LH Labs Geek Out 720

[h264]

 

The last review I made was mostly a joke, so I’m going to do a serious review this time.  I swear.  This tiny little USB oddity is the Geek Out 720.  Linus made a video about the Geek Out 450, but this is the more powerful 720.  The model numbers come from the output wattage of each device.  Now Geek Out is a product of Light Harmonic, a pretty well-known audio maker in the hi-fi/audiophile community.  So when they began a Kickstarter to create a USB AMP/DAC that only used USB power and could play everything up to DSD, Head-fi of course lost their collective minds.

 

I can’t even begin talking about this device without explaining Kickstarter to all those people living under a rock since 2009, but Kickstarter is a “crowd funding” platform in where people can throw money at various “projects”, including everything from hoverboards to potato salad.  As you’ve probably already guessed, I’m a pretty skeptical person, and I’ll tell you right now I’m NOT a venture capitalist.  That profession is not for the strongly purse-stringed or poorly financed, and I, my friends, am both.  So It goes without saying I’m not exactly all about the new throw your money at strangers (sometimes MONTHLY) model of funding creative people and hoping you get your contribution rewards.  So please read this review with the prior knowledge my bias against anything “crowd funded” is quite strong.

 

The Geek Out features a 24bit/192kbps DAC and a 32bit/6.144MHz DSD DAC that is connected to an amplifier that features two separate headphone outputs.  One has a .47 Ohms output impedance and the other has a 47 Ohm output impedance and thus doubles as a line out.  On the side are two … buttons, but we’ll get to those later when I rant about the software.

 

The case has a high quality feel and everything holds together solidly.  For a device with this many features it’s certainly crammed into a very small and transportable container.  Cramming, of course, will increase the heat output, and this device feels hot like a toaster after being plugged in for about 10 minutes.  Included are an extension cable and a little carry pouch.  It was easy enough to throw it into my laptop bag with all my other cables and doodads for my weekly travels.

 

Now let’s shift to the important part that I wanted to talk about.  The firmware.  This is one reason why I haven’t written a review on this item until now.  It simply did not work. Well, let me rephrase that.  The volume control was outright dangerous to your hearing.  This device in order to be fancy and new uses the UAC2 standard audio driver in Windows, Mac, and Linux.  That’s a perfectly acceptable notion in Mac and Linux since the standard is fully implemented, but in Windows there is a bit of competition between the MASTER of the computer’s volume and the MASTER of the device’s volume.  The resulting Windows driver bug makes it so anytime the volume on the GO720 is adjusted after a re-plug it’s re-set to MAX on the device side since the windows master volume takes over.  At least that was LH’s story about the bug, as they explained on their forums.  I’m sorry to say this sort of thing is simply unacceptable at any rate.  (I never tried the DSD feature because DSD is stupid.)

 

The good news is if you’re considering a device like this is that the problems have all been fixed.  Or rather, the feature to control volume on the device has been removed in the latest firmware along with the “3D awesomefier” feature.  The volume up and down buttons now only change the DAC roll off instead.  So as long as you don’t mind installing drivers and upgrading the firmware, which I honestly found very easy, the device will become quite functional.

 

My recommendation therefore is simple.  If you like hassles and firmware upgrades on super-hot running devices, I’d give this little item a shot.  Other than that I might have to tack it up along with all the other poorly managed and unfinished projects that have come out of Kickstarter in the last few years.  Honestly, my advice on Kickstarter is much simpler to begin with – Never Once.

[ShearMe]

They should have just integrated it into a coaster so you can keep your tea warm.

[Lays]

I utterly and completely disagree with your assumption on DSD.

 

Listening to my music at 500 mhz has shown not only a whole new range of frequencies to me, it has also expanded my soundstage and increased the speed and dynamics of my headphones. Never before have I heard such aural bliss, the soundstage never ends on my ATH-M50, it is like I am listening to music with one speaker in China, and the other in North America!

 

The transient response has increased dramatically, the amount of detail my ATH-M50 are reproducing is almost like I am sitting in the singers vocal chords listening to them sing! I have always considered myself to have a golden ear, and now this is backing it up, as none of my friends can hear the difference but I can!

 

Listening to my M50's now with DSD files such as the whole album of "Dark Side of the Moon" by Pink Floyd has never been so rewarding! I can hear all of their background singers, as well as Jimi Hendrix playing the guitar in the studio next-door!

 

I highly recommend you spend some time trying out DSD files to confirm all of these things I've mentioned!

 

 

 

@ShearMe sent me here to proclaim my wisdom for you.