Blackmore
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Jan 12, 2006
- Posts
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I am very interested in other users impressions compared to their other amps they have or had, cos so far I don't see much of that here, maybe I missed something, but than again, see couple of threads going where the shipping or how good Arrow is been discussed so far only, but without comparison, even the earlier one would be nice, imo.
Me, owned GoVibe Petite, got Magnum and now I own Arrow as well. Believe it or not all 3 of them are very close in performance, however. I will leave Petite out of it, not because its not good enough, simply because I don't have it anymore and cant compare directly.
GoVibe Magnum vs Arrow driving W5000
The biggest difference between them that Magnum is less aggressive than Arrow. The aggressive tone comes from upper midbass of Arrow, while Magnum have deeper one. The quantity through Arrow feels bigger/fattier and the quality of it are pretty equal to Magnum's, however because of upper presentation Arrow seems to hitting more and not in the best way always. That's why I think Magnum sounds smoother with voices and reproduce ROCK music not TO aggressive, which can cause some unpleasant moments.
Soundstage of both are nice, not bad and not really huge or the biggest, I would call it as good midclass one, where Magnum's goes deeper and Arrow bit wider, but while listening it doesn't change the picture much, at least to my ears, however I may need more time for that.
Detail and extension on both amps are fairly at the good level, but because they are bass monsters it can create some kind of veil for the rest, which I call, generally, as less refined presentation. You can settle the futures to your liking of course, but it doesn't change the basics. About the futures, Arrow offers a little bit more of it, but to me it doesn't make him far ahead of Magnum, think depends on your headphones and what ever they are benefiting from it or not.
Bass:
Both are having a very good basic bass reproduction, where Magnum's having deeper and from Arrow you are getting more upfront. That's why, in some tracks, Arrow kicks more, but if its tighter, don't know, maybe just a little, but nothing to make a point of it. I think you have to choose one you like more, not that one of those are better or worse, its more your preferences that will decide it for you and for me, using with W5000, Magnum wins, just slightly, and here is why...
Mids:
To me Magnum is the winner, because of Arrow upper midbass, voices sounds less delicate. They are to much upfront, just a little overheat, which makes them hard and less smooth. I think the Arrow mids been over killed by upfront bass, that's why Magnum sound more refined, where the separation between the tones just there and can be picturized easier.
Aesthetics/portability/handy
Well, Arrow is very tinny, while Magnum is like FAT, comparing to it, however both can be called very portable and easy to transport, but even then Arrow is the winner here, but not only of his size. When you are talking about charging the battery, Arrow wins as well, just plug it to your PC/notebook USB port, done pretty shortly. Magnum can be charged through USB as well, but not as fast, however comes standard with the wall charger, while Arrow doesn't. For me both would work, but if Magnum was using other battery than 9V, it would make him more interesting, maybe some high quality build in, which could be replaced in a time, don't know...
Conclusions:
Both amps are fairly new with very little burn in period, however I am not sure about Arrow, bought it used up here, but never bothered to ask the seller.
Like I wrote, choose one you like more, one that matches the best with your headphones and preferences, because both of them are very, very good amps, imo. I tried them both with KCS75, PortaPro's and ES7 as well and the results are very good. As you can read, I used word AGGRESSIVE more than ones, but that's doesn't mean that Arrow are monster, no, I am very critical with my impressions and if its bothers me, well, it will come up more than once then. I would say, compare and decide it by yourself, not matter what somebody thinks, imo.
THX
Me, owned GoVibe Petite, got Magnum and now I own Arrow as well. Believe it or not all 3 of them are very close in performance, however. I will leave Petite out of it, not because its not good enough, simply because I don't have it anymore and cant compare directly.
GoVibe Magnum vs Arrow driving W5000
The biggest difference between them that Magnum is less aggressive than Arrow. The aggressive tone comes from upper midbass of Arrow, while Magnum have deeper one. The quantity through Arrow feels bigger/fattier and the quality of it are pretty equal to Magnum's, however because of upper presentation Arrow seems to hitting more and not in the best way always. That's why I think Magnum sounds smoother with voices and reproduce ROCK music not TO aggressive, which can cause some unpleasant moments.
Soundstage of both are nice, not bad and not really huge or the biggest, I would call it as good midclass one, where Magnum's goes deeper and Arrow bit wider, but while listening it doesn't change the picture much, at least to my ears, however I may need more time for that.
Detail and extension on both amps are fairly at the good level, but because they are bass monsters it can create some kind of veil for the rest, which I call, generally, as less refined presentation. You can settle the futures to your liking of course, but it doesn't change the basics. About the futures, Arrow offers a little bit more of it, but to me it doesn't make him far ahead of Magnum, think depends on your headphones and what ever they are benefiting from it or not.
Bass:
Both are having a very good basic bass reproduction, where Magnum's having deeper and from Arrow you are getting more upfront. That's why, in some tracks, Arrow kicks more, but if its tighter, don't know, maybe just a little, but nothing to make a point of it. I think you have to choose one you like more, not that one of those are better or worse, its more your preferences that will decide it for you and for me, using with W5000, Magnum wins, just slightly, and here is why...
Mids:
To me Magnum is the winner, because of Arrow upper midbass, voices sounds less delicate. They are to much upfront, just a little overheat, which makes them hard and less smooth. I think the Arrow mids been over killed by upfront bass, that's why Magnum sound more refined, where the separation between the tones just there and can be picturized easier.
Aesthetics/portability/handy
Well, Arrow is very tinny, while Magnum is like FAT, comparing to it, however both can be called very portable and easy to transport, but even then Arrow is the winner here, but not only of his size. When you are talking about charging the battery, Arrow wins as well, just plug it to your PC/notebook USB port, done pretty shortly. Magnum can be charged through USB as well, but not as fast, however comes standard with the wall charger, while Arrow doesn't. For me both would work, but if Magnum was using other battery than 9V, it would make him more interesting, maybe some high quality build in, which could be replaced in a time, don't know...
Conclusions:
Both amps are fairly new with very little burn in period, however I am not sure about Arrow, bought it used up here, but never bothered to ask the seller.
Like I wrote, choose one you like more, one that matches the best with your headphones and preferences, because both of them are very, very good amps, imo. I tried them both with KCS75, PortaPro's and ES7 as well and the results are very good. As you can read, I used word AGGRESSIVE more than ones, but that's doesn't mean that Arrow are monster, no, I am very critical with my impressions and if its bothers me, well, it will come up more than once then. I would say, compare and decide it by yourself, not matter what somebody thinks, imo.
THX
