I received my Master 9 this morning, and have spent the last 4 hours listening to it. 2 hours with the Abyss Phi, 2 hours with the Focal Utopia. These are very early impressions, the kind that hit you right away, not the subtle things you notice over time. I like these impressions as it usually gives me the main idea of a piece of gear, and whether or not I will enjoy it over time or not. This amp is replacing my Wells Audio Headtrip as I wanted to downsize price wise (not physically) and move to a more neutral amp. I bought this amp used, so it has a good amount of hours on it.
The first impression off the bat is the Master 9 is big, and heavy! Build quality seems to be really good. Utilitarian and simple, but well put together. It runs fairly hot, but not overly so compared to a few other amps.
My initial thought is this amp has pretty darn good transparency and is very detailed. I’ve tried running it with my iDSD Black Label as the DAC, and my PS Audio PWD mk2, and it was very easy to pick out the differences between the two. The Master 9 also seems to be a very punchy amp, accentuating the qualities of the already punchy and dynamic Utopia and Abyss Phi.
The Master 9 does not seem veiled, or flat and boring in any way. It also doesn’t strike me as a warm amp, which is a nice change from the Wells Audio Headtrip, which is definitely a warmer amp. The treble doesn’t seem to be sibilant or harsh so far, but I need more listening time with it to really comment here.
I’m impressed and happy so far with the Master 9. I think I have achieved my goal of an amp that is cheaper than the Headtrip, but also more neutral and transparent. Between the PWDmk2 and Master 9, combined with the Abyss Phi and Utopia, I’m hearing tiny details I haven’t heard before.
I’d really like to compare this amp to the Schiit Ragnarok, as that seems to be its natural competitor. Maybe in the future I will get a chance
