[Bluebear]

 
Next thing I noticed is that M's SQ sounded very thick, heavy and aggressive. The bass is much stronger and heavier than both my AK120 and AK240 and the mids are also much more forward. Even my X3 which I did not bring along does not sound so forward and warm. The highs are clear but the overall clarity lacks behind the AK240. I would say the clarity is roughly about the same level as AK120, but because of the thick SQ it makes M sound less expansive/clear, some would say it is more natural depending on individual's preference. However, the 3D soundstage seems much smaller than the AK120 and definitely does not come close to the expansive soundstage of the AK240. The Calyx M's SQ is definitely far from neutral at all. It is even less flat than FiiO X3 which most people would already consider X3 as having a warm signature. I would reckon it has a pretty big boost around the 200-400 Hz, making the M's SQ sounds thick. For a quick analogy, I would say M to AK120/240 is like Roxanne to JH13 pro. I tried swapping my 1plus2 IEM to my Sony EX-1000 on Calyx M. I get the same thick sound but less detailed because of the Sony IEM. In fact M > EX-1000 = AK240 > ASG-2. Calyx M's SQ kind of "EQ" the normally bright treble of EX-1000 down to the level of ASG-2 and the neutral mid/low of EX-1000 to the more forward/bassy mid/low of ASG-2.
 

 
Quote:

  The sound described so far sounds nothing like what I heard from the Femto. 

 
How does the Femto sound like? More like the house sound of AK series or like X3/X5 or DX90/100?

 

[Greed]

   
How does the Femto sound like? More like the house sound of AK series or like X3/X5 or DX90/100?

 
Summary = Fast, airy, and slightly aggressive. I would say it sounds more like the DX100 than anything else, although I'm not a fan of iBasso's stuff because they all suffer from digitius.  

 

[Bluebear]

   
Summary = Fast, airy, and slightly aggressive. I would say it sounds more like the DX100 than anything else, although I'm not a fan of iBasso's stuff because they all suffer from digitius.  

 
Since everything could be relative going by different ears, I can only be subjective about what I heard. Not sure if Calyx M is considered fast, but I do not think it sounded very airy (I am coming from the perspective of AK120/240). Does slightly aggressive mean heavy and forcefully thick to you? Because that is what I heard from the demo unit of M. Perceived soundstage suffers due to it sounding heavy/thick to me. Definitely not the sublime kind of sound I was expecting (again coming from the perspective of AK120/240, especially AK240). So for those who is hoping it is on par with the AK240 in terms of SQ, I think they will be disappointed.

 

[high-fidelity]

Hello guys,
 
I'm curious about something.How is the performance of this DAP when compare with AK120 ?
 
Which one is better ? And what are differences ?
 
Thanks.

 

[Sauntere]

From the Jaban SG Facebook page.
 
 
"The Calyx M is impressive with a pretty wide soundstage with lots of detail. There is great clarity without being overly analytical. I felt like I could zoom in to any instrument playing at any one time and follow their lines effortlessly. The sound is very smooth and coherent across the spectrum. I felt like there were equal parts bass, mids and treble, and with the preloaded jazz tracks everything sounded beautifully balanced. With the solos you could hear how the solo instrument sits neatly on top of the other instruments in the band (sounds slightly forward) but at the same time one can latch on to any other instrument clearly. Vocals are exceptionally clear and sit neatly on top of the music from the band. It has an organic/natural presentation from the bass notes to vocals to cymbal clashes. All in all it was a real pleasure to listen to. It's a pity it cannot read my microSD card - think it has got a proprietary formatting."
 
Seems a bit at odds with other impressions.
 
 

 

[Bluebear]

  Hello guys,
 
I'm curious about something.How is the performance of this DAP when compare with AK120 ?
 
Which one is better ? And what are differences ?
 
Thanks.

 
It depends on what your signature preference is. If you like Roxanne's type of thick signature with bass dials set at 2pm+, then you may like Calyx M's house sound because I find both very similar. AK240 > Roxanne (universal demo) = Calyx M > 1plus2 to my ears. But if you do not like Roxanne's signature but prefer a more neutral/flat type of sound, then I think you may prefer AK120. People have said that the Wolfson WM8740 DACs in AK120 are slightly warm compared to ESS sabre DACs in general, but we also know that implementation and the accompanying internal amp affects the SQ a lot. In the case of Calyx M, I feel it is very thick and warm even though it uses ES 9018K2M and definitely more so than the AK120. Both are similar in terms of clarity.
 

  From the Jaban SG Facebook page.
 
 
"The Calyx M is impressive with a pretty wide soundstage with lots of detail. There is great clarity without being overly analytical. I felt like I could zoom in to any instrument playing at any one time and follow their lines effortlessly. The sound is very smooth and coherent across the spectrum. I felt like there were equal parts bass, mids and treble, and with the preloaded jazz tracks everything sounded beautifully balanced. With the solos you could hear how the solo instrument sits neatly on top of the other instruments in the band (sounds slightly forward) but at the same time one can latch on to any other instrument clearly. Vocals are exceptionally clear and sit neatly on top of the music from the band. It has an organic/natural presentation from the bass notes to vocals to cymbal clashes. All in all it was a real pleasure to listen to. It's a pity it cannot read my microSD card - think it has got a proprietary formatting."
 
Seems a bit at odds with other impressions.

 
"pretty wide soundstage" - relative to me it does not sound very wide/spacious.
"great clarity without being overly analytical" - this I agree. It has clarity and definitely not analytical.
"equal parts bass, mids and treble" - I don't really feel they are equal. Treble is the least among the three. I hardly hear any spikes which I usually can detect on more analytical/bright setup.
"Vocals are exceptionally clear and sit neatly on top of the music from the band" - Agree, mids are slightly forward.
"It has an organic/natural presentation from the bass notes to vocals to cymbal clashes." - I am not sure if I can agree on this because the very thick/heavy notes especially the bass seem to envelop the listener to the point that I find it a bit overly done and slightly unnatural. But I think it also depends on what genre of music you test it on. Light bass music tracks may probably turn out just fine. Bass heavy tracks may sound too extreme to me when reproduced on M.
 
I just hope Calyx can tone down the emphasis on the bass and make the sound signature less thick and it will be perfect to me, but then everyone has different preferences so it is best you go listen to it for yourself to confirm.

 

[doublea71]

Whenever somebody is able to try the UM Miracle with the M, I'd love to hear what you have to say. Cheers, y'all.

 

[kkcc]

From the Jaban SG Facebook page.
 
 

[COLOR=333333]"The Calyx M is impressive with a pretty wide soundstage with lots of detail. There is great clarity without being overly analytical. I felt like I could zoom in to any instrument playing at any one time and follow their lines effortlessly. The sound is very smooth and coherent across the spectrum. I felt like there were equal parts bass, mids and treble, and with the preloaded jazz tracks everything sounded beautifully balanced. With the solos you could hear how the solo instrument sits neatly on top of the other instruments in the band (sounds slightly forward) but at the same time one can latch on to any other instrument clearly. Vocals are exceptionally clear and sit neatly on top of the music from the band. It has an organic/natural presentation from the bass notes to vocals to cymbal clashes. All in all it was a real pleasure to listen to. It's a pity it cannot read my microSD card - think it has got a proprietary formatting."[/COLOR]
[COLOR=333333] [/COLOR]
[COLOR=333333]Seems a bit at odds with other impressions.[/COLOR]
[COLOR=333333] [/COLOR]
 

I think it isn't necessarily "at odds" but more about reference points and preferences.

Soundstage: ak240/hm901/zx1 all sounded wider and taller to me

Details: agree the details is there, thickness of sound and the forward mid make it feel less transparent than ak240/hm901/zx1/dx90. with the M you do need to really "zoom in" to track them down.

Vocal: lush and forward, I can enjoy it. In some sense similar to hm901+minibox or discrete card.

Jazz (and genres): sounded quite good, again I can enjoy jazz, pop, soft rock, folk, country, blues on this signature. Not so much for classical. Suspect I won't like it for techno, edm, and speed metal either.

Cymbals: sound a bit muted definitely a weakness imho (and this is where it is different from 901 as 901 despite being thick stil have more lifelike cymbals)

A pleasure to listen: yes I like it for what it brings, may end up buying, but it's not sth that I feel is better in absolute sense than any of my current DAPs. It doesn't need to be, and won't be the be-all-end-all DAP for me.

Hope this provides more context to my views.

 

[Sauntere]

Hey guys thanks for those thoughtful responses.. 
 
I listen to quite a bit of EDM so perhaps this is not for me. My music tastes are very eclectic though so i am looking for that all rounder, I prize clarity and detail, natural timbre, ambience, fast and textured bass and midrange presence with natural treble extension and decay. 
 
For those in the know... does this sound like i need an AK 240 ?

 

[kkcc]

Hey guys thanks for those thoughtful responses.. 

I listen to quite a bit of EDM so perhaps this is not for me. My music tastes are very eclectic though so i am looking for that all rounder, I prize clarity and detail, natural timbre, ambience, fast and textured bass and midrange presence with natural treble extension and decay. 

For those in the know... does this sound like i need an AK 240 ?

You should still get a demo your yourselves, I will also get a 32/16GBP card loaded for another demo and test some speed rock tracks. While it sounded thick and not very airy and I would still want to try for myself before dismissing it. Btw did you tried the zx1? I thought it works well with EDM and synthesized music.

 

[T.R.A.N.C.E.]

  Hey guys thanks for those thoughtful responses.. 
 
I listen to quite a bit of EDM so perhaps this is not for me. My music tastes are very eclectic though so i am looking for that all rounder, I prize clarity and detail, natural timbre, ambience, fast and textured bass and midrange presence with natural treble extension and decay. 
 
For those in the know... does this sound like i need an AK 240 ?

 
I pretty much only listen to EDM, and I have been very happy with my ZX1, to my ears it has everything you asked about, bass is extended and highly textured, treble is very extended with no roll off, sound stage is as huge and airy as they come . The ZX1 has very fast dynamics and energy in the sound, it makes me literally dance and head bang to music! I've also just ordered a DX90 to see how it compares. I have decided to pass on the M as it doesn't sound like it suits EDM from impressions so far.
 
I have also owned AK120 and DX50, the DX50 was no good for EDM in my opinion, it had bass roll off and mids were too warm, plus soundstage and dynamics were not great. The AK120 is comparable to the ZX1 in that it has a nice soundstage, and good frequency balance, but the ZX1 wins for me as it has a real forward energy in the sound while the AK120 is relaxed and smooth sounding. The result is that EDM sounds very good on both, but the AK120 is better for relaxing while listening to EDM, while the ZX1 is better for dancing and head banging to EDM.
 
I haven't heard the AK240, but from impressions I can tell it carries the same AK house sound of being detailed yet smooth and fluid, so I fear it may lack a bit of energy (just for EDM). But I'm sure that the AK240 is a great sound that I can guess would be one of the most versatile sound sigs around, suiting any genre. While the ZX1 does EDM better than any other genre imo.
 
If you don't want to drop 2.5K on the AK240 for a excellent versatile sound, then you can't go wrong with the ZX1 for specially EDM.
 
By the way KKCC, how does the DX90 do for EDM, compared to say the ZX1 and AK240?

 

[Sauntere]

Thanks again guys..
 
As i said... i don't only listen to EDM but i want my DAP to be very good with it as well as other genres. It needs to a great all rounder. 
 
I would prefer to audition the M (and anything else for that matter) before deciding but here in the most isolated capital city in the world there is no where i can, 

 

[kkcc]

I pretty much only listen to EDM, and I have been very happy with my ZX1, to my ears it has everything you asked about, bass is extended and highly textured, treble is very extended with no roll off, sound stage is as huge and airy as they come .

.......

Lol we recommended the same zx1 within seconds of each other!

Thanks again guys..

As i said... i don't only listen to EDM but i want my DAP to be very good with it as well as other genres. It needs to a great all rounder. 

I would prefer to audition the M (and anything else for that matter) before deciding but here in the most isolated capital city in the world there is no where i can, 

Oh just noticed your are in Perth. Maybe try to see if the Calyx Australian dealer is willing to get a tour going, or send you a loaner with deposit and a small fee for their effort?

 

[yazoo123]

"For those in the know... does this sound like i need an AK 240 ?"
 
That's also what I'm thinking at the moment, especially while reading kkcc's SQ comments

 

[cooperpwc]

  Hey guys thanks for those thoughtful responses.. 
 
I listen to quite a bit of EDM so perhaps this is not for me. My music tastes are very eclectic though so i am looking for that all rounder, I prize clarity and detail, natural timbre, ambience, fast and textured bass and midrange presence with natural treble extension and decay. 
 
For those in the know... does this sound like i need an AK 240 ?

 
It sounds like you need to hears the M yourself.
 
We all do...