[kkcc]

Finally got my grubby hands on a demo set. The unit is hefty, about the size of samsung S3 and nearly twice as thick.

Initial impressions after going through a few DSD songs. Billy Jean, Hotel California, Piano Man etc. IEMs I borrowed the store's TG334.

Warm sound qualities. Not too warm, but just right. It is like being in a room with wooden flooring and concrete walls vs a surgical clean room. Powerful. I was listening at prob 15% volume on the slider and it was loud enough to cut out room chatter. I'm sure it will have no trouble driving cans. 600ohms cans? Then I'm not so sure.

Build quality is good. The bronze shell and the big screen instills confidence that you don't need to treat it like a baby. UI needs a bit of getting used to. Reactive but it will lag at times for a split second. The ease of use is so much like using an iPod. The layout and options.

It is a good player for audiophiles that love portability. Those with deep pockets and like simple setups should consider.

Launching 3rd week of May in SE Asia.

Thanks for the first impression! Curious if you tried with some other IEMs? Tg334 is inherently warm/dark, and is so sensitive it required very little to push it to loud volume... the comment on UI lack is a bummer but not unexpected. Hope I can get my hands on one soon too!

 

[iohk]

I listened to the Calyx M today with my Parterre, by itself, and also paired with my ALO International, thanks to the Hong Kong distributor Square Wave. I apparently became the first person who purchased it after listening to it - but far from being the first purchaser. Expectations are high...and I believe them to be justified.
 
I am afraid I cannot provide impressions using the head-fier jargon, but to provide some context, I have been looking for a DAP to use on my travels. I have been lucky as I had the opportunity to try the AK100, AK120, DX90 and ZX1 in parallel (sample store, same music, by themselves, with the International, with the Parterre), also the AK240 in another occasion, and to be thorough I also tried the iPod classic.
 
As an end-user who wants to have as much as possible high-res music on-the-go, a smooth UI, physical buttons, the ability to pair with different amps, headphones, I have impulsively come to the conclusion that the Calyx M is the right player for me.
 
Caveats to my highly subjective "tests": I didn't try different headphones, didn't try different amps, and more importantly to me I didn't use the same music / music files (but I am very familiar to all the music I listened to). Another caveat for people with "unlimited funds": I didn't get to pit the AK240 and the Calyx M during the same listening session.
 
Best, K.

 

[musicheaven]

Finally getting some early impressions, not surprised about the size that's what I expected.

 

[tm.chen]

Sorry guys. I don't have the gear nor time to do a detailed comparison.
Forgot to add:
The volume slider takes effort to adjust but it is not impossible to accidentally turn it to full blast. So please take care. Fine tuning volume can be a hit or miss. There is a lag in reaction and the amount of movement might not correlate to the desired adjustment. I tried to remove the slider but it is stuck there. Using the screen to adjust was also not doable, but it might be a setting issue which I didn't go into.

 

[pekingduck]

Thanks...how much did you pay?
 
And also, how's the volume slider? You know some people here have been REALLY concerned about that slider...

 
Quote:

  I listened to the Calyx M today with my Parterre, by itself, and also paired with my ALO International, thanks to the Hong Kong distributor Square Wave. I apparently became the first person who purchased it after listening to it - but far from being the first purchaser. Expectations are high...and I believe them to be justified.
 
I am afraid I cannot provide impressions using the head-fier jargon, but to provide some context, I have been looking for a DAP to use on my travels. I have been lucky as I had the opportunity to try the AK100, AK120, DX90 and ZX1 in parallel (sample store, same music, by themselves, with the International, with the Parterre), also the AK240 in another occasion, and to be thorough I also tried the iPod classic.
 
As an end-user who wants to have as much as possible high-res music on-the-go, a smooth UI, physical buttons, the ability to pair with different amps, headphones, I have impulsively come to the conclusion that the Calyx M is the right player for me.
 
Caveats to my highly subjective "tests": I didn't try different headphones, didn't try different amps, and more importantly to me I didn't use the same music / music files (but I am very familiar to all the music I listened to). Another caveat for people with "unlimited funds": I didn't get to pit the AK240 and the Calyx M during the same listening session.
 
Best, K.

 

[iohk]

Just the announced price (~USD 1000): HKD 7800.
I actually liked the volume slider. I didn't think there was any risk. There is also the possibility to adjust the volume using the UI, but I much preferred using the slider. I did play a bit with it when pairing the DAP with the amplifier, and honestly, at no point in time did I think that I might accidentally crank the volume too high. And I was using IEMs, so...

 

[AlanYWM]

   
Nice! If you're able to, would you mind doing a quick comparison of the M with other DAP's (esp. AK240) ?

I had a chance to listen to this DAP (same demo unit that tm.chen listened to) today and I concur that it is a warm sounding player. I was using my MH335 to listen to it. As to its SQ compared to other DAPs, I can only say that it lacks the detail/clarity of the AK240. I think it is also less airy than the AK240. For the record, I did not do a side by side comparison. This is just based on my experience having owned the AK240 for over a month and listening to the Calyx M with the same song, "Hotel California" in 24/192. My initial impression is that the SQ is quite good. Smooth and powerful.
 
Of more concern to me is the volume slider. Like tm.chen, I also felt it was difficult to fine tune the volume with the slider. On the demo unit, there seems to be a lag between the volume slider and the LCD display. As I was pushing up the volume, the display on the screen did not show any volume increase immediately. The next thing you know, the sound jumped a few levels louder. I was assured by the boss of Jaben that the production unit will not have this "problem."
 
The large screen on the M is very nice but the UI is quite different from other DAPs so new owners will need time to adjust to it. The UI was fairly smooth and responsive though. The back of the aluminium case could have been more refine around the edges. Again, this is just the demo unit. The production unit may be much better. So take everything here with a pinch of salt

 

[zachchen1996]

  it is a warm sounding player.
I can only say that it lacks the detail/clarity of the AK240.
I think it is also less airy than the AK240.

 
From your impressions and the other ones so far, seems like this dap wont fit my preferences

 

 

[CosmicHolyGhost]

335 r pretty warm, no?

 

[kantana]

  I had a chance to listen to this DAP (same demo unit that tm.chen listened to) today and I concur that it is a warm sounding player. I was using my MH335 to listen to it. As to its SQ compared to other DAPs, I can only say that it lacks the detail/clarity of the AK240. I think it is also less airy than the AK240. For the record, I did not do a side by side comparison. This is just based on my experience having owned the AK240 for over a month and listening to the Calyx M with the same song, "Hotel California" in 24/192. My initial impression is that the SQ is quite good. Smooth and powerful.
 
Of more concern to me is the volume slider. Like tm.chen, I also felt it was difficult to fine tune the volume with the slider. On the demo unit, there seems to be a lag between the volume slider and the LCD display. As I was pushing up the volume, the display on the screen did not show any volume increase immediately. The next thing you know, the sound jumped a few levels louder. I was assured by the boss of Jaben that the production unit will not have this "problem."
 
The large screen on the M is very nice but the UI is quite different from other DAPs so new owners will need time to adjust to it. The UI was fairly smooth and responsive though. The back of the aluminium case could have been more refine around the edges. Again, this is just the demo unit. The production unit may be much better. So take everything here with a pinch of salt

Which shop has this for semo and do they have stock already?

  I had a chance to listen to this DAP (same demo unit that tm.chen listened to) today and I concur that it is a warm sounding player. I was using my MH335 to listen to it. As to its SQ compared to other DAPs, I can only say that it lacks the detail/clarity of the AK240. I think it is also less airy than the AK240. For the record, I did not do a side by side comparison. This is just based on my experience having owned the AK240 for over a month and listening to the Calyx M with the same song, "Hotel California" in 24/192. My initial impression is that the SQ is quite good. Smooth and powerful.
 
Of more concern to me is the volume slider. Like tm.chen, I also felt it was difficult to fine tune the volume with the slider. On the demo unit, there seems to be a lag between the volume slider and the LCD display. As I was pushing up the volume, the display on the screen did not show any volume increase immediately. The next thing you know, the sound jumped a few levels louder. I was assured by the boss of Jaben that the production unit will not have this "problem."
 
The large screen on the M is very nice but the UI is quite different from other DAPs so new owners will need time to adjust to it. The UI was fairly smooth and responsive though. The back of the aluminium case could have been more refine around the edges. Again, this is just the demo unit. The production unit may be much better. So take everything here with a pinch of salt

Which shop has this demo unit?  Is there stick already to buy?

 

[AlanYWM]

  Which shop has this for semo and do they have stock already?
Which shop has this demo unit?  Is there stick already to buy?

 
The demo unit is available in Jaben Singapore. No production units for sale yet.

 

[kantana]

   
The demo unit is available in Jaben Singapore. No production units for sale yet.

Thanks, thought it was in Hong Kong.  Wanted to see how it compares to the DX100 etc ;p

 

[AlanYWM]

   
From your impressions and the other ones so far, seems like this dap wont fit my preferences

 

 
Seriously, you owe it to yourself to give this DAP a listen. As I mentioned, the unit I listened to was a demo unit. Hopefully, the final production units will be an improvement. It is just that the demo unit did not give me this "Wow" feeling - SQ wise.

 

[kantana]

   
Seriously, you owe it to yourself to give this DAP a listen. As I mentioned, the unit I listened to was a demo unit. Hopefully, the final production units will be an improvement. It is just that the demo unit did not give me this "Wow" feeling - SQ wise.

Since using the AK240 only wow I've heard has been the Chord Hugo, hope the Calyx surprises me.

 

[tm.chen]

Earlier someone mentioned that Square Wave is the distributor for HK.