SearchOfSub
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Aug 28, 2013
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So is the C510 a repackaged M51?
do they sound the same?I happened to buy an M51 a couple days before I heard about the C510. So I purchased a C510 to compare with it and my Havana. I'm still in my trial period so I can return either one or both. I'm listening to the C510 right now, but I'll reserve judgement for a few days. I have had the M51 for a week and a half and can say I prefer it over my lightly modded Havana. For the C510 it is lighter than the M51 and has white instead of blue text, you can also completely turn the display off which I like. The M51 remote also works with C510.
Well the C510 went back in the box today. It isn't bad, the M51 is just better. I only wish the M51's display turned off like C510. I paid $1759 for my demo M51 and it is worth the extra $460 over the C510 or easily the $200 for the Spearit Sound refurbs in my opinion.
I did most of my listening direct to amp using the units as a preamplifier at between -15 and -30 dB. I couldn't tell much of a difference through my entry level headphones, but through the speakers the M51 produced a large stereo image that made the speakers disappear. With the C510 all the detail was there but it was a smaller, less full image that was lacking a little energy in the first octave. The C510's detail seemed to be locked relative to the speaker locations, while the M51's detail was relative to the other details in the wonderful musical space it created. The M51 also had more of the "smooth/analog" sound that I love in the Havana DAC, but with much better detail and soundstage. Having used my Squeezebox Touch for volume control I hadn't realized the compression in dynamic range that was happening below 90 on the Touch volume. On a few familiar recordings it felt like someone was turning up and down the volume on me, so much so I had to pull out my Radio Shack SPL meter to confirm that this new unusual thing was the dynamic range I had been missing. Happy listening.