dijinn
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Oct 14, 2016
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Auglamour GR-1 - One of the best budget-fi portable amplifier.
Intro
Gearbest has given me a chance to review one of the amazing portable amplifier out there, the Auglamour GR-1. This small sized amplifier is said to pack enough power to make even the high-end headphones sing. Take note that I am a casual listener to tracks which happen to go mainstream, billboard hits and other non mainstream as well. I'm just like any other music lover who struggle to find what type of gears, music that fits into my cup of tea.
So come and join me as we go through my adventure in finding out more about this amplifier.
I will be using the following gears subjectively with the amplifier.
The Shanling M1, Chord Mojo and my trustee Ultrabook Laptop with the Sennheiser HD700, VE Monk+, Simgot EN700, Shizuku Co-Donguri, **** PT15, KZ ZS5, JVC FX500 and a Sony MDR-EX310SL. Please bare in mind that these are the only gears that I have as of the moment, and this is just to settle my curiosity with regards to stacking an amplifier.
Since everything here will be based according to my personal impressions, I was a bit curious with what can I get more from the HD700 since I heard that the Mojo isn't enough to make it sing properly. Although it was enough for me, but couldn't help and wanted to see for myself the changes if there is. I wouldn't be talking much about the specs of the amplifier as they're pretty much available in their website already and will only tackle some basic information about it.
Unboxing and build quality:
Most gears are tied up to their respective price, and sometimes the build quality sacrifices the final product which then creates an impact right after you unbox an item. It's pretty rare to find gears at a very affordable price and still comes perfectly as if they're premium. While the GR-1 is priced at around $60, the build quality does not suffer at all. Right of the box you get a very decent packaging which is made of high quality hard cardboard. You'll get an emblem which is a bonus, even the manuals and guide are very well printed. There's a pair of rubber bands and charging cable. The 3.5mm audio cable is very good with just enough length for the stacking kit.
Its built like a tank with the zinc alloy casing which for me it's as good as the Chord Mojo. The battery last longer than I thought considering they we're pre-charge and lasted 5 hours of usage. It has the 3.7/2000mah which will give you around 8-10hours of usage with less than 3.5hours of charging time. Again it does not feel cheap at all.
I can talk more about the packaging and build quality and stuffs that I would have wanted the GR-1 to have but, lets just cut that short as it wouldn't matter anyway. For the initial impressions on how it performs side by side with the Mojo and stack with the Mojo, this will just be my personal insights as well. Whether its a good buy or something not at all. Since my curiosity brought me to this, with the GR-1 connected to the Shanling M1 gave a push of the power to drive the HD700 as it should. When the GR-1 were used directly from the Laptop and played the same tracks via Foobar, it drives the HD700 well enough and I can say this really performs the way it should. When I stacked them with the Mojo, the GR-1 seemed to power-up a little bit more although it kinda made the setup bright sounding but not too much. It kinda made the sound-stage a little tighter too. With the Mojo alone sounds neutral, then the addition of the GR-1 is like you added a little bit of highs. I'd really hope I can try this with more hard to drive headphones soon and we'll see if it can make them sing properly.
I had to settle with the Shanling M1 + Mojo + GR-1 to test with earbuds and IEMS since its most likely my transport setup. I got surprised to hear the VE Monk+ popping up the bass really quick with the Eminem tracks. It kinda made the buds more lively and fun to listen. While I didn't really like how it sounded with the Simgot EN700 as it made the iem more sibilant with some of the tracks I listened to. The Shizuku Co-Donguri is such a phenomenal piece of iem which is very affordable yet hard to get. It responded to the set-up nicely with more imaging and clarity. The Sony MDR-EX310SL didn't seem to change much, still has the piercing highs and the JVC FX500 as well but kinda improves
the mid bass since its normally a heavy bass IEM. With the KZ ZS5 and **** PT15 just came in from the post, I do feel that the GR-1 seems to overpowered the ZS5 at the volume I usually listen to. I got the ZS5 with crackling noise right off the box when played the bassy tracks, but after some burn-in time, it kinda lessen a bit. So I just had to lessen the volume around 30% and feels better to listen. The **** PT15 sounds thin right even with Mojo alone. With the GR-1, it sounded more thinner and and feels the bass isn't really there. I haven't yet to burn-in this earbuds as of the moment though. Most of the tracks I listened to were the Eric Clapton Unplugged, Amber Rubarth, Eminem Curtain Calls, Eagles HFO, Adele 25, Disturbed - Sound of Silence, Jack Johnsons.
Conclusions:
For me, I find it more easier to just deal with my curiosity and see for the outcome it gets. This is really a great experience, I know double amping is not normally suggested but I kinda like how it turns out with this setup. So is it worth the price? For me yes, although I am not really a fan of the coloration it added to the Mojo as a result of double amping. But I gotta try this with OPAmp rolling soon since I heard this will perform better with the Burson V5i. The Auglamour GR-1 comes in a premium qualities with the budget friendly price.
For the unboxing video click here:
Here's the coupon : AGEARPHONE (for 50 uses and deadline is Jun.30th)
You can get them here: https://goo.gl/uhBHhI
Special thanks to Yvonne of Gearbest for this awesome opportunity and Paling Pajadan for helping me out.
Intro
Gearbest has given me a chance to review one of the amazing portable amplifier out there, the Auglamour GR-1. This small sized amplifier is said to pack enough power to make even the high-end headphones sing. Take note that I am a casual listener to tracks which happen to go mainstream, billboard hits and other non mainstream as well. I'm just like any other music lover who struggle to find what type of gears, music that fits into my cup of tea.
So come and join me as we go through my adventure in finding out more about this amplifier.
I will be using the following gears subjectively with the amplifier.
The Shanling M1, Chord Mojo and my trustee Ultrabook Laptop with the Sennheiser HD700, VE Monk+, Simgot EN700, Shizuku Co-Donguri, **** PT15, KZ ZS5, JVC FX500 and a Sony MDR-EX310SL. Please bare in mind that these are the only gears that I have as of the moment, and this is just to settle my curiosity with regards to stacking an amplifier.
Since everything here will be based according to my personal impressions, I was a bit curious with what can I get more from the HD700 since I heard that the Mojo isn't enough to make it sing properly. Although it was enough for me, but couldn't help and wanted to see for myself the changes if there is. I wouldn't be talking much about the specs of the amplifier as they're pretty much available in their website already and will only tackle some basic information about it.
Unboxing and build quality:
Most gears are tied up to their respective price, and sometimes the build quality sacrifices the final product which then creates an impact right after you unbox an item. It's pretty rare to find gears at a very affordable price and still comes perfectly as if they're premium. While the GR-1 is priced at around $60, the build quality does not suffer at all. Right of the box you get a very decent packaging which is made of high quality hard cardboard. You'll get an emblem which is a bonus, even the manuals and guide are very well printed. There's a pair of rubber bands and charging cable. The 3.5mm audio cable is very good with just enough length for the stacking kit.
Its built like a tank with the zinc alloy casing which for me it's as good as the Chord Mojo. The battery last longer than I thought considering they we're pre-charge and lasted 5 hours of usage. It has the 3.7/2000mah which will give you around 8-10hours of usage with less than 3.5hours of charging time. Again it does not feel cheap at all.
I can talk more about the packaging and build quality and stuffs that I would have wanted the GR-1 to have but, lets just cut that short as it wouldn't matter anyway. For the initial impressions on how it performs side by side with the Mojo and stack with the Mojo, this will just be my personal insights as well. Whether its a good buy or something not at all. Since my curiosity brought me to this, with the GR-1 connected to the Shanling M1 gave a push of the power to drive the HD700 as it should. When the GR-1 were used directly from the Laptop and played the same tracks via Foobar, it drives the HD700 well enough and I can say this really performs the way it should. When I stacked them with the Mojo, the GR-1 seemed to power-up a little bit more although it kinda made the setup bright sounding but not too much. It kinda made the sound-stage a little tighter too. With the Mojo alone sounds neutral, then the addition of the GR-1 is like you added a little bit of highs. I'd really hope I can try this with more hard to drive headphones soon and we'll see if it can make them sing properly.
I had to settle with the Shanling M1 + Mojo + GR-1 to test with earbuds and IEMS since its most likely my transport setup. I got surprised to hear the VE Monk+ popping up the bass really quick with the Eminem tracks. It kinda made the buds more lively and fun to listen. While I didn't really like how it sounded with the Simgot EN700 as it made the iem more sibilant with some of the tracks I listened to. The Shizuku Co-Donguri is such a phenomenal piece of iem which is very affordable yet hard to get. It responded to the set-up nicely with more imaging and clarity. The Sony MDR-EX310SL didn't seem to change much, still has the piercing highs and the JVC FX500 as well but kinda improves
the mid bass since its normally a heavy bass IEM. With the KZ ZS5 and **** PT15 just came in from the post, I do feel that the GR-1 seems to overpowered the ZS5 at the volume I usually listen to. I got the ZS5 with crackling noise right off the box when played the bassy tracks, but after some burn-in time, it kinda lessen a bit. So I just had to lessen the volume around 30% and feels better to listen. The **** PT15 sounds thin right even with Mojo alone. With the GR-1, it sounded more thinner and and feels the bass isn't really there. I haven't yet to burn-in this earbuds as of the moment though. Most of the tracks I listened to were the Eric Clapton Unplugged, Amber Rubarth, Eminem Curtain Calls, Eagles HFO, Adele 25, Disturbed - Sound of Silence, Jack Johnsons.
Conclusions:
For me, I find it more easier to just deal with my curiosity and see for the outcome it gets. This is really a great experience, I know double amping is not normally suggested but I kinda like how it turns out with this setup. So is it worth the price? For me yes, although I am not really a fan of the coloration it added to the Mojo as a result of double amping. But I gotta try this with OPAmp rolling soon since I heard this will perform better with the Burson V5i. The Auglamour GR-1 comes in a premium qualities with the budget friendly price.
For the unboxing video click here:
Here's the coupon : AGEARPHONE (for 50 uses and deadline is Jun.30th)
You can get them here: https://goo.gl/uhBHhI
Special thanks to Yvonne of Gearbest for this awesome opportunity and Paling Pajadan for helping me out.
