[lawler]

I have listened to the move and think its a fantastic combo dac and amp. I loved it. Good deal for the money.

 

[rwest1389]

Yeah the crossfeed is interesting on the Move. Agree mostly with your assessment of the soundstage, but it does change with crossfeed. With it on, everything is a little narrower, but, for lack of better description, it does sound more lifelike. I guess, as it is intended, makes the instruments more infront of you and thus less fatiguing. It took some getting used to, but now I find it more enjoyable to listen to, although maybe not as impressive at first listen.

To reinterate what you said oicdn, it is very hard to describe the Move's soundstage, except that I really like it.

 

[itsborken]

I have to get my hands on a Hornet to hear this larger soundstage. As far as the length, I wish the move was a little longer to match up with a 80g yotank. The iPod hangs over it by an inch.

 

[Lenni]

Hi!
can someone comment on the Move paired with IEM's please, preferably from someone who has had some listening. I'm looking for a portable amp for my E500, and since Im in Europe it makes sense (mmm...does it?) - damn this place, I just want to spend and spend!
-thanks in advance

 

[tk3]

Thanks for the review.
Personally I like the way the screws look on the Hornet, but that's just me.

Looking at this review and Skylab's, it looks like Mr. Meier has released an excellent product that is also affordable.

 

[oicdn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lenni /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hi! can someone comment on the Move paired with IEM's please, preferably from someone who has had some listening. I'm looking for a portable amp for my E500, and since Im in Europe it makes sense (mmm...does it?) - damn this place, I just want to spend and spend! -thanks in advance

This whole comparison was done with UM2s...

 

[Romanee]

The Move seems like something to be heard, and great bang for buck -- and DAC thrown in to boot.

A litttle caveat In advance: my questions are from one who has obviously not yet heard the Move, so besides my just wanting clarification, perhaps I'm being a little bit of a devil's advocate for clarification's sake.

Regarding upfront presentation and sound stage, with very close/upfront presentation you generally get, logically, somewhat smaller sound stage, and at least a bit less sound stage depth and dimension. Somewhat like using a telephoto lens, you get the featured object very close and intimate with a narrow window and flattened depth.

If you're at a live concert in the front row -- at least if you got some acoustic (if amplified) instruments -- you hear the close up instruments and voices foremost and the rest of the stage with reduced SPL and spatial volume (though the complete venue's "hall ambience" will likely engulf you), depending on the acoustics and sound engineering of the venue of course.

Aside from the Hornet's presentation being a few rows back (though I always felt that featured voices seem to be near the front of the stage), the Hornet does have very nice imaging and overall sense of dimension.

Similarly to your description of the Move's upfront presentation, the very original (pre-"M") Hornet had a very very closeup, intimate and warm presentation, with narrow/shallow sound space -- and very lush, seductive featured voices -- just as a reference for the closeup vis-a-vis sound space dimension.

If the Move's presentation is more upfront, how can the Hornet's mids and voices be more upfront?

The Move's "warmer" sound would seem to be more colored, especially when the Hornet is somewhat warm to start with, and from my experience warmer coloration would seem to run counter to great transparency and inner detail.

As far as grain goes, that's not something I've heard with my Hornet -- except during it's lengthy "burn in" period, when it was somewhat grainy, especially in the uper mids and HFs -- and that cleared up (in mine) after about 400 hours -- which may be one reason why Mrarroyo asked how much burn in your Hornet had. I was going to ask how much play time the Hornet had, but I just saw the add post that it had roughly 500 or so hours, so that should have been more than enough, so I'm surprised that yours was grainy. I'll have to give mine another, more careful listen to hear if I've been missing something in that regard.

Just curious about your ending point: the Move wins in portability -- even though it looks substantially (not a little) bigger than the Hornet? (…maybe just a slip of fingers/name swap?…)

The Move looks to be a bigger brick than I care to carry, having tried many amps of all sizes. Hornet is about the biggest I care to carry, and usually prefer my Tomahawk for porting.

The Move seems, for my preferences, more suited for transporting in my briefcase for desktop use, if it turns out that it sounds to me to be better than the Hornet, which currently fills that bill.

Regarding the Hornet's screws, it doesn't ruin the esthetics for me but I sure would like an easy-access battery gate like the Move. Many times I've nearly lost the screws, even though I'm pretty adept at handling them. I'd love a quick flip instead of unscrewing and replacing tiny screws, as quick as I've gotten at it.

I don't mind the Move's graphics at all. I like them much better than the Porta Cordas, though Ray's finish and colors are certainly more beautiful.

Ultimately, since both seem very solidly built, it comes down to one's subjective preference of sound quality.

I certainly hope I can get to hear a Move reasonably soon.

[...boy -- talk about babbling! Oy.....]

 

[oicdn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Romanee /img/forum/go_quote.gif If the Move's presentation is more upfront, how can the Hornet's mids and voices be more upfront? [...boy -- talk about babbling! Oy.....]

I dunno...it's kinda hard to explain. It's hard to vacalized and explain, without it sounding too, I dunno...rambling?

Whenever I goto a concert, usually it's a punk or rock concert. I'm almost ALWAYS front row.

The move is like a rock concert, in that it's not as bright sounding as punk rock(Hornet), with screaming and yelling(can't think of any other way to give a "brief" representation).

Even if you play in the same venue, with the same equipment and sound settings, when you listen to rock, there seems to be more imaging because the vocals aren't as "in your face", they're a little less aggressive. With the punk, all the screaming, it's a little louder (he's screaming, not singing), so it's seems like he's more in your face, and you feel a little more upfront, even if you are a couple rows back.

I dunno if that makes sense to anybody else but me, lol.

There was ONE song I listened to ALOT recenetly with both amps.
Pepper - Zicky's Song
The song had an addictive punchy bass line. And it also let you see how silent the amps were cause there was nothing but bassline playing like "badda bum bum---------badda bum bum" I will tell you, there's a VERY slight hiss on the hornet...mrarroyo also heard FAINT hiss on all his RSA amps. So I'm not alone. but the main difference between the two on that song, because theres no other instrument lines to clutter it up, was the snare drum playing in the background. On the hornet, it was a LITTLE more apparent and SLIGHTLY more foreward. Sounded SLIGHTLY crisper and a little more "real". Noticeable, but probably not the case if I wasn't A-B'ing the crap out of them back to back....

As far as portability, I may have to change my review a little, I'm kinda unsure at this point. After living with a hornet for two weeks, it was nicer carrying something smaller/lighter. But from another point of view, I was still holding it in my hand, or setting it on the desk or in my lap, so it wasn't really a nuisance in any other way except from the fact it being a little heavier and slightly bigger.

I don't think it's outrageously larger, but it definitly is noticeably heavier. The pics on the 1st page really do give you an accurate view of thier sizes in relation to eachother. The Hornet/Nano combo is great and compact, as they're about the same width. Do I think the gain in size is worth the SQ difference? Absolutely. I think it's worth carrying around a LITTLE extra to gain bigger bass and punchier sound, but that's just me. Those who carry things in thier pocket, the Hornet would be a better choice since it's smaller and noticeably lighter. I would say, MAYBE (with a very big emphasis on maybe) 1/2 the weight of the Move. Otherwise, if you're carrying in a bag, or in your hand, you can't go wrong with either.

Wow...more babbeling, lol.

 

[Chrispy]

Man, this review makes the move sound awesome. I was looking heavily at the Fubar III but might have to think harder on this.

 

[jamato8]

Ray does such an excellent job on design and the cases. I like the red.

Good review. So much work is appreciated.

 

[jplacson]

Hi everyone...newbie here. I read somewhere that the Xin amps have slightly more bass than the Corda amps. Has anyone tried comparing the XIn amps to the new Move and rate the bass response? Thanks!

 

[mrarroyo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jplacson /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hi everyone...newbie here. I read somewhere that the Xin amps have slightly more bass than the Corda amps. Has anyone tried comparing the XIn amps to the new Move and rate the bass response? Thanks!

See: http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=252667

 

[Caribou679]

Thanks for the review!

I read that the Hornet was more a classical music type amp in comparison with his brother the Tomahawk.

What about the Move?