Reluctantly letting this pretty thing go as I appear to have considerably more hifi than money…
This is the original model with built-in 24/192 DAC and an effortless 400WPC (8Ω) - 800WPC (4Ω) in highly-efficient, cool-running Class-D. It doesn’t have the later model’s bluetooth or wifi antennae, but Gato will upgrade it for you at a cost, or you can buy little boxes from ebay to add those features.
You can run this as a pre-amp: the entire power amp section can be switched off, or there is a ‘home cinema mode’ which does the opposite and lets you use it as a stand-alone power amp.
It sounds excellent in all modes. Unlike the usual cliché of Class-D, this is a well-rounded, smooth and unfatiguing listen: more like people think valves are than valves actually are. I doubt there are any speakers out there it can’t control, but it also worked flawlessly with my 94dB sensitivity speakers!
The DAC comfortably-bested my not-inexpensive stand-alone Pro-Ject DAC RS. The USB input doesn’t require additional software to run, and is ultra-quiet
The whole device is designed for negligible energy consumption, it is pretty as hell (anyone needing to ingratiate themselves with their partners needs this), and Gato are a great company to deal with.
I have the remote, manual, power cable and all boxes and packaging.
£4,000 new, and generally around £1,800 - £2,000 used, I’d like £1,150 for this one to reflect the keen price I paid a couple of years ago. Pickup preferred for all the usual obvious reasons, I can also Taxi it to Settle, otherwise we’ll sort something. Forum regulars get first pick, lurkers will need to be patient - I can sell it on ebay at a profit myself, thanks…
It’s on loan to Edd, so I’ve nicked a couple of extra pics from its original ad, and can take more on Friday if you need them: