Geshelli Archel3 (Amp +EQ) first look from Florida Expo

[Jimster480]

So I was lucky enough to make it to the Florida Expo this weekend and I had a chance to listen to a lot of the new stuff on the market.
Made a point to go to the Geshelli booth and they had some really awesome stuff down there.
Including a speaker Amp in all wood!

However they had a new Archel3 setup that has built in EQ! It really seems to work well!

Picture seems to have come out like crap but overall it sounded great.
I've never heard simple EQ like this sound so good. They said the price is going to be around $600 and only comes in wood due to its taller design.
The family that runs the company is very nice as well, I had a great time talking to them.

Was anyone else there this weekend or have heard this Amp before?

I'd love to hear what other people think. Personally I've never heard my Aeon before with so much bass still sound Clean!

 

[staticV3]

Thanks for the info and pic!
Calling it EQ may be a bit misleading as those are usually called tone controls.
Glad to see that there's what seems to be a Tone defeat button as well.

 

[Jimster480]

Thanks for the info and pic!
Calling it EQ may be a bit misleading as those are usually called tone controls.
Glad to see that there's what seems to be a Tone defeat button as well.

They do call it Tone Controls and there is a button for it. But it works better than anything else like this that I have used before even in stereo systems.

 

[nyxnyxnyx]

That looks great Jimster. Been a fan of tone control back in the days, I always wondered why it's not popular with headphone amplifiers.
Anything else you found interesting in the expo?

 

[nyxnyxnyx]

also I will be the first to say that I think this design looks cheap. It worked and brought a "DIY" industrial vibe when the price was cheaper.
But now for around $600 the aesthetic could have been improved imo. Maybe I will be proven wrong.

 

[kemmler3D]

Tend to agree that sticking with the DIY aesthetic at >$200 is an odd choice, but it's probably a deliberate choice. Finished wood pieces aren't cheap and they are at least silkscreening the faceplates, so it's not like they have no sourcing or manufacturing ability. That said, I think if you love the "visible wires" aesthetic, I can still imagine a more attractive execution than this.

 

[Jimster480]

also I will be the first to say that I think this design looks cheap. It worked and brought a "DIY" industrial vibe when the price was cheaper.
But now for around $600 the aesthetic could have been improved imo. Maybe I will be proven wrong.

It's because of the wood price. The family also turns wood. So their cases are made custom by other members of the family. They said it allowed them to keep their operation all in house.
Since they have their own pick n place and solder machines. The only things they don't physically make are the chips and the base board but the boards are made in the USA.

That looks great Jimster. Been a fan of tone control back in the days, I always wondered why it's not popular with headphone amplifiers.
Anything else you found interesting in the expo?

Not sure why no amps seem to have tone control... But I'm glad this one does.
The Warwick Acoustics setup was the most interesting thing there since the sound was incredible. Now this doesn't mean it's the best most comfortable pair of headphones ever but as far as instrument separation and overall clarity; I've never heard anything that comes close. They let me use my own phone with the Bravura the first day and Aperio yesterday right around close. I went through my whole collection of "songs to test headphones with" and couldn't find a song to trip it up.


I was in the moon audio booth listening to some different headphones as well. Listened to the Stealth, Aeon2, HE1000v2 and ZMF planar. I really liked the stealth as it's a big upgrade to my original Aeon. However the Aeon2 just has bass and seems to have a recessed mid and high in order to deliver said bass... So I didn't like it at all.

 

[redstang]

Whew, that looks nice but $600 is pretty steep at 3x the price of the 2.5. I was hoping they'd come out with a new Erish that would have both single ended and balanced outputs for maybe an extra few bucks. I see they put a nice big knurled volume knob on there though. Appears they listened to Zeos as I remember him asking them for that.

 

[Jimster480]

Whew, that looks nice but $600 is pretty steep at 3x the price of the 2.5. I was hoping they'd come out with a new Erish that would have both single ended and balanced outputs for maybe an extra few bucks. I see they put a nice big knurled volume knob on there though. Appears they listened to Zeos as I remember him asking them for that.

yea it looks like they took the input to heart and produced something that people mentioned would be cool.
The Sparkos Discrete Op-Amps are already expensive at like $75 a piece so I think they have like $150 of the Op-Amps in it and then the Tone control stuff + it only comes in wood. The daughter who I spoke to (sadly I don't remember her name now, I met a bunch of people at once) explained to me how they arrived at the price and said that at the moment they wouldn't be able to make it cheaper since they have to do wood.

 

[Jimster480]

Seems as if the unit launched.
Looks like its 8-10 weeks to get it built and shipped.

Archel 3 Pro – Geshelli Labs LLC.

geshelli.com

 

[shrimp_dude]

2 months or longer lead time? I feel like I'm back on Massdrop.

 

[Jimster480]

2 months or longer lead time? I feel like I'm back on Massdrop.

Definitely a long turnaround time. Looks like it has to do with the wood chassis.
I ordered one. Will update when it arrives.

 

[shrimp_dude]

Looking forward to it, I'm sure it'll sound great.

 

[Jimster480]

Looking forward to it, I'm sure it'll sound great.

I listened to it at the audio show and loved it. The tone control was really great.

 

[Jimster480]

it came in and is in my "test position" connected to the SU-8S (my testing DAC).
So far I have discovered that as a Pre-Amp it can do Tone control. It also seems to do Gain over Pre-Amp? Kind of weird but the abilty to "pass" the Tone control down the chain is AMAZING. I haven't finished the whole Fidelity test with it yet but I haven't really been able to tell the difference just yet. I am going to connect my switcher this weekend and really do some critical listening. Out of the box I literally love these Tone controls, sounds great with all my heavy planars.

 

[Edge Of Break Up]

So I was lucky enough to make it to the Florida Expo this weekend and I had a chance to listen to a lot of the new stuff on the market.
Made a point to go to the Geshelli booth and they had some really awesome stuff down there.
Including a speaker Amp in all wood!

However they had a new Archel3 setup that has built in EQ! It really seems to work well!
View attachment 266046
Picture seems to have come out like crap but overall it sounded great.
I've never heard simple EQ like this sound so good. They said the price is going to be around $600 and only comes in wood due to its taller design.
The family that runs the company is very nice as well, I had a great time talking to them.

Was anyone else there this weekend or have heard this Amp before?

I'd love to hear what other people think. Personally I've never heard my Aeon before with so much bass still sound Clean!

Have you been using this as a preamp? Was considering this as a preamp for a 2 channel Buckeye Purifi Amp. Would be nice to have the headphone amp and preamp as one unit until I can afford another preamp.