[soundaware]

Ok guys after spending two weeks with the Soundaware P1 here are my impressions.

Build quality is good with a good size footprint and weight. It would be nice to see some grippy rubber feet on the bottom of the amp instead of the metal ones it comes with so the amp doesn't slide around when connecting and disconnecting your cans into the output socket.

The amp has a touch input selector on the front of the amp which is next to the volume pot. Occasionally I would accidentally trigger it while accessing the volume pot and since it takes more than a few seconds to cycle back to the input I was using I found it really annoying to be interrupted on my listening session.

Also on the front of the amp is a switch to go between headphones and pre-amp function which is very convenient if you are going to be going back and forth between these two functions.

On the back of the amp are of course your inputs and outputs. Both have a pair of single ended and balanced are available for each. A proprietary port to connect a Soundaware dap along with what could be very useful (or not) charging usb port. On/Off switch and gain switch (low/high) also on back.

Using the amp:

I was only able to try the P1 as a headphone amp as my main power amp came in a week too late from the shop. As a headphone amp I could not really find any faults in the sound. While it was not immediately impressive, I did not find it lacking at all either. Like I mentioned before I was not blown away from the sound when I started using it. My headphone of choice was the Grado Ps2000e which I find it to be very natural sounding and engaging. My impression with the P1 was while it did remain natural sounding I was not really drawn into the music unfortunately. After a few days with the P1/Ps2ke combo I decided to change cans and use the MrSpeakers Ether C. This in my opinion was a better match than the Grado. The Ether C's neutral presentation came across as a bit more full bodied, authoritative but not as fatiguing and thus a bit more natural. I felt lack of power should not be an issue with this amp as even at low gain I did not have much usable range on the volume pot unfortunately. I wish the low gain was maybe a bit lower to use comfortably with sensitive cans. Bottom end was stout, mids were natural and not overly thick or thin. Treble was smooth sounding but I wouldn't call it relaxed, plenty of details. Very good separation of instruments. Soundstage was more than adequate and not over done. I felt instruments and voices had good texture.

Overall I feel the amp is really good but not very musically engaging for me, perhaps it had too much power for my cans to properly enjoy them.

I would like to send a big thank you to Soundaware for having this loaner tour of their flagship P1 amp and letting me try it out in the comfort of my own home, much appreciated!

Thank you for your quick words.

 

[gandhisfist]

Picked up the loaner and have had a couple days with it and wanted to share my thoughts on it. I won't cover build and aesthetics as I think others have covered that well enough so I'll just get into the sound.

The Soundaware P1 is a surprisingly powerful little amplifier. It has quite a bit of gain in high gain, only letting me getting a short way up the dial with most headphones. Overall I find the P1 has an added sense of body, lending more weight and macrodynamic impact to music. I also find it has a bit of a smoothness to the the sound of the amp which was good for harsher music. The amplifier seems quite powerful, able to drive my HE6 fairly easily, to quite loud levels without sacrificing bass impact as I've found some other amps do. In that pairing I find the additional smoothness and body giving the headphone a slightly softer edge than it usually has. Other aspects of the amp seem quite adequate. I don't any over coloration of tone, the aforementioned qualities keep the amp from sounding too thin or dry which can be typical of a lot of solid state designs, I think Soundaware did a good job of voicing this amplifier to avoid those kinds of issues. The closest comparison to another amp I have around and heard almost immediately was to the amp section of my Audio-gd NFB-27H. I find these amps share a lot of the same qualities sonically and are quite comparable overall. In my listening I did find the soundstage to be of adequate size and somewhat consistent in shape between different music tracks, with the individual sources of sound being fairly well separated from one another. The amp seems to have a decent sense of width and a bit of depth to the soundstage.

Overall I find the amp has a smooth and heavy bodied character with a very black background. I find the smoothness and added body to work well with certain music but doesn't necessarily complement all of it. I have quite enjoyed my time with the amp so far and would like to thank Soundaware for letting me participate in this loaner.

 

[soundaware]

Picked up the loaner and have had a couple days with it and wanted to share my thoughts on it. I won't cover build and aesthetics as I think others have covered that well enough so I'll just get into the sound.

The Soundaware P1 is a surprisingly powerful little amplifier. It has quite a bit of gain in high gain, only letting me getting a short way up the dial with most headphones. Overall I find the P1 has an added sense of body, lending more weight and macrodynamic impact to music. I also find it has a bit of a smoothness to the the sound of the amp which was good for harsher music. The amplifier seems quite powerful, able to drive my HE6 fairly easily, to quite loud levels without sacrificing bass impact as I've found some other amps do. In that pairing I find the additional smoothness and body giving the headphone a slightly softer edge than it usually has. Other aspects of the amp seem quite adequate. I don't any over coloration of tone, the aforementioned qualities keep the amp from sounding too thin or dry which can be typical of a lot of solid state designs, I think Soundaware did a good job of voicing this amplifier to avoid those kinds of issues. The closest comparison to another amp I have around and heard almost immediately was to the amp section of my Audio-gd NFB-27H. I find these amps share a lot of the same qualities sonically and are quite comparable overall. In my listening I did find the soundstage to be of adequate size and somewhat consistent in shape between different music tracks, with the individual sources of sound being fairly well separated from one another. The amp seems to have a decent sense of width and a bit of depth to the soundstage.

Overall I find the amp has a smooth and heavy bodied character with a very black background. I find the smoothness and added body to work well with certain music but doesn't necessarily complement all of it. I have quite enjoyed my time with the amp so far and would like to thank Soundaware for letting me participate in this loaner.

Glad you enjoyed it and thank you for your sharing.

 

[alphanumerix1]

Is the loaner program still going?

 

[soundaware]

Is the loaner program still going?

Yes it is.

 

[alphanumerix1]

Yes it is.

Emailed.