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New Grace Design m920 DAC/amp with DSD decoding
Jan 7, 2016 at 4:20 PM Post #436 of 677
Been wondering about a couple of things. Does anybody know why Grace chose to go with 1.2 ohm headphone output impedance on the m920 (1.35 according to Golden Ears) instead of going 'near zero' like many do. Surely Grace have the expertise required and more, so there must have been sth else on their mind. Heck even their newer and less expensive m9XX has 0.08 ohms. 
On a different note, since Grace came up with a cool black version of m905, I've been thinking aren't they going to offer an all black (killer) m920 version 
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Jan 7, 2016 at 8:00 PM Post #437 of 677
I'm guessing that it's because the m920 was mainly designed as a piece of studio gear, where you won't really see people using IEM's for monitoring.  That said, Grace mentions that the m920 was designed to work well with low impedance headphones.  I've run a pair of LCD-X's with my m920, and never had any complaints.
 
Jan 8, 2016 at 11:30 AM Post #442 of 677
Anyone have both the m920 and m9XX? I'm finding the m9XX actually sounding better in some things than the m920. However, in subtle ways, the m920 just feels better (I don't know if that's just my bias towards having spent $1000 more on the m920).
 
Jan 8, 2016 at 2:08 PM Post #443 of 677
elcapitan said:
  Anyone have both the m920 and m9XX? I'm finding the m9XX actually sounding better in some things than the m920. However, in subtle ways, the m920 just feels better (I don't know if that's just my bias towards having spent $1000 more on the m920).
Click to expand...

 
I have both the m920 and m9XX and consider the m920 to be the center of my audiophile setup while my m9XX makes me smile in the office (or home office).  Initially, when I received the m9XX I did a little bit of A/B comparison and came to the conclusion that, in general, the m9XX gave ~90% of the performance of the m920, using my equipment with my not-so-classically-trained ears.  Ignoring the multitude of additional features on the m920 (balanced out, additional inputs, etc.), I've found the DAC on the m920 to be a bit more refined and "mature" (if that's a thing).  The m9XX is outstanding, especially for the price, but comparing them side-by-side due to the various digital filter settings (F, S, P, vs. F1, F2, F3, F4), chipsets, output impedance, etc., is difficult.  Having said that, it's completely possible a certain combination of settings, headphones, and ears could prefer the m9XX over the m920, but in general, I'd say the m920 is the well-deserved bigger brother.
 
I brought both Grace boxes to a recent Head-Fi meetup and a more advanced golden eared reviewer had this to say:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/790185/nashua-new-hampshire-meet-decemeber-5th-2015-impressions#post_12138677
 
TL;DR: You can't go wrong with either Grace Design DAC/amp, but for the centerpiece of a high-end, ever-expanding headphone "man cave", the m920 is my favorite.
 
Jan 8, 2016 at 2:46 PM Post #444 of 677
vipergeek said:
   
I have both the m920 and m9XX and consider the m920 to be the center of my audiophile setup while my m9XX makes me smile in the office (or home office).  Initially, when I received the m9XX I did a little bit of A/B comparison and came to the conclusion that, in general, the m9XX gave ~90% of the performance of the m920, using my equipment with my not-so-classically-trained ears.  Ignoring the multitude of additional features on the m920 (balanced out, additional inputs, etc.), I've found the DAC on the m920 to be a bit more refined and "mature" (if that's a thing).  The m9XX is outstanding, especially for the price, but comparing them side-by-side due to the various digital filter settings (F, S, P, vs. F1, F2, F3, F4), chipsets, output impedance, etc., is difficult.  Having said that, it's completely possible a certain combination of settings, headphones, and ears could prefer the m9XX over the m920, but in general, I'd say the m920 is the well-deserved bigger brother.
 
I brought both Grace boxes to a recent Head-Fi meetup and a more advanced golden eared reviewer had this to say:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/790185/nashua-new-hampshire-meet-decemeber-5th-2015-impressions#post_12138677
 
TL;DR: You can't go wrong with either Grace Design DAC/amp, but for the centerpiece of a high-end, ever-expanding headphone "man cave", the m920 is my favorite.
Click to expand...

I feel the same way. The m9XX sounding a little rough around the edges is spot on, but I couldn't pinpoint it until now. Listening to "Serve the Ego" by Jewel (via Tidal HIFI), starting at the 0:09 and ending at 0:14, you can definitely hear a difference. The m920's lows resonates a bit deeper. I mean, I really, really had to listen to it over, and over. FYI, using F2 and switching to F4, whereas the m920 is at S for digital filters.
 
Jan 8, 2016 at 9:43 PM Post #446 of 677
elcapitan said:
  I feel the same way. The m9XX sounding a little rough around the edges is spot on, but I couldn't pinpoint it until now. Listening to "Serve the Ego" by Jewel (via Tidal HIFI), starting at the 0:09 and ending at 0:14, you can definitely hear a difference. The m920's lows resonates a bit deeper. I mean, I really, really had to listen to it over, and over. FYI, using F2 and switching to F4, whereas the m920 is at S for digital filters.
Click to expand...

 
I have both. The m9XX is a gem, it's best characterised as natural sounding with superb build and ergonomics. I've found it to be very good with electronic music and forgiving with recordings. I think it's fair to say the m920 is the older brother to the m9XX, the main difference is with the m920 I get a blacker background with more texture and better vocal and instrument separation. The m920 is more intimate with female vocals and I'm drawn in and completely immersed in the music, it's stunning. I don't feel that same intimacy with the m9XX, that said, I find there's very little difference between the m920 and m9XX with electronic music. My girlfriend was listening to the m920 through the Stax SR-007 & SRM-007tA combo and she said it felt like she was at a live concert in the front row... and she doesn't even like headphones! I also listen to the m920 directly with the Audio-Technica W1000s and it performs beautifully. 
 
Jan 18, 2016 at 12:01 PM Post #448 of 677
I've been looking for a new DAC and Headphone amp for a very long time now.
 
I had been looking at the Oppo HA-1 but a number of people recommended against it, especially as a driver of the HD800
 
I've been reading up quite a bit on the m920 and it looks like a very solid combination unit, with a number of happy owners. So my question is, for the price, is it going to be my best bet and a good source for the HD800 ? I know it is a bit subjective, but I will take opinions happily!
 
Thanks guys!
 
Jan 18, 2016 at 1:07 PM Post #449 of 677
I have V181 with HD800s and looking for a desktop dac. I am thinking about Schiit Gungnir Multibit (Gumby) and the M920 (fixed dac). With the lowest Massdrop price unlocked now, these two are pretty close in price. Has anyone compared between the Gumby vs M920 dac? I am leaning towards the M920 based on my reading but there is a lot of excitement over the Schiit multibit. Thanks
 
Jan 18, 2016 at 5:13 PM Post #450 of 677
The m920 is an excellent unit, and I think it fits in well at its price point, especially with the sale price of Massdrop.  It does have a handful of features more geared towards the pro market that you probably won't use (such as an AES input), but with the sale price, that shouldn't be an issue.
 
The Schiit multibit DACs (which are actually ladder DACs) are excellent.  Ladder DACs are often expensive (look at MSB Technology's equipment) and uncommon (you can try to find an old Theta DAC), so it's really cool to see them making a comeback at affordable prices.  Schiit is actually using DAC chips that were never designed for audio and were not recommended for the use.  I'm very curious to see if this starts any kind of trend away from delta-sigma DACs in the industry.
 
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