Here's a few more thoughts on the CMA18p after experimenting today (all with USB input):
18p vs Mojo:
First of all I'll say that Mojo is quite a unique piece of gear in my view, likely due to the very different method of FPGA-based decoding it has. With most gear I tend to think of instrument separation and soundstage tracking in the same direction - the bigger the soundstage, the more instruments tend to be heard as distinct and separate. Mojo on the other hand doesn't seem to follow this trend: it tends to have a more congested soundstage but retains a very distinct, almost surgical separation of instruments.
The 18p has the bigger sense of space compared to Mojo, but due to Mojo's unique ability to separate they're probably on par overall in terms of managing to hear instruments as distinct. What differs mainly is the relative emphasis of each. 18p has more inner detail or micro resolution of the nuances within instruments, with a more linear, deeper bass, while Mojo tends to have less deep bass but a mid-bass emphasis. The tonality of Mojo is generally accurate but with a little touch of sweetness or romanticism to the sound, whereas Questyle goes for a slightly drier approach with the 18p.
In general I've always found Questyle's products to have great reach at each end of the spectrum and the 18p carries this on. Sometimes even during passages with less very deep bass I'll notice there's still some rumble way down coming through in the mix. Along the same lines I remember even with the M12 I would notice little details of drum work that stood out, with Questyle's amplification managing to extract out very quick passing details of drums; the strike of the snare, for example, was fantastic. The 18p has the same tendency, with little nuances of reverb and echo in drum work pulling ahead of the Mojo on tracks like Cries of Dying Stars by Below The Sun. It makes me curious how a Chord/Questyle collab would sound with Rob Watts decoding and digital conversion mixed with Questyle's amplification.
Things get a bit different once you through Poly in the mix as well, as it elevates Mojo's sound somewhat, with a bigger soundstage and sense of space between instruments, less congestion and slightly more neutral approach. The 18p is probably just a touch ahead in width and depth of soundstage, but which is 'better' between 18p and Mojopoly really comes down to which sound you end up preferring I think. Mojopoly has perhaps a touch more spring in its step, so to speak, with a smidge of euphoria to the sound, whereas 18p has a more accurate approach with deeper bass. At the other end of the spectrum things like strikes on ride cymbals and hi-hats come across more distinctly on the 18p too.
I was comparing the vocals on each using Wardruna's "Pertho", and surprisingly the 18p presents each of the singers in the track more distinctly. But comparing the resolving ability alone is bit misleading in a way, as the overall mood of each presentation is quite different: 18p is more resolving and 'powerful' sounding, whereas Mojopoly has a slightly softer approach, even though both draw out their own unique emotive performance from the song.
Vs Violectric Chronos:
In general I tend to find that units with their own battery, such as battery-powered DAC/amps and DAPs, tend to have a better soundstage and sense of weight to instruments than dongles can convey. The same is evident comparing Chronos and 18p. The latter definitely has the upper hand in soundstage depth and added realism of micro-details of singers and instruments. I still love the Chronos though, its great for a small form factor device with low battery drain and I'm definitely keeping it around.
Vs Aune Yuki:
The Yuki manages to pull off a bigger sound with more weight to the notes and better textural details than the Chronos - possibly due to the dual DAC format rather than single DAC of Chronos. So it closes the gap somewhat with the 18p, but still doesn't have the same depth of bass, soundstage precision, micro detail of instruments and sense of space. A fraction of 18p's size though obviously.
In general the 18p does perform really well, with a very versatile sound that covers the bases across genres. There's only been one instance where I found it fatiguing on long-term listening, which was while listening to Stomb's "The Grey" - an instrumental 'djent' album, for lack of a better term, with percussive, low chugging staccato riffs throughout, and plenty of sub-bass already in the mix. While listening with the 18p and B&W P7s - which also have a bass emphasis - it got just a bit much after a while. But that mainly is down the combo of music+headphones+18p. On that one occasion I switched to Mojopoly and found it a better match, but in general the 18p's been great across different kinds of music.
I find that as long as I remember to switch it off the battery life is great. It does actually have an auto-off, I either hadn't noticed it before or was confused by some weird quirk that seems to happen when charging with my laptop - charging off the charging port on my computer makes the computer audio occasionally divert to the 18p - I see the LEDs fire up on the 18p and the sound suddenly cuts out of the laptop - but then the audio switches back to the computer. I think this might have caused my problems at the start where I found the 18p dead, as if it doesn't actually charge from the laptop and occasionally gets switched on and off, thus slowly draining the battery. It's been fine over the week after charging it via a dedicated charger.
The bluetooth implementation is pretty good. It starts getting chopping and cutting out after I go a few rooms away, but my apartment has thick brick and concrete walls, and the reception range is on par with other bluetooth devices I've used while living here. You lose some detail with bluetooth obviously versus USB input, but it's still pretty good in terms of overal quality. In general, I actually hardly use Bluetooth for audio unless I'm really in a pinch or on the subway or something.
18p vs Mojo:
First of all I'll say that Mojo is quite a unique piece of gear in my view, likely due to the very different method of FPGA-based decoding it has. With most gear I tend to think of instrument separation and soundstage tracking in the same direction - the bigger the soundstage, the more instruments tend to be heard as distinct and separate. Mojo on the other hand doesn't seem to follow this trend: it tends to have a more congested soundstage but retains a very distinct, almost surgical separation of instruments.
The 18p has the bigger sense of space compared to Mojo, but due to Mojo's unique ability to separate they're probably on par overall in terms of managing to hear instruments as distinct. What differs mainly is the relative emphasis of each. 18p has more inner detail or micro resolution of the nuances within instruments, with a more linear, deeper bass, while Mojo tends to have less deep bass but a mid-bass emphasis. The tonality of Mojo is generally accurate but with a little touch of sweetness or romanticism to the sound, whereas Questyle goes for a slightly drier approach with the 18p.
In general I've always found Questyle's products to have great reach at each end of the spectrum and the 18p carries this on. Sometimes even during passages with less very deep bass I'll notice there's still some rumble way down coming through in the mix. Along the same lines I remember even with the M12 I would notice little details of drum work that stood out, with Questyle's amplification managing to extract out very quick passing details of drums; the strike of the snare, for example, was fantastic. The 18p has the same tendency, with little nuances of reverb and echo in drum work pulling ahead of the Mojo on tracks like Cries of Dying Stars by Below The Sun. It makes me curious how a Chord/Questyle collab would sound with Rob Watts decoding and digital conversion mixed with Questyle's amplification.
Things get a bit different once you through Poly in the mix as well, as it elevates Mojo's sound somewhat, with a bigger soundstage and sense of space between instruments, less congestion and slightly more neutral approach. The 18p is probably just a touch ahead in width and depth of soundstage, but which is 'better' between 18p and Mojopoly really comes down to which sound you end up preferring I think. Mojopoly has perhaps a touch more spring in its step, so to speak, with a smidge of euphoria to the sound, whereas 18p has a more accurate approach with deeper bass. At the other end of the spectrum things like strikes on ride cymbals and hi-hats come across more distinctly on the 18p too.
I was comparing the vocals on each using Wardruna's "Pertho", and surprisingly the 18p presents each of the singers in the track more distinctly. But comparing the resolving ability alone is bit misleading in a way, as the overall mood of each presentation is quite different: 18p is more resolving and 'powerful' sounding, whereas Mojopoly has a slightly softer approach, even though both draw out their own unique emotive performance from the song.
Vs Violectric Chronos:
In general I tend to find that units with their own battery, such as battery-powered DAC/amps and DAPs, tend to have a better soundstage and sense of weight to instruments than dongles can convey. The same is evident comparing Chronos and 18p. The latter definitely has the upper hand in soundstage depth and added realism of micro-details of singers and instruments. I still love the Chronos though, its great for a small form factor device with low battery drain and I'm definitely keeping it around.
Vs Aune Yuki:
The Yuki manages to pull off a bigger sound with more weight to the notes and better textural details than the Chronos - possibly due to the dual DAC format rather than single DAC of Chronos. So it closes the gap somewhat with the 18p, but still doesn't have the same depth of bass, soundstage precision, micro detail of instruments and sense of space. A fraction of 18p's size though obviously.
In general the 18p does perform really well, with a very versatile sound that covers the bases across genres. There's only been one instance where I found it fatiguing on long-term listening, which was while listening to Stomb's "The Grey" - an instrumental 'djent' album, for lack of a better term, with percussive, low chugging staccato riffs throughout, and plenty of sub-bass already in the mix. While listening with the 18p and B&W P7s - which also have a bass emphasis - it got just a bit much after a while. But that mainly is down the combo of music+headphones+18p. On that one occasion I switched to Mojopoly and found it a better match, but in general the 18p's been great across different kinds of music.
I find that as long as I remember to switch it off the battery life is great. It does actually have an auto-off, I either hadn't noticed it before or was confused by some weird quirk that seems to happen when charging with my laptop - charging off the charging port on my computer makes the computer audio occasionally divert to the 18p - I see the LEDs fire up on the 18p and the sound suddenly cuts out of the laptop - but then the audio switches back to the computer. I think this might have caused my problems at the start where I found the 18p dead, as if it doesn't actually charge from the laptop and occasionally gets switched on and off, thus slowly draining the battery. It's been fine over the week after charging it via a dedicated charger.
The bluetooth implementation is pretty good. It starts getting chopping and cutting out after I go a few rooms away, but my apartment has thick brick and concrete walls, and the reception range is on par with other bluetooth devices I've used while living here. You lose some detail with bluetooth obviously versus USB input, but it's still pretty good in terms of overal quality. In general, I actually hardly use Bluetooth for audio unless I'm really in a pinch or on the subway or something.
