Opinion 1

As you are all well aware, Poland with its audio designs has been competing with the world mainstream for years. Of course, it may not be a number in the thousands, but let us not fool ourselves, taking into account the full spectrum of our hobby, from electronics, through loudspeakers, all kinds of accessories, to cabling, we have a really large group of representatives recognizable in the wide world. And the first one in a row, incidentally very successful for years across the great pond, is Destination Audio, a manufacture located near Warsaw. A company from whose portfolio we had the opportunity to get to know the WE417A phono preamplifier and, relatively recently, the Nika speakers. You can check how the mentioned products performed sonically using the portal search engine. However, in order to encourage you to familiarize yourself with its next design, I will only mention that this is a brand that has always been involved in bringing ideas to life, which draw from the glory days of the electron tube and highly effective loudspeakers. Although there are no exact data anywhere, I am firmly convinced that this type of gear is the clou of the configuration of at least 30 percent – if not more – of the entire population of audio maniacs. You must admit, this is a large group. And if this is the case, then in my opinion, it is worth reading, how the above-mentioned high-efficiency speakers (Nika), as opposed to the performance with a very powerful class A solid-state amplifier, will present themselves with tube amplification proposed by Destination Audio, the GM70, constructed by the brand’s owner. Theoretically, this is their world, so they should come out not as very good, but absolutely excellent. So if you are interested in what the, theoretically perfectly created tandem, has shown, I invite you to read the following few paragraphs.

As befits a product that is a representative of the High-End segment, our hero consists of two large and heavy modules. Of course, one is the power supply, and the other is the heart of the amplifier with the circuits controlling the signal processing. As for the enclosures, in both cases a support platform was used, which works perfectly in such solutions, with electronics hidden inside and transformers, capacitors and electron tubes exposed on the upper surface. However, this is not only a procedure aimed at catching the eye of a potential buyer, but due to the expansion of the device, a design requirement. Do you not believe it? Then please take a look at the series of photos, which will show the maximum built-up of both amplifier stages. This, in turn, together with the size of the devices, resulted in the need for the designer of this amplifier to use a cool design trick, to not make it look like a big, boring block of metal. This trick is to make the chassis from two thinner, black-finished slices, cover such a container with a platform shimmering with the color of copper, and place amber shining tubes on top of it, together with black cuboidal and cylindrical cups hiding the rest of the components necessary for the amplifier to work. Believe me, regardless of the size, and let us face it, an old idea behind the device’s enclosures, our hero looks really great. Writing a few sentences about functionality – it is known that each integrated part is equipped with accessories appropriate for a given module. And so, the power supply on the front is equipped only with a toggle switch, and on the rear panel with an IEC power socket and a multi-pin terminal that allows the properly prepared electrical energy to flow to the heart of the amplifier. As for the most important element of the GM70, on the fascia we find two control knobs finished in the color of the upper surface – the left one is responsible for the gain level, and the right one is responsible for the selection of the line input, and on the reverse there is an socket for receiving electricity, identical to the one on the PSU, 3 RCA line inputs, one XLR input, XLR line output and loudspeaker terminals dedicated to two loads. Unfortunately, and for many extreme audio freaks in this segment and devices that focus on the maximum sound quality, it is natural, the tested amplifier does not offer a remote control. Do you think this is a serious problem? Well, I know from experience – for several years I have been using the Robert Koda line preamplifier, which had a similar approach to the way of operating it, that you can easily live with it. After a few days, I learned the standard volume and the problem suddenly ceased to exist. And if it brought quality benefits to the sound offered, then the subject of any problem was a non-issue. Finally, for many, the most important information is, that the offered power of the amplifier is around 20W, which, in the case of the Nika speakers used for this test, was fully sufficient to comfortably drive them fully.

So, what happened after feeding the relatively easy to drive speakers with a not very powerful, but theoretically dedicated tube amplifier we are testing? Naturally, something what I expected from the very beginning, based on many years of experience with this type of construction. Well, the high power and transistor control of Nika speaker sets does not always allow them to rise to the heights of their capabilities. Yes, there is full control, strong impact and speed of signal rise, which gives a full insight into the recording from the side of pacing, but we usually lose some of the element of musicality. Everything seems to be ok, but … What is it about? Well, during the test of the speakers with my solid-state, otherwise very powerful class A power amplifier, it seemed that they showed their maximum. The free handling allowed for excellent differentiation of the energy of individual sound sources, and a nice dose of breath suggested that there was nothing more to search for. However, that was only until the moment when the Destination Audio GM70 appeared in the system, theoretically weaker in every respect – in terms of power and, very liked by music lovers and pleasant, but still distorting, electron tubes. It immediately turned out that the speakers simply got too much of everything. It is just that with all the nice aura of sound with a solid-state amplifier, the sound was somewhat squeezed. The point is, that the aforementioned multi-coloration of energy through excessive control was somewhat averaged and did not offer alternating hard and soft shades contained in the music. And when the unpredictable nature of the electron tube in serving natural vibration to the sound was included, the music became clearly more vibrant. It was not so much all in, as in the test of the Gryphon speakers, but with natural stumbles, such as: pleasant blurring of the sharpness of the lower registers, and other times unexpected illumination of the midrange. And while many of you may find it ridiculous, I can easily declare that only today’s test configuration showed how the Nika speakers should sound. Of course, it is mainly about setting up your system properly. However, this is only a generalization, because, as always, the devil is in the details. And these, in the case of the GM in question, are the result of an appropriate expansion of the power supply section, which allows for maintaining strong and juicy lower registers, as well as the topology of the electrical circuitry and the use of the best components, including NOS tubes that take care of the rest of the sound spectrum. And I assure you, these findings are not made-up conclusions, but real on-ear evidence gained during the test of the phonostage, and now confirmed by the integrated amplifier. I have already written this once in the case of this manufacturer, but now I will repeat it again. Tube devices that operate so well with the low range, and control essentiality of the whole sound, are really scarce in the entire global market. And it is not about simply “kicking” the listener with these aspects, because there are many powerful tube amplifiers that try to outdo solid solid-state units even in this aspect, but about achieving a consensus between the amount of essence and the appropriate dosing of it, sometimes in the aesthetics of hardness, and sometimes softness, with bass descent that is difficult to achieve by this type of construction. This was so excellent in our hero’s version, that it was only with it in the sound path, that I found out what the loudspeakers, that are part of the setup, really can do.
Using the same repertoire as in the test of the speakers themselves, literally everything came out in a completely different light. The leading, smooth, juicy, shimmering bass guitar and vocals and all kinds of other instruments. Everything seemed to sound in a similar aesthetic, but now with a greater dose of emotions, caused by such a proper application of vacuum tubes, as well as providing only the necessary, and not an overage of power by the amplifier. It is known that too much is not healthy, and these two tests carried out in a short time with the same speaker set showed it clearly. And while in the first installment I did not even think about the desire to set up such a setup to fit the desire for change, during this session the amount of completely unavailable emotions completely changed my vision. Of course, with all qualitative concessions to the current configuration. However, concessions that give so much joy from listening to music, that they are very easily acceptable.
And while it would seem that the positive change expressed in this way would not work in the case of harder genres of music, to my surprise the album „Highway To Hell” by AC/DC also benefited a lot from such a move. The situation was similar. A dose of controlled multi-colored energy allowed the music to flow more, and not to be soullessly played, which in this case did not reduce its expression in the slightest, but injected it with an additional note of musicality. How it happened, I have no idea, but it definitely happened, and it was a very positive experience.

Crowning the review of the Destination Audio GM70 integrated amplifier, and in fact also the two-part test of the Nika speakers, I hope that two things clearly emerge from it. The first is the sound of the integrated amplifier, full of that magic which is reserved only for the best designs, with a strong share of controlled mass and density of music delivery. As I mentioned, the designs of this manufacturer escape the typical results of the competition, in a way known only to them. The point is, that apart from the typical aspects of, colloquially speaking, humanizing music by tube devices, their main advantage is the phenomenal operation of the lower range. I assure you, it is not that easy, and until the moment I clashed with Destination Audio products, I thought it was almost impossible. The second issue of this test is a kind of versatility of the speakers. Already in the test with my solid-state amp they were in the aesthetics of light vintage, but they sounded very engaging. However, what they showed after connecting a dedicated, i.e. providing the necessary, and not too oversized dose of energy, amplifier based on electron tubes, completely changed their image. And these were not small nuances, but a different world, in a positive sense. However, so that we understand each other correctly, this world is realized on the basis of the same vision of the manufacturing of all the products from the brand, from beginning to end, which is to ensure full synergy not only between the devices, but also between the listener and the music, and in my opinion this has been a great success.

Jacek Pazio

Opinion 2

Continuing the exploration of the joyful manifestations of Polish technical thought after the Nika horn speakers and the Circle Labs V1000 phono preamplifier from Krakow, the time has come for … not for the cables, although they are still patiently waiting for their five minutes, but for the tube integrated spreading around a discreet amber glow. However, in this case, integrity is by no means about its physicality, because we are dealing with two, and at those quite large chasses, but anatomy and the principle of operation. Who, or rather what, are we talking about? About the Destination Audio GM70 integrated amplifier, to which we cordially invite you to test with us.
At the very beginning I would like to explain that the “disintegration” of the tested integrated amplifier mentioned in the editorial, is only due to the fact that the power supply section was separated from the main – signal processing structure. So, in fact, we are dealing with the aftermath of the elimination of the source of possible interference from the immediate vicinity of the flow paths of useful audio signals, sensitive to this type of anomalies, known for example from the phonostage that has recently visited us, as well as from the Van den Hul The Emerald preamplifier. However, while the above-mentioned Dutchman, due to its rather dubious aesthetic qualities and size, had a power unit that was somehow predestined to be hidden somewhere behind the first line of equipment (I do not recommend covering it with a napkin and putting a flower on top of it though), in the GM70 such an option is rather out of the question. As you can perfectly see, both the signal module and the power supply module not only look very dignified and elegant at the same time, but due to the presence of tubes, capacitor banks, and impressive catafalques hiding transformers and chokes on their top plates, it is better to have them at hand, if only to remove dust accumulating in various nooks and crannies. And there is a lot to take care of, because the 70 proudly presents as many as eight tubes on its top, including those located right at the rear edge, adequate to the nomenclature used by the manufacturer, giving 20W per channel of the GM70. The signal unit boast two knobs on the front panel – the left one responsible for controlling volume and the right one being the input selector, while the power supply only has a toggle power switch.
There is definitely more going on the back, because there we have four pairs of line inputs (3 RCA and single XLRs) as well as XLR outputs, as well as single terminals for 4 and 8 Ω loads complemented by a multi-pin power terminal. The power supply, on the other hand, has a mains power socket and a proprietary power bus output, between which a fuse compartment is placed. The whole is kept in elegant colors, distinguished black and eye-friendly copper brown, so despite its quite large size, it is difficult to accuse the manufacturer of any tendencies to unnecessary gigantomania, and at the same time you should praise him for very skillful references to such icons as Kondo.

However, as it happens in audio, man does not live by design alone, but by what our ears can be fed by these pretty, and sometimes „differently pretty” devices. Fortunately, in the case of the Destination Audio GM70, the class of sound goes hand in hand with the elegance of the design, so generally speaking, we should not feel disappointed when plugging our guest into the sound path. In fact, if we only provide it with the right company in the form of loudspeakers with which it will establish a thread of understanding, and will not have to wrestle with them or tame them at every step, the chances of success will increase dramatically. I must admit that we had it easier in this respect, because after the last tests we had Nika stationed with us, which, as you can guess, was much more to the liking of the 70 than our on-duty Gauders, and it was with them that I conducted the lion’s share of the listening sessions. It is worth mentioning at this point that despite the high efficiency – reaching 99 dB – there was absolute silence in the speakers, which only speaks well of both the construction and design of our guest.
Effect? Excellent, because we obtained a sound with an extremely smooth texture, creamy consistency and at the same time highly satisfying resolution, breath – openness and, importantly, also pulsating pace. Of course, in absolute terms, our today’s guest operated on a slightly different side of intensity and dynamics than the 400W strong VTL Monos that we recently hosted, but I mention this only out of a purely chronicling duty, because first of all, when reaching for a 20W tube amplifier, no one in their right mind does it in order to reproduce the squashing power of Metallica’s „Metallica Through The Never”, or the exploration of synthetic infrasound contained on Murkura’s „Planetary Medicine”, because this is completely a wrong approach. Although you do not have to avoid more civilized types of Rock, because both the Stones and even the progressive, Polish Riverside came out very convincingly. It is simply about the awareness that the first fiddle here is played by sophistication and freedom, the naturalness of articulation, which, together with the truly organic timbre and saturation, make time not only pass more slowly, but also dramatically lose its meaning. And in fact, it should be said that it is this naturalness that becomes crucial in the presentation served by the 70. With the passage of time spent in its company, we become more and more dependent on aesthetics slightly different from the current contemporary patterns of esthetics, where the narrative is based on communicativeness rather than detail. As a result, although we hear everything that is necessary and what is included in the source material, the emphasis is placed on the method – the form of articulation, reproduction, and not only the analytical presentation of volumes and parameters determining the sounds reaching our ears. On „Verdi: Il Trovatore” with the late Luciano Pavarotti we have a full picture of the scene – with the movement of individual singers, the multi-layered events taking place on the stage, and thus the extremely obvious and dynamic changes in the distance between the viewer/listener and the characters themselves. It is a lively, dynamic and therefore fully natural, realistic performance, and in addition brimming with emotions. And all this richness of sensations is not only conveyed by the Destination Audio integrated, but also very skillfully intensified, discreetly directing the beam of light at the key characters at a given moment, suggestively cutting them out of the background, while maintaining their connections and relationships with it.
Interestingly, even on „Drum Therapy” from Tor, full of electronic samples and oriental inserts, the amplifier was able to create a kind of oneiric micro-world and lock the listeners in it for nearly three quarters of an hour. Combining impressionistic patches of sound, with rough distortions and countless various percussion instruments, it followed the unhurried pace of the composition, creating not so much an engaging background, but this micro-world, a space filled with sounds and music that surrounds us. It also very successfully differentiated the definitions of natural and „digital” instruments, which made the former more tangible and obvious, and the latter operating on the principle of dynamically generated holograms.

As you can easily guess, both due to the size, the use of tubes, the power offered, or in a way the price, the Destination Audio GM70 can hardly be considered a proposition for everyone and for every system. However, if you have enough space and speakers that are favorable for tube and not too strained amplification, and at the same time you are closer to a music lover than an audiophile model of absorption of the repertoire you listen to, then in your case, listening to the GM70 is most recommended.

Marcin Olszewski

System used in this test:
Source:
– CD Player/DAC: Gryphon Ethos
– streamer: Lumin U2 Mini + switch Quantum Science Audio (QSA) Red-Silver
– Preamplifier: Gryphon Audio Pandora
– Power amplifier: Gryphon Audio Apex Stereo
– Loudspeakers: Gauder Akustik Berlina RC-11 Black Edition
– Speaker cables: Furutech Nanoflux-NCF Speaker Cable
IC RCA: Hijiri Million „Kiwami”, Vermouth Audio Reference
IC XLR: Tellurium Q Silver Diamond, Hijiri Milion „Kiwami”, Furutech DAS-4.1
Digital IC: Hijiri HDG-X Milion
Ethernet cable: NxLT LAN FLAME
USB cable: ZenSati Silenzio
Power cables: Hijiri Takumi Maestro, Furutech Project-V1, Furutech NanoFlux NCF, Furutech DPS-4.1 + FI-E50 NCF(R)/ FI-50(R), Hijiri Nagomi, Vermouth Audio Reference Power Cord, Acrolink 8N-PC8100 Performante, Synergistic Research Galileo SX AC
– Table: BASE AUDIO 2
Accessories: Quantum Science Audio Red fuse; QSA Silver fuse; Synergistic Research Orange fuse; antivibration platform by SOLID TECH; Harmonix AC Enacom Improved for 100-240V
– Power distribution board: POWER BASE HIGH END, Furutech NCF Power Vault-E
– Acoustic treatments by Artnovion
Analog stage:
– Drive: Clearaudio Concept
– Cartridge: Dynavector DV20X2H
– Phonostage: Sensor 2 mk II
– Eccentricity Detection Stabilizer: DS Audio ES-001
– Tape recorder: Studer A80

Distributor/Manufacturer: Destination Audio
Price: 50 000 €

Specifications
Power output: 2 x 20W / 4Ω, 2 x 14W / 8Ω
Frequency response: 10Hz~85kHz(-1.5dB)
THD: 1% (1 kHz)
S/N Ratio: 87 dB
Input Impedance: 100 kΩ
Output Impedance: 4Ω and 8Ω
Power Requirements: USA 115V (60Hz) / EU 235V (50Hz)
Tubes: 2 x ECC40, 2 x 5687, 2 x 6W6, 2 x GM70
Power consumption: 350W
Dimensions (W x H x D): 312 x 255 x 466 mm
Weight: 75 kg