[techboy]

How does Asus E1 Muses amp compare to the amp in Burson Soloist? I know that the dac is a lot better in the Muses. But how do the units compare, overall, to each other? Assuming no external dac/amp is used. And how does it compare to Woo Audio WA7? Also, how does the amp section compare to amps like CK2III or M3?
 
Thank You so much
 
Aakshey

 

[Gandah]

  How does Asus E1 Muses amp compare to the amp in Burson Soloist? I know that the dac is a lot better in the Muses. But how do the units compare, overall, to each other? Assuming no external dac/amp is used. And how does it compare to Woo Audio WA7? Also, how does the amp section compare to amps like CK2III or M3?
 
Thank You so much
 
Aakshey

No prob's mate,
 
I no longer own the E1 muses because of the infamous B10 volume potentiometer, which had a pretty bad channel imbalance on my unit, and is the only reason why I don't have the E1 anymore....unfortunately I'm not alone with this channel imbalance problem, which is a real hit & miss when buying a standard edition, not so the pre-loaded muses edition, which corrects this problem with the new A10 potentiometer.
 
However, with this in mind I will answer your question, If we are just talking "SQ alone" E1 muses to "my ears" is the best dac/amp combo I've heard under 2k which means you won't have to pay 2k, but you will have to pay over 2k for a better sounding dac/amp, other dac/amp combo's I've auditioned that I didn't think had better SQ over E1 muses were Fostex HP-A8C, Grace M309, and Burson HA-160d
 
Sorry I can't comment on the Burson Soloist, WA7, CK2III or M3 because I've never auditioned them. The amp I use is HeadAmp's GS-X mk2 which is regarded as the most neutral, transparent HP amp around, so I've never really looked or auditioned any other HP amp
 
Burson has a good reputation on head-fi I would say the Soloist is a great amp from what I've read, and if you get a chance to auditioned before you decide to buy, do so, maybe at a local head-fi meet or a retailer who has a demo model on offer
 
Good luck.... and let us know how you go

 
Cheers
~Steve

 

[PanzerIV]

I did benefit a little SQ improvement pairing E1 muses too hometheater amp speakers, I agree with Manko it really depends on a number of things, eg:- the dac on my Sony TV isn't as good as the dac out of my HDX-1000 Networked media tank, or Apple TV, but putting them through the E1 muses gave better SQ, 2 channel only of course
 
However, I've come to learn this also depends a lot on what your dac was ultimately design for, E1 muses excels more with headphones rather then speakers, and my Femto dac is the other way round
.......
However, with this in mind I will answer your question, If we are just talking "SQ alone" E1 muses to "my ears" is the best dac/amp combo I've heard under 2k which means you won't have to pay 2k, but you will have to pay over 2k for a better sounding dac/amp, other dac/amp combo's I've auditioned that I didn't think had better SQ over E1 muses were Fostex HP-A8C, Grace M309, and Burson HA-160d

@TheManko So if I get it right after reading all these pages, this is the best price/quality ratio Dac/Amp you can buy as you'll need to spend over 2000$ to get better sound through headphones... but the question remains about it being paired on loudspeakers. I sure do care about headphone quality but I mostly listen through speakers which is why I ask the question. At this price is there a big advantage to get the Essence One over the best "~200$" PCI-E soundcard as I'm of course comparing the E1's DAC to high-end computer cards, not the crap found in most receiver

Also, what about the "8x Symetrical Upscaling", is it just a marketing gimmick or it really do help to enhance most of the 320kbps MP3 files?

 

[Gandah]

 
@TheManko So if I get it right after reading all these pages, this is the best price/quality ratio Dac/Amp you can buy as you'll need to spend over 2000$ to get better sound through headphones... but the question remains about it being paired on loudspeakers. I sure do care about headphone quality but I mostly listen through speakers which is why I ask the question. At this price is there a big advantage to get the Essence One over the best "~200$" PCI-E soundcard as I'm of course comparing the E1's DAC to high-end computer cards, not the crap found in most receiver

Also, what about the "8x Symetrical Upscaling", is it just a marketing gimmick or it really do help to enhance most of the 320kbps MP3 files?

If your finding someone to agree with what I hear you may not get the answer you want, this is my view of the E1 muses and is not at all set in concrete

 

[dynamics]

Asus Essence One Muses is the best DAC I've ever heard and I've tried higher priced ones and many others.
 
Most of the other "highend" DACs when compared to the Asus Essence Muses, you see how badly overpriced they are and such rip offs.
 
In fact if there is a company I would trust to get things done right and for a reasonable price it's Asus, because they are a large company and they can afford to pay some of the best engineers around.  Usually a lot of the smaller so called "audiophile" companies are the ones that put out garbage.
 
There are plenty of DACs around that have maybe $200 or less worth of electronics in there and sell for several thousand dollars.

 

[Gandah]

  Asus Essence One Muses is the best DAC I've ever heard and I've tried higher priced ones and many others.
 
Most of the other "highend" DACs when compared to the Asus Essence Muses, you see how badly overpriced they are and such rip offs.
 
In fact if there is a company I would trust to get things done right and for a reasonable price it's Asus, because they are a large company and they can afford to pay some of the best engineers around.  Usually a lot of the smaller so called "audiophile" companies are the ones that put out garbage.
 
There are plenty of DACs around that have maybe $200 or less worth of electronics in there and sell for several thousand dollars.

+1..... I'm really excited about the E3 dac coming out, I may even end up selling the Femto depending on how it sounds in comparison. If SQ of the E1 Muses is to go by, the E3 hopefully will be even better
 
Don't get me wrong I'm not unhappy with the Calyx Femto, not at all, it really sounds amazing through Loud-Speakers, like nothing I've ever heard before, however through my headphone rig the harshness of the top-end is very revealing but annoying at the same time

 

[dclaz]

   
I'm not sure what that means. FWIW, when I had the old unit I did not notice any channel imbalance. I think this issue has been blown out of proportion.

 
Were you listening through headphones or the line out with speakers? Are both outputs affected?

 

[shyamelge]

I am getting LME 49720HA (rounded top). There are total 11 op amps in E1. Should I get 11 of these or less? If less, then recommend which section opamps to be replaced.
 
I can get 11 of these if it makes sense. All at my own risk.
 
Your advise please. 

 

[bibo01]

For all those who asked the price of the Essence 3:
 
The device was recently officially presented in Italy and the suggested reatil price is 1.699,90 Euro (VAT included).
This is for Europe. However, normally for the US market you may have the same figure in US$.

 

[shyamelge]

Since I won't be using XLR outputs, I see no need to swap its opamp.
 
Is it OK if I only swap stock 4562 with 49720HA (metal caps) for RCA ouputs? Meaning swapping only one op amp in this section.
 
Or do I have to swap all the 3 op amps of the same type (2 for XLR and 1 for RCA)?

 

[daws0n]

I only swapped the rca opamp since xlrs are not used.. No problems at all here!

 

[PanzerIV]

  For all those who asked the price of the Essence 3:
 
The device was recently officially presented in Italy and the suggested reatil price is 1.699,90 Euro (VAT included).
This is for Europe. However, normally for the US market you may have the same figure in US$.

Wow... seriously, *****in 1700$US!!! That is really ridiculously way overpriced. I really doubt it's gonna sound 3x better than the Essence 1 so to pay as much as 300% just for about 15-20% enhancement, that's a lot asked. They should offer a version without XLR for all the people who won't ever be using these and don't want to pay a few hundred bucks more for it. I expected about 1000$, 1200$ at most... now I think I'll just forget about it if it has to be the same price of my loudspeakers just for a damn DAC.

 

[palmfish]

I expected about 1000$, 1200$ at most... now I think I'll just forget about it if it has to be the same price of my loudspeakers just for a damn DAC.

Uh...really?

The E1 Muses Ed. is $1000.

 

[dclaz]

  Wow... seriously, *****in 1700$US!!! That is really ridiculously way overpriced. I really doubt it's gonna sound 3x better than the Essence 1 so to pay as much as 300% just for about 15-20% enhancement, that's a lot asked. They should offer a version without XLR for all the people who won't ever be using these and don't want to pay a few hundred bucks more for it. I expected about 1000$, 1200$ at most... now I think I'll just forget about it if it has to be the same price of my loudspeakers just for a damn DAC.

it needs to be compared with other high end DSD capable dacs. I'm sure it offers more features and comparable performance to DACS and headphone amps worth more than $2k
 
It's all relative. Everything is going to be considered (or perhaps even is) overpriced compared to thinks like the ODAC/O2 etc if you don't need DSD or balanced output.

 

[Gandah]

Going by the information on offer, the new Asus E3 dac does look promising, and if it lives up to the hype its receiving $1.699 will be a bargain. The E1 standard edition isn't a high-end dac at all and has many faults which you can easily find in this thread, however when adding muses, ONLY the sound quality is improved and nothing else, Muses Edition on the other hand has slight improvements other than the pro-loaded muses.
 
So if E1 standard = $500,  E1 muses = $1200, The new E3 dac if living up to it's promises is definitely worth the assumed asking price for sure