INTRODUCTION:
I received the Soundaware M1 Pro as part of the US Review Tour:
http://www.head-fi.org/t/816896/review-tour-for-soundaware-2016m1-m1pro-femto-dual-clocks-digital-player-with-proprietary-fpga-architecture
Many thanks to Soundaware, for offering this wonderful opportunity to review their product. What follows is my honest review of the product.
HARDWARE:
The unit had a solid build with excellent finishes. UI interface itself was Ok. The responsiveness of the firmware is not great. It takes one to few seconds on certain actions to react. But the firmware itself was stable and reliable. I did not experience any crashes or hiccups or hang-ups in the matter of 2 weeks. The current theme is not great because of the color. Hopefully that and the responsiveness speed will be rectified in the upcoming FW updates. The volume and power buttons were a bit narrow and it was kind of quirky to use at times. The front buttons were fine and easy to use. But changing the layout of the D-pad to a typical circular d-pad would improve user experience further. In terms of battery, the unit lasted around 8-10 Hrs on a single charge.
POWER AND HISS:
The 2 IEMs I own, Sennheiser IE80 and Rhapsodio Galaxy have 16 Ohm impedance and are pretty sensitive at 125 dB and 112 dB respectively. The only source that these 2 IEMs don’t hiss is with my Fiio X3ii on Low Gain. On the M1 Pro these 2 IEms had a very feeble hiss, the same level I hear on the Mojo and Fiio X3ii on High Gain. The hiss level did not increase when I switched to Medium or High Gain settings on the M1 Pro. Rhapsodio Galaxy, although a sensitive IEM, loves a lot of power in the form of current to sound good. It sounds 6/10 on my iPhone/Macbook, 7/10 on the Fiio X3ii, 8.5/10 on the Chord Mojo. M1 Pro did not have any trouble driving it and so it sounded very good, so I would give it a 8.5/10.
IEMS AND FILES USED:
- Rhapsodio Galaxy and IE80
- 320 kbps MP3 and 16/44 FLACs
SOUND:
M1 Pro is tuned for listening pleasure and it does exactly that. If you are looking for Reference/Analytical DAP, you may want to look into these 2 models offered by Soundware: M1 Pro Studio or M1 Vitality. Overall M1 pro has a slightly warm and smooth sound. It derives some of its warmth from the soft note articulation. Bass and treble had nice texture and airiness respectively. They are controlled though, to help with the pleasing listening experience. Mids were lush, but slightly laid back and lacks a bit of body than what I would call neutral. Soundstage was wide and the presentation as a whole was a little laid back and airy.
Technical aspects such as imaging, separation, layering, detail retrieval are aspects that I consider it to be strengths of the M1 Pro. But the speed, transparency, resolution are not quite on the same level, which makes sense, as improving those areas would yield a more reference class sound. As a result of all this, M1 Pro is pretty forgiving. Sound quality as whole was excellent.
M1 PRO vs MOJO:
Both M1 Pro and the Mojo use FPGA technology for digital to analog conversion. But both players sound very different than they are similar. The only similarity being the warm sound, but even there, Mojo derives its warmth from the full bodied forward mids while M1 pro derives its warmth from the soft notes and controlled treble. Mojo has a narrow soundstage with an intimate presentation. M1 Pro has a wider soundstage and slightly laidback presentation. Mojo can portray depth consistently while M1 Pro can match the depth when it is in the track. M1 Pro has darker spaces between instruments. Separation, imaging and detail retrieval were pretty much the same on both the devices. But in terms of other technical aspects like the transparency, layering, resolution, Mojo had the advantage. And one area that Mojo was clearly ahead is the dynamics. Rhapsodio Galaxy can be bright and unforgiving sometimes and pairing it with M1 Pro was much more forgiving than the Mojo.
AS A DIGITAL SOURCE FOR DACs:
M1 PRO vs FIIO X3ii:
I had heard claims that M1 Pro has a very clean Digital Section which makes it a very good Digital Source/Transport for DACs and was better than some of its counterparts in that respect. I was curious to find this out myself. So I compared M1 pro and the Fiio X3ii both acting as Digital Source for my Chord Mojo. It is a pretty fair test because both the devices use co-axial to output digital signal. And I heard it. M1 Pro was indeed better than the Fiio X3ii. M1 Pro was slightly cleaner, more open and more transparent than the Fiio X3ii.
WHAT I LOVED ABOUT M1 PRO:
- Overall Sound Quality
- Detailed yet smooth sound
- Soundstage
- Build Quality
AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT:
- Wider side buttons and better front button lay out
- UI (Theme and Responsiveness)
- Mids could be a bit more forward
RECOMMENDATION AND CONCLUSION:
If you are in the market for a neutral-warm sounding player in the $750 range, I suggest you look into the M1 Pro. And if you already own a DAC that can take a coaxial input, the you have a double win. The Firmware, is not completely robust. But I heard that the company is working hard to getting it more refined with the future FW updates. If you own any energetic set of IEMs or Headphones and are looking for a source that might help tame the energy a bit, M1 Pro is a very easy recommendation. On the other hand if you have a laidback IEM/Headphone you may want to look into M1 Pro Studio or M1 Vitality versions.
I received the Soundaware M1 Pro as part of the US Review Tour:
http://www.head-fi.org/t/816896/review-tour-for-soundaware-2016m1-m1pro-femto-dual-clocks-digital-player-with-proprietary-fpga-architecture
Many thanks to Soundaware, for offering this wonderful opportunity to review their product. What follows is my honest review of the product.
HARDWARE:
The unit had a solid build with excellent finishes. UI interface itself was Ok. The responsiveness of the firmware is not great. It takes one to few seconds on certain actions to react. But the firmware itself was stable and reliable. I did not experience any crashes or hiccups or hang-ups in the matter of 2 weeks. The current theme is not great because of the color. Hopefully that and the responsiveness speed will be rectified in the upcoming FW updates. The volume and power buttons were a bit narrow and it was kind of quirky to use at times. The front buttons were fine and easy to use. But changing the layout of the D-pad to a typical circular d-pad would improve user experience further. In terms of battery, the unit lasted around 8-10 Hrs on a single charge.
POWER AND HISS:
The 2 IEMs I own, Sennheiser IE80 and Rhapsodio Galaxy have 16 Ohm impedance and are pretty sensitive at 125 dB and 112 dB respectively. The only source that these 2 IEMs don’t hiss is with my Fiio X3ii on Low Gain. On the M1 Pro these 2 IEms had a very feeble hiss, the same level I hear on the Mojo and Fiio X3ii on High Gain. The hiss level did not increase when I switched to Medium or High Gain settings on the M1 Pro. Rhapsodio Galaxy, although a sensitive IEM, loves a lot of power in the form of current to sound good. It sounds 6/10 on my iPhone/Macbook, 7/10 on the Fiio X3ii, 8.5/10 on the Chord Mojo. M1 Pro did not have any trouble driving it and so it sounded very good, so I would give it a 8.5/10.
IEMS AND FILES USED:
- Rhapsodio Galaxy and IE80
- 320 kbps MP3 and 16/44 FLACs
SOUND:
M1 Pro is tuned for listening pleasure and it does exactly that. If you are looking for Reference/Analytical DAP, you may want to look into these 2 models offered by Soundware: M1 Pro Studio or M1 Vitality. Overall M1 pro has a slightly warm and smooth sound. It derives some of its warmth from the soft note articulation. Bass and treble had nice texture and airiness respectively. They are controlled though, to help with the pleasing listening experience. Mids were lush, but slightly laid back and lacks a bit of body than what I would call neutral. Soundstage was wide and the presentation as a whole was a little laid back and airy.
Technical aspects such as imaging, separation, layering, detail retrieval are aspects that I consider it to be strengths of the M1 Pro. But the speed, transparency, resolution are not quite on the same level, which makes sense, as improving those areas would yield a more reference class sound. As a result of all this, M1 Pro is pretty forgiving. Sound quality as whole was excellent.
M1 PRO vs MOJO:
Both M1 Pro and the Mojo use FPGA technology for digital to analog conversion. But both players sound very different than they are similar. The only similarity being the warm sound, but even there, Mojo derives its warmth from the full bodied forward mids while M1 pro derives its warmth from the soft notes and controlled treble. Mojo has a narrow soundstage with an intimate presentation. M1 Pro has a wider soundstage and slightly laidback presentation. Mojo can portray depth consistently while M1 Pro can match the depth when it is in the track. M1 Pro has darker spaces between instruments. Separation, imaging and detail retrieval were pretty much the same on both the devices. But in terms of other technical aspects like the transparency, layering, resolution, Mojo had the advantage. And one area that Mojo was clearly ahead is the dynamics. Rhapsodio Galaxy can be bright and unforgiving sometimes and pairing it with M1 Pro was much more forgiving than the Mojo.
AS A DIGITAL SOURCE FOR DACs:
M1 PRO vs FIIO X3ii:
I had heard claims that M1 Pro has a very clean Digital Section which makes it a very good Digital Source/Transport for DACs and was better than some of its counterparts in that respect. I was curious to find this out myself. So I compared M1 pro and the Fiio X3ii both acting as Digital Source for my Chord Mojo. It is a pretty fair test because both the devices use co-axial to output digital signal. And I heard it. M1 Pro was indeed better than the Fiio X3ii. M1 Pro was slightly cleaner, more open and more transparent than the Fiio X3ii.
WHAT I LOVED ABOUT M1 PRO:
- Overall Sound Quality
- Detailed yet smooth sound
- Soundstage
- Build Quality
AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT:
- Wider side buttons and better front button lay out
- UI (Theme and Responsiveness)
- Mids could be a bit more forward
RECOMMENDATION AND CONCLUSION:
If you are in the market for a neutral-warm sounding player in the $750 range, I suggest you look into the M1 Pro. And if you already own a DAC that can take a coaxial input, the you have a double win. The Firmware, is not completely robust. But I heard that the company is working hard to getting it more refined with the future FW updates. If you own any energetic set of IEMs or Headphones and are looking for a source that might help tame the energy a bit, M1 Pro is a very easy recommendation. On the other hand if you have a laidback IEM/Headphone you may want to look into M1 Pro Studio or M1 Vitality versions.