[silverfishla]

I’m personally excited by the M11 Pro announcement. Had my checkbook out when I heard they were making the THX module, but disappointed when they said they were not developing a dap for it. Made me even ponder buying the new Q5S amp/DAC just to get the THX in small form. In the end, I bought the Monoprice THX portable DAC/amp, and it has been an absolute blast. The power, the transparency is just great. I hope that will transfer to the new M11. THX amp design is nice.

 

[lesale08]

If it’s out in November, then it’s still a long wait.

 

[gLer]

I’m personally excited by the M11 Pro announcement. Had my checkbook out when I heard they were making the THX module, but disappointed when they said they were not developing a dap for it. Made me even ponder buying the new Q5S amp/DAC just to get the THX in small form. In the end, I bought the Monoprice THX portable DAC/amp, and it has been an absolute blast. The power, the transparency is just great. I hope that will transfer to the new M11. THX amp design is nice.

I’m very curious about THX tech myself, having never heard it personally. From reviews of the 789, I’m worried it could be too much of a good thing with brighter IEMs like the FH7. You certainly don’t want any extra brightness coming through on that sort of IEM!

 

[silverfishla]

I’m very curious about THX tech myself, having never heard it personally. From reviews of the 789, I’m worried it could be too much of a good thing with brighter IEMs like the FH7. You certainly don’t want any extra brightness coming through on that sort of IEM!

My take on it (the Monoprice THX portable) it’s full bodied, open and realistic sounding. Seems to be no sense of “pushing” and clean from top to bottom.
I mean that Monoprice amp can drive my Dekoni Blue Planar with ease but more importantly with oomph. If that is how the new M11 handles the Thx side, that will change the game as far as what a Dap can offer at the price range. All with the caveat of needing LESS power to drive it.

 

[gLer]

My take on it (the Monoprice THX portable) it’s full bodied, open and realistic sounding. Seems to be no sense of “pushing” and clean from top to bottom.
I mean that Monoprice amp can drive my Dekoni Blue Planar with ease but more importantly with oomph. If that is how the new M11 handles the Thx side, that will change the game as far as what a Dap can offer at the price range. All with the caveat of needing LESS power to drive it.

If they can pull it off for less than $650 I’ll be very interested indeed. 700+ and the M11 is just too good value-wise.

Edit: this from a review of the desktop THX 789 amp, and is a common observation of this amp. Not saying the M11 Pro will take on any of these traits, and will also obviously be far less powerful than the desktop amp, but it's still something I'll be looking at closely once the Pro is available, especially since I've now shifted almost entirely to more neutral headphones/IEMs, and I'm a soundstage junkie:

"While the soundstage has good width and height, it lacks in depth and layering compared to my lyr 3; instrument separation is still good, but sometimes it can sound a bit flat. Also, while I feel the amp is neutral, it does sometimes sound bright on brighter recordings, and this can make the amp sound fatiguing when listening at louder volumes in extended durations. Warmer/darker headphones will synergize well with this amp on all recordings, but more neutral/brighter headphones may sound harsh and even sibilant at times."

 

[studiorat67]

What does THX mean to us..... Honestly guys don't believe all the Hype..... THX was designed solely for Cinema and Multi speaker Systems Like a home surround System, I'm a 30 Year audio engineer and have been mixing through THX decoders for Years and I see no Benefits for the Stereo Headphone World..... Dolby Atmos However is a technology worth the Hype, Maybe someone can enlighten me on THX for Stereo Headphones

 

[studiorat67]

Directly From THX!!!!

Can I use THX on music players
We don’t recommend THX processing for music-only sources of any kind. THX was specifically developed (and works very well with) movie soundtracks. Enjoy its capabilities there and let the music take care of itself!
Here’s the story. .

THX circuitry operates only when you’ve already selected Dolby Pro Logic or Dolby Digital processing. As you know, these Dolby-developed multi-channel techniques contain very precise directional clues so that a decoder will correctly place certain sounds in the center, in the rear, etc. If your source was not recorded specifically for Dolby playback and you use a Dolby decoder anyway, there’s almost no chance of hearing what the artist intended you to hear. So why bother? And, as we’ve said, you can’t use THX if you’re not already using Dolby processing.

But what about music CDs recorded specifically for Dolby playback? Even here, THX may not be desirable. Remember that THX Re-Equalization®, an essential part of THX processing, is designed to reduce front channel high frequency response to make movie soundtracks more listenable. But if the music on a Dolby-encoded disc was recorded without a movie soundtrack’s emphasized high frequency content, THX processing will make it sound comparatively dull. Not an ideal situation, is it?

Two further notes:

There’s a big difference between a movie soundtrack and a CD containing music from that same soundtrack. Although THX may enhance your enjoyment of the soundtrack itself, it won’t (for reasons we’ve already outlined) help you much with the music CD.

Made-for-TV movies, even those with a Dolby Surround soundtrack, usually don’t have the emphasized high frequency content typical of films intended for theatrical release. So THX processing will probably diminish high frequency content by an unacceptable degree. On the other hand, most theatrically-released movies, even when they’re shown on TV, might well benefit from THX playback. You’ll have to make this call yourself but if you know that a particular movie is being broadcast with a surround audio signal, give THX a try.

This is From THX Engineering Directly

 

[Ojisan]

What does THX mean to us..... Honestly guys don't believe all the Hype..... THX was designed solely for Cinema and Multi speaker Systems Like a home surround System, I'm a 30 Year audio engineer and have been mixing through THX decoders for Years and I see no Benefits for the Stereo Headphone World..... Dolby Atmos However is a technology worth the Hype, Maybe someone can enlighten me on THX for Stereo Headphones

You are referring to THX (the company) cinema technology which is often called just "THX". The THX technology here is a different one by THX called AAA, linear amplification technology.

https://www.thx.com/mobile/aaa/

I have not heard any THX AAA based amps and curiously watching the M11 Pro based on my experience with M11.

 

[gLer]

What does THX mean to us..... Honestly guys don't believe all the Hype..... THX was designed solely for Cinema and Multi speaker Systems Like a home surround System, I'm a 30 Year audio engineer and have been mixing through THX decoders for Years and I see no Benefits for the Stereo Headphone World..... Dolby Atmos However is a technology worth the Hype, Maybe someone can enlighten me on THX for Stereo Headphones

Yeah, wrong THX tech. AAA is designed specifically for headphones and car audio, with the main aim of reducing noise at higher power output. That said, the M11’s custom OPA926 amps are also designed for very low noise/distortion at high power, so the differences in practice between the two may not be as big as everyone expects.

 

[Nayparm]

Yeah, wrong THX tech. AAA is designed specifically for headphones and car audio, with the main aim of reducing noise at higher power output. That said, the M11’s custom OPA926 amps are also designed for very low noise/distortion at high power, so the differences in practice between the two may not be as big as everyone expects.

Anyone got any specs on the OPA926 before I replace them with OPA1622

 

[gLer]

Anyone got any specs on the OPA926 before I replace them with OPA1622

Been searching myself, can’t find any. I would think they’re better than the 1622 though. The M9 uses the 1622 and they’re fairly underpowered by comparison. Why are you switching them up?

 

[LamerDeluxe (tm)]

I recently bought the THX AAA AM3D amp module for my X7mkII and the difference in sound quality to my AM3A wasn't even subtle.

The first thing I noticed (hot swapping with the AM3A) was more sub bass, very nice sounding. And then detail, clarity, instrument separation and soundstage, very nice sharp attacks, it all improved noticeably. Songs I didn't really care about suddenly sounded impressive.

So the M11Pro sounds very interesting as well to me (from the specs I would expect it to sound even better than the X7II), though if there is to be another flagship player (preferably with amp modules, as that turned out to be a great idea now), I would prefer that.

 

[Nayparm]

Been searching myself, can’t find any. I would think they’re better than the 1622 though. The M9 uses the 1622 and they’re fairly underpowered by comparison. Why are you switching them up?

Yeah, thats why i was looking for specs, i believe the 1622 may be better in everything except power. I've swapped one in place of an AD8397 in another project with a fair bit better quality but less power. I may look at designing a parallel circuit. I think AD8397s in place of the OPA926s would be a little increased power and a little decrease in quality.

 

[silverfishla]

Signal to noise ratio is very low on the THX amp tech. But the complete M11 Pro is something to look at. It has a THX (which requires less power to drive) a bigger battery, and more internal RAM. Which means, more power to drive the RAM and less to drive the amp. Which either/or both might translate to way faster speed and better operation and/or longer battery life.

 

[sperandeo]

I purchased the M11 about 2 weeks ago. I also purchased the Monolith THX AAA portable amp and strapped them to each other. This combo is the best sounding portable setup I've ever heard. Fiio has now decided to marry the two together.
Will the M11 pro with the THX AAA amp chips be as good as the Monolith THX AAA amp which is as big as the M11?