Being a tester and owner of many digital portable players , I had to participate to the head-fi review tour for Soundaware, especially since all the players of the brand have interested me for some time now.
Three players are proposed by Soundaware in its catalog, all of them the same size, but with a finish ? sound and price quite different.
In this review, I will only tell you about the lended player, that is to say the M1 pro, the most expensive of the brand.
Here are its caracteristics.
Let's unpack !
The M1pro comes in a good-quality brown packaging, accompanied by a charger, a USB cable and a small user manual. There are only the elements needed to use the M1 pro. A small cover, even made of fabric, would have been appreciated, or a coaxial cable or even any other cable allowing to use its line out.
Now an eye at the M1pro's looks.
The chassis made of brushed aluminium is directly convincing : it thus gives an impression of soundness and quality of the finishing of the product .
This quality can also be found in the three jacks, which display no slack whatsoever, even when using a straight jack ( quite reassuring if you want to carry the player in your pocket ).
These jacks are all on the upper edge.
On the bottom of the device, there are the micro USB plug as well as two slots for micro SD cards.
On the left edge, there is only the « hold » button whereas the « power » and « back and forward » ones are on the right side.
Holes allowing the ventilation of the device are placed on these two panels.
On the front, you will find the most useful control switches displayed in an original way : the switches « menu » and « back » are aligned on the left while the « play » button is encircled with the browsing controls on the right side.
The screen is above and is slightly raised from the frame ( a few millimeters ).
Introductions with the M1 pro being made, we can at last start the player and see its settings.
Better say it first, the display is not really original and the UI is even extremely simple. I don't mind it at all being used to the QP1R or HM901S.
You will find the settings : they give you access to the language choice, the colour of the screen, the ability to scan music, etc.
There are also the upgrade (to modify the firmware ), the playing (direct access to the listened track), the recent list, the favorites (that is to say the playlist), the storage (access to the content of your two micro SD) and the music library.
As for the track reading screen, you can choose between two displays thanks to the browsing button, one like a CD player, the other full screen. I preferred the full screen because it offers a very nice quality of display.
By pushing the bottom selection button, you can choose different reading modes (shuffle, single , album..).
When it comes to the battery life, it is supposed to be around ten hours, but I couldn't test it. What I can say is that I found the battery charging quite long ( compared to those of smartphones for example).
Now let's talk about what really interest us : the sound !
With this DAP, I only used iems : Campfire andromeda, Oriolus and SEM9.
Right away I noted that the M1pro was offering an analogic approach of sound, with bass being present but not invasive. The finish is smooth with mediums and trebles perfectly defined.
Mediums are particularly well-defined and sharp, so all the vocal nuances can be savoured.
Trebles are well spread, allowing to lighten the sound stage.
As far as the sound stage is concerned, the M1pro competes in the upper league : it conveys a great effect of deepness with a width allowing to well balance the whole, you feel like you're listening your music live !
The proposed space is quite welcoming and it enables the listener to fully enjoy the resolution of this DAP. I found it much more acute than a Plenue 1 or a Hm901S.
However, one will have to be most careful when choosing its intras to appreciate to the fullest the qualities of this player, since its acoustic impedance is high and can alter the rendering of BA iems like the Andromedas. Indeed, I felt that the mediums were sounding dry (while it's one of their strenghts ).
On the other hand, the Oriolus are a perfect match for the M1pro. This couple offers an approach of music that is smooth, languid, almost sensual with its extremely enveloping soundstage.
A delight just to think about them together !
With the SEM9, the finish may be too warm, these intras being already colored in the bass mediums and mediums. But they allow a rather fun and relaxing listening, so now it's up to you and your tastes...
Let's compare with other DAPs...
Compared to the LP3, the M1pro gives an obviously higher resolution (even though the LP3's finish is more neutral with nicely soft mediums ) and it is also much more dynamic than the LP3. This DAP however works equally with all iems and its price being different from the M1pro, leaves it a chance to exist on the market.
I compared the M1pro to the HM901S with its balanced card. This player offers a finish even more analogic with a very nice resolution and more textured notes : everything seems more dense with it. The finish is more expressive, almost tangible, maybe even too warm for some.
When using the Oriolus, I prefer the HM901S to the M1pro because of its realistic finish with gives a very nice feeling of 3D.
And a last comparison with the Questyle. To me, this is the best player along with the HM901S. Directly compared to the M1pro, I think its global finish is more balanced : no frequency is crushing another one, everything is present in high resolution and, most important, with the best soundstage view. And the Questyle works very well with any iems.
The M1pro doesn't prove unworthy, far from that. Even if it offers a good level of deepness, it suffers loss in terms of width and thus,globally speaking. Bass are maybe too present but to me, its main defect is in its outline with a too high impedance.
To conclude, despite this problem of impedance, I did enjoy the 15 days spent with the M1pro.
Even if its UI remains too simple for my taste, it works perfectly well ( not a glitch to report ) and reads all types of music formats.
This player offers a high level of resolution and as a bonus, an analogic side which is quite pleasant. You can be sure never to get bored with it ! Music is living : listening to operas was a really wonderful experience with the M1pro for me thanks to its great effect of intensity.
Careful though not to partner the M1pro with sensitive BA iems : you should rather choose good hybrids and you will then perfectly enjoy the full potential of the sound qualities of this rather competitive-priced player.
I hope you understood my first review in English and many thanks too Soundaware for the tour
Three players are proposed by Soundaware in its catalog, all of them the same size, but with a finish ? sound and price quite different.
In this review, I will only tell you about the lended player, that is to say the M1 pro, the most expensive of the brand.
Here are its caracteristics.
- Size: 115mm * 59mm, the thinnest thickness of 14mm, holding thickness about 15mm
- Weight: about 175g
- Sampling rate: 32khz-192khz, DSD (SACD
- Format: MP3, WMA, AAC, ALAC, M4A, CUE, WAV, FLAC, APE, ISO, DSF, DFF etc.
- Storage: TF * 2 (single maximum support 128GB, future support will be greater), NTFS, FAT format
- Playback time: normal listening about 9 hours
- Line Output: 1.4V RMS
- Coaxial output: 0.5V p-p, PCM & DSD (DOP)
- Screen: 2.4 inch high resolution Sharp IPS hard screen
- Distortion + Noise (headphone output): <= 0.002% (44.1khz, 1khz DS3)
- Dynamic ratio (headphone output):> = 110db.
- Background noise (headphone output): <=-130db.
- Amp analog output: 2.8V RMS highest, 97% volume output, distortion <= 0.003%, desktop class AB amp circuits, power output, third gear gain
Let's unpack !
The M1pro comes in a good-quality brown packaging, accompanied by a charger, a USB cable and a small user manual. There are only the elements needed to use the M1 pro. A small cover, even made of fabric, would have been appreciated, or a coaxial cable or even any other cable allowing to use its line out.
Now an eye at the M1pro's looks.
The chassis made of brushed aluminium is directly convincing : it thus gives an impression of soundness and quality of the finishing of the product .
This quality can also be found in the three jacks, which display no slack whatsoever, even when using a straight jack ( quite reassuring if you want to carry the player in your pocket ).
These jacks are all on the upper edge.
On the bottom of the device, there are the micro USB plug as well as two slots for micro SD cards.
On the left edge, there is only the « hold » button whereas the « power » and « back and forward » ones are on the right side.
Holes allowing the ventilation of the device are placed on these two panels.
On the front, you will find the most useful control switches displayed in an original way : the switches « menu » and « back » are aligned on the left while the « play » button is encircled with the browsing controls on the right side.
The screen is above and is slightly raised from the frame ( a few millimeters ).
Introductions with the M1 pro being made, we can at last start the player and see its settings.
Better say it first, the display is not really original and the UI is even extremely simple. I don't mind it at all being used to the QP1R or HM901S.
You will find the settings : they give you access to the language choice, the colour of the screen, the ability to scan music, etc.
There are also the upgrade (to modify the firmware ), the playing (direct access to the listened track), the recent list, the favorites (that is to say the playlist), the storage (access to the content of your two micro SD) and the music library.
As for the track reading screen, you can choose between two displays thanks to the browsing button, one like a CD player, the other full screen. I preferred the full screen because it offers a very nice quality of display.
By pushing the bottom selection button, you can choose different reading modes (shuffle, single , album..).
When it comes to the battery life, it is supposed to be around ten hours, but I couldn't test it. What I can say is that I found the battery charging quite long ( compared to those of smartphones for example).
Now let's talk about what really interest us : the sound !
With this DAP, I only used iems : Campfire andromeda, Oriolus and SEM9.
Right away I noted that the M1pro was offering an analogic approach of sound, with bass being present but not invasive. The finish is smooth with mediums and trebles perfectly defined.
Mediums are particularly well-defined and sharp, so all the vocal nuances can be savoured.
Trebles are well spread, allowing to lighten the sound stage.
As far as the sound stage is concerned, the M1pro competes in the upper league : it conveys a great effect of deepness with a width allowing to well balance the whole, you feel like you're listening your music live !
The proposed space is quite welcoming and it enables the listener to fully enjoy the resolution of this DAP. I found it much more acute than a Plenue 1 or a Hm901S.
However, one will have to be most careful when choosing its intras to appreciate to the fullest the qualities of this player, since its acoustic impedance is high and can alter the rendering of BA iems like the Andromedas. Indeed, I felt that the mediums were sounding dry (while it's one of their strenghts ).
On the other hand, the Oriolus are a perfect match for the M1pro. This couple offers an approach of music that is smooth, languid, almost sensual with its extremely enveloping soundstage.
A delight just to think about them together !
With the SEM9, the finish may be too warm, these intras being already colored in the bass mediums and mediums. But they allow a rather fun and relaxing listening, so now it's up to you and your tastes...
Let's compare with other DAPs...
Compared to the LP3, the M1pro gives an obviously higher resolution (even though the LP3's finish is more neutral with nicely soft mediums ) and it is also much more dynamic than the LP3. This DAP however works equally with all iems and its price being different from the M1pro, leaves it a chance to exist on the market.
I compared the M1pro to the HM901S with its balanced card. This player offers a finish even more analogic with a very nice resolution and more textured notes : everything seems more dense with it. The finish is more expressive, almost tangible, maybe even too warm for some.
When using the Oriolus, I prefer the HM901S to the M1pro because of its realistic finish with gives a very nice feeling of 3D.
And a last comparison with the Questyle. To me, this is the best player along with the HM901S. Directly compared to the M1pro, I think its global finish is more balanced : no frequency is crushing another one, everything is present in high resolution and, most important, with the best soundstage view. And the Questyle works very well with any iems.
The M1pro doesn't prove unworthy, far from that. Even if it offers a good level of deepness, it suffers loss in terms of width and thus,globally speaking. Bass are maybe too present but to me, its main defect is in its outline with a too high impedance.
To conclude, despite this problem of impedance, I did enjoy the 15 days spent with the M1pro.
Even if its UI remains too simple for my taste, it works perfectly well ( not a glitch to report ) and reads all types of music formats.
This player offers a high level of resolution and as a bonus, an analogic side which is quite pleasant. You can be sure never to get bored with it ! Music is living : listening to operas was a really wonderful experience with the M1pro for me thanks to its great effect of intensity.
Careful though not to partner the M1pro with sensitive BA iems : you should rather choose good hybrids and you will then perfectly enjoy the full potential of the sound qualities of this rather competitive-priced player.
I hope you understood my first review in English and many thanks too Soundaware for the tour
