Gear of the Year: audioreviews.org is soon completing its 5th year. We are still six dedicated and competent authors located all over the western hemisphere, catering to a mature, discerning readership. Our list of earphone reviews is approaching 450 and our Wall of Excellence (WoE) is better decorated than the Christmas tree at NYC’s Rockefeller Center. Since any product on our WoE is backed by more than one opinion, it should give you confidence in your buying decisions.

However, our WoE is not a bunch of “best of” lists as we have not tested all competitors in each category. Such claims would be presumptuous.

We did, sadly, lose our single sponsor HifiGo (and some more suppliers) over our reviews of their gear. But hey, our critical, realistic approach sets us apart from 98% of the blogosphere (we think). We rather deal with companies that have confidence in their products.

Whatever gear passes our test must be somewhat good. We still don’t do Google ads, affiliate links, and we don’t allow trackers…we are no salespeople, we honour your reading pleasure and your privacy. We are simply audio aficionados.

Thank you for your patronage in 2023! Enjoy this read and we wish you a happy and successful 2024!

Hey, feel free to let us know your personal favourites of 2023 in the comments section below.

We thank our 2023 Partners

And here we go…that’s what we enjoyed in 2023…published by author in the order of submission…and purely subjective.

Loomis Johnson…Chicago, USA

Wiim Mini AirPlay 2 Wifi Streamer—the onboard DAC is just fair, and the app is quirky (if very ambitious), but through its digital out this is a genuinely excellent streamer  for less than a hundo.

BGVP DM9 IEM—energetic and massive sounding, these are head and shoulders above any other IEM I’ve heard this year. Richly priced at $600 and worth every penny.

Sony WH-1000XM5 Wireless Headphones—Bose has marginally better ANC and Sennheiser a longer battery and better UI, but overall the XM5 would be my pick if (god forbid) I could own only one TWS.

Oladance Wearable Stereo Open Ear Headphones —eons better than any bone-conduction model out there, these come close to good in-ear TWS models for sound quality, with a rich warm sound and a big 3D stage. Hall of Fame material.

SMSL D0400  DAC/Headphone Amp—a tad more detailed (if not necessarily better-sounding) than the godlike SU-9, the inclusion of balanced out and an excellent onboard headphone amp makes this my pick among SMSL’s myriad offerings.

Truthear Shio DAC/Dongle—well featured, balanced dongle won’t make your counterfeit Beats sound like Carnegie Hall, but it sounds just slightly more transparent than its ubiquitous price peers.

JBL Boombox 3 Portable Bluetooth Speaker— rather than spending ten grand to mod the sound system on his 100k pontoon boat, a very wealthy friend of mine dropped $349 on one of these. He couldn’t be happier. Link two together and you’ll be in hip-hop heaven.

Eagle Rare 10-Year Bourbon—if this was an IEM, we’d deem it “musical, balanced and fully coherent.” People are asking stupid prices for this in the secondary market, but if you can find it anywhere near its $40 SRP, buy it.

Dreamcloud Premier Rest Hybrid Mattress—the downside of buying a really good mattress is that it’ll sap your ambition faster than a meth habit. If, however, like me your ambition is to lay around and watch professional basketball, this is a necessary acquisition.

Jürgen Kraus…Calgary, CANADA

Short and sweet, as I am mainly still using my 2022 gear. And the best gear is the gear one uses after all. 2023 added a few excellent products to my daily listening. Oladance TWS Pro wearables were most impressive…and useful…a home theatre on your ears you don’t even feel. I can listen to these all day.

In terms of earphones, the Sennheiser IE 900 impressed me most because of their natural, cohesive presentation, their incredible treble quality, and their wonderful dosage across the frequency spectrum. I preferred them much more over the IE 600, which offer the same Harman type tuning we have experienced so often before. Both were sadly loaners. I also love the well-balanced Sennheiser IE 200, which are tuning wise closer to the IE 900 than to the IE 600.

Also very natural sounding are the Akoustyx S6, but they do need some modding to tame the upper midrange. As to budget TWS, I do have a pair of Moondrop Space Travel by my bedside, for talk radio and classical music. They have a very composed and nuanced presentation…and they fit me well.

Also by my bedside is the EarMan CH-Amp/Tradutto combination for driving my HD 600 and final Sonorous III. I equipped the HD 600 with a Hart Audio 4.4 mm balanced cable. Also great is the SMSL DO200 MKII DAC, which I use on my desk.

As a movable desktop stack (between sofa and kitchen table) serves the very good sounding Moondrop DiscDream CD player. A great idea to reconsider this technology — looking forward to another premium Walkman.

An honorouble mention goes to the very versatile TempoTec Serenade X Digital Desktop Player, and TempoTec as a company, as they don’t get lost in countless models of the same…no they offer one model of each product, and each is well thought out. A big step up for them in the last two years.

As a guilty pleasure, I indulged myself with USB cables for audio usage from AudioQuest (Forest), IKEA, and Monoprice. I love USB cables. And this combination of brands doesn’t leave room for the usual shitstorm by naysayers.

And hey, Loomis, we just acquired an Endy mattress. Made in Canada, of course.

Alberto Pittaluga…Bologna, ITALY

Given I’m not one of those world-famous tiktokers I guess it’s preliminary worth remembering that I have a sharp inclination to carefully avoid wasting time on even assessing “stuff” which doesn’t apriori seem to qualify for a serious upgrade to whatever I already own – an attitude of mine that applies across the board of course, not certainly to audio gear only. Such information is I presume key to better understand the following list.

Proceeding by categories, and starting with cans, towards the end of the year I got a pair of Sennheiser HD800. These were quite a lot anticipated to upgrade my pleasure on my particular library vs the HD600 – and that’s of course what happened. As a side bonus I had yet another chance to touch how important fresh pads and a decent cable are for sound optimisation, let alone how tough still is finding an overall more exquisite timbre then the one coming off my Groove.

Shrinking size down to IEMs, my trip to Munich earlier this year got me very curious about Sennheiser’s relatively recent IEM introductions, and that’s where the curiosity to assess IE900 and (from a different source) IE600 came up from.

The latter impressed me almost as much as the former, however when it comes to stunning V-shaped IEM encounters happened this year nothing beats – and I reckon will hardly beat tomorrow – Intime Sho DD.

The other major IEM acquisition of the year is represented by final B3, and their ability to capture the auditioner and port him onto the jazz stage. Honorable mention goes to Akoustykx S6 (and their “magic” Earlocks).

In terms of source gear, I completed my collection of DAPs by acquiring a Sony WM-1A, of course instantly flashing MrWalkman WM1Z signature onto it. For a number of reasons its sonic features are at the same time in line and complementary to those of my other standards: Questyle QP1R and QP2R.

Sometimes it does bring an audible improvement, other times it doesn’t – it depends on the apriori situation of the system you plug it onto. I’m talking about AudioQuest’s Jitterbug. My (quite articulated) home setup is clearly in the benefitted category, and that’s why 3 of these are now stable part of it.

Source gear honorable mention goes to a tiny-budgeted device, Ifi GO Link. That, and IEMs with a balanced cable and a 3.5mm TRRS adapter, right away became my blind buy rec to those individuals which every now and then, attracted by the gear they often see me fiddling with, ask me to indicate “something nice and inexpensive to get started with”.

Looking in retrospect what I just recapped (and I genuinely did it “live”, now, for the mere sake of putting these notes together) none of my 2023 preferred tech comes from chifi-land. The white-bearded badly-aging old continent nerd in me shily shruddered in realising it

Durwood…Chicago, USA

Kefine Klanar

Redefines what a planar can do, the Timeless 7Hz was great but it also had that overblown upper air treble that made it standout. The Klanar on the other hand dials everything down delivering similar quality bass and while not as treble exciting is better balanced, target curve crowd pleasing retaining the technical precision and quick transient delivery of the planar driver.

Moondrop Blessing Dusk 2 

Fits snugly staying in place, great technical details, with enough bass to keep me interested.

BGVP DM9

While I do not own many top tier earphones, I have listened to plenty at shows and know that they best anything I have in the $300 realm. The bass hump is well controlled and balanced nicely in the midbass/sub-bass transition region. The elevated treble plateau keeps them energized and engaging delivering maximum resolution and clarity.

SMSL DO400 DAC/AMP

Extreme value premium desktop DAC melding a powerful headphone amp. I miss the quick control of a potentiometer volume knob of a split dac/amp solution, but it is worth the feature rich resolving DAC and potent headphone amp drive.

Truthear SHIO DAC

Just as powerful as any of the dongles out there it sounds the most blended qualities of a dongle dac without leaning too warm, bassy, thin or sharp. Not head and shoulders above the LG G8, but can turn any USB-C phone into an excellent DAP for an average price.

Oladance OWS Sport

A new category of open-ear sports headphones that offers other uses while avoiding disadvantages of in-ear pressure, ear canal phobias, and isolation, earbud compromises, and over ears isolation and sweatiness. Balanced sound quality that trades low-end bass for open awareness without the lackluster bone conduction competition. Review coming soon, they know what they are doing.

TWS????

Still looking for a TWS all-rounder. I want them to fit tight without loosening slowly, excellent tonality and have good ANC. A blend of the Sony WF-1000XM3 ANC with the sound of the Moondrop Alice combined with the fitment of the KZ ZXS Pro.

When browsing the local classifieds this year I scored some very excellent sounding vintage ADS L570/2 and lesser known local midwest unicorn relic well tuned, amazing imaging cherry veneer Amrita Elan (I think) that my buddy is still scorning me over not “allowing” him to buy them instead- no worries we are still friends. He would love to get his hands on the 3 way model with isobaric woofers anyway.

Kazi Mahbub Mutakabbir…Munich, GERMANY

This year passed by in the blink of an eye, but fortunately I managed to listen to hundreds of devices in this rather short span. My personal collection also went through some radical changes, so without further ado…

Firstly, I finally upgraded my reference gear, both portable and desktop. On the portable side, it’s now Lotoo PAW Gold Touch paired with the venerable Cayin C9. The desktop, meanwhile, is the recently-retired Questyle CMA Twelve Master. Having tried numerous TOTL setups so far, these two fit my needs the most. I may add a tube amp down the line, but that’s for the future.

On the IEM side of things, my daily drivers include Sennheiser IE 900 and the (discontinued) Softears Turii. The IE 900 are perhaps the most advanced in terms of driver tech, and the Turii have such a unique, spacious sound that it belies the single dynamic setup. They have received the most “ear time” this year, and will likely continue to do so in the coming year.

On the TWS side of things, I am impressed by the Beats Studio Buds Plus. For once, a Beats product is actually decent enough to be a daily driver. Apart from the middling noise cancellation, there is little I’d change about them given the price tag.

Finally, I have streamlined my headphones collection and ended up purchasing a modded Sennheiser HD 800. These hold up tremendously well against the planar magnetic behemoths even now, and the staging and imaging are unparalleled in the sub-$2000 space. I was also pleasantly surprised by Sennheiser HD 660S2, though the price tag is a bit higher than I’d prefer.

This year, I finally managed to audition the Sennheiser HE-1 for almost an hour. It was a surreal experience and I can definitely see (or hear) why these are so mythical. That being said, the Warwick Acoustics Aperio are no slouch either and trade blows with the supreme Sennheisers.

But the one pair of headphones that I can call my “personal endgame” are none other than Warwick Bravura. They get dangerously close to the summit-fi behemoths and fortunately, come pre-built as a system so you can save on the cost of an energizer or accompanying pre-amps to further flavor the sound.

Notable mentions: Campfire Audio Supermoon (perhaps the best sounding planar IEMs), Softears Twilight (fantastic single DD), Effect Audio Code 23 (the best copper cable I have ever tried, despite the challenging ergonomics), iFi Go Blu (fantastic little dongle), Cayin RU7 (replaced Questyle M15 for my portable use).

Biodegraded…Vancouver, CANADA

Environmentally friendly, as his name implies, he stuck to his 2021 gear…again. Gives us carbon credits.

Gear of the Year 2022

The post Gear Of The Year 2023 – Our Personal Favourites appeared first on Music For The Masses.

The $80 Moondrop Joker headphone was kindly provided by SHENZHENZAUDIO for my review – and I thank them for that. You can get them here.

Introduction

Moondrop, the ever rising Chengdu company have earned their stripes mainly with earphones since 2015, some of which are remarkable. They lately expanded their catalogue into TWS and portable DACs. Their most recently addition were headphones, one in the premium segment, and the other in the mid tier category. Their $200 Moondrop Void received rather unfavourable reviews, mainly because of its poor build and mushy sound.

The current $80 Moondrop Joker appears to be exactly the opposite of the Moondrop Void: an articulate, analytical sounding headphone tuned for monitoring. It is distinctly different from most of their competitor’s warmer tonalities. The Joker has been designed for its technicalities.

Specifications Moondrop Joker

Physical Things and Usability

In the box are the headphones with detachable cable, one 3.5 mm to 6.3 mm adapter, and the usual paperwork. The fabric-coated cable uses standard 3.5 mm connectors on all three ends and can be easily replaced – though there is no need to do so.

The headphone itself appears a bit rickety, as the earpieces tend to bang against the frame, though both are separated by a rubber pad. The design is plastic and rather light. The headband padding is soft but the fabric appears somewhat cheap. The around-ear pads are spacious even for my monster flabbers and offer good comfort. They can just be pulled off and replaced if needed. Clamp pressure is comfortable for my large head. Overall fit and wearing comfort is very good for me.

The Joker can be driven by a phone but benefits from amplification.

Tonality and Technicalities

The Moondrop Joker was designed for monitoring – as a production tool: it therefore has an analytical tilt with an elevated brilliance region, far away from the warmish sounding Sennheiser or Koss-Porta-Pro-type models. It offers excellent note definition and great spatial reconstruction but can sound a bit lean and “cool” with some sources.

The Joker excels in his technicalities: separation, layering, and note definition are very good, staging is three-dimensional. Imaging is also one of the strong points. Note weight (above sub bass) is on the lean side, probably somewhat sacrificed for the technicalities. The degree of richness varies with source with analog players and warm digital DAPs delivering the thickest sound. Note decay is actually quite realistic: the Joker passes the “cello test” and aligns itself well for even monitoring acoustic sets.

In summary, I’d characterize the sonic presentation as AAA: analytical, accurate, and articulate. Don’t forget, the Joker’s purpose is not casual recreational listening.

The prominent bass really benefits from the technicalities: it is impactful and as tight as my wallet with some sources and thicker/rubbery with others. But there is always a good rumble down there, which can ad warmth. The low-end focus is clearly on the sub bass. A solid foundation.

The mids are rather lean, but very nuanced and well sculptured. Midrange has decent clarity. Accuracy rules! With some sources and tracks, there can be a degree of harshness in the upper midrange.

Treble has a good presence and is well resolving. Let’s call it “sweet” as there is no graininess above the upper mids.

As you see, the Joker is a bit of a chameleon in that its signature varies a lot with source, which makes its sonic characterization difficult.

In comparison, the Koss Porta Pro is warmer with a mushier bass but has inferior technicalities, particularly its spatial reconstruction lags far behind. Different purpose, though. The Teufel Massive is a bass bomb in comparison, and the discontinued Sennheiser HD471 is warmer but also lags in terms of note definition. The Moondrop Joker appears to be lonely in its own class – and hard to compare.

Concluding Remarks

The Joker is Moondrop’s third headphone model, and the first below $100. It has been designed as a monitoring tool for DJs and studio engineers placing tonal accuracy and articulation over richness and “musicality”. It is not meant to be someone’ primary playback device. And it performs its job very well. The price is certainly right.

Comparing the Joker to $80 iem models, it probably beats most.

Goal achieved!

Until next time…keep on listening!

Contact us!

Disclaimer

Get the Moondrop Joker from SHENZHENAUDIO.

Our generic standard disclaimer.

About my measurements.

The post Moondrop Joker Review (1) – Remarkable Accuracy appeared first on Music For The Masses.

The $139 TempoTec IM05 is a 4+1 iem with fabulous imaging qualities that may have a tad too much bass for some.

The TempoTec IM05 was kindly supplied by the manufacturer for my review – and I thank them for that. You can purchase it from TempoTec Official Store .

Introduction

TempoTec’s claim to small fame came with their budget dongle DACs that were unbeatable at their price. For example, their $40 Sonata HD Pro came with all accessories to even work with iPhone.

Recently, the company has expanded gear wise and simultaneously moved out of the budget realm. They now feature the excellent V6 dap, the great Serenade X desktop streamer, and the March III M3 desktop DAC/amp. One device per category, all mid-fi, and all surprisingly good.

With the IM05 (IM stands for “Impromptu”, 05 for the number of drivers), TempoTec enters yet another category: earphones. And TL;DR, they do another good job. No rookie mistakes, the IM05 is a mature product. It was actually designed to harmonize with the V6 DAP.

Specifications TempoTec IM05

Physical Things and Usability

In the box are the earpieces with plenty of silicone tips, a fancy cable, a very roomy storage case, and the paperwork. The earpieces are large but light, they are comfortable, fit me well, and they isolate well, too. The cable is gorgoeous both haptically and functionally (“pliable”).

Tonality and Technicalities

The TempoTec IM05 is warmish sounding with a good depth and headroom and a decent timbre (considering it has 4 BAs), but with a “broad” lower mid bass that smears into the lower midrange. It sounds nothing like the graph implies, paradoxically.

Yep, the bass is the polarizing feature, with its strong cat buckle (in the graph) that culminates at the transition mid-bass/sub-bass. This makes for a thick and somewhat punchy midbass, but with a rather subtle impact and intensity that does not torture my eardrums. The Azul Performer 5 does the opposite.

TempoTec offer this kind of bass lift also in their V6 DAP and March III M3 DAC/amp. It appears to be part of their house sound. In fact, the $4000 Fir Audio iems offer a similar bass impact.

Bass lines are generally on the rich side. Extension into the sub-bass is average but, paradoxically, the lowest frequencies are leaner than the mid bass. There is always a subtle but never annoying rumble down there.

The bass smears into the midrange which has the positive effect that it re-inforces male and female voices alike, but it also cuts into the midrange transparency. Strangely enough, vocals are not recessed but rather intimate, despite the mickey mouse ears in the upper midrange’s graph segment.

There is also no shoutiness. I can only explain this by the balance between elevated bass and upper midrange in combination with the recessed treble.

Somebody tuned these iems by ear and not by graph, obviously. And it works. Vocals are very well rendered and nicely layered, they have a 3D effect and are almost holographic. They are neither thick or thin but are nicely intimate and rather articulate.

Treble is subtle overall, the extension is..well..not well extended. The high notes are somewhat swept under the carpet. Older listeners like me won’t probably care that much.

That combination of modest treble and extension and bass lift make for a deep but not too wide (but wide enough) stage. Midrange resolution is excellent as long as there is no strong bass superimposed. Separation and layering are also very good, not to forget the outstanding imaging. When listening to concerts with interaction of musicians and audience, I always feel I am in the building or stadium.

In comparison, the $150 single DD Sennheiser IE 150 are more fluid with a more emphasized midrange, but they have flatter staging and less resolution. The LETSHUOER S12 is less holographic with lesser imaging but somewhat smoother (after micropore tape mod).

The IKKO OH10 on our Wall of Fame plays vocals leaner, sharper, and more recessed, at similar imaging qualities. The Dunu Talos has a wider stage but lacks depth in comparison, and the notes are leaner. The first model in my collection to beat the I M05 is the $650 LETSHUOER EJ07 in that its sonic presentation is somewhat smoother with better rounded notes, but the IM05 is still better imaging.

The discontinued $699 Dunu Zen is better resolving but has an upper midrange glare. I prefer the IM05 over the lesser imaging and resolving Moondrop KATO. In summary, the IM05 are also head and shoulders above most $150-200 ChiFi fare I have tested, at least in terms of imaging.

Concluding Remarks

The TempoTec IM05 is an enjoyable 4+1 iem with an agreeable sonic signature. I have auditioned way more than 500 iems, but never had exactly this listening experience, so it is somewhat mainstream with new features, particularly the bass (though it may be considered being too boosted by some).

Since it is the company’s first iem, many analysts may “laud a good initial effort” while tacitly recommending the reader to wait for the “Pro” version. This is not necessary for the IM05, TempoTec got it right on the first try, as is the case with their V6 dap, Serenade X streamer, and March III M3 DAC/amp.

It was a pleasure testing the IEM05, an outright inspiration following my bundle of 10 Chifi iems that landed on my desk just before Christmas. TempoTec keep surprising.

Until next time…keep on listening!

The post TempoTec IM05 Review – Uniquely Mainstream appeared first on Music For The Masses.

The latest Mac generation features a relatively good audio circuit that makes many budget dongles and headphone amps obsolete.

Introduction

Apple computers, unlike the company’s mobile devices, have traditionally delivered poor audio quality through their 3.5 mm headphone socket. And most Windows machines are not any better.

Plugging an earphone or headphone into my 2012 MacBook Air and listening to iTunes/Apple Music creates a dull and blunt listening experience. This low quality is a contradiction to the capabilities of digital audio, which goes back at least 20 years. Even the 2013 iPhone 5S had stunning audio quality. Similarly, Apple’s “Lightning to 3.5 mm Audio Adapter” delivers excellent sound quality.

In order to make computers sound better, digital audio pioneer Gordon Rankin of Wavelength Audio (and contractor to AudioQuest), invented the dongle DAC back in 2012, the DragonFly Black. A tiny device without its own battery, it drew power from the host. The DragonFly was restricted to use with a computer as it drew more than 100 mA, too much for iPhone to handle.

As of 2016, the next version of the “Black” was within the iPhone’s current draw tolerance. Many companies jumped on the bandwagon flooding the market with such devices. But not all dongles are equal and ALL of them are a compromise. Such that draw little current (and therefore drain your phone company slowly) have limited power, and the powerful ones empty your phone’s battery fast.

When it comes to dongle-DAC use with computers, current drain is largely irrelevant considering that desktop machines don’t have a battery at all, and notebooks have high battery capacities compared to a phone. Power is therefore no problem with computer application, sound quality has foremost priority.

Dongle DACs typically have 1 to 2 V, depending on impedance. Some, such as the Helm Bolt, automatically switch voltage depending on detected headphone impedance.

Apple introduced a new integrated audio circuit in their latest models:

• MacBook Air introduced in 2022
• MacBook Pro introduced in 2021 or later
• Mac mini introduced in 2023
• Mac Studio introduced in 2022

These models contain an audio circuit that is power wise very similar to dongles such as the Helm Bolt, ifi Audio GO Link, DragonFly Red and Cobalt. Below 150 ohm headphone impedance, the circuit provides a voltage of 1.25 V RMS, above 150 ohm and up to 1000 ohm, the headphone jack delivers 3 V RMS. You find Apple’s respective support article here.

Apple’s integrated DAC supports sample rates up to 96 kHz (just like the AudioQuest DragonFly Cobalt).

I calculated the resulting power and current drain as displayed in the following table:

What we have learnt so far is that Apple’s new audio circuit is as powerful as a standard dongle DAC of the kind that also works with a phone. Yes, there are more powerful dongles on the market such as the Apogee Groove, Questyle M15, or ifi Audio Go bar, which will work better with insensitive headphones.

The 2022 MacBook Air with the M2 processor has its headphone jack on the right-hand side.

Amplification and Sound Quality

Playing in-ears with 32 ohm impedance is a piece of cake, even the 70 ohm Sennheiser HD 25 headphones (on the title photo) get lots of volume. Just like many “standard dongle DACs”, the 300 ohm Sennheiser HD 600 brings the Mac audio to its limits. Yes, it principally works, but it lacks pizazz.

The current-hungry Final E5000 iems are a special case in that they do not run well with most current-conserving dongle DACs and daps, for example the ifi Go link, Helm Bolt or TempoTec V6. They play loud enough but lack bass control, an indication that hey don’t receive enough current.

My testing confirms the tech data comparison with comparable dongles.

And here comes the surprise: the sound quality of Apple’s new audio quality is…astonishingly good for what it is: crisp, transparent, clear. Very surprising. It sounds very similar (in terms of quality) to the ifi Go link or Helm Bolt.

Concluding Remarks

Apple’s new adaptive audio circuit finally sounds quite decent. Poor audio circuits in computers were the reason for the invention of the dongle DAC. The idea was to keep it small, down to the size of a thumb drive.

Some basic $50-100 dongle DACs have now become obsolete for modern Macs, which makes these devices even more compact. Where Apple are exaggerating is with the compatibility with high-impedance headphones. It principally works, but you are better off with a dedicated, powerful, headphone DAC/amp such as the ifi GO bar or the Questyle M15 on the go.

Testing this is easy: if you have a new Mac, try it out. If you don’t have one, don’t bother as you won’t buy one for this purpose anyway.

Until next time…keep on listening!

Contact us!

Disclaimer

Our generic standard disclaimer.

The post Using Headphones With Your New Mac [Without An External DAC/Amp] – A Review appeared first on Music For The Masses.

The $129 TempoTec March III M3 is a versatile natural sounding and powerful balanced DAC/amp (wired, BT) that drives even 300 Ω headphones well. It runs on 5V from your computer, the stock power supply, or a fancy third party one.

The TempoTec March III M3 was kindly provided by the manufacturer for my analysis, and I thank them for that. You find more information on the TempoTec website.

Introduction

TempoTec are a Chinese company established by audiophiles. They claim to have a multinational team from China, Taiwan, Korea, and Germany. The company originally made a name for itself by budget dongle DACs…cheap, ok, great value, but not necessarily high end. This, unfortunately, stuck with them for the longest time.

Lately, the company left the starting blocks and released impressive “midfi” products that convinced by innovative quality features at attractive prices.

First was the TempoTec V6, a very good sounding digital analog player at an incredible $300. Next came their $269 Serenade X, a desktop streamer with essentially unlimited features. And last but not least, there is the forthcoming IM05 4+1 earphone, their first…but it is a good one.

The March III M3 is TempoTec’s first DAC/amp, which once again undercuts its competition in price, but not in quality.

TempoTec are becoming serious competitors to brands such as Topping, SMSL, and possibly FiiO. But in contrast to these companies, TempoTec are confident to score with one model of each: streamer, dap, DAC/amp…instead of offering us the same in multiple different flavours. A very positive sign.

Let’s have a good look at the March II M3’s specs. What makes the device special?

Specifications TempoTec March III M3

Physical Things

In the package are the unit, a 5V/2A power supply, 2 USB-A-C cables, and the paperwork. The device and all buttons are made of metal, the front is almost completely covered with glass. The March III M3 is rather small and relatively light – easy to be carried around on travel and to be used in hotel rooms or the office.

Technology

The March III M3 sports an Asahi Kasai DAC chip (most competitors use ES Tech Sabre chips) for decoding, and 4 OPA1688 operational amps by Texas Instruments for amplification. For readers who dwell on DAC chips making the sound: they don’t. This combination of quality DAC and opamps costs you and me around $15 USD, and is probably much cheaper in bulk [ES Tech chips are not much different]. TempoTec does not give us details on the other components.

The March III M3 comes with a 5V/2A power supply with USB-A port. Alternatively, you can power the device from your computer or a power bank, or a fancy third-party power supply such as the $99 ifi Audio iPowerX or the $59 Allo Nirvana or the $43 BRZ.

Replacing the stock power supply with the iPowerX enriches the sound, it adds body…though it may be a cost prohibitive upgrade. Just try all the 5V power supplies that came with your tablet or phone. The lowest current I used in my test was 1.2A for the BRZ.

Front Panel

The front contains all control and monitoring functions: the two headphone sockets (3.5 mm single ended and 4.4 mm balanced), the on/off/volume knob, an OLED screen (small but crisp) and three buttons: Mode (wired/BT), Gain (low/high), and Bass (on/off). Most of the front panel is glass. The brandname “TempoTec” is nowhere to be found.

Back Panel: I/O

In the back are two USB-C ports (one for 5 V power, the other for connecting a music source), analog RCA outputs (for powered speakers), and digital SPDIF out (coaxial, optical)

Functionality and Operation

The TempoTec March III M3 is an unusually versatile device.

It does

• play music into headphones from different sources (Phone/tablet, computer)
• accepts digital music wired or per BT
• output an analog signal through its balanced and single-ended circuits into headphones
• output an analog signal per RCA into powered loudspeakers
• output a digital signal into another DAC via SPDIF (coaxial, optical)
• works as a BT receiver

It does not

• drive most unpowered speakers
• power the hungriest planar magnetic headphones

The unit is switched on and off by pushing and holding down the volume knob. The Mode button toggles between wired and BT operations, the gain can be adjusted to low and high (use low gain as much as possible as any high gain compresses dynamics), and bass button adds…you got it…bass.

And the added bass totally contorts the timbre. It is awful and you better leave it off….unless you need some serious “boom boom”. Actually, even without the bass button, there is more than plenty of bass, naturally.

Wired

You can operate headphones through the two headphone jacks. The balanced 4.4 m circuit is much more powerful and provides an overall better sound. Only use the 3.5 mm one, if you don’t have a headphone with a 4.4 mm plug.

If you have powered near-field speakers, they are connected to the RCA ports in the back.

If you can’t be bothered with the DAC/amp functionality at all, you have the option to connect the March III M3 to an external amp. This is a truly rare feature in this price category.

Bluetooth

The March III M3 is also a Bluetooth receiver. It features the latest Bluetooth 5.2 and handles all common codecs (SBC 328 kbps, AAC 256 kbps, LDAC 990 kbps). It operates over a distance up to 30 m. This is useful when the unit is used with powered speakers when the headphone cable is longer than one’s arms. The M3 never lost reception while I was walking with my iPhone music source all over the two floors of my 2000 sq ft house.

It becomes really interesting when the March III M3 is connected via a different DAC to a room-filling stereo system. In this case, the device’s own DAC and amp are disabled and it works as a BT receiver only.

Amplification

Power is not measured but always calculated from voltage, current, and resistance. TempoTec list a power of 630 mW @ 4 V/32 Ω for the balanced circuit, and 310 mW @ 2 V/32 Ω. But 630 mW power require a voltage of 4.5 V, at 4 V, it is only 500 mW (accordingly, the SE power should be 250 mW). Therefore, either the given voltage or power are wrong…which does not matter in the end.

The March III M3’s volume scale goes from 0 to 100. In practical use, the device drives the 300 Ω Sennheiser HD 600 on high gain at a volume of up to 95 (for quiet recordings); it needs a volume of 80 to be loud for average recordings, and 65 for moderate level on the balanced circuit. This is pretty impressive considering the headphone’s sound quality is not suffering at high volumes. The sensitive Final Sonorous III gets away with a volume of 30. The HD 600 don’t run well on the weaker single ended circuit.

Most iems need about 30 on balanced and 40 on single ended. Unless you have a hungry planar magnetic, the March III M3 handles the rest.

Sound

The March III M3’s sound quality is actually surprising(ly good): it is not harsh and analytical as many of its budget peers’, but rather…erm…”musical” with well rounded notes. Many would claim that the lack of “Sabre glare” is ascribed to the Asahi Kasai AK4493SEQ chip, but life ain’t that easy, friends.

The overall tonality is slightly warm with an elevated low end, similar to TempoTec’s V6 dap.

Bass is indeed lifted a bit and not the fastest. It may occasionally smear into the midrange, which is probably the M3’s weakest point – but it is not dramatic. Transparency is otherwise good. The stage is wide and tall but not very deep.

The balanced circuit adds power and also depth to the image. The single-ended image is more two dimensional…and BT operation removes a bit of richness and extension on both ends, but is overall still pretty good.

In order to characterize the March III M3 in more detail, let’s compare it to the $250 EarMen TR-Amp, a battery operated DAC/amp with a single-ended circuit only. The TR-Amp does not offer BT and has slightly weaker amplification. At twice the price, you’d expect better components in the EarMen, and therefore better sound quality.

Both do indeed sound different. The TR-Amp is less bassy, has a crisper attack, better note definition (“sounds sharper”), better resolution and transparency, and better 3-D reconstruction overall. The March III M3 has softer notes, a wider but shallower stage, and lags the TR-Amp in terms of separation and layering.

The TR-amp is technically and analytically better but the March III M3 is more soulful and sweeter sounding…at half the price. I enjoy both.

Concluding Remarks

With the March III M3, TempoTec has pulled another white rabbit out of their hat. It it a complete, good-sounding and attractive looking DAC/amp and BT receiver that works well with most full-sized headphones and essentially all iems. What sets is apart from its immediate competition are its low price and digital outputs.

I cannot think of a comparable competitive device below $200. I really like this little rascal a lot. It is right up my alley.

The March III M3 joins the V6 dap and the Serenade X as a great, enjoyable product at a reasonable price.

Until next time…keep on listening!

Contact us!

Disclaimer

Our generic standard disclaimer.

Gallery

The post TempoTec March III M3 Review – Mach III appeared first on Music For The Masses.

The $150 Sennheiser IE 200 is a well tuned, great sounding single DD with a perfect timbre that beats even some of its more expensive siblings. Now on our Wall of Excellence.

The Sennheiser IE 200 was provided by their US distributor upon my request. And I thank them for that.

Introduction

Sennheiser have been known to us mainly for their headphones. Their HD 25 have been in production since 1988, and their HD 600 (my go-tos) since 1997. The company, established in 1945, obviously knows what they are doing. And although they are from Germany, Asia is their biggest market. Sennheiser is some kind of a status symbol there, like Mercedes or BMW.

But when it comes to earphones, they may have been a bit slow. Sennheiser may have invented the earbuds, which may have prevented them from catching on to the earphone market fast. Their early models had a thick and fuzzy bass tied to a classic V-shape, like the CX 300B MKII or the Momentum In Ear.

This changed somewhat in 2019 with the release of the Pro series, designed for musicians: the $99 IE 40 Pro, $349 IE 400 Pro, and $599 IE 500 Pro. Strangely enough, the IE 400 Pro sounded the best of the lot. The $300 IE 300 followed a year later, which featured a new shell design with new silicon eartips. The difference between all these models is discussed here.

Sennheiser maintained the IE 300’s shell shape for their recent super premium models IE 600 and IE 900, but also for the $150 IE 200.

TL;DR: the Sennheiser IE 200 are the company’s best sounding iems below the IE 600 and IE 900 – they run circles around their more expensive Pro series. The company finally got some affordable in-ears 100% right.

Specifications Sennheiser IE 200

Physical Things and Usability

In the box are the earpieces, a cable with 3.5 mm plug, 2 sets of eartips (S/M/L), a storage pouch and the paperwork. The IE 200’s earpieces have the same dimensions and other physical properties as the IE 300’s: they are inconspicuous, haptic wise, although Sennheiser certainly know their polycarbonates. The shells are small and light, you can even wear them in bed, and they are very comfortable.

What also contributes to comfort and fit are the shapeable earhooks…they don’t feature that kind of memory wire that cuts the circulation in your ears off. There are only two iems outside the Sennheiser family I have auditioned (out of >500) that are similarly small and comfortable: the discontinued Brainwavz B200 and Beyerdynamic Soul Byrd.

The cable is fairly basic: let’s say, it works. It tangles up easily and once it has, you are in for some fun. From my conversations with the company, Sennheiser appear to have never cared about fancy looking cables, they are all about pragmatism. Fitting a third-party cable is difficult as the MMCX sockets are recessed. I could not find a single “upgrade” cable in my stash that fits, not even that from the IE 500 Pro would do.

Just like in the IE 300, Sennheiser changed their standard silicone eartips to a kind that doesn’t provide seal for many users, including myself. I therefore once again deployed the SpinFit CP100 tips, which work extremely well with the IE 200 (and my ears).

Tonality and Technicalities

Reviewers typically subdivide the sonic characteristics of a device into “lows, mids, and highs”, then elaborate on the soundstage, in order to lose the reader in comparisons with other recent models. A useful synthesis is too frequently missing and the reader is scratching their head, wondering how the product actually sounds overall, whether it justifies its price, and what’s missing to a true stellar premium product.

Some never care about usability at all. What good is great sound when these little rascals are uncomfortable in our ears?

The Sennheiser IE 200 make the case for a holistic approach…before going into details: they are perfectly tuned iems with a perfect timbre that only fall short of super premium iems by their lack of super headroom, super staging, and they have possibly a somewhat too dry of a sound. The sonic quality difference is probably mostly in the shells’ cavity and not the driver.

Nevertheless, this model is so good that I have used almost no other iem in the last weeks. I could stop here. But, what makes the perfect tuning? After all, even an experienced company such as Sennheiser had failed to produce a decent sounding set of affordable in-ears for the longest time.

Well…comes a young acoustician by the name of Anders Hed and changes it all. And the IE 200 are only his first effort.

What makes the tuning of the IE 200 special? Alone from the graph you can guess the fluidity and smoothness of the sound, considering timbre has never been an issue for Sennheiser. They don’t use balanced armature drivers because of potential crossover issues.

Bass is rather subtle with a natural decay, mids are in the foreground with good note definition and decent (but not optimal) note weight. At the high end, that tizziness in the uppermost registers of the IE 300 is gone, the treble is sweet.

Where the IE 200 falls off the super-premium wagon is a comparatively shallow staging (wide, not deep) and a lack of sheen. But all of this is more than compensated for by the aforementioned fluidity, which makes for an irresistible listening experience. A great rare example of a very enjoyable product independent of price.

IE 200 and IE 300 share the same driver (as far as I know), but the tuning obviously makes the difference.

The IE 200 does not have the lower midrange congestion and treble spike of the IE 300 or the veil of earlier models such as the IE 500 Pro. It is a transparent sounding, well resolving iem with a great timbre.

Remains the question which of my iems are better? Only two, the discontinued $700 Dunu Zen, and the $650 LETSHUOER EJ07M. The Zen have more depth and more sparkle (but also an upper midrange glare), and better microdynamics and micro detail, and the EJ07M is a better resolving jack of all trades. But the IE 200 are smaller and lighter, and therefore more comfortable.

Concluding Remarks

The Sennheiser IE 200 may be the company’s answer to mid-price ChiFi, considering Asia is their biggest market. And boy did they get it right this time. There is no competition for the IE 200 in their class, sonically and comfort wise. Period! They are earphones for real music lovers and one of the most impressive iems I have auditioned in a long time.

Sennheiser shows that tuning by trained professionals pays off. They know what they are doing (I am repeating myself). No need to replace the IE 200 with an update next year…which also builds and/or retains customer confidence.

Gut gemacht! Sehr gut sogar! Wall of Excellence! Done!

Until next time…keep on listening!

The post Sennheiser IE 200 Review – Back On Top appeared first on Music For The Masses.

The ifi Audio GO link was supplied by the company for my review – and I thank them for that. You find more information on the GO link product page.

Introduction

ifi Audio from Southport in Northern England have become a mainstay in personal HiFi. The company offers a wide range of product from desktop/portable DAC/amps through USB “decrappifiers” and power supplies to dongle DACs. Their top-of-the line GO bar is probably the most versatile product of its kind on the market.

ifi Audio are also quite open and give us insight in their (proprietary) technologies such as S-balanced, X-bass etc. Very educational, but, of course, also enticing to the technologically inclined customer.

Dongle DACs were invented by USB-audio pioneer Gordon Rankin (“AudioQuest DragonFlys”) and gained widespread popularity in 2016, when current-draw had been reduced to the point for them to work with iPhone. What followed was a flood of mostly budget-priced Chinese products (“dongle madness”) so that the potential buyer was left in confusion.

Whilst ifi Audio typically keep above the low-end market, they may have realized that it is a lucrative one nevertheless. And, I speculate, their ambition was to take the lead in whatever segment they compete in.

The company rep told me that the GO link sounds better than any dongle at this price point…and I was eager to test this statement. TL;DR: the GO link is the best-in-class for a combination of reasons.

Specifications GO link

Physical Things

For $59 you get ifi Audio craftsmanship. The Go link features a magnesium alloy enclosure just like the big brother GO bar: quality build, great haptic. In the box are also a USB-C to USB-A adapter as well as a lightning adapter for iPhone. This lightning adapter saves the iPhone user $35 for the Apple Camera Adapter — it is the same Hidizs sells for $15 individually. This moves the GO link ahead of the competition by a mile without even having listened to it.

Technology, Functionality and Operation

The GO link features the ES9219MQ/Q, which is a standard SoC (“system on chip”), that is DAC and amp are on the same chip. This saves space and helps keeping the device’s size down, but it leaves the audio engineer only few options to tweak the sound (you cannot bypass the SoC’s amp). Hence devices with the same SoC sound similar.

Questyle found a way for their M15 by tagging their proprietary modules onto the chip, and ifi Audio also found a way to improve the prefab sound by adding their proprietary components:

• “Global Master Timing” jitter clock
• Dynamic Range Enhancement (extends the dynamic range by 6 dB)
• S-balanced circuit

S-balanced (Single-Ended Compatible Balanced) means that the listener gets the benefits of a balanced circuit (“reduced crosstalk”) with a normal 3.5 mm TRS plug (also with 3.5 mm TRRS). The advertised QUAD technology and patented Hperstream technology are standard features of the SoC. Any device with this SoC will also have these technologies.

Amplification and Power Management

It is important for a dongle DAC not to draw too much current from a phone – in order to avoid quick battery drain. After all, you still need it for calls. On the other hand, a low battery drain means low power — and one may not be able to use low impedance/low sensitivity earphones and headphones.

in my test, the GO link plots in the midfield of current guzzlers. It appears to strike a balance between power and battery drain. In comparison, the GO bar draws twice as much current and is way more powerful.

In terms of power, the GO link reaches its limits with my 300 ohm Sennheiser HD 600, but drives my 70 ohm Sennheiser HD 25 and most iems with ease. Exceptions are some “demanding” final models, that also don’t work well with most daps.

As like many other dongle DACs, the ifi GO link does not drive the current-greedy final E5000 iems well. The sound is loud enough, but the bass is mushy, indicative of a starved current supply.

Sound

The GO link’s sound is indeed very similar to other devices featuring this type of SoC, most notably the $129 Helm Bolt (which actually features the older ES9281A SoC…which is only different in data handling).

The GO link has a neutral sound with perhaps a bit of a lift in the bass, very good transparency, good midrange clarity, decent depth, and good extension at both ends. I don’t think the sound quality is of any concern for the potential buyer, it is rather the power and battery drain…which have to harmonize with the source device.

Compared to the very similar sounding Helm Bolt, the GO link is a bit edgier in the upper midrange, the Bolt has “sweeter treble” and a bit more bass. These differences are negligible for everyday use, considering that staging, transparency, and amplification are essentially identical.

What matters is value, GO link comes are 1/2 price of the Bolt with a lightning adapter included. 

In comparison, AudioQuest’s $300 flagship “Cobalt” is probably not more powerful (as it has a lower current drain than GO link), but rolls up the field of competitors in terms of sound quality. The Cobalt sounds smoother, has better rounded notes, better dynamics, and better resolution. It reproduces music more true to the original.

But again, the differences are not earth shattering, and it depends what kind of listener you are: if you are out for value, the GO link is unbeatable, if you don’t want to make any compromises, the GO bar or Cobalt may be more appealing to you.

Concluding Remarks

The Go link is a decent sounding dongle DAC without competition, simply because there is no other device that combines sound, build, and accessories at this price. Only the now discontinued $45 TempoTec Sonata HD Pro could be used with iPhone out of the box, but didn’t sound as good as GO link.

The next step up would be the $129 EarMen Eagle, to me still the lowest-priced dongle with premium sound. But that’s more than twice as much as the GO link…which remains in a class of its own.

Until next time…keep on listening!

Contact us!

Disclaimer

The ifi Audio Go link was supplied by the company for my review – and I thank them for that. You find more information on the Go link’s product page.

Our generic standard disclaimer.

This article was published during an excursion to Chile.

The post ifi Audio GO Link Review (2) – All In appeared first on Music For The Masses.

As per our standard in such cases I’ll keep my piece a bit less descriptive as most of the general product information is already well covered by the original article. I’ll of course fill the pros&cons table, and I will add personal notes and considerations that might – hopefully – add something new to the reader’s benefit.

At-a-glance Card

What’s good for me

Sound

First a foremost, when judged vs its reference price V6 sounds good. Imaging (microdynamics) in particular is very nice. Extension is more than acceptable, and there is no significant sign of shoutyness or other “overdoings” from the 3KHz up. Well done.

The general device timbre, furthermore, is pleasant. It transmits a sense of silkyness – notes are well defined yet rounded. As a consequence V6 pairs best with bright / analythical drives.

On the flip side V6 is not the most resolving or microdynamical source you can get for the money – although quite likely the best one in form of a standalone DAP. On such regards it must honestly be kept in mind that miracles not being allowed, limited resources imply compromises. Cutting it with an hatchet, but not going far from reality, experience tells us that you “either” get good imaging with limited resolution, “or” a shaper accent on details but a fuzzier imaging, and fatigue on the midterm. Getting both at the same time requires different hardware (starting from the power module), therefore – by the way – higher budgets.

Power

V6’s balanced output delivers some very nice power, which turns into a lot of good flexibility. I find its almost 4V voltage swing OK for my HD600 in most if not all occasions, and 610mW on 32ohm are a great reservoir of power vs the overwhelming majority of IEMs out there, solely barred uncommon cases like Final E5000 or RHA CL2 – and fullsize hard planars, of course (more on this below).

Audio-specific system foundations

In exchange for being stuck with Andoid 8 (more on this below), V6 can adopt the full suite of audio-specific Android customisations originally developed by HiBy.

The most important of those is no doubt the bypass to Android’s stock audio driver, which “locks” all standard Android devices onto max 48KHz sample rate output – barred aposteriori interventions by clever apps e.g. UAPP, or, more recently, Roon ARC. On custom Android 8 there is a sort of “direct path” available between audio hardware and any higher-level apps, allowing the latter to fully exploit the former’s potential.

Another extremely interesting feature available at system level on these custom Android 8 distros is HiBy’s own user-friendly parametric EQ system called MSEB (as in “Magic Sound Eight Ball”)

The same feature is indeed included with HiBy’s music player app (“HiBy music”) – yet having it implemented down low at system level means you can exploit it also when using any other player app. Not a small thing at all.

Other nice audio features

V6 offers full access to its DAC chips’ 6 (six!) different built in filters: Sharp Roll-off, Slow Roll-off, Short Delay Sharp Roll-off, Short Delay Slow Roll-off, Super Slow Roll-off and Low Dispersion Short Delay.

By the way: for an explanation of what reconstruction fiters are you may want to grab a coffee, then go read my article on the subject (I recommend: in the listed order…). Full AKM AK4493SEQ specs are instead available here, after some registration.

V6 has 4 (four) separate analog audio outputs: 3.5 and 4.4 headphone out, and 3.5 and 4.4 line out.

It’s worth noting that unlike other devices V6 does not offer S/PDIF (digital) coax output from its 3.5 jack port. To get S/PDIF out from V6 you need to pick it from the USB-C port, via an adapter.

While talking about digital ouputs (and inputs), V6 offers them both on Bluetooth and USB channels.

Bluetooth in particular is at level 5.0 and supports most advanced codecs including LDAP and APTX-HD. No APTX-LL however. BT in general is well implemented and I could get good connection stability both in and out on LDAP.

And good battery support

V6 carries a 4500mAh battery, which taken per se is one of those pieces of info that really mean nothing.

It becomes good news when we consider that

• The battery itself supports QC3 fast charging : with the right charger in just 1 hour you get up tp 70%
• The device consumption is quite modest. Based on my typical usage I could get more than 12-13h effective play time.
• Android’s deep sleep is correctly implemented: you can leave V6 “on, but sleeping” (like your phone) and it will last weeks
• Last but not least, 4000mAh are enough to cope with powering a not particularly hungry dongle (e.g. E1DA 9038SG3, Dragonfly Cobalt) in case you want to use one to sensibly upgrade V6’s internal sound quality

What’s not

Android

In spite of the audio-specific customisations – one above all: the proprietary patch allowing for bypassing of Android’s own audio drivers – Android still impacts negatively on sound quality.

How do you know? Just try. Take the very same track and play it once on the DAP, and another time from a good quality transport after connecting that DAP as an external USB DAC: the latter will transit through at a “lower” level, and will be audibly cleaner, airier, livelier. Do the same with a non-Android DAP and the differences, if any, will be much less evident.

That being said, Android brings a lot of additional convenience to a mobile audio player. Sure! So does the smartphone I already carry with me everywhere however. So why should I use carry dedicated mobile audio player (DAP) ?

Long story short the sole valid fundamental rationale is: because I want better sound quality. Correct.

Just be warned: a) on even price conditions you can and will find non-Android DAPs sounding significantly better than same-priced Android ones, so much so that b) there is no Android-based DAP seriously rivalling top sound quality DAPs (Questyle QPM, Lotoo Paw Gold Touch).

Android 8.1

Amonsgt the few really interesting possibilities opened by adopting Android (or iOS) is using the device as a mobile Roon terminal via the recently released Roon ARC app. Very true, very important. Too bad that Roon ARC requires Android 9 (or iOS 12)

Why is the overwhelming majority of the existing Android-based DAP still adopting Android 9 ? Quite simple if you think about it : no one wants (is able / can budget-justify) to develop new audio-specific kernel modifications. Everyone is forking / licensing the same original patches – hence they are stuck on that kernel version.

Limited system resources leading to limited system performances

As mentioned above, Android is supposed to bring flexibility as its main advantage. Key to that is the possibility to use multiple different applications to run different tasks, and do that concurrently, read: at the same time.

To reach such target a certain amount of system resources (computing power and RAM) are required. And that’s what V6 sadly falls short of. The Snapdragon 425 SOC is a 6 year old model – which is a loooong time span in the mobile gear CPU chips market. Furthermore, it’s equipped with just 2GB of RAM. By comparison my everything-but-TOTL Samsung A52 phone runs a 2020 SOC (Snapdragon 720G) on 8GB RAM.

Surely choosing an outdated SOC and very little RAM contributes keeping market price down – no question about it – however it also hampers applicative performances especially in terms of multitasking.

Long story short: V6 works OK when you launch one music player, and use it to its full extent (including some EQ etc), but it starts showing “fatigue” (slow UI responsiveness) or “serious fatigue” (sluggish UI, stuttering etc) when you keep more than one music player and/or other (e.g. messaging, video etc) apps up together.

Other (common) shortcomings

From some point of view V6 is a genuine son of its time – so I guess we should be mild on its main shortcomings as they are common to most if not all the rest of the market offering at the same prices, and sadly at higher prices too.

Much like most of its peers, V6’s Single ended output should be considered “there just in case you can’t but use it”. Sound quality with some meaning exclusively comes out the Balanced output line, really.

Additionally, while V6 is able to deliver some very significant output power onto high impedance (almost 4V swing on 300ohm) and mid impedance (610mW on 32ohm) loads, its architecture quickly drops the battleaxe as load goes down: current output vs sub-16ohm drivers is seriously limited, so much so that it does not pass the E5000 acid test. Again: V6 is in great company ! It would then be too severe to point this out as a shameful limitation or such. Just be warned that – as always – money matters, and “there ain’t such thing as a giant killer”^(tm).

A couple of significant comparisons

Sony NW-A55

Simply put, NW-A55’s worst defect is that… it was recently discontinued. Until a year ago it was still on sale as new and, while already good in itself, thanks to a great humanity benefactor anyone could (and still can) even upgrade its internal operating system adopting more sophisticated versions Sony normally dedicates on their higher tier DAP models, turning A55 into a real sound quality masterpiece for a very modest budget (a bit less than 200€ retail).

A55 is worth mentioning as a part of our discussion today as it’s a glowing example of how a much lower priced device, free from the Android “burden” (see above), in terms of sound quality, audio features and UI/UX can closely rival a (good!) Android DAP like the V6 costing more than twice as much. Indeed in my opinion A55 still surpasses V6 in terms of sound definition and UI, while is succumbs as for sound extension, sheer output power, flexibility and compatibility.

HiBy R5

Also recently discontinued to be replaced by the much more expensive “R5 II Gen-2”, R5 was HiBy’s lower end Android-based DAP.

Lastly priced at the exact same ex works price as V6 ($369), the original R5 is extremely similar to its Tempotec competitor in terms of internal system hardware (same Snapdragon SOC, same system resources, same Android distro, same standard mods and apps), the meaningful differences consisting essentially in the audio section, whereon R5 is equipped by two CS43198 instead of V6’s more modern 2 x AK4493SEQ, complemented by 2 x ADP8397 opamps vs V6’s OPA1688.

R5 also has a smaller form factor (and screen), BT 4.2 instead of 5, and is minorly less powerful in terms of output wattage… details, really.

What’s most important: V6 sounds better. Not like day / night better, no, still very much audibly better. R5 sounds edgier, grainier, less refined.

Again, what matters to our discussion today is that the two devices are very similar under multiple design aspects, and they mainly differ insofar as V6 adopts a more modern DAC chipset. The existing although not excessive differences I find correspond quite exactly to my apriori expectation.

Wish I had a chance to audition HiBy’s latest R5 iteration, the R5 II GEN-2. I’m ready to bet it will be… very similar to V6 again – this time the gap being even smaller between the two, and it will be a close call wether one or the other can be called “better”.

Why do I reckon so ? Because R5 II is… pretty much again the same piece of base hardware (same Snapdragon SOC, same Android 8.1, same sw suite, same… etc), this time complemented with a more modern DAC chip set (2 x ESS9219C) and a Class-A output stage which will likely provide a tad better (cleaner, livelier) sound at the cost of a much higher power consumption.

How much difference will such more modern componentry make? Tough to say – as the burden represented by the antique (!) underlying hw and sw architecture will surely drain part of their good deeds…

Considerations and conclusions

Taking solely output audio quality in consideration the DAP market offers better quality for the dollar on proprietary-OS DAPs vs Android-based DAPs.

That said, for many adding more applicative flexibility to their pocket audio player device is a priority, and that’s where a general-purpose OS like Android comes into the equation.

Android DAP lovers don’t seem to really care about compromises in terms of sheer sound quality, or in terms of higher price budget, or both. Their (legit) mindset calls for Android-based DAPs to be considered (paraphrasing you-know-which movie line…) a separated ballpark, if even the same sport compared to custom OS ones.

All that recalled as a crucial preamble, as I tried to outline today Tempotec V6 clearly represents a solid staple in the sub-1K€ Android-based DAP panorama.

Its original introductory price of $280 made it into an absolute no brainer to be honest. At that price V6 was “the” budget Android DAP to own – full stop.

Now that the launch campaign is over V6 retails for $369 ex works, converting into a whiff less than €450 including EU VAT – which means stiffer competition, which however won’t likely significantly outrun V6 in terms of overall quality, leaving it as a still solid choice in its category and price segment.

Our generic standard disclaimer.

The post Tempotec V6 Review (2) – Second Opinion appeared first on Music For The Masses.

The EarMen CH-Amp was supplied by the company and I thank them for that – and for their patience (I tested critically for over 2 months). You can purchase it for $1480 (at the time of writing) from the EarMen shop.

Introduction

EarMen are designers and manufacturers of premium audio products from Europe. They are registered in Chicago however develop and produce in Serbia. They are a young company, but with lots of experience as they are an offshoot of premium manufacturer Auris Audio.

EarMen are confident. They do not offer umpteen models of the same at similar prices. No, one model fits all. And they don’t hand the responsibility of a good sound to the user through countless tweaking options. Their devices sound as good as they should out of the box.

EarMen products have long shelf lives: they are well designed so that the buyer does not have to fear their purchase will be superseded by an “upgrade” anytime soon.

EarMen like puns in their product names: Donald DAC, ST-Amp, and TR-Amp. And now the CH-Amp.

EarMen impressed us first with their dongles, the $129 Eagle and the $199 Sparrow. The former is still the lowest-priced dongle with premium sound on the market in my opinion. And the Sparrow is Biodegraded’s daily driver. It is not only the sound that is impressive but also the design and premium build.

Next, EarMen delighted us with their portable headphone amps, the affordable TR-Amp and the pricier Angel. And then came the Tradutto, their premium DAC designed to go with the CH-Amp. And, boy, does this synergy work.

Specifications CH-Amp

Physical Things

In the box are the actual Ch-Amp, the PSU-3 linear power supply, one 5-pin cable to connect both, and three more standard power cables to connect three more 12 V devices, for example the EarMen Tradutto (which has the same dimensions as the CH-Amp for perfect stacking), a combo remote for CH-Amp and Tradutto, and the manual. These are more accessories than listed in the manual (which you can download here).

A power cord is not included as EarMen are of the opinion that audio enthusiasts have their own preference, worldwide plug standards vary – and everybody has a spare in their drawer anyway. While such a cord is easy to get, a 4.4 mm balanced Pentaconn cable is still a rare thing – and EarMen are advised to offer one in their online shop.

PSU-3, CH-Amp (and even the remote) have appealing, minimalistic industrial designs with clear, straight lines. And they continue EarMen’s tradition of EXCEPTIONAL build quality.

The units are very heavy (3.5 kg combined) and sturdy. The CH-Amp’s printed circuit board is sitting in a one-piece aluminum enclosure with galvanized steel bottom (the same accounts for the PSU-3). Button and dial mechanisms are precise and rugged. Of all devices I have tested, only Burson products have a comparable build quality.

Like the Tradutto, the CH-Amp features an OLED display that indicates the settings.

The CH-Amp is shape wise and technically matched with the Tradutto DAC and essentially relies on this DAC to form the EarMen stack. The CH-Amp’s remote operates both devices.

Features

The CH-Amp is a fully balanced amplifier that comes with a sophisticated linear power supply that handles an additional three devices. The CH-Amp features 2 circuits, a single-ended 6.35 mm one and a more powerful 4.4 mm balanced one. It deploys German quality WIMA capacitors, audio electrolytes in combination with MELF low noise resistors and SoundPlus OPA1642 operational amplifiers.

For balanced operation, the CH-Amp needs to be connected to a balanced DAC such as the EarMen Tradutto. EarMen are forward looking in their choice of 4.4 mm connectivity between DAC and amp for balanced sound…you also need a balanced cable for your headphone or earphone.

The CH-Amp features a safety mechanism to protect the attached equipment and our ears – as described below.

Operation

The CH-Amp features all its controlling features (buttons, knobs, display) in the front, and all its connectivity in the back.

Front Panel

The CH-Amp’s front panel is cleanly laid out and complements the overall shape. It features a 6.35 mm socket for the single-ended circuit, and a 4.4 mm socket for the balanced circuit.

The small OLED indicates the selected input (BAL, L1, L2) and the gain (high, low). If no headphone is connected, it indicates its pre-amp setting “PRE”. It also contains a nifty VU meter. The display is always on and cannot be dimmed, but it is subtle.

The tiny buttons to the right of the display let you select gain and line in. The on-off/volume knob can also be used as a mute button.

Back Panel

The CH-Amp’s back panel contains a 5-pin power input from the PSU-3 power supply, a 4.4 mm balanced socket, and 2 RCA inputs. This means you can connect 3 source devices simultaneously.

For use a pre-amp, the CH-Amp features a 4.4 mm balanced line out and RCA pre-outs. The 4.4 mm circuit is required to keep the stack’s dimensions down (XLR requires a much bigger chassis). The power supply’s back pane is discussed in detail below.

Switching the power supply on welcomes you with a loud “zong”…which is normal. You still have to switch the CH-Amp on individually (and the Tradutto) by pushing its volume knob.

By default, the CH-Amp is on volume level 0/low gain. After selecting the input and gain, you are ready to listen.

In the case you pull the headphone out of the socket, the volume automatically resets to 0. The knob physically moves back into this position under a clicking noise. It is a safety mechanism for protecting your equipment and your ears.

While this can be a cool effect, the gain also resets to low. I would prefer if the gain stayed on the previously chosen setting as it is not a safety requirement (zero volume is zero volume). It would be more convenient if gain selection was included in the remote’s functionality – which it is not.

The Remote

It is actually double remote for controlling the CH-Amp and the Tradutto DAC – and it also switches both devices on and off (but not the PSU-3). The remote is made entirely of metal with quality button mechanisms – and it contains a battery. It charges through any 5V power supply/computer outlet through its USB-C socket. Charger and cable are not included…less clutter.

The haptic is great, certainly much better than my drawer full of flimsy plastic remotes for operating my TV, some DACS, and even my premium Marantz SA8005 SACD player.

What one needs to get used to is the ergonomics (it is just a rectangular box with rounded corners) and the operational challenges. If you stack the Tradutto DAC on top of the CH-Amp/PSU-3, you may find it counterintuitive to have the CH-Amp’s buttons above the Tradutto’s buttons…and may as well sandwich the Tradutto between CH-Amp and PSU-3.

But, obviously, the CH-Amp has priority on the remote, as you may not own a Tradutto at all.

The other challenge is that the selection buttons of the CH-Amp (line ins: BAL, L1, L2) and the selection buttons of the Tradutto (inputs: USB, TOS, COAX, BT) are on opposing sides. All this in the context that the buttons are very close together. As mentioned, a gain control button is not included.

Again, this organization benefits the remote’s size, which is much smaller than any other remote for desktop devices I have – and which is in line with the small-size concept of the EarMen stack.

You may use the remote a lot if your arms are shorter than your headphone cable.

The PSU-3 Power Supply

It is evident that the device advertised as CH-Amp comes in two parts, the bigger and heavier of which is not an amplifier at all: the PSU-3 power supply. It features four power outlets (cables included) and therefore can supply three additional 12V devices other than the CH-Amp (such as the Tradutto DAC, EarMen’s Staccato Streamer, and another device of your choice).

The input voltage can be switched between 115 and 230 V. While it may look bulky, it actually saves a lot of space as discussed in the next chapter.

Power supplies are a very important and frequently underestimated part of our stereo systems. I have tested a few, and in my experience, they make a huge sonic difference – and I mean huge: not by adding sound quality but by minimizing its decay.

Examples are the Tradutto’s stock supply, the ifi Audio iPowerX and the Burson Super Charger, all of which are switching mode power supplies (like our phone/notebook chargers). They are smaller than the PSU-3 unit, which is a linear power supply (LPS).

An LPS is relatively bulky (up to microwave size) and heavy because it contains a big transformer, but it has a great price to performance ratio delivering a cleaner DC through a more stable voltage.

The smaller SMPS are generally noisier and deteriorate the signal more, unless you move into the super premium segment. But even a decent LPS can setup you back several hundred dollars. Easily!

EarMen’s engineers have obviously put a lot of thought into clean power.

If you also own the Tradutto, you can use its stock SMPS for other devices. The PSU-3 is a better power supply that upgrades the Tradutto’s sound, too.

Amplification

The CH-Amp has a maximum power of 3.8 W for its balanced output on high gain @ 32 Ω. See the two tables below for details at other representative headphone impedances. EarMen does not recommend load impedance of 8 Ω (you can work around this by using the IE Match).

Balanced Output (4.4 mm)

Single-ended Output (6.35 mm)

I tested the CH-Amp with the EarMen Tradutto DAC, sourced my a MacBook Air. I mainly used two headphones, the power-hungry 300 Ω Sennheiser HD 600 and the easy-to-drive 16 Ω Final Sonorous III, both with 4.4 mm balanced cables. The CH-Amp’s volume scale ranges from 0 to 30.

With the Senns, I turned the volume to 15 (on high gain) for a “healthy” sound, and to about 20 for loud music. 25 was hurting my eardrums. The Sonorous played already really loud at 9 on the dial (on low gain). 6 was enough for normal listening.

Driving the 32 Ω Beyerdynamic Custom Pro and the 70 Ω Sennheiser HD25 on the single-ended circuit on low gain also was a piece of cake for the CH-Amp.

The CH-Amp will drive any headphone sufficiently (except, perhaps some rare, particularly “hungry” planars).

Sound

I tested with the EarMen Tradutto DAC sourced by a MacBook Air.

The CH-Amp’s sound is essentially uncoloured, maybe with a very slight lift at the low end (depending on source and interconnects). Transparency is excellent, staging and extension vary with transducer: the Sennheiser HD 600 play way more open than the Final Sonorous III.

There is obviously a sonic difference between the balanced and single-ended circuits (apart from power). The balanced circuit adds more depth to the sonic image – and produces an overall more “balanced” sound. It is the 4.4 mm circuit that makes the CH-Amp shine.

I have been listening over 2 months with headphones of impedances as low as 16 Ω and do not register any hiss. One recording I am getting back to again and again is Miles Davis’ classic 1959 Kind of Blue album (in the 2007 digital hybrid SACD SICP 10083 version from Sony Japan), in combination with the Sennheiser HD 600 (with balanced cable). In my experience, it feels like being in the studio: excellent transparency, crispness, resolution, and control. The sound is vivid yet natural and balanced. An addictive experience.

In comparison, the Tradutto with the similarly powerful Burson Funk (with the V6 Classic opamps and the Super Charger power supply) creates a warmer and flatter sound (as it lacks a balanced circuit).

The CH-Amp, in combination with the EarMen Tradutto produces the best sound I have experienced with my headphones. It is a truly complete (balanced) package!

Does Size Matter?

On my desk, space is sparse – and size matters a lot. The Marie Kondo in me wants a setup with the best possible sound and yet the smallest possible footprint — and as little (cable) clutter as possible.

The EarMen stack (Tradutto, CH-Amp, and Staccato streamer) occupies the smallest possible area of any stack in its category. It is building up rather than out, just like skyscrapers in mega cities – and it occupies barely more area than a CD.

Its footprint is further minimized by the lack of cable clutter: the single, short 4.4 mm Pentaconn cables takes way less space than the two bulky XLR ones it replaces. I ordered my megumi copper cable from Hart Audio, who also consider the less cumbersome 4.4 mm cables as convenient.

The third space saving takes place underneath our desks. Instead of needing four wall outlets or a power bar with three additional external power supplies dangling around our feet (which may introduce potential interference issues), the PSU-3 needs only a single power cord/power outlet for supplying the CH-Amp and another three 12 V devices.

If you, let’s say, only use the PSU-3 for the CH-Amp and Tradutto, you can connect any other two 12 V device to it. For example, it works for the TempoTec Serenade X player – and it improves its sound substantially compared to its stock supply (even the Tradutto’s stock power supply makes the Serenade X sound much better).

In summary, “less is more” and the EarMen stack’s size is very handy. With one less problem, I can leave the desk clutter intermittently to books and papers.

Concluding Remarks

In summary, the CH-Amp is characterized by a clean industrial design, clean power, clean sound, and clean cable organization with the smallest possible footprint.

Both CH-Amp and Tradutto make for a fantastic stack, a complete package that made it well worth re-equipping my favourite headphones with 4.4 mm balanced cables (check the “Gallery” below for details.

The EarMen stack is the best best desktop combo I have tested. Period. And it is more than enough for my sonic needs. It is not often that such a great device hits my test bench.

In the end, “We are the CH-Ampions” applies…please excuse the pun.

For best results, pair the CH-Amp with the Tradutto.

Until next time…keep on listening!

Contact us!

Disclaimer

Our generic standard disclaimer.

Gallery

The post EarMen CH-Amp Review – Complete Control appeared first on Music For The Masses.

Der EarMen CH-Amp wurde von der Firma bereit gestellt und ich danke ihnen dafür – und für ihre Geduld (ich habe über 2 Monate lang kritisch getestet). Sie können ihn für 1480 $ (zum Zeitpunkt des Schreibens) im EarMen Shop erwerben.

Dieser Artikel wurde vom Author aus dem kanadischen Englisch übersetzt. Das Original findet sich hier.

Einführung

EarMen sind Designer und Hersteller von Premium-Audioprodukten aus Europa. Sie sind in Chicago registriert, entwickeln und produzieren jedoch in Serbien. Sie sind ein junges Unternehmen, aber mit viel Erfahrung, da sie ein Ableger des Premium-Herstellers Auris Audio sind.

EarMen sind selbstbewusst. Sie bieten nicht zig Modelle desselben zu ähnlichen Preisen an. Nein, ein Modell pro Kategorie reicht. Und sie geben dem Benutzer nicht die Verantwortung für einen guten Klang durch unzählige Optimierungsoptionen. Ihre Geräte klingen so gut, wie sie es aus der Packung heraus sollten.

EarMen-Produkte haben eine lange Haltbarkeit: Sie sind gut durchdacht, sodass der Käufer nicht befürchten muss, dass sein Kauf in absehbarer Zeit durch ein “Upgrade” ersetzt wird.

EarMen mögen Wortspiele in ihren Produktnamen: Donald DAC, ST-Amp und TR-Amp.

EarMen beeindruckte uns zuerst mit ihren Dongles, dem 129 $ Eagle und dem 199 $ Sparrow. Ersteres ist meiner Meinung nach immer noch der preisgünstigste Dongle mit Premium-Sound auf dem Markt. Und der Sparrow ist der tägliche “Driver” von Co-Blogger Biodegraded. Es ist nicht nur der Klang, der beeindruckend ist, sondern auch das Design und der Premium-Build.

Als nächstes begeisterte uns EarMen mit ihren tragbaren Kopfhörerverstärkern, dem erschwinglichen TR-Amp und dem teureren Angel. Und dann kam der Tradutto, ihr Premium-DAC, der für den CH- Amp entwickelt wurde. Und, Boy, funktioniert diese Synergie gut.

Spezificationen des CH-Amp

Physische Dinge

In der Box befinden sich der eigentliche CH-Amp, das lineare Netzteil PSU-3, ein 5-poliges Kabel zum Anschließen beider, sowie drei weitere Kabel zum Anschluss von drei weiteren 12-V- Geräten, zum Beispiel das EarMen Tradutto (das die gleichen Abmessungen wie der CH-Amp für perfektes “Stapeln” hat), und eine Kombi-Fernbedienung für CH-Aamp und Tradutto. Dies ist mehr Zubehör als in der Bedienungsanleitung aufgeführt (welche Sie hier herunterladen können).

Ein Netzkabel ist nicht im Lieferumfang enthalten, da EarMen der Meinung sind, dass Audio-Enthusiasten ihre eigene Präferenz haben, die weltweiten Steckerstandards variieren – und jeder hat sowieso ein Ersatzkabel in seiner Schublade.

Während ein solches Kabel leicht zu bekommen ist, ist ein 4,4-mm symmetrisches Pentaconn-Kabel immer noch eine seltene Sache – und EarMen wird empfohlen, eines in ihrem Online-Shop anzubieten.

PSU-3, CH-Amp (und sogar die Fernbedienung) haben ansprechende, minimalistische Industriedesigns mit klaren, geraden Linien. Und sie setzen die Tradition von EarMen von AUSSERGEWÖHNLICHER Verarbeitungsqualität fort.

Die beiden Einheiten sind relativ schwer (3.5 kg zusammen) und robust. Die Leiterplatte des CH-Amp befindet sich in einem einteiligen Aluminiumgehäuse mit verzinktem Stahlboden (die gleichen Rechnungen für das Netzteil-3). Knopf- und Wählmechanismen sind präzise und robust. Von allen Geräten, die ich getestet habe, haben nur Burson Produkte eine vergleichbare Verarbeitungsqualität.

Wie der Tradutto verfügt auch der CH-Amp über ein OLED-Display, das die Einstellungen anzeigt.

Der CH-Amp ist von der Form und technisch auf den Tradutto DAC abgestimmt und verlässt sich im wesentlichen auf diesen DAC, um den EarMen-Stack zu bilden. Die Fernbedienung des CH-Amp bedient beide Geräte.

EIGENSCHAFTEN

Der CH-Amp ist ein “balanced/symmetrischer” Verstärker, der mit einer ausgeklügelten linearen Stromversorgung ausgestattet ist, die drei zusätzliche Geräte betreiben kann. Der CH-Amp verfügt über 2 Schaltkreise (asymmetrisch/single-ended 6.35 mm und eine leistungsstärkere 4.4 mm balanced/asymmetrisch). Es sind WIMA-Kondensatoren in deutscher Qualität, Audioelektrolyte in Kombination mit MELF-Rauscharmen Widerständen und SoundPlus OPA1642 Opamps verbaut.

Für den “balanced” Betrieb muss der CH-Amp an einen ausgewogenen Digitalwandler wie den EarMen Tradutto angeschlossen werden. EarMen freuen sich auf ihre Wahl der 4.4-mm Konnektivität zwischen DAC und Verstärker für ausgewogenen Klang… Sie benötigen auch ein “balanced” Kabel für Ihren Kopfhörer.

Der CH-Amp verfügt über einen Sicherheitsmechanismus, um die angeschlossenen Geräte und unsere Ohren zu schützen – wie unten beschrieben.

Bedienung

Der CH-Amp verfügt über alle seine Steuerfunktionen (Tasten, Knöpfe, Display) auf der Vorderseite und alle seine Konnektivität auf der Rückseite.

Vorderseite

Die Frontplatte des CH-Amp ist sauber angeordnet und ergänzt die Gesamtform. Es verfügt über eine 6.35-mm-Buchse für den Single-End-Schaltkreis und einen 4.4-mm Anschluss für den Balanced-Circuit.

Das kleine OLED Display zeigt den ausgewählten Eingang (BAL, L1, L2) und die Verstärkung (hoch, niedrig) an. Wenn kein Kopfhörer angeschlossen ist, zeigt er seine Vorverstärkereinstellung “PRE” an. Es enthält auch ein raffiniertes VU-Meter. Das Display ist immer eingeschaltet und kann nicht gedimmt werden, aber es ist subtil.

Die winzigen Tasten rechts vom Display lassen Sie Gain und Line-In auswählen. Der Ein-Aus- /Lautstärkeregler kann auch als Stummschalttaste verwendet werden.

Rückseite

Die Rückwand des CH-Amp enthält einen 5-poligen Stromeingang aus dem Netzteil PSU-3, eine 4.4 mm Balanced-Buchse und 2 RCA-Eingänge. Das bedeutet, dass Sie 3 weitere Quellgeräte gleichzeitig anschliessen können.

Für die Verwendung eines Vorverstärkers verfügt der CH-Amp über einen .,4-mm symmetrische Line-Out und RCA-Pre-Outs. Der 4.4-mm Schaltungkreis ist erforderlich, um die Abmessungen des Stacks niedrig zu halten (XLR erfordert ein viel größeres Chassis). Die Hinterseite des Netzteils wird im Folgenden ausführlich besprochen.

Das Einschalten der Stromversorgung begrüßt Sie mit einem lauten “Zong” … was normal ist. Sie müssen den CH-Amp immer noch einzeln (und den Tradutto) einschalten, indem Sie den Lautstärkeregler drücken..

Standardmäßig befindet sich der CH-Amp auf Lautstärkestufe 0/niedrige Verstärkung. Nachdem Sie die Eingabe und den Gain ausgewählt haben, kann man Musik hören.

Wenn Sie den Kopfhörer aus der Buchse ziehen, wird die Lautstärke automatisch auf 0 zurückgesetzt. Der Knopf bewegt sich unter einem Klickgeräusch physisch zurück in diese Position. Es ist ein Sicherheitsmechanismus zum Schutz Ihrer Ausrüstung und Ihrer Ohren.

Während dies ein cooler Effekt sein kann, wird der Gain auch auf niedrig zurückgesetzt. Ich würde es vorziehen, wenn der Gain auf der zuvor gewählten Einstellung bleibt, da es sich nicht um eine Sicherheitsanforderung handelt (Nullvolumen ist Nullvolumen). Es wäre bequemer, wenn die Gainwahl in die Funktionalität der Fernbedienung einbezogen würde – was nicht der Fall ist.

Die Fernbedienung

Es ist eigentlich eine doppelte Fernbedienung zur Steuerung des CH-Amp und des Tradutto DAC – und es schaltet auch beide Geräte ein und aus (aber nicht das Netzteil). Die Fernbedienung besteht vollständig aus Metall mit hochwertigen Tastenmechanismen – und sie enthält eine verbaute Batterie. Es lädt über jedes 5V-Netzteil/Computersteckdose über seine USB-C-Buchse auf. Ladegerät und Kabel sind nicht im Lieferumfang enthalten… weniger Unordnung.

Die Haptik ist großartig, sicherlich viel besser als meine Schublade voller billig anmutenden Kunststofffernbedienungen für den Betrieb meines Fernsehers, einiger DACS und sogar meines Premium-Marantz SA8005 SACD-Players.

Woran man sich gewöhnen muss, ist die Ergonomie (es ist nur eine rechteckige Box mit abgerundeten Ecken) und die betrieblichen Herausforderungen. Wenn Sie den Tradutto DAC auf den CH-Amp/PSU-3 stapeln, können Sie es kontra-intuitiv finden, die Tasten des CH-Amp oberhalb der Tasten des Tradutto zu haben… und können den Tradutto auch zwischen CH-Amp und PSU-3 stellen.

Aber offensichtlich hat der CH-Amp Vorrang in der Fernbedienung, da Sie möglicherweise überhaupt keinen Tradutto besitzen.

Die andere Herausforderung besteht darin, dass sich die Auswahltasten des CH-Amp (Line-Ins: BAL, L1, L2) und die Auswahltasten des Tradutto (Eingänge: USB, TOS, COAX, BT) auf gegenüberliegenden Seiten befinden. All dies in dem Kontext, dass die Tasten sehr nah beieinander liegen. Wie bereits erwähnt, ist eine Gain Control-Taste nicht enthalten.

Auch hier kommt diese Organisation der Größe der Fernbedienung zugute, die viel kleiner ist als jede andere Fernbedienung für Desktop-Geräte, die ich habe – und die dem kleinen Konzept des EarMen- Stacks entspricht.

Sie werden die Fernbedienung viel verwenden, wenn Ihre Arme kürzer sind als Ihr Kopfhörerkabel.

Das PSU-3 Netzteil

Es ist offensichtlich, dass das als CH-Amp beworbene Gerät aus zwei Teilen besteht, von denen der größere und schwerer überhaupt kein Verstärker ist: das Netzteil PSU-3. Es verfügt über vier Anschlüsse (einschließlich beigelegte Kabel) und kann daher drei zusätzliche 12-V-Geräte außer dem CH-Amp (wie den Tradutto DAC, EarMen’s Staccato Streamer und ein anderes Gerät Ihrer Wahl) liefern.

Die Eingangsspannung kann zwischen 115 und 230 V geschaltet werden. Obwohl das Netzteil sperrig aussehen mag, spart es tatsächlich viel Platz, wie im nächsten Kapitel besprochen.

Netzteile sind ein sehr wichtiger und häufig unterschätzter Teil unserer Stereoanlagen. Ich habe einige getestet, und nach meiner Erfahrung machen sie einen großen klanglichen Unterschied – und ich meine enorm: nicht durch Hinzufügen von Klangqualität, sondern durch Minimierung der Erosion derselben .

Beispiele sind das Netzteil des Tradutto, das ifi Audio iPowerX und das Burson Super Charger, die alle Schaltmodus Netzteile sind (wie unsere Telefon-/Notebook-Ladegeräte). Sie sind kleiner als die PSU-3 Einheit, die eine lineare Stromversorgung (LPS) ist.

Ein LPS ist relativ sperrig (bis zur Mikrowellengröße) und schwer, weil es einen großen Transformator enthält, aber es hat ein gutes Preis-Leistungs Verhältnis, das eine sauberere Gleichstromspannung durch eine stabilere Spannung liefert.

Die kleineren SMPS sind im Allgemeinen lauter und verschlechtern das Signal mehr, es sei denn, Sie wechseln in das Super-Premium-Segment. Aber selbst ein anständiger LPS kann Sie mehrere hundert Dollar kosten.

Die Ingenieure von EarMen haben offensichtlich viel über saubere Energie nachgedacht.

Wenn Sie auch den Tradutto besitzen, können Sie seinen Standard SMPS für andere Geräte verwenden. Das PSU-3 ist ein besseres Netzteil, das auch den Klang des Tradutto verbessert.

Verstärkerleistung

Der CH-Amp hat eine maximale Leistung von 3.8 W für seine ausgeglichene Leistung bei hoher Verstärkung @ 32 Ω. In den beiden folgenden Tabellen finden Sie weitere Informationen zu anderen repräsentativen Kopfhörerimpedanzen. EarMen empfiehlt keine Lastimpedanz von 8 Ω (Sie können dies mit dem IE Match umgehen).

Balanced Output (4.4 mm)

Single-ended Output (6.35 mm)

Ich habe den CH-Amp mit dem EarMen Tradutto DAC getestet, mit Musik von meinem MacBook Air. Ich habe hauptsächlich zwei Kopfhörer verwendet, den energiehungrigen 300 Ω Sennheiser HD 600 und den weniger anspruchsvollen 16 Ω Final Sonorous III, beide mit 4,.4 mm symmetrischen Kopfhörerkabeln. Die Lautstärkeskala des CH-Amp reicht von 0 bis 30.

Mit den Sennheisern drehte ich die Lautstärke auf 15 (bei “High Gain”) für einen “gesunden” Klang und auf etwa 20 für laute Musik. 25 war für mein Trommelfell zuviel. Der Sonorous spielte bereits sehr laut bei 9 auf der Skala (bei “Low Gain”). 6 war genug für normales Hören.

Das Fahren des 32 Ω Beyerdynamic Custom Pro und des 70 Ω Sennheiser HD25 auf der Single-End- Schaltung mit geringer Verstärkung war auch ein Kinderspiel für den CH-Amp.

Der CH-Amp treibt jeden Kopfhörer ausreichend an (mit Ausnahme einiger seltener, besonders “hungriger” Planare).

Klang

Ich habe mit dem EarMen Tradutto DAC getestet, der von einem MacBook Air mit Musik versorgt wurde.

Der Klang des CH-Amp ist im wesentlichen unverfärbt, vielleicht mit einem sehr leichten Boost am unteren Ende (abhängig von Quelle und Verbindungen). Die Transparenz ist ausgezeichnet, die Inszenierung und die Erweiterung variieren je nach Wandler: Der Sennheiser HD 600 spielt viel offener als der Final Sonorous III.

Es gibt offensichtlich einen klanglichen Unterschied zwischen den symmetrischen und den asymmetrischen Ausgängen (abgesehen von der Leistung). Der symmetrische Schaltkreis verleiht dem Klangbild mehr Tiefe – und erzeugt einen insgesamt “ausgeglicheneren” Klang. Es ist die .,4-mm-Schaltung, die den CH-Amp zum Strahlen bringt.

Ich testete über 2 Monate mit Kopfhörern mit Impedanzen von nur 16 Ω und registrierte kein Zischen. Eine Aufnahme, zu der ich immer wieder zurückkomme, ist Miles Davis’ klassisches 1959 Kind of Blue Album (in der digitalen Hybrid-Version SACD SICP 10083 2007 von Sony Japan), in Kombination mit dem Sennheiser HD 600 (mit symmetrischem Kopfhörerkabel). Meiner Erfahrung nach fühlt es sich an, als wäre man im Studio: ausgezeichnete Transparenz, Schärfe, Auflösung und Kontrolle. Der Klang ist lebendig, aber natürlich und ausgewogen. Eine süchtig machende Erfahrung.

Im Vergleich dazu erzeugt der Tradutto mit dem ähnlich leistungsstarken Burson Funk (mit den V6 Classic Opamps und dem Super Charger-Netzteil) einen wärmeren und flacheren Klang (da ihm ein symmetrische Schaltkreis fehlt).

Der CH-Amp erzeugt in Kombination mit dem EarMen Tradutto den besten Sound, den ich mit meinen Kopfhörern erlebt habe. Es ist ein wirklich komplettes (ausgewogene) Paket!

Spielt die Größe eine Rolle?

Auf meinem Schreibtisch ist der Platz knapp – und Größe daher sehr wichtig. Die Marie Kondo in mir will ein Setup mit dem bestmöglichen Klang und doch dem kleinstmöglichen Platzbedarf – und so wenig (Kabel-) Unordnung wie möglich.

Der EarMen Stack (Tradutto, CH-Amp und Staccato-Streamer) nimmt die kleinstmögliche Fläche eines Stapels in seiner Kategorie ein. Es baut sich eher auf als draußen, genau wie Wolkenkratzer in Metropolen – und er nimmt kaum mehr Fläche ein als eine CD.

Sein Platzbedarf wird durch den Mangel an Kabelsalat weiter minimiert: Die einzelnen, kurzen 4.4- mm-Pentaconn-Kabel nehmen viel weniger Platz ein als die beiden sperrigen XLR-Kabel, die es ersetzt. Ich habe mein Megumi-Kupferkabel bei Hart Audio bestellt, das auch die weniger umständlichen 4.4-mm-Kabel für praktisch hält.

Die dritte Platzersparnis findet unter unseren Schreibtischen statt. Anstatt vier Steckdosen oder eine Netzleiste mit drei zusätzlichen externen Netzteilen zu benötigen, die um unsere Füße baumeln (was zu potenziellen Interferenzproblemen führen kann), benötigt das PSU-3 Netzteil nur ein einziges Netzkabel/eine Steckdose für die Versorgung des CH-Amp und weitere drei 12-V-Geräte.

Wenn Sie beispielsweise nur das PSU-3 für den CH-Amp und Tradutto verwenden, können Sie zwei weitere 12-V-Geräte daran anschließen. Zum Beispiel funktioniert es für den TempoTec Serenade X- Player – und es verbessert dessen Klang im Vergleich zu seinem eigenen Netzteil erheblich (sogar das Standardstromversorgung des Tradutto lässt den Serenade X viel besser klingen).

Zusammenfassend ist “weniger mehr” und die Größe des EarMen Stacks ist sehr praktisch. Mit einem Problem weniger kann ich meine Bürounordnung den Büchern und Papierkram überlassen.

Abschließende Bemerkungen

Zusammenfassend lässt sich sagen, dass sich der CH-Amp durch ein sauberes Industriedesign, saubere Leistung, sauberen Klang und saubere Kabelorganisation mit dem kleinstmöglichen Platzbedarf auszeichnet.

Sowohl CH-Amp als auch Tradutto sorgen für einen fantastischen Stack, ein Komplettpaket, das es sich gelohnt hat, meine Lieblingskopfhörer mit 4.4-mm “symmetrischen” Kabeln neu auszurüsten (siehe die “Galerie” unten für Details.

Der EarMen-Stack ist die beste Desktop-Combo, die ich getestet habe. Basta! Und es ist mehr als genug für meine klanglichen Bedürfnisse. Es kommt nicht oft vor, dass ein so großartiges Gerät auf meinen Schreibtisch kommt.

Am Ende gilt “Wir sind die CH-Ampions”… bitte entschuldigen Sie den Kalauer.

Für beste Ergebnisse kombinieren Sie den CH-Amp mit dem Tradutto.

Bis zum nächsten Mal…keep on listening!

Contact us!

Impressum

Our generic standard disclaimer.

Gallerie

The post EarMen CH-Amp Kopfhörerverstärker – Testbericht aus Kanada appeared first on Music For The Masses.

The $265 TempoTec Serenade X “Full Balance Designed Integrated Network Streaming Music Player” is a fabulous all-in-one mid-fi player that successfully marries functionality and sound. A complete package and a true pleasure on all fronts using it. Plays even lossless via Apple AirPlay 2...

The TempoTec Serenade X was kindly provided by the manufacturer, and I thank them for that. You find more information on the TempoTec website.

Introduction

TempoTec are a Chinese company that have come a long way recently. Previously best known for their budget DACs, they stepped into the limelight with their excellent V6 Digital Analog Player, a wonderfully tuned device at around a (very attractive) $329.

I became interested in the TempoTec Serenade X because I wanted to find out what it could do for us. After all, it is an unusually looking device. In short, it can do A LOT…it streams…per internet from the usual subscription services (Tidal, Qobuz etc.), per Bluetooth from your tablet/phone, per USB from the computer, external hard drive, or simply a USB stick…and per coax or Toslink (or USB) from your CD player. Did I forget anything?

The Serenade X excels through its functionality while having a decent however standardized, prefabricated sound through 2 standard SoCs.

Specifications TempoTec Serenade X

Physical Things

In the package are the device, a screw-on Bluetooth antenna, the 12V power supply, a USB-A to USB-C cable, 1 HiBy 4.4 mm (female) to 3.5 mm (male) adapter, 1 GB USB-thumb drive, a microfibre cleaning cloth, and the usual paperwork.

The TempoTec Serenade X is an unusually shaped device and appears like the love child of a tablet computer and a RC Battery Charger.

The chassis is made of metal and the whole top is reflective glass. The latter contains a relatively small 3.2″ touch screen of intermediate resolution – which does the job for me. The build quality is fine. What may be confusing, initially, is that most functionality is handled by the touch screen, but some (for example volume) by a set of physical buttons.

The Serenade’s X footprint is rather small (12 x 10 x 4.5 cm) and all you need is a wall socket. This makes it attractive for small desks and even hotel rooms.

Technology/Architecture

The Serenade X sports a dual ESS9219C chipset (“System on Chip” or “SoC”) for a fully balanced design. This means DAC and amp are on the same chip. This saves space however creates a somewhat prefabricated sound and amplification.

And since DAC and amp cannot be separated, it is not possible to create a digital output. All outputs are therefore analog.

All functionality is controlled by a FPGA digital management circuit. Volume is controlled digitally by hardware button and by the HiByLink mobile app.

Firmware can be downloaded from the TempoTec website and easily updated via a USB stick.

Interface

Top Panel

Contains all control functions via the touch screen and a button panel. Operation is intuitive.

Back Panel: I/O

All inputs are digital, the outputs are analog. You can connect CD players, daps, DACs, and computer via S/PDIF (coax, optical), USB-A and USB-C. On the receiving end you can connect 4.4 mm plugs (headphone or amp) for balanced operation, and RCA interconnects for single-ended amplifiers.

Functionality and Operation

The Tempotec Serenade X is an incredibly versatile device.

It does

• play music through balanced headphone circuits and balanced or single ended external amplifier
• play music from wireless sources: Tidal & Qobuz (Wifi), Apple AirPlay 2 (“Apple Music”) & Bluetooth (“Spotify”) etc. (from computer, phone)
• play music from wired sources: coaxial & S/PDIF (CD player, DAC, dap), USB-A & USB-C (computer, dap, internal HiBy player)
• feature the HiBy player that can be controlled from your phone via the free HiByLink app
• let you tweak the sound with HiBy’s very smart MSEB parametric equalizer
• let you update the Firmware through a set of files downloaded directly or through a computer from the TempoTec website.

It does not have

• integrated Spotify (can be mitigated by streaming from phone/computer via Bluetooth)
• Roon capabilities
• digital outputs (cannot connect to an external DAC)
• a microSD card slot (can be mitigated by a USB adapter)

Whilst this list is somewhat overwhelming, the menu is intuitive and self explanatory. I will explain the most important features and workarounds as follows.

Menu System

The touch screen displays a compact menu that lets you access and choose the various inputs including streaming services, wireless connectivities, settings, the HiBy music player, and the MSEB (which stands for “Mage Sound 8-ball”). MSEB is a parametric, very intuitive EQ.

Wireless Options

Apple AirPlay 2 vs. Bluetooth 5.0 vs. Wifi

The Serenade offers these three wireless input possibilities.

Wifi: does not allow for direct streaming, it just transfers data to a connected drive.

Bluetooth & Apple AirPlay 2: you can play music from your computer/phone via Bluetooth (all current codecs) or Apple AirPlay 2. Both work differently.

Bluetooth uses a direct connection whereas AirPlay 2 connects via the network. This allows for bigger data streams including images so that AirPlay 2 can play lossless, Bluetooth cannot. Apple users frolic.

Streaming Services

Tidal, Qobuz: you can connect to and control Tidal and Qobuz via Wifi through the Serenade’s interface.

Apple Music: streams lossless from your phone or Mac with Apple AirPlay 2. Album art shows on Serenade X’s screen.

Spotify: There is no Spotify option in the menu, which you can stream via Bluetooth from your phone or computer. The downside is “no cover art”, just a generic screen on the Serenade X’s display.

Wired Options

Toslink/optical: CD-players, DACs, and my old Questyle QP1R dap have optical line outs.

Coaxial: works with most DACs and CD players.

USB-A, USB-C: connect your thumb drive, SSD, or similar with your music library on it.

No micro-SD card slot? Not a problem. Use a USB memory-card reader.

Integrated Option: The HiBy 3.0 Music Player with HiBy Link Remote

The Serenade X features a built-in HiBy music player which you also find in many digital analog players. It is sourced by an external drive. I use a 128 GB thumb drive. The free HiByLink app turns your phone into a remote (if your headphone cord is longer than your arms).

The HiBy music player is also on the TempoTec V6 and the Hidisz AP80 Pro-X (and many more). It is intuitive, offers lots of tweaks (for example an MSEB), and it sounds better than Apple’s Music player on my iPhone.

Sound and Amplification

As mentioned, the Serenade X features 2 standard SoCs, that is DAC and amp are on the same ESS chip. This creates a standard sound and output power as experienced, for example, in the Qudelix-5K, Hidizs XO, FiiO BTR5, a few Shanlings, and the Hidizs AP80 Pro-X dap. The amplification (see specs) is powerful enough to drive my 300 Ω  Sennheiser HD 600 with ease.

The audio engineer cannot manipulate the analog output stage and the amp, and only has the option to put fllters and/or components at the end of it, as done in the Questyle M15. I assume the latter was the case as the Serenade X sounds livelier and faster than other devices using these SoCs.

As with the peers, the sound is still off analyical-neutral into very slight colour, with good extension at both ends. What’s improved over the standard sound is better transparency and a more vivid, crisper presentation. The balanced circuit makes for an especially large headroom. I also find the resolution very good. There is no hint of stridency and the timbre is very good. I picked the finest details out of a transcribed Mozart oboe concerto.

So whilst audio snobs may role their eyes, the combination of balanced and AirPlay 2 make for a well-rounded, enjoyable listening experience.

Serenade X vs. Dongles and DAPS

After we have explored all input and out options, a compact functionality comparison with DAPs and phones with dongles is warranted.

Concluding Remarks

I usually don’t give recommendations, but this is an easy one if the special funcionality and “balanced sound quality” fits your needs. I really enjoy using the Serenade X simply because of its versatility and have done so for hours and hours: it is a small, intelligent, and reasonably powerful all-in-one device.

Until next time…keep on listening!

Contact us!

Disclaimer

Our generic standard disclaimer.

Gallery

The post TempoTec Serenade X Digital Desktop Player Review – Rocking The Jukebox appeared first on Music For The Masses.

Gear of the Year: 2022 marks the blog’s fourth year. We collectively published 100-150 articles, mainly product reviews, but also technical information (such as earphone modding). Apart from receiving review units from manufacturers and sellers, we also purchased a lot…and we borrowed from audiophile friends and colleagues.

Our list of earphone reviews is going towards 400, which is a very useful database. And one of the world’s biggest. In the DAC and amplification department we have also reached a respectable 70.

While we shrank from 8 to 6 authors, we essentially doubled our viewer numbers and currently record well over 1000 daily individual blog visitors (1377 on Black Friday 2022). But we remain humble, continue viewing our hobby as labour of love and focus on information for you, the reader, while not selling out.

Another very popular list is our Wall of Excellence, which hosts gear not approved by one of us, but by the whole team. This is a useful filter for you and should give you confidence in your buying decisions.

And yes, we searched for and found an exclusive sponsor in HiFiGo, who help us with our basic operating cost (web hosting). We still chip a lot of our own money in for mailing between us reviewers, import charges etc.

By having a single sponsor (and not Google ads) paying us a moderate flat fee, we don’t rely on viewer numbers. For you, this means no popups and no ads between paragraphs, nothing in your way when reading our articles. All advertisement takes place in the top toolbar and the sidebar. Feel free to check it out.

We also continue refraining from affiliate links as it still leaves a bad taste in our mouths.

As at the end of the previous years, we list our our personal favourites of 2022 – the portable audio we personally enjoyed most. There are no rules, we just tell you what we like. It does not have to be the latest. After all, the gear we use most is the best for us. Between us, the Dunu Zen, 7Hz Timeless, Final ZE3000, and Questyle M15 received the most mentionings. The Questyle M15 appears to be the most highly acclaimed dongle in the blogosphere period and may as well be the “Product of the Year” all around.

We don’t publish any “best of” lists as we have not tested all competitors in each category.

Enjoy this read and we wish you a happy and successful 2023!

We thank

And here we go…that’s what we enjoyed in 2022…

Alberto Pittaluga… Bologna, ITALY

My 18 readers know that I’m much more into enjoying better sound than into getting excited about sidegrades or other small changes from my existing preferences. I am the polar opposite of a marketing hype target individual – on pretty much any topic by the way. I mean: try and sell me a “better” (?) Moka coffee machine…

With that in mind, and considering that I’m not into this since yesterday evening, it’s quite logical that the list of the really significant items out of all those I come across over a year’s time is short. Here’s what I found in 2022 which is worth recommending.

IEMS

Intime Miyabi – a great piece of engineering ticking most if not all boxes for my tastes. Beyond details, one of the absolute best sound delivery experiences one can buy (well… some personal initiative is required to fetch it from Japan) below 500$… spending less than half of it. My report here.

RHA CL2 – I heard quite a few planar IEMs, and not a single one “closes the door” for me. Long story short, none offers me a well-articulated-enough sound experience out of the box, and none carries a driver good enough to be equalised into something I really like. The sole exception I ever came across yet is this RHA CL2 – a dated model indeed, which I had the venture to audition this year for my first time. More on this on my piece about it.

DAC/AMP Dongles

Questyle M15 – no doubt the “best overall quality” battery-less DAC/AMP (“dongle”) at any price. Paired with a small transport easily makes all sub-800$, and most sub-2K$ DAPs pointless in terms of sound quality delivery (some may still prefer “some” DAP for better pocketability convenience or specific features). Firstly reviewed in depth by Jurgen here, you can read my incremental notes here.

E1DA 9038SG3 and 9038D – the M15 is what it is, but it also is relatively expensive (almost 300€ once delivered to Italy). My previous experience taught that me that exclusively higher-tier (and price) dongles are able to deliver sound qualities worth investing in more money than the 9$ price tag asked for an Apple Dongle ($9). Then I found these two gems which fulfill the need for incredibly clean and powerful sound for less than half M15’s price, and 90% of its proficiency.

Biodegraded…Vancouver, CANADA

7Hz Timeless:
Despite a somewhat elevated and loose midbass, these have great overall tonal balance, smooth mids, excellent instrument separation and layering, and speed. Macrodynamics are on the soft side, which might not be for everybody; and the fit will be problematic for people with concha bowls on the smaller side. They work best with warmer, dynamic sources.

Durwood…Chicago, USA

Swimming in dongles I don’t have a favorite, Moodrop Dawn has the selectable gain, others like the Shanling UP3 have single and balanced outputs and controls. Take your pick. I would like selectable gain AND single ended/balanced outputs.

Desktop DAC goes to the SMSL C200 for best value and sound that hangs near the top dogs. I personally prefer separate pieces for the ability to have more connection options and swapping but for near double the price I don’t see double the performance. The SMSL SU-9 is excellent for me I ended up buying one on the second hand market. The SMSL DO100/HO100 is great too and bit more user friendly for the size.

For earphones I still love my Shozy Form 1.4 for the bass tuning, warm signature and superb fitment YMMV. There are lots of excellent performers if just factoring in sound and technical merits including the 7Hz Timeless and Moondrop Kato, but I struggle keeping them in place. For those starting out or not a lot to spend, my budget pick for what is available would be the CCA Lyra.

For TWS, I only have 3 pairs to compare-but if I don’t need ANC, I would pick the Moondrop Alice all day everyday. Review coming soon, they are a wireless Kato and they nailed all the important features (sound, battery life, control, fitment), form follows function.

Jürgen Kraus…Calgary, CANADA

In terms of earphones, I continue liking the JVC HA-FDX1, the Dunu Zen, and the Final E5000. The Zen remain my go-tos. New on my list are the LETSHUOER EJ7M (great allrounders), the Final A3000 & E3000, and the very articulate Dunu Talos. But the earphone I used most in 2022 is the superb Final ZE3000 TWS.

As to headphones, my Sennheiser HD 600 have received company by the Final Sonorous III. On the budget side, I added the excellent KTXPro1 to my Koss selection (Porta Pros, KPHi-30, and KSC75).

I am principally a “portable guy” who used to operate his iPhone with a dongle, mainly the AudioQuest DragonFly Cobalt. Whilst the Cobalt remains a standard staple of mine, the excellent Questyle M15 (and here too) is a great alternative for my higher current-drawing headphones/earphones – and my personal product of the year 2022.

For driving full-sized headphones and single DD items, nothing beats the Apogee Groove. For Bluetooth DAC/amp, I exclusively use the very mature Qudelix-5K. And for earphone testing, I am still holding on to the totally underappreciated Earstudio HUD100.

The Hidizs AP80 Pro-X has proven a great dap for me, no matter if used alone or as transport with a dongle. The Sony NW-A55 with Mr Walkman firmware also remains in my collection of favourites. And the very crisp sounding Questyle QP1R remains my flagship dap. The biggest surprise for me was the Tempotec V6 dap…essentially a $500 device at half price.

For my desktop setup, I am holding on to EarMen Tradutto DAC in combination with the Burson Funk amp and AudioQuest analog and digital interconnects.

Kazi Mahbub Mutakabbir…Munich, GERMANY

Just like that, another year went by. This year was special for me as I got to visit High End Munich 2021 (which happened after a 3-year hiatus) and also got to meet some great reviewers and legends of the industry in person.

Best Headphones: This year, I have slowly transitioned from portable audio into desktop audio. A knock-on effect of that has been my growing headphone collection. What used to be a mere 4 headphones last year, has grown into a whooping 25 now.

Yup, I need another shelf.

Speaking of the best headphones, Hifiman HE-6se V2 got the most use this year from me. I still use the Sennheiser HD650 whenever I feel like relaxing, but for my playlist – the Hifimans absolutely slap!

That being said, they aren’t the best headphones that I’ve tried this year. That recognition goes to the venerable Stax SR-X9000. Still underrated in the summit-fi segment, these overtook Susvara for me in almost every aspect. They are build better, has better sense of space, bass is better defined and slams a bit harder, and of course – the ethereal treble is an absolute joy.

Too bad that the price tag (with energizer) makes these nigh-unobtainable for me. Doesn’t make them any less awesome, though.

Best IEMs: Dunu Zen remains my daily driver, and they scale tremendously with desk sources, so I am a happy camper.

Speaking of camps, Campfire Audio Holocene has sneaked their way into my daily rotation. Probably my most favorite Campfire Audio IEMs, ever. They deserve a lengthy, long-term review, which is in the pipeline.

This year I also had to wade through loads of “meh” IEMs, each mimicking a certain “scientifically perfect” (lol) curve in one way or another, and each sounding boring and unremarkable. But the one IEMs that kept the fire alive was the Softears Turii.

Exceptional in almost every sense, their fit is the biggest concern, but with Spinfit W1 tips (excellent tips btw, recommended) I found them stable enough to enjoy outdoors. Too bad that they’re discontinued.

The Softears Twilight is a spiritual successor of sorts. Doesn’t have the crazy sense of space that the Turii portray, but pretty much beats every other single dynamic I’ve tried under USD $1000 (and I have tried nearly all of the hyped ones by now). So yeah, Softears, take a bow!

Desktop DAC and Amp: Questyle CMA Fifteen takes the cake for the best all-in-one system that I’ve heard. Near-endgame for 99% out there I’d say. Drives almost everything with authority. What’s not to like? Oh yes, the price. Something’s gotta give after all.

As for standalone units, the best solid-state amp I’ve tried: Zaehl HM1. As for the best tube amp: Feliks Envy, or the Feliks Euforia AE. Two very different price-points, but both about the best tube amps you can buy right now.

DACs are a bit difficult for me to judge, and the ones I’ve tried this year couldn’t replace the Holo May L3 I tried last year, so that one still reigns supreme.

Portable DAC/Amp: Questyle came outta nowhere with the M15 (and here too) and seized the day. Nothing else comes close, really. On the higher side of the price, Chord Mojo 2 is an excellent device. For using with IEMs and moderately efficient headphones – that’s all you’ll ever need. The DAC section is kilobuck-level as well.

Surprise of the Year: Final ZE3000.

I do not like wireless stuff at all, mostly because of how poor and compressed 99% of them sound. This one caught be off-guard. I bought them only to review them, fully expecting to put them up for sale once the review is done.

Now, three months later, I carry them everywhere and despite the finicky touch controls, I keep coming back to them. Only the Sony WH-1000XM4 sound as good as them, and they cost 2x the price. To think that Final would come up with one of the best TWS IEMs around – didn’t see that one coming.

Then again, who else would be that methodical?

Loomis Johnson…Chicago, USA

IEMs:

Moondrop Starfield—my default rec to folks who ask me which <$100 phone to buy…big-sounding, with seamless coherence and as lot of PRAT.

7Hz Timeless—polarizing and imperfect (there’s some stridency at the highest frequencies), but technically very accomplished and highly resolving. The more I hear ‘em the more I dig ‘em.

Tin HiFi TWS Buds 3—light on features (no app, no ANC) but beautifully built and a really engaging listen, with very good imaging and instrument placement.

AXS Audio Professional Wireless Earbuds—generic-looking, with a modest soundstage, but probably the best-sounding TWS I’ve heard to date. 

Portable DAC/Dongles:

Xumee USB-C—lots of power and surprising finesse for less than the price of a six pack.

Hidisz S3Pro—a really refined performer which synergizes well with anything under 150 oHm.

Headphones:

1More Sonoflow Wireless ANC—you can pay a lot more for punchier sound or more tech features, but these are an awful lot of headphone for the money, with good noise-cancelling, an unforced natural tonality and fantastic battery life.

Koss KTXPro1—uber-comfortable and musical as hell; for $19 there’s no reason everyone shouldn’t own a pair.

Bluetooth Speakers:

Oontz Angle 3—diminutive, seemingly indestructible cheapo with surprisingly good bass output and an enveloping 3D soundstage.

Edifier R1280DB Bookshelf Speakers—I gave a set of these to the owner of a cannabis dispensary, whose customers rave incessantly about how good they sound even before imbibing.

Desktop DAC:

SMSL SU-6—a more than capable DAC, with excellent bass control and a very detailed (if occasionally overbright) high end; digital preamp and Bluetooth functionality are big plusses. Outstanding value.

KopiOkaya…SINGAPORE

The editor: although KopiOkaya retired a year ago (on his own terms), he keeps his eartips compendium up to date. His list has been a cornerstone of this block and its most successful article. It currently records somewhere between 80,000 and 100,000 views.

Best under $50 IEM:

7HZ SALNOTES ZERO

Best under $100 IEM:

DUNU KIMA

Best IEM of 2022:

SOFTEARS TURII Ti

Best dongle DAC/AMP of 2022:

QUESTYLE M15 (here and here)

Best portable DAP of 2022:

TEMPOTEC V6

Best budget DAC/AMP combo:

SMSL SH-9 THX AAA-888

Best desktop DAC of the 2022:

HOLO MAY KTE (KITSUNE EDITION)

Best desktop headphone amp of 2022:

QUESTYLE CMA FIFTEEN

Best eartips of the 2022

SPINFIT W1

Most outstanding audio product of 2022:

QUESTYLE M15 (here and here)

And This Was The Previous Year:

The post Gear Of The Year 2022 – Our Personal Favourites appeared first on Music For The Masses.

この記事の時点では、Miyabiはメーカーサイトで21.450,00円で販売されています。

「Intime Acoustic “は、欧米では全く知られていないブランドです。というのも、このブランドは非常に小さな会社で、その事業範囲は日本に限られているからです。前回の記事では、この会社について、またその技術（開発され、時にはオーナーが特許を取得したもの）についての情報をいくつか紹介しました。読者の便宜を図るため、適宜更新しながら、ここにその情報を再掲する。

同社

Intime Acousticは、高崎市（JPN）に拠点を置く、かなり若い（2016年設立）株式会社オゼイドが所有するブランドです。その本業は、実は製造ではなく、コンサルティング。

オーナー兼主要開発者の渡辺義幸氏は、35年以上にわたって圧電材料を使ったデバイスやアプリケーションに携わってきた経験を持つ。

彼の会社名「ozeid」（あるいはウェブドメイン名「o2aid」）を180度回転させてみてください。どうでしょう？ 

とはいえ、渡辺さんは、その実力の一端をイヤホンという形で、若いユーザー（渡辺さんの子供のように若い）に伝え、「日本のいい音」を伝えたいと考えているようです。

キーテクノロジー

Miyabiは、Intimeの他のモデルと同様に、10mmダイナミックドライバーと、高音域/トップオクターブを担当する特殊なセラミックツイーターのデュアルドライバーシステムをベースにしています。

Sora 2に搭載されている技術については、非常に興味深い内容がいくつもありますが、その中から主なものをピックアップしてご紹介します。

1 – “縦型スーパーツィーター”

VSTは、最も一般的に採用されている酸化チタンではなく、ある種の特殊な積層セラミックスでできています。

基本的に、積層セラミックスは振動をよりコントロールしやすいとされています。

従来のスーパーツイーターは可聴域外の音を再生するため、いわゆる「スーパー・ツイーター」と呼ばれるものですが、このIntimeのバリエーションは、そのキャリブレーションに加えて、一般的ではない素材選択により、異なる挙動を示し、倍音を再生し、可聴域の最高域に効果的に貢献します。

Miyabiは、このようなトゥイーターの「第3世代VST2」を搭載しています。渡辺氏によると、デュアルセラミックスの採用により、音圧感度を維持したままヒステリシス特性を最小化することに成功したとのことだ。

例えば3rd VSTでは、ピアノの倍音が豊かになり、サックスの飛び跳ねるような音も鮮明になるという。前作のVST（Sora 2）をベースにしたモデルを所有している私が言うのもなんですが、本当にそうなんです。

2 – グラフェンコーティング

ダイナミックドライバーにはグラフェンコーティングが施されており、渡辺氏によれば、このグラフェンコーティングが中高音域をコントロールされたパワーと鮮明さで再生する理由の一つであるとのことです。

3 – 真鍮製ハウジング

Soraシリーズとは異なり、Miyabiのハウジングは真鍮製です。渡辺氏によると、この選択はMIYABIの特徴である柔らかく深いサスティーンと低音再生に寄与しているとのこと。因果関係が正しいかどうかは分からないが、結果は間違いなく良い。

4 – HDSS

Ti3、Sora、Sora2と同様、Miyabiにも採用されているもう一つの独自技術（特許取得済み）は、High Definition Sound Standardの略で「HDSS」と呼ばれるものです。

これは筐体内部の音の反射を抑え、よりクリーンな出力を実現するためのものです。

音波の中にはハウジング内部で乱反射し、ダイナミックドライバーの振動板に衝突して、本来の目的から外れてしまうものもあります。HDSSテクノロジーでは、ハウジング内部の音はより制御され、振動板をランダムに「攻撃」することはなく、ダイナミックドライバーは信号源に「のみ」反応し、本来の動きをすることができます。

これにより、音のリアルさが増し、疲労が軽減されるとインテイムは述べています。しかし、これにはマイナス面もあります。ダイナミックドライバーの振動から高域を除去しすぎる傾向があるのです。

そこで、セラミックVST2の解像度とグラフェンコートDDの中高域のチューニングを慎重に調整し、輪郭のしっかりした、調和のとれた中高域と広い空間表現力を持つ低音を実現することが、MIYAVIが実現した大きなポイントです。

一目でわかるカード

フルデバイスカード

テストセットアップ

ソースはこちら Sony NW-A55 mrWalkman / Questyle QP1R / Tempotec V1 + E1DA 9038D – 純正チップ、RHA Dual Density Siliconチップ、Radius Deepmountチップ – XINSH 8 Core 4N pure silver+6N single crystal copper cable – ロスレス 16-24/44.1-192 FLAC tracks.

シグネチャー解析

トーナル

Miyabiの音色はマイルドなV系で、中低音と高音に控えめな段差があり、中音は処理されていないが、すべてがうまく相互調整されていて、全体として非常に心地よい表現をしている。

最も重要なことは、MIYABIが極めて「自然な」（「有機的な」）音質を提供することです。アコースティック楽器は、パリで言うところの「生」「自然」であり、聴き手には、後処理で欠点を補う前の音が届いているような、独特の「演奏現場の臨場感」を与えてくれるのです。

私のように99％アコースティックジャズを聴いている人間にとって、このようなユニークで中毒性のある体験は、すぐに貴重な財産に変わります。

サブベース

サブベースは適度に伸び、スピード感があるが、ミッドベースと比べるとパワーがやや劣る。自立した低音を再生するには十分な性能だ。

中低音

Miyabiの中低音は、速くてスラミーでありながら、明瞭で質感のある音です。中音域を大切にしながらも、しっかりとしたボディを持った低音に仕上がっている。

たまに、男性ボーカルやギターが控えめに聴こえることがあるが、これは特定の音楽ジャンルやセレクトによるもの。

ミッド

Miyabiの中音域は有機的で、リアルで、非常によく変調され、質感があります。ピアノ、チェロ、ギターは非常に自然に表現される。

中高域はエネルギッシュで艶があるが、疲労感は少ない。少なくとも私の感覚では、中高域は個人差が大きい領域だ。

男性ヴォーカル

男性ボーカル（特にテナー）は、非常によく表現され、質感があり、有機的である。低音は、特に混み合った箇所、特に非楽器が絡む箇所では、中低音と部分的にぶつかることがある。

女性ボーカル

Miyabiの女性ボーカルは男性ボーカルよりもさらに素晴らしく、オーガニックでボディがあり、時にフルート的でさえあります。シビランスに悩まされることなく、ドライバーの優れた高音域のチューニングが活かされています。

トレブル

高音域は、間違いなくMIYABIが最高のものを提供する2つの領域のうちの1つです。他のピエゾトゥイーターもいくつか聴きましたが、渡辺氏のドライバーに匹敵するようなものはありませんでした。

しかし、ほとんどの場合、IntimeのVSTはエネルギッシュで、ダイナミックで、きらびやかで、空気感がよく、ディテールがはっきりしていて、特に中毒性のあるエネルギッシュな高音を提供します。

この「有機的でブラッシーな音色」の一部は、ハウジングが真鍮で作られていることにも起因していると思います。

技術的なこと

サウンドステージ

みやびのステージの投影は非常に良い。水平方向に非常によく伸び、格別の高さを示し、奥行きも非常によい。

イメージング

MIYABIの音像は、優れた楽器セパレーションも手伝って、端正で緻密、実にリアルなものです。

詳細

Miyabiは、スペクトルのすべてのセグメントから詳細な情報を取得します。低音はこの価格帯のドライバーとしては非常に優れていますが、中音、ボーカル、高音から出る特別な熟練度に直面すると、ほとんど見劣りします。

機器分離

高音域と並んでMIYABIが得意とするのが、楽器分離です。

すべての音色が見事に核融合され、まるでステージ上、あるいはステージの目の前にいるような臨場感で重なり合い、さまざまな演奏家、そのパフォーマンス、能力、そしてミス（！）が一緒に起こっているのがほとんど「見える」ような感覚に陥ります。

Miyabiが提供するものと同等以上のしっかりとしたノートボディと結びついた分離の明瞭さは、私の経験では、Dunu ZenのようなIEM（Miyabiの+4倍の予算）に関わるまで遭遇することはできないでしょう。

ドライバビリティ

Miyabiの感度は控えめなので、自明でないアンプが必要です。過度なものではありませんが、スマートフォンに頼るのは避けた方が良いでしょう。

しかし、インピーダンスはそれほど低くないので、MIYABIが必要とするパワーを供給できるソース、ダックアンプ、ドングルが豊富にあることは良いニュースです。

物理的側面

ビルド

ハウジングは無垢の真鍮製で、「真鍮のような」暖かく有機的なアコースティックな音色を実現することを意図しています。

バックエンドは亀甲色の樹脂で、「匠」と呼ばれる日本の技術で成形されています。そのため、色合いにばらつきがあり、同じものが2つとありません。この樹脂製のバックエンドと真鍮製のメインチャンバーが、非常にスタイリッシュなアンサンブルを生み出しています。雅 “とは、まさに “エレガント、スタイリッシュ “という意味です。

フィット感

Miyabiのような太い弾丸型は、私にとってとてもフィットしやすいものです。

純正チップは音質的には良いのですが、少し柔らかすぎるようで、ハウジングの重さや形状などと相まって、なぜか左耳のドライバーが左耳の中で密閉性を失いがちなのです。

数十の選択肢の中から「いつもの」長くて退屈なローテーションをした後、MiyabiのケースではRHAのデュアルデンシティ・シリコンチップが私にとって最も効果的であることを発見したのです。

快適性

非常に主観的です。個人的には、すべての弾丸型ハウジングと同じように、非常に快適だと思います。

アイソレーション

弾丸の形状からコンチャのシールドはありませんが、それでも彼らの「太った」体型はプラスに働きます。

ケーブル

渡辺さんも苦労されたのでしょうが、純正ケーブルでは感動がありませんでした。いろいろ試した結果、引き出しにあったXINSHの8芯ハイブリッド（4N純銀＋6N単結晶銅）に落ち着きました。

また、IEMハウジングのMMCXコネクターは、Intimeが自社開発したものであることも重要です。この選択は彼らが良かれと思ってしたことだと思いますが、私が試したサードパーティ製のケーブルはすべて同じようにクリックできるわけではなく、中には接続が不安定になるものさえありました（私が持っている他のすべてのMMCX IEMに同じケーブルを接続した場合とは異なります）。渡辺さんは、この点について調べたほうがいいかもしれませんね。

仕様

比較対象

Tanchjim Oxygen ($ 250)

Miyabiは全体的に暖かく、中低音にアクセントがあるのに対し、Oxygenは高音に柔らかいアクセントがあるものの、よりバランスよくニュートラルな印象です。Miyabiの生々しい音色や色付けはOxygenには全くなく、ほとんど透明である。

楽器の分離とマイクロダイナミクスは、混み合った中低域を除き、どこでもMiyabiが有利で、どちらも（理由は異なるが）業界最高レベルである。高音域の表現はMiyabiの方がより有機的で、特に金属楽器はOxygenの方が細部まできれいに再現されます。

Ikko OH1S ($ 159)

OH1SとMiyabiの比較でまず気づくのは、明らかにOH1Sの方が音の重みが薄いということです。OH1Sは、MIYABIのエネルギッシュで筋肉質で “Thetral “なサウンドと比べると、よりスリムで表現力が乏しく、色気もない。

OH1SのDDはMIYABIに比べると速いが解像度は高くないので、OH1Sの中低音は膨張しないが、質感や有機性は明らかに劣る。何よりも楽器の分離がMIYABIに軍配が上がる。OH1Sは高域の侵襲が強く、MIYABIのエネルギッシュで抑制の効いた高域に比べると、時折ショッパイ音に聞こえることがある。

Ikko OH10 ($ 199)

OH10はMIYABIに比べ、サブバスは盛り上がっていますが、ミッドバスは少なめです。そして何より、OH10はMIYABIに比べ低音のスピード感があり、ドライな印象があるため、すっきりしている反面、表現力や質感に乏しい印象があります。また、これだけ綺麗なのに、低音を含めた全帯域の分離はMIYABIの方がOH10より良い。

OH10は音の重さも無駄がなく、音色も生意気ではない。管楽器やハイハット、クラッシュの生々しさはMIYABIに比べるとかなり劣る。中音はかなり引っ込んでいて、ボーカルも比較にならない（意図的にそうしているのだろう）。

Dunu Zen ($700)

Zenの低音はMiyabiに比べてスピード感があり、よりコントロールされている。楽器の分離はMIYABIが優れているが、ZENの方が全帯域で優れている。Zenの音色は暖かみがあるが、音色は極めてニュートラルである。Miyabiは中低域がやや太いだけでなく、中高域の音像が重く、金管楽器のような音色を持つため、より暖かみがある。

中高域はZenの方がすっきりしているが、エネルギッシュで表情豊かな感じはない。上の方はMiyabiの方が断然空気感がある。細部の再現性はZenの方が優れているが、高価格帯の製品にありがちな差はない。

考察と結論

5～600ドル以下のIEMで、MIYABIのように高度に洗練された技術、有機的で生き生きとした音色、エネルギッシュな表現力を同等に心地よくミックスしてくれるものは、そう多くはないでしょう。そして、Miyabiの200ドル以下の価格では、さらに少ないでしょう。

私にとっては、これは素晴らしい素材だ。私は、Miyabiを優秀作品の壁に貼り付けることを検討するために、コブロガーたちの意見を集める作業を開始しました。

この記事で紹介したMIYABIのサンプルは、個人的に購入したもので、渡辺氏とは一切コンタクトがありません。

Our generic standard disclaimer.

The post Intime Miyabi 雅 アンティーム レビュ- 唯一無二の特別感 appeared first on Music For The Masses.

Al momento della pubblicazione di questo articolo le Miyabi sono in vendita sul sito del produttore, in Giappone, per 21.450,00 Yen, cioè circa 150 €. Ne servono altri 30 circa per farsi inoltrare il pacchetto da un servizio come Tenso, o simili.

“Intime Acoustic” è un marchio per nulla noto in Occidente, essendo di proprietà di un’azienda molto piccola, e che limita il proprio orizzonte commerciale al Giappone, dove ha sede. Nel mio articolo precedente ho dedicato qualche riga all’azienda, e alla sua tecnologia (sviluppata e in parte anche brevettata dal titolare). Riporto qui sotto molte di quelle informazioni, con gli aggiornamenti del caso.

Intime Acoustic, alias Ozeid Co., alias O2aid.com…

Intime Acoustic è un marchio di proprietà di Ozeid Co., Ltd., un’azienda relativamente giovane (fondata nel 2016) con sede a Takasaki City in Giappone. La sua attività principale non è la produzione, in realtà, ma la consulenza.

Il titolare, e direttore tecnico è il sig. Yoshiyuki Watanabe, forte di 35 e più anni di esperienza a proposito di macchine, sistemi e applicazioni che utilizzano materiali piezoelettrici.

Cosa si ottiene ribaltando di 180° il nome “ozeid” (e ancor meglio il nome “o2aid”) ?… 

Qualche anno fa Watanabe-san decise di applicare la sua competenza alla produzione di auricolari, con l’obbiettivo di compiacere utenti giovani – come i suoi figli – a cui trasferire “il bel suono del Giappone“.

Tecnologie principali

Analogamente ad altri modelli della gamma Intime, le Miyabi sono basate su sistema a doppio trasduttore: uno a membrana dinamica da 10mm dedicato alle basse e medie frequenze, più un tweeter alquanto speciale, in ceramica, responsabile della resa delle alte frequenze e dell’ultima ottava.

Sono disponibili un bel po’ di dettagli tecnici interessanti a proposito della tecnologia all’interno delle Miyabi, cerco di sintetizzarli.

1 – “Vertical Super Tweeter”

Il VST è realizzato da una qualche specie laminato ceramico, una scelta molto diversa rispetto all’ossido di titanio più comunemente utilizzato allo scopo.

In sintesi le lamine ceramiche offrono maggior possibilità di controllo delle vibrazioni.

I “super tweeters” convenzionali sono chiamati così perché riproducono suoni fuori della gamma udibile. Intime ne ha realizzato una variante che, grazie al diverso materiale e alle loro calibrazioni, ha un comportamento diverso e riproduce sfumature udibili, contribuendo così efficacemente alla resa della parte più alta dello spettro.

Sulle Miyabi sono installati tweeters “VST2 di terza generazione”. Secondo l’ing. Watanabe le migliorie in questa evoluzione del progetto consistono nell’adozione di doppia ceramica, che minimizza il comportamento isteretico a parità di sensibilità alla pressione sonora.

I tweeter VST di terza generazione offrono mogliori sfumature sulle note del pianoforte, e migliore nitidezza sui salti tonale di un sassofono. Possedendo io un modello basato su una precedente versione di VST (Sora 2) posso in effetti confermare l’esistenza delle migliorie.

2 – Rivestimento in grafene

Sulla membrana dinamica del trasduttore principale è applicato un rivestimento in grafene che – sempre secondo Watanabe – è tra i motivi che portano i suoi trasduttori dinamici a riprodurre le frequenze medie e medioalte con ottimo controllo e buona definizione.

3 – Struttura esterna in ottone

A differenza di quanto avviene per la linea Sora, la carrozzeria delle IEM Miyabi è realizzata in ottone. Secondo Watanabe l’ottone contribuisce ad ammorbidire il suono e ad approfondire la resa dei bassi e il sustain delle note. Non so certificare che la relazione causa-effetto sia quella, ma il risultato c’è, ed è buono.

4 – HDSS

Un’altra tecnologia originale (e brevettata, in realtà) adottata all’interno delle Miyabi, come anche all’interno di altri modelli Intime come Ti3, Sora, Sora2, è denominata “HDSS” come “High Definition Sound Standard”.

Il suo scopo è eliminare i suoni riflessi all’interno della struttura degli auricolari, producendo un suono più pulito.

All’interno della struttura dell’auricolare, normalmente alcune onde sonore vengono riflesse dalle pareti e rimbalzano sul diaframma del trasduttore, producendo dissonanza rispetto al risultato voluto. Grazie alla tecnologia HDSS la propagazione del suono all’interno della struttura viene tenuta sotto controllo, e si evita che questo “investa” il diaframma del trasduttore in modo incontrollato, il quale quindi si troverà a vibrare “solo” in conseguenza del segnale elettrico che riceve – esattamente come dovrebbe – senza “ulteriori” fonti spurie di energia.

L’accorgimento – secondo Intime – aumenta il realismo del suono e riduce l’affaticamento sull’impianto uditivo dell’utilizzatore. Ha tuttavia un contro: tende a “ripulire” un po’ troppo le vibrazioni del trasduttore dinamico, eliminando troppa parte delle alte frequenze.

E’ qui che viene in soccorso l’accurata calibrazione tra il tweeter ceramico VST2 e la parte di medie e medio-alte frequenze riprodotte dal trasduttore dinamico arricchito col grafene. Il risultato è un basso con profilo compatto e nitido, una gamma medio-alta armoniosa e una ampia riproduzione spaziale – tutte cose effettivamente presenti sulle Miyabi !

A colpo d’occhio

Scheda completa

Ambienti di prova

Fonti: Sony NW-A55 mrWalkman / Questyle QP1R / Tempotec V1 + E1DA 9038D – Terminali silicone Spinfit CP-145 – cavo Dunu DUW-02S – tracce audio 16-24/44.1-192 FLAC.

Analisi della caratteristica sonora

Tonalità

La caratteristica tonale delle Miyabi è una V morbida, con modeste accentuazioni sui bassi medi e sui medi alti, medie frequenze non incassate, il tutto ben reciprocamente calibrato tanto da offrire una presentazione complessivamente molto piacevole.

Più importante ancora, le Miyabi offrono un timbro in-cre-di-bil-men-te “bio” (“naturale”), tanto che possono a volte sembrare eccessivamente intransigenti, quasi “grezze”. Gli strumenti acustici vengono trasmessi con un suono percepito come originario, “nudo”, nature – offrendo la sensazione davvero realistica di “presenza sulla scena”, di ricezione del suono prima di qualsiasi elaborazione di pulizia e pettinatura delle imperfezioni.

Per chi come me ascolta per il 99% del suo tempo jazz acustico le Miyabi offrono un’esperienza originale che produce assuefazione e le rende rapidamente un elemento preziosissimo del proprio ambiente audio.

Sub-Basso

Il sub-basso delle Miyabi è moderatamente esteso, veloce, ed un pochino meno evidente rispetto al basso medio. Più che adeguato alla resa del contrabbasso acustico.

Basso medio

Il basso medio delle Miyabi è veloce e potente, eppure articulato e dotato di trama. E’ evidentemente accentuato rispetto alla neutralità, il che offre un ottimo corpo p.es. al contrabbasso riuscendo però a restare quasi sempre rispettoso dell’autonomia della gamma media .

Solo occasionalmente e/o in alcuni generi musicali può capitare di trovare le gamme medie, le voci umane e le chitarre un po’ soggiogate al basso medio.

Medi

Le medie frequenze trasmesse dalle Miyabi sono naturali, realistiche, ben modulate e offrono una ottima tramatura – tutto ciò senza essere eccessivamente avanti nella presentazione generale. Pianoforte, violoncello e chitarra sono tutti resi in modo eccezionalmente naturale.

Le frequenze medio-alte sono energiche e luminose, pur restando sempre non affaticanti – quanto meno per i miei gusti, YMMV (conosciamo la questione: i medio-alti sono una di quelle aree sonore dove la sensibilità personale gioca un ruolo importante nel gradimento).

Voci maschili

Le voci maschili, con particolare riguardo ai tenori, sono rese molto bene, realisticamente naturali e dotate di buona trama. Le voci baritonali e basse possono occasionalmente entrare in conflitto con i toni bassi medi in passaggi musicali particolarmente affollati, specialmente quando sono coinvolti strumenti non acustici.

Voci femminili

Le voci femminili sono rese dalle Miyabi ancor meglio di quelle maschili: naturali, corpose, a volte quasi flautate. Non scadono mai nel sibilante, sembrano proprio tra i migliori risultati dell’ottima calibrazione dei medio alti eseguita sui trasduttori.

Alti

Senza dubblio gli alti sono tra gli aspetti per i quali le Miyabi offrono il meglio. Ho ascoltato più di qualche altro auricolare con tweeter piezo, e nessuno è all’altezza di quanto l’ottimo ing Watanabe è in grado di spremere dalle sue creazioni.

C’è un leggeriiiiiissimo “timbro piezo” che spunta molto raramente qua e là, ma nella quasi totalità del tempo d’ascolto i VST Intime regalano alti energici, dinamici, scoppiettanti, alquanto ariosi, ben dettagliati e soprattutto godevolissimi.

Mi piace credere che parte del timbro “ottone naturale” delle Miyabi sia legato al fatto che la struttura della camera acustica sia in effetti… in ottone.

Tecnicità

Palcoscenico

La proiezione scenica delle Miyabi è ottima. Lo spazio è molto ampio orizzontalmente, eccezionalmente esteso verticalmente, ed offre una buona profondità.

Immagine sonora

Anche grazie all’eccezionale capacità di separazione strumentale, l’immagine sonora proiettata dalle Miyabi è pulita, precisa e molto realistica.

Dettagli

Le Miyabi trasmettono una miriade di dettagli sonori da tutti i segmenti dello spettro. La risoluzione sui bassi, seppure molto buona in termini assoluti per auricolari di questa classe di prezzo, quasi impallidisce poi rispetto al risultato offerto sulle medie frequenze, le voci, e gli alti.

Separazione strumentale

Unitamente alle alte frequenze, la separazione strumentale è l’altra area di eccellenza assoluta per le Miyabi, che in questo offrono risultati che possono essere ritrovati solo su alcuni (!) prodotti di classe e prezzo (!!) molto, molto superiori.

Tutti gli strumenti sono spettacolarmente enucleati gli uni dagli altri, e stratificati in modo che all’ascoltatore arrivi una sensazione molto realistica di presenza sulla scena, o immediamente di fronte ad essa. E’ quasi possibile “vedere” i vari suonatori, la loro performance, e i loro errori (!).

Per trovare un livello di pulizia nella separazione strumentale associata a ottima corposità delle note superiore a quanto ascolto sulle Miyabi devo, per mia esperienza, “scomodare” auricolari come le Dunu Zen – a circa 4 volte il costo di un paio di Miyabi.

Pilotabilità

Le Miyabi hanno una sensibilità alquanto modesta (100dB/mW) richiedono quindi un’amplificazione non banalissima. Nulla di eccessivo, ma è meglio evitare di fare affidamento sulle capacità interne di un normale smartphone.

Una buona notizia è che la loro impedenza non è ultra-bassa. C’è quindi quasi l’imbarazzo della scelta di fonti, dac/amp o dongle capaci di produrre la potenza d’uscita necessaria a fare cantare correttamente le Miyabi.

Aspetti fisici

Struttura

La carrozzeria e la camera acustica delle Miyabi sono in ottone, con il dichiarato intento di offrire un timbro acustico tiepido, naturale, simile appunto ad un ottone.

La parte posteriore è in resina color tartaruga, stampata con una tecnica giapponese chiamata Takumi. Il risultato è una colorazione casualmente variegata che rende ogni paio unico naturalmente. L’accoppiata tra il retro in resina e la camera acustica frontale in ottone ha uno stile estetico alquanto piacevole. Miyabi in giapponese vuole in effetti dire qualcosa di simile a “elegante”.

Indossabilità

Le IEM a forma di proiettile (grasso, in questo caso) sono molto comode per me.

I terminali in silicone forniti a corredo sono di buona qualità ma li trovo un pochino troppo morbidi, e se a questo aggiungo che gli auricolari non sono leggerissimi, mi succede che usando quelli l’auricolare sinistro tende a perdere aderenza dal canale uditivo (il mio sinistro è un po’ più ampio del destro).

Dopo la “solita” lunga e noiosa rotazione tra le 3 dozzine di terminali di vario tipo che ho a disposizione alla fine mi sono deciso per gli Spinfit CP-145.

Comfort

Molto soggettivo. Personalmente le trovo molto confortevoli, come mi capita per molti se non tutti gli auricolari a forma di proiettile.

Isolamento

La forma a proiettile non offre schermatura della conca naturalmente, anche se il calibro decisamente “grasso” un pochino aiuta.

Cavo

Nonostante lo sforzo che anche in questo l’ing Watanabe ha sicuramente profuso, il cavo fornito a corredo non mi ha impressionato per qualità. Dopo varie prove ho scelto un Dunu DUW-02S che effettivamente migliora sensibilmente le Miyabi in termini di apertura sonora, separazione e stratificazione.

Credo sia altresì importante notare come non tutti i cavi di terza parte che ho provato sulle mie Miyabi offrissero un “click” ugualmente convincente al momento della connessione alle prese MMCX, e in un paio di casi la connessione stessa si è dimostrata persino instabile (al contrario di quanto avviene quando gli stessi cavi sono connessi a un qualsiasi altro paio di IEM tra quelle che possiedo). Un punto di attenzione per l’ing. Watanabe.

In ultimo: ho notizia che da una certa data in avanti Ozeid ha iniziato ad offrire il proprio cavo top di gamma (“M Kanade”) a corredo delle Miyabi. Mi riservo di provarne uno per verificare una molto migliore sinergia rispetto all’ M Sound che ho ricevuto insieme alle mie Miyabi, di produzione precedente.

Specifiche (dichiarate dal costruttore)

Confronti

Tanchjim Oxygen (250 $)

Le Miyabi sono complessivamente più calde, con un evidente accento sui bassi medi. Le Oxygen sono più bilanciate-neutre, e se un accento mostrano sta piuttosto sui medi alti. Il timbro ottonale delle Miyabi è totalmente assente dalle Oxygen, che sono fondamentalmente trasparenti.

Separazione strumentale e microdinamica sono a favore delle Miyabi praticamente sempre, tranne in casi di passaggi particolarmente fitti di varie voci sui bassi medi – situazione nella quale né Miyabi né Oxygen, per diversi motivi, esprimono il meglio. La resa degli alti è più naturale sulle Miyabi, con particolare riguardo agli strumenti metallici – sulle Oxygen invece si presentano più puliti anche se un pochino meno dettagliati.

Ikko OH1S (159 $)

La prima cosa che si nota confrontando le OH1S con le Miyabi è l’evidente minor corpo nelle note delle prime. Le OH1S suonano più magre e quindi meno espressive, per contro meno colorate, a fronte delle Miyabi più energiche, muscolari e “teatrali”.

Il trasduttore dinamico delle OH1S è più veloce ma non ha maggiore risoluzione di quello sulle Miyabi. Perciò il basso delle OH1S è meno gonfio ma si presenta anche meno naturale e meno strutturato. Soprattutto: la separazione strumentale è totalmente a favore delle Miyabi. Le OH1S hanno medi alti più invasivi, che a volte possono presentarsi troppo squillanti, a fronte di quelli più energici, ma più controllati, delle Miyabi.

Ikko OH10 (199 $)

Sulle OH10 il sub basso è più elevato, ma il basso medio lo è meno rispetto alle Miyabi. Soprattutto, il basso delle OH10 è più veloce e asciutto e quindi suona più pulito da un lato, ma meno espressivo e strutturato dall’altro. Inoltre, anche nonostante questa maggior pulizia delle OH10, la separazione strumentale delle Miyabi su tutto lo spettro – inclusi i bassi – resta superiore.

Sulle OH10 le note hanno corpo più magro, e il timbro ottonale è assente. Gli strumenti a fiato e i piatti suonano meno vividi che sulle Miyabi. I medi sulle OH10 sono molto più indietro, e le voci umane non sono nemmeno confrontabili a quelle delle Miyabi (intenzionalmente, aggiungerei).

Dunu Zen (700$)

Il basso delle Zen è più veloce di quello delle Miyabi, e più controllato, ed offre migliore microdinamica. La separazione strumentale, seppure ottima sulle Miyabi, è ancor migliore sulle Zen, su tutto lo spettro. Le Zen hanno una tonalità tiepida, ma il loro timbro è naturale. Le Miyabi sono più calde, non solo a causa del basso medio più corposo ma soprattutto al maggior corpo delle note medie e medio alte, e al timbro ottonale.

I medi alti sono più puliti sulle Zen ma anche meno energici ed espressivi. Le Miyabi sono inoltre più ariose in alto. Le Zen offrono miglior dettaglio su tutto lo spettro, sebbene la differenza in questo rispetto alle Miyabi non corrisponda alla differenza tra i loro prezzi.

Considerazioni e conclusioni

Non conosco molte IEM che costino meno di 5-600$ e in grado di offrire un simile mix di tecnicità altamente raffinate e timbro naturale, vivo ed ergetico. Ed ancor meno ne conosco se cerco tra quelle che costano meno di 200$, come le Miyabi.

Per me questo è materiale eccellente. Ho avviato il processo di raccolta delle opinioni dei coblogger al fine dell’inserimento delle Miyabi sul Wall of Excellence.

Il campione Miyabi di cui parlo in questo articolo è un acquisto personale. Non sono incorsi contatti con il sig Watanabe.

La versione originale di questo, come per tutti gli altri miei articoli, è in lingua inglese.

Our generic standard disclaimer.

The post Recensione Di Intime Miyabi – Speciale Unicità appeared first on Music For The Masses.

At the time of this article, Miyabi sells on the manufacturer’s site for JPY 21.450,00 which is approximately $ 150. Add another $ 30 to have that reforwaded to EU / USA by a service like Tenso or equivalent.

“Intime Acoustic” is not a known brand at all in the west, as it comes from a very small company limiting its commercial horizon to Japan, where it’s based. In my previous article I spent some lines about the company, and about the technology (developed, and sometimes even patented by the company’s owner) involved. I’m echoing such information here below, with appropriate updates, for the reader’s convenience.

Intime Acoustic, a.k.a. Ozeid Co., a.k.a O2aid.com…

Intime Acoustic is a brand owned by Ozeid Co., Ltd., a quite young (2016-founded) Takasaki City (JPN) based company. Its main business is actually not manufacturing, but consulting.

The owner and key developer Mr Yoshiyuki Watanabe has 35+ years of experience on devices and applications that use piezoelectric materials.

Rotate his company name “ozeid” (or even better its web domain name “o2aid”) by 180°. What do you read ? 

That said, mr Watanabe also decided to deliver some of his competence in form of earphones, targeting young users – young like his children – aiming to convey (in his own words) “the good sound of Japan“.

Key technologies

Similarly to other models in Intime lineup, Miyabi is based on a dual-driver system including a 10mm dynamic driver, and a somewhat special ceramic tweeter taking care of the upper treble / top octave end.

A number of very interesting details are available regarding the technology inside Sora 2, let me summarise what the main claims are.

1 – “Vertical Super Tweeter”

VST is made of some sort of special laminated ceramics, instead of the most commonly adopted titanium oxide.

Fundamentally, laminated ceramics is supposed to offer more controllable vibrations.

Conventional “super tweeters” are so-called as they reproduce sounds outside the audible range, but this Intime’s variation, thanks to the uncommon material selection in addition to their calibrations, has a different behaviour and reproduces overtones, effectively contributing to the highest-end part of the audible spectrum.

The Miyabi feature “third-generation VST2” of such tweeters. According to mr Watanabe the improvement has to do with adopting dual ceramics, which ensures that the hysteresis characteristics are minimized, while sound pressure sensitivity is maintained.

For example, 3rd VST is supposed to offer richer overtones on piano notes, and crisper notes on a jumping saxophone. Owning a model based on a previous VST iteration (Sora 2) I can testify this is really the case.

2 – Graphene coating

A graphene coating has been applied to the Dynamic Driver unit, which – always according to mr Watanabe – is amongst the reasons why his drivers reproduce mid-high range frequencies with controlled power and good definition.

3 – Brass housings

Unlike what happens on the Sora line, Miyabi housings are made of brass. According to mr Watanabe, this choice contributes to delivery Miyabi’s signature soft, deep sustain and bass reproduction. I don’t know if the cause-effect liaison is right, but the result definitely is good.

4 – HDSS

Another unique (and patented, actually) technology adopted inside Miyabi, as much as inside Ti3, Sora, Sora2 too, is called “HDSS” as in High Definition Sound Standard.

Its purpose is to suppress sound reflections inside the housing, resulting in cleaner output.

Some sound waves are commonly uncontrolledly reflected inside the housing, impacting onto the dynamic driver diaphragm, causing dissonance from the intended purpose. With HDSS technology, the sound inside the housings is more controlled and does not “invest” the diaphragm randomly, allowing the dynamic driver to move “only” as a consequence to the signal source, as indeed it should.

This – according to Intime – increases sound realism and decreases fatigue. It has a down side though: it tends to purge too much of the high frequencies off the dynamic driver vibration.

This is where a careful calibration between the resolution of the ceramic VST2 and the mid-high range tuning of the graphene coated DD becomes vital, resulting in a bass with a solid outline, harmonious mid-high range and wide spatial expression – as in facts Miyabi does deliver, big time !

At-a-glance Card

Full Device Card

Test setup

Sources: Sony NW-A55 mrWalkman / Questyle QP1R / Tempotec V1 + E1DA 9038D – Spinfit CP-145 tips – Dunu DUW-02S cable – lossless 16-24/44.1-192 FLAC tracks.

Signature analysis

Tonality

Miyabi’s tonality is a mild V, with modest bumps in the midbass and highmids, and unrecessed mids, all well reciprocally calibrated to offer a very pleasant overall presentation.

Most importantly, Miyabi offer an in-cre-di-bly “natural” (“organic”) timbre, so much that some may find it excessively unforgiving, almost “crude”. Acoustic instruments come across sort of raw, unadultered, nature they’d say in Paris – which grants the auditioner a unique “presence on the performance scene” sensation, as if sound were delivered to them prior to any postprocessing combing imperfections or such.

For someone like me listening for 99% of his time to acoustic jazz this is a unique, addictive experience which quickly turns into an invaluable asset.

Sub-Bass

Sub bass is moderately extended, fast, but a bit subduded in power vs midbass. More then adequate to render standup bass.

Mid Bass

Miyabi’s midbass is fast and slammy, yet articulated and textured. It’s evidently bumped up, offering very solid body to standup bass while staying respectful of mids at virtually all times.

Only occasionally and/or on specific musical genres or selections male vocals or guitars may come accross a bit subdued.

Mids

Miyabi’s mids are organic, realistic, very well modulated and textured – this in spite of them not being particularly forward. Pianos, cellos and guitars are very naturally rendered.

High mids are energetic and shiny, but always south of fatiguing – at least in my books, YMMV (we know the drill: highmids are one of those areas where personal sensitivity varies a lot).

Male Vocals

Male vocals, with particular regards to tenors, are very well rendered, textured and credibly organic. Bass voices may occasionally partially conflict with midbass on particularly crowded passages, especially when non-acoustic instruments are involed.

Female Vocals

Miyabi’s female vocals are even better than male: organic, bodied, at times even flutey. Never scanting into sibilance, they take advantage of the driver’s superb highmids tuning.

Highs

Trebles are no doubt one of the two areas on which Miyabi offers their best. I did hear a few other piezo tweeters, but simply not one holds a candle to what mr Watanabe can make his drivers deliver.

There is a veeeery faint “piezo timbre” occasionally emerging, but for the vast majority of the cases Intime’s VST deliver energetic, dynamic, sparkly, quite airy, well detailed and most of all addictively energetic treble.

I like to assume that part of the “organically brassy timbre” result is also due to the housings being made of… brass, indeed.

Technicalities

Soundstage

Miyabi’s stage projection is very good. The room is very well extended horizontally, shows an exceptional height, and very good depth.

Imaging

Helped by outstanding instrument separation, Miyabi’s imaging is neat, precise and very realistic.

Details

Miyabi retrieve tons of detail from all segments of the spectrum. The bass part, while very good in absolute terms for a driver of this price category, almost pales when faced with the special proficiency coming out from mids, vocals and trebles.

Instrument separation

Together with treble, instrument separation is the other area on which Miyabi deliver a quality which can only be found on selected, much higher class (and price) competition.

All voices are spectacularly enucleated from one another, and layered in a way that the auditioner has a very realist sensation of being on the stage, or just in front of it, and can almost “see” the various players, their performance, abilities, and mistakes (!) happening together.

Separation clarity coupled to solid note body similar or better to what Miyabi offers cannot be encountered for my experience until engaging with IEMs the like of Dunu Zen – at +-4 times Miyabi’s budget.

Driveability

Miyabi’s sensitivity is modest so they do call for some non-trivial amping. Nothing excessive, don’t worry, but it’s best not to rely on a mere smartphone in their case.

A piece of good news is however that their impedance is not ultra-low, so there’s a thicker flock of sources, dac-amps and dongles which are able to deliver the power Miyabi requires.

Physicals

Build

Housings are made of solid brass, with the declared intention to deliver a “brass-like”, warm-ish, organic, acoustic timbre.

Their back end is in tortoise-color resin, moulded adopting a japanese tecnique called Takumi. The result is uneven in terms of colouring, resulting in no two units be identical. The resin back-end paired with the brass main chambers make for a quite stylish ensemble. Miyabi is indeed japanese for “elegant, stylish”.

Fit

Fat bullet shapes like Miyabi’s are very easy to fit for me.

Stock tips are good in terms of sound results but I found them a tad too soft, which paired with the housings’ weight, their shape etc, for whatever reason makes my left driver tend to lose its seal inside my left ear.

After the “usual” lenghty and boring rotation amongst a couple of dozen alternatives I settled on Spinfit CP-145.

Comfort

Very subjective. I personally find them extremely comfortable, like for most if not all bullet shaped housings.

Isolation

No concha shielding due to bullet shape, but their “fat” build contributes positively nonetheless.

Cable

In spite of the effort that I’m sure mr Watanabe put on it, too, I wasn’t impressed by the stock cable. After some trials, I settled onto a Dunu DUW-02S which is significantly upgrading the Miyabi in terms of spatial openness, layering and separation.

It’s also important to note that not all third party cables I tried onto my Miyabi clicked the same way, and a couple of them even resulted in unstable connectivity (unlike what happens when the same cable is connected to all other MMCX IEMs I have). Mr Watanabe may want to look into this.

Last but probably not least, I understand Ozeid is now bundling their high end cable (M Kanade) with Miyabi. Looking forward into getting one to check a very likely better pairing.

Specifications (declared)

Comparisons

Tanchjim Oxygen ($ 250)

Miyabi is overall warmer, with an evident accent on midbass compared to Oxygen which is more balanced-neutral, if something with a soft accent on highmids. Miyabi’s brassy timbre and coloration is totally absent on Oxygen, which is mostly transparent.

Instrument separation and microdynamics are in favour of Miyabi everywhere except on crowded midbass passages, where neither – for different causes – is at the industry’s best. Treble rendering is more organic on Miyabi, with special regards to metal instruments – Oxygen on the other hand comes across cleaner if a tad less detailed.

Ikko OH1S ($ 159)

The first thing one notices about OH1S vs Miyabi is the obviously thinner note weight delivered by the former. OH1S sounds leaner and therefore less expressive if also less colored compared with the more energetic, muscular and “thetral” Miyabi.

OH1S DD is faster but not better resolving compared to Miyabi’s so OH1S’s midbass is less inflated but also evidently less textured and organic. Most of all, instrument separation is all in favor of Miyabi. OH1S also has more invasive highmids which may occasionally sound shoutier compared to the energetic but controlled ones on Miyabi.

Ikko OH10 ($ 199)

OH10’s sub bass is more elevated but midbass is less compared to Miyabi. Most of all, OH10’s bass is faster and dryer compared to Miyabi’s so it sounds cleaner on one end, but less expressive and textured on the other. Also, even in spite of such higher cleanness, Miyabi’s separation all over the spectrum including the bass is better compared to OH10’s.

OH10’s note weight is also leaner and the timbre is not brassy. Wind instruments and hihats and crashes sound much less vivid compared to Miyabi. Mids are much more recessed and vocals are not even comparable (by design, I would say).

Dunu Zen ($700)

Zen’s bass is faster compared to Miyabi’s, and more controlled. Instrument separation, though superb on Miyabi, is better on Zen all along the spectrum. Zen’s tonality is warm, but its timbre is quite neutral. Miyabi is warmer, not only due to somewhat fatter midbass but mainly due to heavier note body on the mids and highmids, and its brass-metallic timbre.

High mids are cleaner on Zen but also less energetic and expressive. Miyabi is definitely airier up above. Zen has a better detail retrieval all over the spectrum, although not by the same margin as its higher price tag might suggest.

Considerations & conclusions

I can’t name many IEMs costing less than $5-600 and delivering an equivalently pleasant mix of highly refined technicalities, organic, lifelike timbre and energetic presentation like Miyabi do. And even less at Miyabi’s sub-200$ price.

To me this is excellent material. I initiated the process to collect cobloggers’ opinions to consider sticking Miyabi on our Wall of Excellence.

The Miyabi sample I reported about in this article is a personal purchase, no contact incurred with Mr Watanabe.

Our generic standard disclaimer.

The post Intime Miyabi 雅 アンティーム Review – Uniquely Special appeared first on Music For The Masses.

INTRO

The Shanling UA3 is the latest iteration of a DAC dongle from Shanling the sees the re-emergence of the AKM line of DAC chips following a fire at their chip plant in 2020. The Shanling UA3 is the replacement of the UA2 (previously reviewed) and the little brother of the UA5. It utilizes the power output amp of the UA5 and includes some hardware controls to give us a more affordable dac/amp dongle offering single and balanced output for the price of $109.

SPECIFICATION COMPARISON

To start I think it’s best to have a quick comparison of the DAC lineage past and present from Shanling, the Shanling UA3 is flanked by their UA2 and UA5 models.

FEATURES

• Brand new AKM AK4493SEQ DAC
• Dual Ricore RT6863 Headphone amplifier
• Hardware Volume Control
• 3.5mm Single-ended & 4.4mm Balanced Outputs
• Standby Mode
• Up to 211mW @ 32 Ohm Output power
• Compatible with Android, Windows, Mac and iOS.
• Special lightning cable needed for use with iOS
• UAC2.0 and UAC1.0 mode compatible, for use with Nintendo Switch and other gaming systems or older devices.
• Hi-Res support up to 32/768 and DSD512
• Universal USB-C Connector
• Compatible with Eddict Player app

PACKAGE CONTENTS

• DAC
• Detachable USB-C to USB-C cable braided cloth protection
• USB-C to USB-A adapter for computer use

SOUND

Tested with LG G8 Hiby App, Kinera Idun 2.0, Moondrop Kato, Drop Sennheiser HD6xx, Oppo PM-3, Philips Fidelio X2HR

The Shanling UA3 exhibits a warmer presentation with a very even midrange treble response. It has a very organic technical prowess that gives it a vinyl like analog orientation. Compared to the Moondrop Dawn 4.4, the Shanling UA3 is flatter in the staging and depth. My desktop Liquid Spark DAC also has a similar flatter warmer sound perhaps because it is also equipped with the AKM4493 DAC chip. It’s hard to say if the sound signature is the result of the DAC chips, the output stage, or the overall design, but there is some noticeable differences.

The Shanling UA3 tends to smooth out the midrange and treble, whereas the Moondrop Dawn 4.4 adds some sharpness and definition that some might find more clinical. This helps with pairing earphones to the DAC dongle, you can either choose to accentuate certain aspects or use it as a way to balance out too much in one direction. The TempoTec Sonata E35 is different as well, it has a more midrange emphasis and a punchier bass.

So does the Shanling UA3 have enough power to drive something harder than a pair of IEM’s? The answer is yes. It really comes alive with my Oppo PM3 planars. This is actually a good pairing and seems to be a good match to low to medium impedance and singled ended output. The same can be said for the Philips Fidelio X2HR. Unfortunately I do not have a balanced cable for my Sennheiser HD6XX, so the single ended output feels a bit limited, but it is plenty of power to drive for normal listening volumes.

OBSERVATIONS

What I notice is that the UA3 is the only one that sees improvement in all measurements when moving from single ended 3.5mm to the balanced output mode. The other interesting thing is the Ricore opamp chips. I was not familiar with this brand and after some sleuthing on the forums it appears to be either a Chinese or Japanese supplier. Another DAC competitor felt the opamps exhibited some nasty clipping when driven too hard, however if Shanling has worked around these constraints to avoid clipping then there should be no issue in theory.

Other DAC dongles I own don’t even mention any type of opamp output stage, and are probably driven directly from the SoC DAC chips themselves. Only my desktop DAC SMSL DO100 and SMSL400 analog outputs are driven using the OPA1612, but primarily for high impedance line out voltages and not headphone low impedance loads.

As with all my DAC dongles, I have to use the Hiby App instead of Poweramp to properly interface with them on my LG G8, otherwise it doesn’t deliver bit perfect output and tends to either resample to 48khz or suffers a power limitation. Shanling also supports it with their own Android app called Eddict Player.

There is also one feature on the Shanling UA3 to toggle it to USB mode 1.0 for use with other devices such as the Nintendo Switch. My son is the Switch player, so I must admit this was not really on my radar for a DAC/dongle use but I am sure there are some gamers in reader population that will find this a nice feature.

For those that are interested in DSD support, the Shanling UA3 also supports up to 768khz 32bit DSD512. Drivers are required it using on a PC or MAC. The LED changes color to indicate sampling rate frequency and the mode it is in. Unfortunately, several sampling rates are shared among the 4 colors, I would prefer to see it indicate multiples of the base frequency I.e 44.1/88.2Khz vs 44.1/48khz as there is more damage done to the audio when resampling from 44.1 to 48khz vs upsampling to a multiple of the original content. I get it though, just my weird preference pet peeve and not really a big deal how to use the indicator light.

Lastly, Shanling offers a leather case protector accessory for the Shanling UA3 (appears to be included for a limited time from their Aliexpress store). It slips right in and still gives you easy access to the buttons and connections while offering a classy look. It can be purchased separately for $15 from the Shanling Aliexpress store or participating retailers and distributors once the promotion ends. I recommend the case if you plan on using the dongle in your pocket to protect from accidental button pushes.

CONTROLS

FINAL REMARKS

It’s nice to see AKM back in the game and to have the Shanling UA3 utilize the mobile DAC chip AKM4493SEQ to bring us dongle users a warmer and smooth sounding portable DAC/amp. It’s a great option for those looking for a DAC dongle that combines single and balanced output options into a single device that is powerful enough to drive even the Sennheiser HD6XX to a legitimate listening level, but is still better suited for 150-200 ohm or less headphones.

Contact us!

DISCLAIMER

Get it from the Shanling Store on Aliexpress or amazon.

Our generic standard disclaimer.

About my measurements.

The post Shanling UA3 Portable DAC/Amp Review – Triumphant Return of AKM appeared first on Music For The Masses.

As I will try to outline, from multiple standpoints GO Bar fully partakes into iFi’s overall general product philosophy both in terms of components and general application. It promises outstanding results, and surely comes with a price tag (€ 329 in EU) positioning it at the top market level. It can as always be purchased directly from iFi, on their Amazon space, or from one of their distributors around the world.

At-a-glance Card

Features and description

Externals

GO Bar’s housing shape recalls that of their Nano / Micro iDSD line – just many times smaller. Within the “dongle” category, GO Bar falls more or less midway in terms of dimensions and weight: 65x22x13mm and most of all 28.5g are not certainly huge yet not entirely disregardable either when I have GO Bar connected to my transport. It’s more than twice the size and weight than an E1DA 9038S, yet much smaller and lighter compared to a Groove.

On one small ends we find two phone outs, on the opposite end a USB-C connector. On one of the long sides there are two + and – buttons, another multifunction button, and a microswitch dedicated to IEMatch.

Finally, on the bottom face there’s a raw of 9 little holes corresponding to as many LEDs, with engravings already hinting about those being dedicated to signaling which PCM sample rate is being played, or if DSD is being received, whether MQA is being detected and finally wheter XSpace and/or XBass+ are activated.

GO Bar is supplied in a small size carton box with adequate internal protections. The bundle is quite generous insofar as it includes a USBC-USBC short cable, a Lightning-USBC cable, a USBC-USBA adapter and a black leather pouch with enough room for the GO Bar itself plus at least one of such cables.

Internals

iFi traditionally offers quite some macroscopical information about the contents of their devices, but scarce or no fine details about them.

USB communication is taken care by a XMOS 16bit chip, which I would call an obviously good – for quality – and at the same time brave choice – when I think to the power that element alone requires to operate.

Unlike many other iFi DAC devices, “traditionally” equipped with Burr-Brown DAC chips, GO Bar is built around a 32bit Cirrus Logic DAC chip. The rest of the components are coming from the usual manufacturers normally enlisted by iFi: Murata and TDK capacitors, and Texas Instruments power supplies. I won’t go too much down through this as, in lack of better specifications coming from the manufacturers, I find this information to be useful essentially at the marketing level only.

Input

GO Bar offers a single input, being the USB-C port which is therefore supposed to carry in both digital data and power.

The range of accepted digital resolutions is nothing short of extended:

• PCM up to 32bit / 384MHz (ASIO drivers required on Windows to exceed 24bit / 192KHz)
• DSD direct up to 256 (DSD-direct requires ASIO drivers on Windows)

GO Bar is also an MQA full decoder. That means that it can both unfold non-authenticated MQA tracks, and (automatically) pre-authenticate with the MQA provider to guaranteer even higher quality and especially fidelity vs the digital content distributed by the publisher.

On the housing’s bottom face there’s a generous stripe of LEDs flanked by engraved markings.

One of the topmost 6 LEDs of the stripe will light up in white to indicate which digital resolution is being received by GO Bar: 44/48, 88/96, 172/192, 352/384, DSD64/128 or DSD256.

The 7th LED will light up of different colours depending on the situation:

• when an MQA stream is being received : green for MQA, blue for MQA Studio and magenta for “MQB” (Original Sample Rate).
• when a PCM stream is being received: cyan for BP filter, white for GTO, red for STD, yellow for MIN and off in case of DSD stream. (Read more down below about filters).

Output

GO Bar offers 2 distinct phone out ports: a 4.4mm Balanced and a 3.5mm Single Ended one.

iFi’s web site is quite stingy on information about GO Bar’s output power so I asked them directly. Here’s two tables giving a much more complete picture of the situation:

Balanced output

Single ended output

So it’s quite clear that GO Bar offers very nice output power on high impedance loads, while it is severely limited in terms of current delivery which turns into not particularly enticing figures from 16Ω down.

Don’t take me wrong here: GO Bar is still more powerful on low impedance loads, and delivers more current on medium impedance loads than many other “dongles” out there. However, GO Bar’s marketing tag line (“World’s most powerful headphone amp of its size”) is, simply, not true when taken in the absolute terms used by its very wordage.

Looking at the figures, it comes out that the device has a hard max current cap around 130mA which it reaches on a 32Ω (or thereabout) load, and to stay at safe distance from that it’s tuned such that drawn current is progressively reduced as load impedance goes down.

Running some simple math it’s also quite clear that GO Bar issues its max power on Balanced Ended output vs circa 55Ω impedance, that being a bit less than 1W, and from there on down it rapidly starts winding down both voltage and current flow.

Neither of the two output connections is configurable as a pure Line Out.

Output impedance on both BE and SE ports are declared to be equal, both < 1Ω. A nicely low value, although not a superlow one.

I also find it interesting to note that SNR and THD+N promised values on BE and SE ports are dramatically different. On BE port iFi declares 132dB(A) SNR and <0.002% THD+N. The former value in particular is really outstanding.

On the SE port they instead declare SNR at 108dB(A) and <0.09% THD+N which I would both call “unimpressive” to be generous. And match unenticing subjective audition experience (more below).

Lastly, the 3.5mm phone out on GO Bar offers iFi’s proprietary “S-Balanced” connectivity – which is a sort of superset of the usual 3.5mm Single Ended standards, offering some more cleanness, and full backwards compatibility to all existing 3.5mm terminated drivers.

If we except the case of fixed-cables earphones carrying TRRS 3.5mm plugs from factory (I don’t personally know of one), exploiting GO Bar’s 3.5 TRRS option would require swapping cables, and as such pretty much anybody at that point would swap onto a 2.5mm or 4.4mm terminated one, and exploit the full-blown Balanced port (the 4.4mm one) on the GO Bar.

So in the case of GO Bar – much the same as in the case of Micro iDSD Signature or GO Blu – I guess that the practical value of the S-Balanced technology applied behind the 3.5mm port is limited to the xtalk improvement – which is nevertheless nothing to bin.

Host power requirements

I didn’t analythically measure GO Bar’s power requirements, yet there are quite a few things that can be said based on iFi’s published data, and subjective experience.

First: iFi declares a (maximum) host power draw of 4W. That’s huge. It corresponds to 800mA which is far beyoned USB 2.0 limits.

That’s a maximum absorbtion figure – GO Bar will work on usual smartphones and tablets, and even on iPhones, but if the host (the smartphone, the tablet, or the PC) is not capable of delivering up to 800mA current / 4W power then GO Bar’s effective powering capabilities will be limited by the host’s cap. Or oppositely stated: to get the full power “promised” by its specs, GO Bar must be hooked onto a USB3-capable host, or a smartphone compliant with USB PowerDelivery standard.

Second: GO Bar does drain the smartphone’s battery quite fast, even when not “pumped to the max” power by the way.

As my FifteenReaders^tm know, the above is no big concern to me as I don’t use my general purpose smartphone as a transport, rather a separate dedicated device, paired to a dedicated small powerbank and wired with an appropriate custom cable. Nevertheless my personal use case is quite evidently not so common, so the average user looking into adopting GO Bar as a classic “dongle” to be paired to his main phone while commuting should keep its power absorbtion needs in due count.

Volume and gain control

GO Bar offers the user both the option to control volume by pressing the + and – buttons on its housing, and software syncing with the host’s OS.

When changing volume via +/- buttons the LEDs on GO Bar’s bottom faceplate briefly light up to give a visual representation of the volume level.

Host Volume Syncing is supposed to make such that when moving the system volume slider on the host (the machine onto which GO Bar is connected, be it on Windows, MacOS, Android…) then GO Bar’s internal volume changes, and viceversa changing Go Bar’s volume by pushing the +/- buttons will change the host’s volume.

Host Volume Sync is off by default. To turn it on one needs to keep the multifunction button pressed >5 seconds. The switch on is confirmed by an animation played on the upper 6 LEDs on the bottom faceplate. Same procedure to turn it off : keep button pressed >5 seconds, and a (different) animation gets played on the LEDs to confirm.

For my direct experience, Host Volume Sync works as intended on my Android devices, and on my proprietary-Linux small transport, the Tempotec V1. It works “erratically” on my Windows 10 laptop. It does not work at all on any of my different-distro Linux boxes.

After inquiring with iFi’s tech support I got no fix for the Windows problems, and I got confirmed that Linux is indeed not supported “by design”. This is bad, as this de facto prevents GO Bar to be used in pretty much any Linux Client-Server configuration e.g. in a Roon, or LMS, or similar infrastructure, unless by slamming its volume to 100% via its HW buttons, and then actionate on host’s Digital Volume which is of course far from ideal in terms of output quality.

GO Bar also has a +6dB High Gain mode. Unlike what happens e.g. on the GO Blu where gain selection follows an automatic system, on GO Bar it’s the user who has to manually set the device on High or Low Gain mode.

To toggle Gain H / L one needs to push both + and – volume buttons at the same time for >2 seconds. Similarly to the Host Volume Sync case, the “usual” uppermost 6 LEDs on the device’s bottom faceplate will play an animation to indicate the action has been carried out.

Other features

MQA Full Decoding

I won’t spend a word on what MQA itself is, of course. Google around if you wish and you’ll be overflooded with info.

What matters here is: GO Bar is a “MQA Full Decoder”. This means that GO Bar not only can (like any “MQA Renderer”) fully unfold MQA tracks on its own hardware, but that it can also:

• Authenticate the provenance of MQA tracks.
• Authenticate the Original Bit Rate of the MQA tracks.

Ifi GO Bar, Gryphon, HipDac-2 are all Full Decoder devices. Ifi HipDac, Micro iDSD Signature, Nano iDSD Black Label are Renderers.

Between parentheses: HipDac and HipDac-2 being virtually identical in terms of sound capabilities, power, etc, with the sole major difference represented by their different MQA capabilities, offered me the interesting opportunity to check the differences on a quite similar if not virtually identical situation and I could tell a quite obvious SQ improvement when listening to a few particular tracks just Rendered (HipDac) or Full Decoded (HipDac-2).

That said, I don’t personally care about MQA, nor about any of the existing digital distribution catalogues for that matter, due to the fundamental lack of good editions of the music I prefer on there.

XBass+ and XSpace

“XBass+” behaves like what an EQ expert would call a low shelf positive filter. By ear I would say it pushes lows up by 2dB-ish from 100Hz down.

“XSpace” is a “crossfeed filter”, i.e. a function that puts “some” of the right channel output into the left one and viceversa, simulating on headphones what happens when listening to loudspeakers. Within its limits (it’s not parametric, configurable etc – just a mere on/off) and situationality (effects are totally evident on some tracks, minimal on others) the trick is really nice, and I use it quite often.

My main application for XSpace are those original jazz masters from the 60ies where mixing tended to be executed by hard panning each instrument on a single channel only: crossfeed is almost magical in those cases.

Both features are according to iFi’s documentation entirely implemented in the analog domain. No DSPs are involved which promises the minimal impact on sound quality.

To turn either or both features ON or OFF all is needed is short pressing the Multifunction button on GO Bar in sequence. The two bottom LEDs on the stripe on GO Bar’s bottom faceplate will light up or down accordingly.

Alternative reconstruction filters

Reconstruction filters are an extremely technical topic and some fundamental knowledge needs to be acquired to even start to understand what the heck are they about.

If you are technically inclined a good starting point for your homework about what are Reconstruction Filters is actually this Wikipedia page.

If you alternatively would love a more vulgarised approach, there’s my article about this (or many others on the web).

Assuming you are at least somewhat familiar with these concepts, let me say that GO Bar offers the user 4 options :

• BP (“Bit Perfect”) – this actually corresponds to not applying any digital filtering. No pre nor post ringing is involved (of course).
• STD (“Standard”) – a modestly fast filter with modest pre and post ringing
• MIN (“Minimum Phase”) – a slow minimum phase filter, with minimum pre and post ringing
• GTO (“Gibbs-transient optimised”) – iFi’s proprietary filter, very fast, with no pre ringing and little post ringing. When GTO filter is applied all digital input is automatically up sampled to 352 or 384KHz prior to decoding c/o GO Bar’s internal hw.

To set the preferred filter, hold the Multifunction button down >3 seconds. The MQA LED on GO Bar’s backplate will start flashing of a specific colour. Short pressing the Multifunction botton once will cycle through the 4 possible filters, and the LED will start flashing of a different colour. Long pressing the Multifunction button again >3 sec will “set” the filter and keep it selected until the procedure is done again.

LED color codes are as follows:

• Cyan – BP filter
• Red – STD filter
• Yellow – MIN filter
• White – GTO filter

The first 3 options really sound like 3 of the 5 standard options made available on stock Cirrus CS43131 chips (full spec sheet here)

The “BP” option (Cirrus’ “NOS” filter) – will of course avoid the slightest risk of introducing any ringing, at the cost, however, of leaving artifacts all there where they are. Conceptually not recommended for redbook (44.1/48KHz) tracks, becomes a viable alternative to assess for highres (>96KHz++) tracks. But that’s theory if you ask me: you *do* want to cut the high frequency crap out. Always. I am not using this option myself.

The “MIN” option is a minimum phase, slow filter. More recommended on high(er) res tracks than Redbook ones, it introduces very modest pre and post ringing.

The “STD” option is a step in the direction of a faster filter. More recommended on Redbook tracks, although not really “vertical” as other fast filters are. Ringing is a tad more important then MIN’s one.

Finally, “GTO” is ifi’s proprietary filter called “Gibbs-Transient Optimised. It’s a very fast, minimum phase filter. I strongly recommend you read iFi’s whitepaper about why and how this may be technically desireable, or not.

As mentioned above, selecting the GTO filter also adds a pre-reconstruction systematic up-sampling passage, executed by GO Bar’s internal hardware. All incoming PCM tracks get up sampled to GO Bar’s maximum sample rate of 384KHz (if the original track’s sample rate is 48, 96, or 192Khz) or 352.8 KHz (if the original track’s sample rate is 44.1, 88.2 or 176.4KHz).

In general on higher resolution tracks one tends to prefer slower filters as those don’t risk to cut out on treble air nor spatial cues, their slowness not being a problem thanks to the higher sampling rate. iFi’s GTO filter is a special implementation offering super-fast operation, zero pre ringing and minimal post ringing. This, in addition to the up sampling conducted on the incoming stream, results in very sharp transients and “sculpted” notes. Which – as everything in audio – will then be subject to personal preference!

For my personal experience with iFi devices, and for my tastes, I found the GTO filter viable on all iFi models I tried it onto, including GO Bar, with the sole exception of Micro iDSD Signature, where I found it “excessive”. You may want to read my take about that case here.

IEMatch

For a through description of what IEMatch is, there’s my article which I recommend you to read if you are unfamiliar with the concept or I guarantee you won’t understand what follows.

Much like it happens on many other iFi’s models, GO Bar carries built-in IEMatch circuitry. The implementation does not exactly follow the same specs as the standalone IEMatch devices though.

Firstly, next to the IEMatch switch on GO Bar we don’t find the usual “Ultra” / “High” engravings, but rather “3.5” and “4.4”. The GO Bar manual quite smokily says that “iEMatch reduces the output level, so that even the most sensitive In-Ear-Monitors (IEMs) can be matched to the GO bar”. Which is only a part of what a full-blown IEMatch does. And does not offer precise figures in terms of attenuations nor output impedances to help the user anticipate what he will get by plugging IEMs of specific impedance or sensitivity.

Long story short, I asked iFi’s tech support and they provided me with the following table:

In spite of my repeated requests, iFi didn’t supply me with the other relevant information which is the Input impedance value on all those cases. Or at least they didn’t yet at the time of this article’s publishing. Looking at the figures, and comparing them with those of the standalone IEMatch models, I can only “guess” that input impedances might be in the ballpark of those featured by IEMatch 4.4, so around 40-50Ω.

Such “guess” is also corroborated looking at the Single Ended output figures: there, the lower output impedance option does not feature a much higher attenuation as it usually is the case on IEMatch devices, but rather a slightly lower one, with a phase flip involved.

After taking their sweet time, IFI did provide the missing bit of information in the end: the internal IEMatch module features the following internal upstream impedances (the impedance “seen” by the amplifier module when the relevant IEMatch setting is on).

Sadly, these figures mean that GO Bar may result not too powerful especially when switched onto its 4.4/4.4 IEMatch output combination, considering the -12.5dB attenuation involved.

Lastly, Going back to GO Bar manual’s recommendation to use the IEMatch switch to attenuate output in order to cope with extrasensitive drivers, looking at the figures it’s quite clear that the rec stands as stated only when the drivers also carry a not very low impedance (ideally, no lower than 30-ish ohm). Low or very low Z drivers (Dunu ZEN, Oriveti OH500…) will show some midbass bump due to reduced dampening, which shall have to be compensated by EQing – or just avoided by plugging a “regular” IEMAtch-2.5 onto GO Bar’s balanced output (via a 2.5-4.4 adapter of course).

Firmware

Like for most if not really all iFi devices, for GO Bar too iFi makes firmware package availables for the user to download and easily apply.

At the current time there’s only one package available, version 1.7 (in two sub-versions with just a minimal, almost “aesthetic” difference). I do recommend checking that is the version installed on the device when you get it, as the previous one (v1.48) which was installed on my review sample when I got it was quite buggy.

I won’t be surprised if iFi will make more alternative fw packages available going forward, e.g. offering different filtering options as it happens on other iFi models.

Package

GO Bar comes in a small box but with the right bundle accessories, and premium quality ones at that too.

Cables include:

• USBC-USBC 10cm cable
• USBC-Lightning 10cm cable
• USBC-USBA passthrough adapter

Cable quality is apparently top notch.

Same can be said of the black leather travel case, offering enough space for the GO Bar device itself and one or actually both of its USB cables.

Sound and power

GO Bar sounds well, and I should actually remark “very well” indeed, from its balanced output port.

As for voicing GO Bar definitely marks a diversion from that warm and midbass-accented iFi’s “house sound” typical of many other models e.g. Hip Dac, Nano iDSD BL, etc. 

GO Bar is much closer to neutrality (although still somewhat into warm-ish territory). Its sound is well bilaterally extended, with very good note body accross the board, good clarity and good detail, with very good but not over-accented bass presence and a good treble rendering.

About trebles it should definitely be noted that GO Bar delivers unoffensive high notes, and a nice, unfatiguing and nicely musical experience on one hand, while staying south of some competitor’s last mile in terms of treble energy and detail retrieval on the other. Pick your poison I guess, and as for all compromises appreciation for iFi’s choices on this will strongly depend on users’ preferences.

From the power delivery standapoint GO Bar is definitely a musclar device, although some notes are in order on this respect.

Regarding voltage swing into very high impedance drivers (600Ω) GO Bar easily promises (and delivers) the highest figure on the “dongles” market today, a whopping 7,2V.  That’s significantly higher even compared to Apogee Groove’s 5V on 600Ω. Ifi does not declare (and I couldn’t measure) the swing on 300Ω (Groove’s stays just a bit below 5V there).

Truth be told, as most if not all high impedance cans are equipped with dynamic drivers, I’m not sure to understand what the purpose of a 7V+ swing really is (“stunning” spec sheet figure apart, I mean…).

GO Bar delivers circa 1W onto a 55Ω load (always talking about the Balanced Ended output), which is definitely a huge lot for a dongle, and why it drives the likes of Shure SRH1540 wonderfully well, and SRH1840 near perfectly, too.

It delivers circa half Watt into a 32Ω driver, which is really a lot in a sense, indeed overkill for most DD, BA or other technology IEMS out there, yet (!…) not enough for higher demanding planars, which require even more current and/or they require it at lower load impedance values.

Going further down with load impedance GO Bar’s power drops rapidly (as noted above the device has a sort of hard cap on output current at approx 115mA), thus delivering “only” circa 200mW on 14Ω and circa 140mW on 10Ω. Again, such figures are higher than those on most of the direct competition, yet not quite at dongle market’s top (E1DA’s 9038SG3 delivers something similar to 600mW onto 10ohm…).

Consistently to this, GO Bar drives the likes of Final A3000, Tanchjim Darling, and even Final E5000 waaaay better then most other dongles, but does not have enough power for RHA CL2, nor of course any demanding planar overear.

As I repeatedly mentioned, all the above refers to GO Bar’s Balanced Ended output. The Single Ended output is not at the same level, neither in terms of output power nor – most of all – in terms of sound quality. Even on easy to drive loads GO Bar Single Ended Out is perceivably duller, much scarcer in microdynamics and more closed-in on space reconstruction.

Simply put, if you ask me GO Bar’s Single Ended output is to be disregarded, in favour of its Balanced Ended sibling.

Comparisons

Cayin RU6 ($250)

GO Bar is by far better than RU6 on pretty much every single count, although this is much more due to RU6 being an overall disappointing device to be honest – which makes the comparison meaningful only due to RU6’s ungrounded hype than anything else really.

Won’t spend more time on this for now, stay tuned if you wish for my piece about RU6, due Soon^tm.

E1DA 9038SG3 (€126)

The first big difference that pops to the eyes comparing GO Bar with 9038SG3 is the price of course: GO Bar is almost 3 times as much.

Another thing is power. GO Bar is more powerful on high and medium impedance loads, 9038SG3 wins big on loads from 20Ω down. In more practical words, GO Bar’s edge on mid/high impedance drivers proves useless (9038SG3’s power is enough for most drivers, and for those where it is not, GO Bar’s higher power is not enough either), while 9038SG3’s higher power on low and superlow impedance drivers allows translates in E1DA’s dongle being much more agile in driving certain “difficult” IEMs then GO Bar is.

Probably due to its performances on higher impedances, or to lesser efficiency, or both, GO Bar, unlike 9038SG3 or 9038D, is a power w**re (it absorbs up to 4W while working, which is 800mA – so it is not USB2 compliant and by far so). Oppositely, 9038SG3 is modest in terms of power needs vs its output power capabilities, and fully USB2 compliant.

GO Bar misses the harmonic compensation and masterclock customisation infrastructure available on 9038SG3, and that’s not small stuff, and offers only 4 different FIR filters to choose from instead of 7. On the flip side GO Bar literally covers the user with features one nicer and/or sexyer than the other, all of which are totally missing on 9038SG3: XBass and XSpace analog-domain effects, selectable low/high gain, integrated IEMatch, high quality integrated power filtering, and (for Tidal’s aficionados) MQA full decoding.

Sound quality wise 9038SG3 out of the box is definitely cleaner and comes across as more analythical and more energetic compared to GO Bar, which sounds more musical and more relaxing. Actionating upon its multiple tweaks 9038SG3 can be made “sweeter/smoother” though.

In the end GO Bar does give more than 9038SG3 especially in terms of overall features package in return for that much higher purchase price and much higher host power need. On the flip side 9038SG3 can power some IEM drivers which GO Bar can’t trigger well enough.

Apogee Groove ($220)

As extensively reported on my piece about it, Apogee Groove is an oddball. A badass of an oddball if you wish, but still an uncommon device, with the pros and cons one may after all expect from oddity.

Groove’s output stage is based on proprietary technology and does not support crossover filters or similar circuitry, and all too often it also powers Balanced Architecture drivers (even single-driver models) very quirkily. To cut it short, Groove is mainly if not solely intended for Dynamic Drivers, which is of course an apriori fact to seriously consider when looking instead for a “universal application” DAC/AMP dongle.

Groove swings 5V into 600Ω impedance cans which is a lot. It is indeed way short of GO Bar’s huge 7,2V although it’s worth noting that per se there’s little need for those extra 2V when driving high impedance dynamic divers.

On the opposite end Groove is less powerful than GO Bar onto 32Ω loads, but its current cap is a bit higher than GO Bar’s so it ends up delivering more power vs very low impedances like 14Ω or even 10Ω. As a consequence, GO Bar is (power wise) more agile than Groove when paired to the likes of Shure SRH1840, but the coin flips when considering Final E5000.

Groove is quite demanding in terms of host power (340mA, circa 1.5W) but with that it still stays well within USB2 compliance limits, unlike GO Bar which requires almost 3 times as much at full power levels. Beyond these differences, at the end of the day for both sticking an external powerbank onto one’s own preferred transport, and using a suitable single-leg-powered Y-USB cable is the right way to go.

Power profiles aside, Groove and GO Bar are quite different in terms of sound presentation.

Groove is way superior in terms of micro-dynamics and even more so in terms of spatial drawing: I hardly can name a single mobile DAC device better than Groove on this. GO Bar is less colored and may deliver some more subtlety in terms of sheer detail retrieval. Groove is no doubt “more musical”, GO Bar is “more neutral” (just in comparison to Groove – it’s not a “dry neutral” device taken per se).

Lastly, GO Bar’s additional features (selectable reconstruction filters, high gain option, MQA decoding, Xbass, Xspace) are totally alien to Groove.

Conclusions

In terms of their product line, GO Bar covers an evident lack in iFi Audio’s range which never offered a battery-less device before. Now they do and quite expectably their first attempt is definitely a hit.

GO Bar is a very good device. It’s in facts very powerful. While nitpickingly maybe not the single most powerful dongle around (yet still one of the top… three?) I can hardly name a direct competitor offering half of the extra features GO Bar makes readily available under the users’ fingeritps.

GO Bar is superbly design, solid, and – last in the list, but of course first for importance – sounds very well.

At the end of the day I guess its single relevant downside is the price – which is not low at all. A few other downsides are also there, but none of those seriously shadows its positives.

Our generic standard disclaimer.

The post iFi GO Bar Review (1) – Feature Packed appeared first on Music For The Masses.

Pros — Rich, mature, refined sound; decent screen; dedicated line outs for balanced and single-ended; drives full-sized cans easily; huge 4500 mAh battery; great haptic; complete accessories; excellent value.

Cons — Does not pair well with with fringe iems (“current hogs”); only 16 GB onboard storage and a single SD card slot; volume knob a bit flimsy; computer performance mediocre.

Introduction

Tempotec has been delighting us with budget dongles in the past. The $40 TempoTec HD Pro may have stuck out as the best accessorized budget DAC/amp with all cables included (including Lightning cable for Apple devices). We also analyzed their BHD and Sonata HD II/Sonata E35 budget models.

The $279 (early bird; MRSP $399) TempoTec Variations V6 DSD512 Android HIFI Music Player is the company’s first mid-price digital analog player “dap”, and it is surprisingly way above the company’s usual budget realm. This raises the question whether the TempoTec can design a mature mid-tier player without the usual toothing issues.

What we don’t want to hear is reviewers saying “it is a good first effort, I am looking forward to the follow-up”…which would mean: stay away, save your $$$, and wait for something better.

Fortunately, this is not the case. The V6 is good, very good to be concise…and certainly good enough for me.

Specifications TempoTec V6

Physicals and Features

I am not known for my love of window dressing but the TempoTec V6 is presented impressively. In the box are:

1 x TempoTec V6 Digital Audio Player
1 x USB Type A to USB Type-C Cable
1 x Leather Case
1 x Screen Protectors
1 x Paperwork (Warranty card, Quick Start Guide, Manual, etc.)

A second screen protector is already (flawlessly) installed. Take this, Apple! The quality leather case is thick and robust, but a cut out above the microSD card slot would have been handy.

The player feels substantial in my hand. Great haptic, just like a much more expensive device. The button mechanisms are solid, just the combined on/off and volume knob has a bit of play owing to its spring mechanism.

Functionality and Operation

What it does

• plays music through single-ended and balanced headphone circuits
• has dedicated line outs for both single-ended and balanced circuits
• works as wired DAC with computer and cellphones
• features bi-directional Bluetooth 5.0
• accepts one micro SD card up to 2 TB
• offers unique sound adjustments through “MSEB”
• supports 3rd party apps

What it does not

• 16 GB onboard storage is small
• has no 2nd microSD card slot

Hardware

The TempoTec Variations V6 DSD512 Android HIFI Music Player is essentially a phone without sim card, microphone, and loudspeaker, but with an audio component on steroids. The company scaled the computer part back in order to keep cost down. It features a basic Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 CPU and a 4.2″ 720 dpi screen.

The CPU is more than good enough for playing music, but not for playing games. The screen is fine for its intended use, too. It has a slightly warm tinge and is easy on the eye. The V6 features an accurate digital clock for removing phase noise in order to optimize sound quality.

In terms of DAC chips, the V6 sports two AK4493SEQ (no, the chips do not tell us anything about the sound, despite what the echo chamber in the blogosphere claims). The sound is produced by the DAC’s output stage and the amplifier.

TempoTec were initially not happy with the bass response and raised mid bass – which produces a slight bass boost and deviated the sound from neutral to mildly warm, still with good transparency.

The two dedicated line outs, one for balanced and the other for single-ended are a great feature that is usually reserved for expensive daps. I could handily connect the V6 to my desktop amp.

Software (Android 8.1; HiBy 3.0…)

Since the TempoTec V6 is essentially a small computer hosting the Android operating system, it can run (almost) any app from the Google Play store (and other sources). Due to the limitation imposed by the HiBy 3.0 player, the V6 runs 5-year old Android 8.1, whereas the current version is 12.

This could cause compatibility issues with some current apps, which is a problem for essentially ALL digital analog players – including the expensive ones. Another common problem is the lack of compatibility between Android and Apple. Mac users like me struggle with data transfer.

Bi-directional Bluetooth 5.0 is up to speed. As an internet device, the V6 was a bit slow on my mesh network (50 mbps download speed out of 150 possible on the 5 GHz band, Kazi reports 100/100 mbps on his single router; it also works at 50 mbps in the 2.4 GHz band) but this would be still more than adequate for streaming.

The HiBy 3.0 app is one of the standards across the board. Unique to HiBy is the MSEB, which stands for “Mage Sound 8-ball”. It is a parametric, very intuitive EQ. The OS also includes a standard EQ. Other remarkable features of the HiBy OS are low/high gain selection, crossfade, and antialiasing in the play settings.

Battery Performance

The TempoTec V6 hosts a 4500 mAh battery, bigger than in most phones. Interpreting battery drain is difficult as it depends on many factors additional to music playing, such as gain (high/low), equalizer use, volume, screen use, internet, Bluetooth, volume etc. After 12 hrs of continuous play with the 16 ohm/105 dB sensitivity Sonorous III headphone (low gain, with internet and Bluetooth switched off) at medium volume, there was 12% of battery capacity left.

I then charged it – and forgot – when checking after 4 hours the device was fully charged. After being switched off for almost a week, the charge was still at 98%.

Sound

The TempoTec’s sound can be characterized as slightly coloured, triggered by its somewhat boosted mid bass and its rather smooth, mellow/polite attack – which results in an analogish sonic perception with a timbre as close to natural as it gets.

Its balanced circuit delivers a big stage with a rather large headroom and an astonishing spatial reconstruction. The signature is very forgiving to aggressive recordings. I found the mature and balanced, well-dosed sound impressive from the first minute independent of pricing. It shows that TempoTec have obviously invested in their tuning.

The mid bass has more body than, let’s say, the discontinued $950 Questyle QP1R, but the V6 does not have that crisp leading edge. The V6’s notes are better rounded in comparison, the QP1R’s notes are better defined. The Questyle also offers more microdetail and better microdynamics.

In turn, the TempoTec V6 beats the QP1R in terms of staging and imaging. Which player is better is difficult to say as both are different beasts. Compared to cheaper alternatives, the V6 plays a league above my beloved $220 Sony NW-A55 and $180 Hidisz AP80 Pro-X in terms of refined presentation.

Where the V6 has problems is with “marginal” iems, such as current-hungry Final E5000, which results in a rather uncontrolled, muddy bass performance. Testing the TempoTec’s 4.4 mm balanced circuit with the 300 ohm Sennheiser HD 600 yielded great results. Swapping the HD 600 between V6 and MacBook Air/Fidelia player with Questyle M15 (balanced, high gain) came very close, sound wise.

Comparing the V6’s and QP1R’s DACs using the Burson Funk as amplification reveals the V6’s limits. The Questyle sounds more articulate with sharper notes, the V6 plays richer but not as detailed…though still pretty good.

In summary, the TempoTec V6 sounds enjoyable to my ears and we may have to pay a lot more to top it.

Concluding Remarks

The TempoTec V6 is a mature and impressive product. It is a fully fledged Android (internet) device, essentially a phone without sim card, speaker, and microphone. It may have a somewhat basic computer performance (to keep cost down), but it sounds very good, has impressive audio features (including dedicated line outs), and comes with complete accessories (e.g. quality leather case, installed screen protector).

At its very modest price, the TempoTec V6 is in its own class and will sell like hotcakes.

Until next time…keep on listening!

Contact us!

Disclaimer

The Tempotec V6 was provided unsolicited by the company – and I thank them for that. You can buy it from Kickstarter.com. This is not an affiliate link.

Our generic standard disclaimer.

You find an INDEX of our most relevant technical articles HERE.

The post TempoTec V6 Review (1) – Good, Better, V6! appeared first on Music For The Masses.