It’s been a long time since my last visit to the forum, but I wanted to share a strange experience I’ve had with my Stellar GCD.
I own a Stellar stack (Gain Cell DAC, M700, and a phono preamp, among other components). I bought the GCD back in October 2018. In June 2023, the right channel suddenly stopped working. My local dealer fixed it (though I’m not sure exactly what the issue was).
Then in August 2025, the same problem returned — the right channel stopped working spontaneously. None of my other components had any issues, so I was frustrated and disappointed. I decided not to get it fixed again and just used other gear instead.
A week ago, out of curiosity, I tried the GCD again — this time both channels were working, but the sound quality was terrible. Today I checked once more, and now the sound is fine.
Has anyone experienced something like this? Can anyone explain what might be going on?
My SGCD is just slightly younger ,and when I had a new pc installed last year, it caused a electrical spike, (sent it back as it was also humming), and did something to the SGCD, the amp was left on (my mistake) it was duly packed up, returned to the dealer who passed it on to the UK importer, who put a new part in (dac board I think) the problem was sorted, although at a price
I have the same setup, but about a year or so younger. About a year ago one channel quit producing sound. Trouble shooting pointed the finger at one of my M700s, which was sent into Boulder for repair. They replaced components called U15 and U16 in the amp and all has been great since.
I’ve got an older Stellar GCD from and it works fine. Y’all are scaring me though. Now I’ve got a Ron Gallo song stuck in my head. This forum is the best!
Youre scared? I canceled my m1200 order and im trading in on audio research to tubes… mainly preference but i also had too many hiccups and so im out n moving on.
Last to go is the pwd
I had this (or something similar issue with one channel) on my GCD. A trip to the mothership was involved and unfortunately out of warranty. Was a relatively simple and inexpensive repair as I understand it. Has worked flawlessly since!
The issue that I’ve had fixed was the one and only time I’ve had any issues with it in the 4+ years I’ve owned it. I love it for my office system and grateful it has a headphone jack.
My GCD, purchased new on March 22nd, 2021, has been foolproof for the 4.5years that I’ve had it. No problems, no complaints (from me or the GCD). It has delivered glorious music. I’ve learned a lot from some of the fine folks here and also from Paul, Jamesh, and others at PS Audio. Cheers.
