good for a budget conscious users like me. I don't know how dragonfly or iFi dac. From what i have read, Geek out seems to be better than Dragonfly. iFi with its musical signature, holds on its own it seems. You have to listen to them to decide between them. Especially, DragonFly prices have gone down southwards towards $150 now. But, i would prefer Geek out just because of better and higher amplification stage. Geek does have plenty of clean power to drive the headphones. Many have confirmed that Geek 1000 has no problem in driving LCD-X, LCD-2, HD600 etc. I might add a preamp when i buy my active speakers..the journey continues
