Greetings everyone,
I'm back on Head-Fi after an unexpected number of weeks undergoing and recovering from an unscheduled surgery. I'm fine, and my recovery is proceeding really well. The doctors, nurses and therapists overseeing my recovery all tell me that my progress is "excellent", for which I am full of thanks.
What a pleasant surprise I had when, upon walking in the front door of my house (after having been discharged from the hospital) to find a package from Whiplash Audio - yep, with a HiSoundAudio Studio inside! I unwrapped it, popped the 16GB microSDHC card into it from my AMP3-Pro.1, and, after a shorter-than-expected wait (comfortably under 30 seconds), I was listening to my favorite .wav files using the Studio (with the HF-2 I had handy from using them with the AMP3). Right out of the box, there was a very promising degree of fullness, spaciousness and 3D solidity to the sound, over and above what my ear was very used to hearing from the AMP3.
It's now almost two weeks since then, and I now use the Senn Mx980 with the Studio, as it is my favorite match for this player/amp. My vote is that the sound using the Studio is a very worthwhile step or two closer to the sound that I get when I use the AMP3 as my source, and my Amphora as the amp. Using the Studio with the Mx980, there's a vividness, a subtlety, spectral fullness and balance, spaciousness, textural/timbral detail and subtleties in abundance - with plenty of dynamic and spatial depth to present any musical voice I've thrown at it very credibly and competently. What I've thrown at it so far has been: goth, darkwave, shoegaze, trip-hop, acoustic folk, ambient (instrumental and electronic), cabaret, classic and progressive rock. No jazz or classical yet. I'm going to have to transfer some of my favorite classical (orchestral and piano) to the Studio to check that out, since I've read above that the assessment of the Studio's classical playback so far is only OK.
So far, I don't think that I could be happier with the Studio as a very worthwhile improvement in sound quality beyond the AMP3, especially with the Sennheiser Mx980 buds, and for the musical genres I've been using it to listen to.
About the AMP3: while in the hospital for just over a week, my only music player was the AMP3-Pro.1 with a pair of HF-2. The sound quality was sufficient to give me some really "magical" listening sessions, as well as deeply satisfying "everyday" listening quality. I did not miss any of my home rigs during my hospital stay - and a freshly charged battery in the AMP3 lasted comfortably for the eight days of my stay. So, the AMP3 performed really well as a hospital/convalescent listening solution.
The Studio, with Mx980 buds, will perform in this capacity even better - although I'm NOT hoping for an opportunity to so try it anytime soon! I'm simply really pleased with its first-rate sound in a small, easy-to-handle, lightweight, convenient package.