Well I went to the meet over the weekend and was happy to see there was a Pico there to refresh my "audio memory".
It seems both my memory and the Arrow are just fine as the comparison revealed at the very least equality with the Pico, when not taking the Arrow's feature set into consideration. A similar sound signature is to be expected in well designed portables using the same op-amp, but to my ears the Arrow pulled slightly ahead. Maybe it's newer components or implementation; I can't really say why.... I just listen and try to be as objective as possible about what I hear. When making comparisons we leveled the playing field by not using any features absent on the Pico. The smart technology and adjustable bass, gain, impedance and cross-feed, along with it's slim size and considerably lower price IMO make the Arrow the hands down winner.
Someone using the >$1000 JH13 IEMs said if he heard any difference (no sound optimization used) it was in favor of the Arrow's "wider" soundstage. We use different terms when describing our perception of sound, and being no expert I think that is close to what I meant by "definition" when I made the short comment in a previous post in this thread. The instruments and vocals are all "well defined in their position" on the recording with no sense of anything being squashed together or in the middle of your head. In short, he Arrow is very good at presenting a "big" sound. It has excellent imaging, bass depth and impact and solid performance across the frequency range. As this is my first review of audio hardware I'm afraid I don't have much more of a technical nature to say. That's pretty much why I needed to give a comparative type of impression.
I haven't been using my desktop much since owning the Arrow. At first I thought it was because of the WOW factor for such a small device. Now I'm beginning to believe the Arrow's sound
is actually as good. Granted it's not an expensive desktop, but I have read a great deal on this site about how portables can never be as good at driving full sized (high ohm) headphones as an equally priced desktop. It might end up that I start using my small desktop again, but for now I'm so impressed with the sound of the Arrow I haven't taken the time to do a critical comparison. I know for a fact that the Arrow drives the Senn 650s to a louder level than the desktop but that is not always a sign of equal SQ. I'll report back on that if anyone is interested.
I didn't have a chance to compare it to any other portables at the meet as the one person with a Ray Samuels amp (might have been a Tomahawk) couldn't get it to work. I was primarily looking to see how it stacked up against the Pico as I've owned one and wanted to see if I'd given anything up. I don't believe I have. The line dac I use from Headstage uses the same chip as the Pico amp/dac. I forgot my line-dac at home in the rush to get to the meet
but again from memory (which has now proved pretty accurate) the Arrow/line dac combination sounds as good to me, and that combo is
quite a bit less money).
There are all kinds of arguments for and against the kind of sound enhancement technology available on the Arrow. The key word here I think is "available". If you are a purist run it flat, but even purists run into bad recordings that can use a little help sometimes and I personally like to have it at hand.
IMO altering the sound a little to suit the recording does not necessarily
degrade it, especially if it is a poorly mastered recording.
Each headphone has it's attributes and shortcomings (except the JH13s from what I've heard
). The ability to compensate to get the sound you prefer is a bonus in my book, not a liability as some claim.
A few years ago I owned a Xenos X1HA-EPC. It was a great amp that I only sold to get a desktop because I didn't have need for portability. I have regretted the decision to sell it until now. The Arrow gives me everything the Xenos did and more with nearly no weight or bulk for about the same price.
You might not get the bragging rights you get with Ray Samuels or Head Amp, but I'd rather save money for music and gear than brag
.
All in all a fine example of German engineering/production.
Thank you Headstage!
P.S. As there are plenty of good pictures in posts 14 & 15 (on the bottom of the first page of this thread) I don't see the need to post any more. Thanks EagleEye!
Here's a link to the meet impressions thread for anyone interested:
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f45/sa...2010-a-469885/