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@DizzyRaider, have you been able to spend enough "quality time" with your new found friend to offer up a more detailed review?
Hahaha, I have spent around 30 some hours with it and it's all with smiles. Not sure if it's burned in yet, but I thought it sounded pretty darn good right out of the box. I haven't had the time to listen to my (now my brother's
) SolderMonkey's upgraded Mini^3. I have been doing most my listening at night before going to sleep since I've been pretty busy the past few weeks. When I do get a chance to do the comparison with the Mini^3 and possibly the now extinct mSeed Labs Spirit amp, I'll be sure to post something up. Because quite frankly without a comparison with another amp, all I can really say is how well this amp sounds (which is pretty much everything).
Sound Impressions
The amp provides plenty of current (likely due to the powerful AD8397) to make my Grado happy. The highs aren't bright, but nice and clean, while the same thing can also be use to describe the lower frequencies. The bass isn't exaggerated nor is it bloated, it is just clean with impact.
There isn't much to say about the mid besides that is sounds lush and full, very satisfying.
I find the sound stage to be excellent and the clarity is also outstanding.
The above were my thoughts on the amp with bass set at 0
For good volume with the Grado and Ultrasone, the pot is turned about 3/4 with the gain set to 1 (keep in mind that Cowon S9 as a source isn't as loud as your typical line out and was set at 32/40 ). With gain set to 2, good volume is achieved at about 1/3 to 1/2.
With the bass set to 1, the lower frequencies are boosted by quite a bit. Listening to The Temper Trap's Sweet Disposition, the kick drum sounds like its just behind the other instruments (clean sounding btw). With bass set to 1, the kick drum sounds like it's right next to your ear sounding nice and deep. With bass set to 2, my Grado's will start to rattle because the bass is just too powerful.
With Kanye's Love Lockdown, you can definitely feel the bass even with the setting at 0, once again the bass become too strong for my Grado, but this time 1 will cause a slight rattle and 2 sounds like its going to blow the drivers. But then again, the song Love Lockdown is incredibly bassy to begin with. Overall, I love being able to turn up the bass whenever I encounter a song that I think lacks bass. As dfkt's review mentioned, the 9db boost is "noticeable" (bass boost 1), while I would describe the 9db+9db bass boost as "holy crap!" (bass boost 2)
I'm not sure how to describe crossfeed feature as I never had an amp with this function before. The soundstage sounds the widest with the function off and more intimate as more crossfeed that you get. A fun feature to play with. You can get more detail and better understanding of this feature by reading dkft's comprehensive review of the Gen1 Arrow.
Almost forgot to mention the battery life. This amp's battery life is incredibly impressive. I have already had to recharge my S9 3 times while the Arrow is still not in need of a recharge. Quite frankly, I'm starting to think this thing is solar powered and charges itself during the day... just incredible.
My S9 strapped to the Arrow G2.2
A side by side look
A thickness comparison
and finally, the setup
*Updated with pics
!! Oh well I can bare the wait. I was planning to pair it up with the Sennheiser HD650 due to the reviews in this thread, but Amazon recently rose the price up $50 because of Christmas.[/size]
