[Michgelsen]

I assume that they also run in all units at the factory for a while, to spot any possible defects.

 

[mbgrace]

  I assume that they also run in all units at the factory for a while, to spot any possible defects.

Hi all,
We burn in all products (including the new m9XX) for a *minimum* of 24 hours.  Typical burn in is 48 hours.  Then each unit gets a complete bench test and final inspection. Lastly, before the unit is sent to pack-out, gets a complete listening test.
All of these tests are logged on a check-sheet with the unit's serial number and filed. 
-Michael

 

[yc1204]

Any update regarding M920? I am so tempted to buy this unit, and I use TH900 and MrSpeaker Ether as my main headphones. Gonna use Sony ZX2 with its dock as source to feed to M920 by usb connection. It should be better than usb connect through my laptop.

 

[AudioMan612]

What do you mean by update?  There is plenty of praise to go around in this thread (myself included; I love my m920).  I have not heard the TH900 or Ether's through an m920, so I cannot comment on those pairings, but it has worked well with every headphone I've tried on it.  I have spent extensive time with HD 700's, LCD-X, and LCD-XC's on my m920, and have listened briefly to HD 800's and LCD-3's, and I didn't find any of them to not work well (including the picky HD 800).

 

[Kohe321]

I joined the club! Just ordered a Grace m920 from Thomann, and I really can't wait! Going to use it both as a pre-amp for my two Event Opal monitors as well as a headphone amp. It will be interesting to hear how the sound quality compares to the RME Fireface UC that I use now.
 
Really hope it gets from Germany to Norway in time for Christmas without getting stuck in customs or anything so I can have it under the Christmas tree. Fingers crossed!

 

[ViperGeek]

  I joined the club! Just ordered a Grace m920 from Thomann, and I really can't wait! Going to use it both as a pre-amp for my two Event Opal monitors as well as a headphone amp. It will be interesting to hear how the sound quality compares to the RME Fireface UC that I use now.
 
Really hope it gets from Germany to Norway in time for Christmas without getting stuck in customs or anything so I can have it under the Christmas tree. Fingers crossed!

 
Congratulations Kohe.  I can almost guarantee you will love this magic silver box.  I have never listened to so much music, with so much intensity and enjoyment, prior to taking a chance on the Grace Design m920.  To date, it is my most expensive investment in high fidelity audio, yet remains my #1 best investment as well.
 
Don't forget to play with the various DAC filters (FP = F, S, P) on page 13 of the manual to find your favorite setting.  It ships with FP = F, but I prefer P 90% of the time, and S when I want a smoother tube-like sound, especially with bright headphones.  At first they'll all sound the same, but play something acoustic and really concentrate on the perceived location and separation of the soloist, and you'll notice the difference.
 
- Dave

 

[Kohe321]

   
Congratulations Kohe.  I can almost guarantee you will love this magic silver box.  I have never listened to so much music, with so much intensity and enjoyment, prior to taking a chance on the Grace Design m920.  To date, it is my most expensive investment in high fidelity audio, yet remains my #1 best investment as well.
 
Don't forget to play with the various DAC filters (FP = F, S, P) on page 13 of the manual to find your favorite setting.  It ships with FP = F, but I prefer P 90% of the time, and S when I want a smoother tube-like sound, especially with bright headphones.  At first they'll all sound the same, but play something acoustic and really concentrate on the perceived location and separation of the soloist, and you'll notice the difference.
 
- Dave

Thanks a lot for the congratulations and the tips mate, I'll definitely keep this in mind as I get familiarized with it and start listening. Reading so much great stuff about it is making me very impatient now, haha. It really sounds like this will be the perfect unit for all my music and sound in general (movies, games etc.)
 
By the way, after reading so much praise about Grace Design as a company and their customer service, I have to say that my experience with them so far completely echo this as well. I emailed them with a question and received a courteous and complete answer just four minutes after hitting "send"... It's great to see this kind of "hands on" and involved customer service, it makes you feel valued as a customer which I really appreciate.

 

[sibelius4th]

+1 for Grace's customer service. Great company.

I've had the m920 for about a year. Great dac and headphone amp. I haven't found anything it doesn't do well with. I consider it one of my best buys as well. Enjoy!

 

[Michael T]

The M9XX is an excellent product and I was tempted to pick a second unit. Instead I'd love for Massdrop and Grace Design to launch another M920 drop. I would participate in a heartbeat.

 

[boatheelmusic]

Your wish granted - Grace m920 up again on Massdrop!
 
https://www.massdrop.com/buy/grace-design-m920

 

[sibelius4th]

I considered the m920 a great buy at msrp. The prices available through massdrop are a veritable steal.

 

[Kohe321]

So I just got my M920 two days ago as it did end up getting stuck in the customs over Christmas. Kind of a bummer, but at the same time it did allow me to spend time getting familiar with my new HD650 that I got for Christmas and how it sounds together with my trusty old Fireface UC. Getting some hours of listening time with these two first made for a better foundation for a comparison with the M920 as soon as it arrived a few days later.
 
Wow, let me just get it out of the way straight away - the M920 is incredible, I spent a lot of time doing back and forth A/B testing between it and the Fireface yesterday, tuning them both to the same volume and "jumping" back and forth between them with the headphone jack while playing the same section of a song over again. I am surprised at how noticeable the difference was. The sound from the M920 is clearer and way more resolving, and the soundstage opened up further allowing my mind to "float" deeper into the music and feel more immersed as I listen. I'm hearing layers and depth as well as microdetails in the background of the recordings that I simply didn't notice before, it's incredibly fun.
 
This new level of detail never distracts from the musical picture as a whole though, rather it just adds a natural feeling of realism to it. As detailed as it sounds, the music always remains coherent and, well, musical, and not like it's broken into smaller pieces. I find that on overly analytical and dry sounding systems, the separation of details can sound impressive for about ten minutes, but it gets fatiguing and boring for longer sessions. The M920 has remained extremely pleasant and a joy to listen to for several hours at a time, it simply delivers a very clear and musical presentation that is, for a lack of a better term, very inoffensive - you don't get tired of it.
 
My event opal monitors have never sounded better either, by the way. The same experiences that I had with my headphones apply for the studio monitors as well.
 
I am currently going back and forth between the slow and minimum phase filters (S and P), but so far it seems I am sticking with the slow filter the most. I can hear a difference between both of them, yet is is hard to pinpoint exactly what it is - they both have a slightly sweeter and more musical tone than the fast filter. All three are great though, and it's cool that you can switch between them. The snappy fast filter can for instance work really well with electronic music, but sound a bit constrained with acoustical, while the slow and minimum phase sound absolutely fantastic with everything.
 
Very, very happy with it.

 

[Kohe321]

I am starting to save up for my first TOTL headphone purchase which will be the new Sennheiser HD800S. How do you guys find that the M920 pairs with the "old" HD800 sound signature wise? 
 
The new S version is from what I read a little warmer and less bright sounding than its older sibling, though the differences between them are supposedly so subtle that any experiences you have with the HD800 and M920 together will probably also be quite descriptive for how the HD800S will sound with it. 
 
The M920 just keeps impressing me by the way. I have never enjoyed listening to music this much before, be it through my speakers or headphone. It truly is a fantastic and easy to use unit - easily the best audio purchase I've ever made!

 

[ViperGeek]

I'm glad you continue to enjoy your new magic silver box (m920).  So far, I haven't found a single set of cans that don't play well with it.  At a 5000-ft level, the m920 simply "gets out of the way" and lets the true nature of the headphones shine through.  Several high end headphones were plugged into my m920 at a recent Head-Fi meetup, including HD800's, LCD-3's, and LCD-XC's.  The m920 neither enhanced nor diminished the sound of each set of cans.  The HD800's were bright without being harsh.  The LCD-2's (mine) were deep and reserved without being muddy.
 
There should be no issue with matching any summit-fi headphones to the m920.
 
More experienced ears are welcome and encouraged to confirm/deny/retort.
 
- Dave

 

[AudioMan612]

It pairs quite well the HD 800's from the bit of time I spent with the combination.  I know that the HD 600, 650, 700, and 800 were the main headphones used for testing during development.

It's not a summit-fi amp, and I have certainly heard better with the HD 800's, but it is still a very good pairing.