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Quloos QA390

Feb 9, 2020 at 6:20 AM Post #31 of 140
...or in hold baggage (if it contains Li-Ion batteries)!
 
Feb 9, 2020 at 6:59 AM Post #32 of 140
starck86 said:
From the video I’ve seen it does seem to have a gain switch (and/or, is that the ‘super mode’ aka ‘supper’ mode mentioned? Hah).

Yeah I am also wondering how many cycles those batteries are really going to last for, and if they’re user replaceable or what and how much. And whether it is constantly draining the battery, or if the thing will run straight from the wall (I.e., while separately charging battery if needed). I presume the latter,but I dunno.

I wonder how it does with IEMs too...and what the damn thing sounds like...can’t find any impressions of how it sounds or what it compares to for the life of me.

I guess I like to wonder a lot : )
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It's got 4 gain settings; low, high, super high & ultra high.
It uses 4 x 3300mAh batteries (13200mAh in total) and can be run from the batteries or directly off the mains supply. You can disable battery charging when running off the mains, to minimise the number of charge cycles. If you've got a screwdriver, and the inclination to do it, the batteries are user replaceable, but the unit isn't designed with that in mind.
As far as sound goes, I think you can safely assume it has a "reference" tuning, because that's how QLS seem to like to tune their devices, but you also have the "bright" & "mellow" tone control options.
 
Feb 9, 2020 at 7:40 AM Post #33 of 140
Okay I think the lonked site messed uo and swapped 13 for 31,000.

So much more manageable.
 
Feb 9, 2020 at 2:46 PM Post #34 of 140
Feb 11, 2020 at 1:32 PM Post #35 of 140
john1711 said:
Sony is using pricing as a reality distortion field in marketing. It is brilliant!!!
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This is not new, it's the way Sony has always worked. Look at the huge tech success and licensing and marketing failures. Probably no company on earth has more discontinued, unavailable formats to its credit :(
 
Mar 15, 2020 at 3:27 PM Post #38 of 140
Just got a demo unit and found this tread. First impression is very good. I took some photos and attached below. It feels like milled from an entire aluminum block and the buttons and knobs are high quality too. You can see the size compare to a kindle so its mobility is pretty good too. The battery said to be 13200mAh and capacity is 48.84 Wh. I haven't got a chance to count the full play back time but I got it almost a week and used about 1 hour per day and it still had 2/3 battery left. The UI speed is amazing, almost like instant. If you ever use single chip single thread machine you will know what I mean.
I can clearly see this machines approach to All in one. I'd say it did a pretty good job. So far I can see its sound is nature and neutral. Its tuning was towards upper mid. The high is crispy but not harsh nor aggressive. The mid is attractive and full. The bass has good punch but not muddy. If you heard about the 361. The 390 was far more extended on both the upper and lower and the sound body fullness is much better. I am working on a in depth review now to speak a bit more about the sound.
Connectivity is excellent. You can find all the headphone interface in the market on this machine besides the dual 3 pin balanced connector. I think that might be more towards the desktop or pro side connection so I have no complaint. You can connect it with you phone (with special USB C cable) or pc. So far I only tried the SD card and I am happy with it. But I will try other connections later.
Power wise it can handle all the IEMs and the most of the headphone. For some really hard to drive planer, it would have some problem. I tried it with Focal Utopia, HD800 and HD6xx and got pretty good result. Later I would got my friends Hifiman susvara and Final D8000 pro to go with it. I will give more detailed evaluation of its USB interface, DAC and headphone amplifier capability seperately.
Overall so far I am really happy with it. To me if you want something has really good sound but also limit to space. like office or hotel or bed side. This would be a perfect match.
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Mar 19, 2020 at 5:06 PM Post #39 of 140
How’s the amp section compare to others you have? (If any). (Specifically with regards to sound quality of the amp section itself).

I demoed it as well and am wondering if you had the same findings.
 
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Mar 19, 2020 at 5:26 PM Post #40 of 140
starck86 said:
How’s the amp section compare to others you have? (If any). (Specifically with regards to sound quality of the amp section itself).

I demoed it as well and am wondering if you had the same findings.
Click to expand...

For the amp section, sound quality wise it is pretty good. It has the most black background, Good for HD6XX, great for Utopia and perfect for the IEM I had. But 390 doesn't have analog input so I can't review it by itself. All my other amps are desktop tube headphone amps which is not a direct comparison either. So take my word with a grain of salt. I think the amp doesn't have a sound signature. It is more like a wire with gain. It reveals what the source sent to it, no more no less.
The problem is still the current this amp can supply. It can easily make the HD800 really loud with both gain settings to high but the sound is not good. Muddy bass and harsh high.
 
Mar 22, 2020 at 2:37 PM Post #41 of 140
Yeah agreed on the last paragraph. Maybe they’ll do a firmware update who knows. I don’t know much about the amp section but I wonder if it was a little neglected in lieu of the DAC and battery etc.
Couldn’t open it up to look because it had warranty covers on the screw holes.

Neat piece of equipment. Wish they had a better amp in it. UI is a little annoying but the remote is nice

I’d like to see their version 2.0 of this...
 
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Mar 23, 2020 at 4:59 PM Post #42 of 140
starck86 said:
Yeah agreed on the last paragraph. Maybe they’ll do a firmware update who knows. I don’t know much about the amp section but I wonder if it was a little neglected in lieu of the DAC and battery etc.
Couldn’t open it up to look because it had warranty covers on the screw holes.

Neat piece of equipment. Wish they had a better amp in it. UI is a little annoying but the remote is nice

I’d like to see their version 2.0 of this...
Click to expand...
Can't think of many other battery powered amps that'll deliver 2.7 amps or 21V.
 
Apr 2, 2020 at 12:25 PM Post #44 of 140
Whitigir said:
Powers in sheer numbers does not always equate to great performances :wink:.



http://www.digizoid.com/power.php
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Do you have a chance to hear the QA390? If yes, I am most interested to know your comment, especially when compared to DMP-Z1.

I owned this for around 3 months now, and it drives most of my IEMs nicely! My Mr. Speaker Ether really sings with this!
 
Apr 2, 2020 at 12:27 PM Post #45 of 140
lumdicks said:
Do you have a chance to hear the QA390? If yes, I am most interested to know your comment, especially when compared to DMP-Z1.

I owned this for around 3 months now, and it drives most of my IEMs nicely! My Mr. Speaker Ether really sings with this!
Click to expand...
Unfortunately I don’t have QA390 :). But I am slamming away with DMP Z1 and External Linear Power Supply and Galaxy Firmware 1.01

Firmware is just as important as everything else, and I am getting there !! Maxing out my DMP Z1 potentials. That is why I don’t feel like buying QA390 just for comparison
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