I've waited for a while before posting my impressions as I had been listening to a black sample M1 from Dethonray since around Christmas before receiving my silver unit a few weeks ago. During these months there have been several firmware updates that brought improvements and bug fixes so I feel it would be best to wait a bit until the firmware side reaches a relatively stable state. As a long-term Dethonray user who owns everything from the DTR1 to the H1, two versions of the SG1 and now the M1, I've always admired the efforts that Mr. Anson Tse, founder of Dethonray, puts into listening to feedback from the user community and consistently updating firmware for all the products, past and present. This type of continuous customer support is really how a relatively new brand in the Hi-Fi world earns the confidence and trust of the audiophile community. I also feel that competence in developing and improving software/firmware is crucial in today's market while having expertise only in the analog domain and having to outsource software development to third-parties is simply not going to cut it.
Now back to the M1. As a compact desktop DAC/headphone amp unit, this is the first non-portable Dethonray product that I've owned. As far as I know, the only other product is the Listening T1 desktop tube amp but I don't think many units were produced. The M1 could easily be moved around in the home but it requires a power supply unit so unless you use some kind of external power bank with a 24V output you wouldn't be able to bring it with you everywhere. What we lose in portability we gain in superb sound fidelity and ample power to drive most if not all type of headphones, not to mention IEMs. In the past few months I've been using the M1 as my main DAC/headphone amp (and occasionally as a DAC outputting to other desktop amps that I use) and I can confidently say it's a reference quality product that will let your good headphones / IEMs shine or even breathe new life into headphones that previously you thought were somewhat flawed. As a brief self introduction, I'm an avid classical music lover who also loves classic rock and jazz. I've been into headphones for slightly more than two decades now. I use my gear to listen to music ranging from solo instrumental to chamber music to symphonic and opera, as well as Miles Davis and Dire Straits, Pink Floyd, among others. I own many headphones and would pick them based on the music type or the environment but I currently only consider two of them my absolute references: The Focal Utopia (the original one) and the HiFiMAN Susvara. Other headphones in my rotation include MrSpeakers Ether C Flow, HiFiMAN R1 Planar, Fostex TH900, AKG K872 and Sennheiser HD600. There are several Bluetooth headphones that I won't mention here. I don't use IEMs as often although I own and like the JVC HA-FW10000, Dunu DK4001, Dethonray Tender 1 and LH Oscar XXI. For the M1 I mostly use my MacBook Pro running Audirvana playing music files from my NAS or streaming from Qobuz, a Chord USB-A to USB-B cable is used to connect the computer to the M1's USB-B port (a USB-C to A adapter is also necessary as the MacBook Pro only has USB-C/Thunderbolt ports). As an alternative audio transport, a portable Tempotec V3-D digital transport also proves to be a good combination.
Before getting into sound, let me just say that the M1 is just simply an exquisitely built device. The all metal chassis has a beautiful finish and the design is simplistic with minimal controls on the front panel. Due to limited internal space, the M1 only has 3.5mm single-ended and 4.4mm balanced headphone outputs. So I have to use adapters for some of my headphones that only have 6.35mm or XLR connectors. Besides the volume knob and the input selection button, there's a gain switch on the front panel which along with two of the three DIP switches in the back, are all you need to customize the power output and timbre modes of the M1. For my listening, I left the headphone/IEM DIP mostly in the default headphone position as I don't own any ultra-sensitive IEMs. I found that using the default position with low gain works well enough for most of the IEMs that I use, except for the power-hungry Dethonray Tender 1 whose planar drivers require a high gain setting. The other DIP switch is for switching timbre modes, which according to Dethonray, defaults to "Reference" mode and can be switched to "Direct" mode. Honestly speaking I don't quite understand what these two words mean exactly but from my own experience matching numerous headphones and IEMs, I think I can summarize it like this: If your headphones already have pretty good high frequency extension you might find the Direct mode to provide a more balanced sound signature across the whole frequency range, with slightly more solid mids and bass foundation. If your headphones lack a bit of air or bite at the top end, the default Reference mode would be more fitting. I've always felt my MrSpeakers Ether C Flow to be a little bit dull on the top but the M1 in Reference mode gives me a very pleasant surprise, with a very lively and full-bodied sound that I haven't heard with other amps I've tried with this headphone. The HiFiMAN R10 Planar also benefited from the M1 and filled that gap on the treble end. The Focal Utopia, on the other hand, sounds just sublime in either mode even under low gain (using a Stefan AudioArt Endorphin balanced cable), although I tend to use high gain at a lower volume to get an overall slightly fuller-bodied sound. I tried switching back and force between the two timbre modes with the Utopia and find myself settling in Direct mode more often when listening to large-scale orchestral works. But you won't go wrong with either mode, the Utopia/M1 combination is simply reference quality with everything falling in the right places.
The M1 doesn't just get frequency response or dynamic range or transient right, the heart of its strength is that it delivers music with lively emotions that moves you. As music lovers, we are sometimes left cold by audio components that get most technical aspects right but are on the analytical side of things. Not the M1. I feel that the M1 has continued on with that irresistible lively soul of the DTR1, Dethonray's very first product that got me hooked, yet improved greatly on sound stage, instrument separation, micro details and overall authority. It comes as no surprise because the M1 is a compact desktop size device with external power but I have to applaud Dethonray for an ambitious, compact device that achieves great results in both technicality and musicality departments. We often see an audio product that advertises its superb specs on paper but comes up short in delivering a musical experience, or a product that has a beautiful sound but is too flawed in certain aspects to be of reference quality. I am not saying one of these is better or worse than the other but the M1 is neither of those.
The M1 also inherits all the great Bluetooth features from Dethonray's SG1 (in my opinion the best-sounding compact Bluetooth DAC/headphone amp) so it supports most major codecs from AAC to the aptX family to LDAC. Compared with the SG1 of course the signal reception is more solid thanks to a much larger external antenna that can be screwed on the back of the M1.
So what about the HiFiMAN Susvara? Can the M1 provide enough stamina to drive these notoriously power-hungry planar behemoth to my satisfaction? Well the answer is yes and no. At high gain mode, the M1 can drive the Susvara (using balanced cable) to sufficient volume with the volume knob at around 2-3PM location, depending on the recorded level of the source music. However, I wouldn't say the Susvara sounds authoritative enough compared with the sound I get from other (much larger and heavier) desktop amps. It's overall a good sound but just a tad lightweight when playing larger scale symphonic music. So if your main purpose is to be able to push your Susvara to the limit, the M1 is probably not the best choice for you. But on the other hand, I consider the Susvara quite the anomaly among high-end headphones. When matched with huge amps sometimes cost several times the price of the Susvara, it can sound fantastic and be one of the end-game components but how many people can afford to do that?
Overall, I think the Dethonray M1 knocks it out of the park at the sub-$3000 price range. It's a Swiss Army Knife type of component that easily pairs with your digital source, computer, tablet or smartphone yet it's able to do justice to your precious headphones and IEMs. In fact, the M1 is likely able to get every ounce of potential out of them and you'll be pleasantly surprised. I for one have been acting like a kid in the candy store in the past few months, taking out every one of my headphones and IEMs (including some that had been collecting dust) to pair with the M1 and got a smile almost every single time. If this is not fun I don't know what is.
Last but not least, here are some photos with the M1 paired with some of my headphones.
Happy Listening (M1)!
