Just a quick few words about this amp. I've never really been impressed with amps/dacs in the past that much. Too big, bulky, noisy and very often faulty. This ones quite good though. Plus i've had it for a week so my impressions are set.
Why i bought the m stage
- Dimensions: I could just about make a rig with this amp and a hrt streamer that would fit on my desk AND allow just about enough room for reading/studying with a4 sized papers! I know, very tiight space here, but the 11cm width of the m stage meant i could put this thing sideways and it'll fit.
-DAC: finally they put in a dac. I don't use this dac it for music listening, but when watching tv shows from the pc you really need a lowly resolving dac (with decent headphones). Very convenient.
-k701/ denon d7k: It's meant to be good with these phones. I haven't got the k701 but i have the k550 so i though it'd be good for it.
-Bad alternatives: Alternatives are usually not dimensionally friendly with me. The nfb 12 is okay. I've got the fiio's and they are as reliable as one could want. Some furutech I was looking at has bad usb noises- as does apparently the burson 160ds. There is the o2 (usa to uk shipping on electronic goods absolutely kills it. Massive vat/customs/duties/holding fees. Legal robbery that makes illegal robbers jealous). There are other smaller amps, ibasso's and what not. I've dipped into this market a bit and have come out -£500. Not impressed with the amplification performances with these small devices. Nuforce hdp is a badly made product in my experience. Buying of registered dealers, this thing failed me a few times. A few others, like arcam and i can't remember had similar flaws. Literally just a waste of money and time.
How i bought the m stage
Tam audio with class a opamp mod. Delivered to the uk literally within 8 days!! Fast and great serivice. I think this is relevant to point out in it's own section as I didn't expect this much of a fast shipment from these guys.
Dac: HRT music streamer II
-SQ: Some reviewer (think it's chicolom) reviewed this against the fiio e10 and in built matrix m stage dac. I have to say that i've lightly tested them amongst each other and I fully agree with what chicolom says. I'd say though that the hrt streamer 2 beats the fiio e10 by a bigger margin than what was said in that review. Really great little thing. It vastly improves the fiio e10/e9 setup when replacing the e10 as a dac. Awesome dac. This is true with all headphones. However, the fiio e9 wasn't great with the denon d7k, so I wanted something else.
- Problems + setup. I had something from hrt before and i had problems so got rid of it. I got this slightly cheaper, so if i was to have similar problems- i won't really care. Well documented these problems are that mainly relate to popping noises from foobar playback:
FOOBAR + WASAPI (NO, NO)
FOOBAR + ASIO (NO, YES)
J RIVER + WASAP (YES, NO)
J RIVER + ASIO (YES, YES) !!!!
So you see, j river plus asio is the only thing that works on this. Plus i recommend, as a headfier on one of the hrt problems thread suggested, to use a powered external usb hub. I use the exact one he recommended ('dlink 4 port' something something...??) and get absolutely no problems at all. I'm even using a crappy netbook, with the usb hub connected to it via a 5m shielded usb a-b cable. I then only just have to use a 30cm belkin usb cable out of the hrt streamer into the hub. Half decent (£15) rca 50cm cables from the hrt to the m stage, and your done. I'm not advocating high performance cables here- i'm just saying avoid the cheapest ones you could find as these often have problems not related to hifi that you don't want to get stuck into.
M stage and hrt streamer II paring, Headohones:
As of yet i've only tried the ones below and the denon d2k.
AKG k550
YEA!! Nice. It obliterates the nfb 12. Just a complete improvement, taking this headphone past the d2k easily. For trance (e.g avb 'a state of trance 200X mixes') and classical (e.g brandenburg concertos), the k550 easily sounds better than the d7k. Just so much faster with better attack and decay. There's obviously more a sense of air too which is vital for this music. Great sound
You've quite a lot more bass, controlled highs and most of all the soundstage becomes more full. More surrounding and enveloping.
I't doesn't change my impression of the akg. As i said it improves definitely with amping- why wouldn't it??
Please- akg k550 flamers stay away. I can't be bothered with you any more!!
Most headfiers hate this phone, I know. So I can never and will never recommend it to anyone. So for all practical purposes- this is an awful phone- stay away....
Denon d7000
I wasn't impressed that much by the fiio e9 with this. It didn't sound good with the e9 (even with the hrt as the dac. It's a massive improvement coming from the e9 to this with the denon's. That's not to say that the denon's benefit from amping- it's probably that the e9 isn't a good match. The e9 was decent enough for the k550 for example..
Anyway, it is great with this as people have mentioned. It really pulls way way ahead of the d2k here. Lets say that in terms of sound quality:
from an unamped mp3 player d2k = 2 points d7k = 3 points
fiio e10, e9 d2k = 3 points d7k = 7 points
hrt, e9 d2k = 5 points d7k = 14 points
hrt, m stage d2k = 7 points d7k = 25 points
Something like that. Don't be offended at how i've been able to use numbers to pinpoint the permanently abstract and subjective concept of sound quality, 'cos i haven't pinpointed anything. It's just very loose to illustrate the point.
Of course i prefer this headphone to the k550 overall, but not in trance and classical. Actually it's interesting that i read the d7k performs WILDLY good with a few albums. Some kind of weird match, i don't know.
I have to say that I found this out for myself- by complete accident really. Randomly I played mike oldfields 'the song of distant earth' and it was awesome. I mean the last track, ascension, I think it's called, was completely brilliant. Probably the most wowing experience i've ever had on headfi- and i'm not the one who has these types of feelings all the time. Very Rarely in fact. I think the last time (also the first time) was when I upgraded from the senn cx300 to the shure se310 (using cowon bbe equalisers). 3 years ago.
M stage problems??
- Volume knob.
It's not my settings but i can barely tell the difference between 0db gain and say 18db, in that i have to turn the volume know pretty much to the same position each time (4 oclock). Mind you when at the 'off position' it's at 1 oclock so i've got to be very careful when adjusting the volume- slightly this way or that way changes the volume too radically for my liking.
- Heat
If i play music for 6 hours continuously, this thing is too hot to touch. If i put my hand on it for 5 seconds, after the 6th i have to take it off. It's almost like a hob that you've switched off 2 miniutes ago. Normal????
The nfb 12 gets hot too- but not this much.
Nothings wrong with my power or anything.
But yea, the reason why i mention this is two fold:
Firstly, this changes the sound slightly. There's an easily detectable change in sibilance with the d7k from using it at the start of the day (cold surface) to what it sounds like at the end of the day (very hot surface). What i'm talking about applied strongly at the first listening session with the matrix (last week), but it still applies allbeit a bit less.
Secondly- fire hazard. I know that there's not that much flammable material near where you guys place your amps, but this warning holds. If i leave it on for a day, with written papers over it- they'll probably catch fire. Just keep tissue boxes away and remember to switch it off after use.
That's it really. I tried to knock this mini review up as fast as i can- exam period coming soon!!
