RMAA data preceding articles which rely on them is logical. Except as regards preparing articles for Headfonia, which always catch me up. Apologies. Please read this article in conjunction with and foundation today's Wayback Wednesday on Glove Audio's A1.
Read moreRMAA: HiFiman Megamini 24-bit
Relevant links:
RMAA: Onkyo DP-X1 24-bit single-ended and balanced — ohm image
RMAA: Fiio M3 24-bit
RMAA: iPhone 5 SE 24-bit
RMAA: iPhone 6 24-bit
RMAA: Fiio X3ii 24-bit
I love how Megamini sounds. I love its warm, bursting midrange. I love its texture and stereo detail. Its instrument positioning is excellent. At the best of times, it harks back to Fiio’s original X3- a player whose hellish UI left dents in my walls, but whose pleasing sound was then and still is a bookmark in what I consider perfect warmth. Unfortunately, Megamini hisses way more than the X3 ever did, and more in fact, than any player I’ve tested in about two years. In fact, its hiss is on par with an iPod video from 2005.
Read moreRMAA: Onkyo DP-S1 rubato 24-bit
Relevant links:
RMAA: Onkyo DP-X1 24-bit single-ended and balanced — ohm image
RMAA: Pioneer XDP-100R 24-bit — ohm image
RMAA: Astell&Kern AK70 24-bit — ohm image
RMAA: Astell & Kern AK70 Kai (Ryuzoh mod) 24-bit — ohm image
This thing sounds good. Real good. It really fits in a front pocket. I has a real hold switch. And a damn fine balanced output. That it costs just ~350$ in Japan and another Benjamin abroad is shocking.
Read moreRMAA: nextDrive Spectra 24-bit
129$. 32-bit 384kHz. DSD up to 11,2MHz. All thanks to a plug and play ESS 9018Q2C DAC, or what a smarter man than me hooted and hollered as high quality audio for the masses.
Read moreRMAA: Astell & Kern AK70 Kai (Ryuzoh mod) 24-bit
I consider myself something of a skeptic. Not a real skeptic. I let narratives carry me away far too often, and question things I’m down with far too seldom. But I try to make it a point to distain the belief in listening and believing. For audio stuff: that test has to be hardware, standardised, volume-matched, and snarky.
Read moreRMAA: iPhone SE 24-bit
RMAA: Vorzüge DUO II 24-bit
Until this moment, until 2017 January 12 around 9PM, want to know what my most recommended portable battery-powered headphone amplifier was? I’ll tell you. It was Vorzüge’s PURE II (both versions). I can get it to eat up an overdriven Chord Mojo signal of 122dB and spit back around 120dB. At stable volumes, it measures between 118-119dB. It is an amazing amp whose load stability, signal to noise ratio, THD, IMD, and dynamic range are matched by almost no one.
Read moreRMAA: Cozoy TAKT 24-bit
RMAA: nuforce uDAC5 24-bit
The uDAC5 goes for peanuts. It is well built, nicely branded, and compact. It converts USB signals to RCA stereo and coaxial SPDIF for outboard DACs and amps. It gets plenty loud, too: posting absolute volume levels roughly in the neighbourhood of an AK380. At those levels, however, IMD, THD, and stereo crosstalk numbers ramp up beyond reason. Its loudest stable volume is about a half decibel louder than an iPhone 6’s maximum, which is enough for me. If your iPhone is behind a EU volume cap, the uDAC5's power will surprise you.
Read moreRMAA: Linear Tube Audio MZ2-S 24-bit
The Linear Tube Audio MZ2-S, which I originally mistook for the microZOTL2,0, is a brilliant in/out valve amp whose design/performance niggles are minimal. According to Linear Tube Audio, its biggest design niggles: depressed power button, and attenuator noise, have been fixed. I can neither confirm nor deny this.
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