[flymetothemoon]

Since there is another Tera thread that mostly concentrated on the Tera & Porta Pro, I'd like to start this thread to allow current owners & ex-owners to share their impressions of Tera vs. other DAPs in their collections.  
 
I have no pressure to keep this thread alive and hope this opens up a whole new scope of discussion.
 
Cheers

 

[Ruben123]

Subbed

 

[flymetothemoon]

I started off my journey without any knowledge on how good Tera was and placed the order (it costs some Euro 8xx at that point).  I need to travel 2 hours to pick it up from Hong Kong as I was working in mainland China at that time.  My journey back with the brand new Tera was a bit of disappointment as it doesn't sound right with my Sony EX1000 to which lack of the lower end.
 
I wrote to Charles and enquired what happened and he admitted the high output impedance might cause such roll off and suggested me to get the Porta Pro...I never intended to explore my headfi journey with any headphones so it was not an option.
 
I was desperately to get my Tera perform and at the end I purchased the Vorzuge Duo and now things much better with more balance between the entire spectrum plus better dynamics.
 
A year-and-a-half-later the AK240 was launched.  I had a brief audition but that audition never justified me to take the plunge...long story cut short...I took the plunge at the end and AK240 in my ownership.  
 
Over the next year, I was struggling to find time to go back to the Tera as I mostly spent time with the 240.  Up to a point, I decided to make a judgement to just retain one of them and it took me a full month of intense listening (Tralucent Ref.1/uber cable) and at the end Tera was the one sent out of the door.
 
I'm still very happy with the 240 and it will be interesting to know your journey with the Tera or without.
 
Cheers

 

[TheDecline01]

My Journey:
 
I was enamoured with the Tera's concept, it's absence of screen and the straight-to-the-point non-UI. On in less than a second, mighty sound quality, analog, I couldn't stay away from it for a long time. And then I took the plunge. And everything was confirmed. I was juggling with the SD cards to get all my music on .wav so happily because of the natural sound, the immersive soundstage and the détails retrieved even with those darn roll-offs on both highs and lows. I had bought the SE5 to get the perfect match. The Tera was almost dictating my listenning habit.
 
But slowly, I wondered: what if? What if I could get back those Fitear TG! 334 not dimnished by the bloody output impedance? What if I could get a DAP with a UI? What if I could get a DAP not card-sensitive? It was all storming in my mind for 1 month, 2 months.... After the 4th or 5th months, the Mirror cracked and I got myself a Questyle QP1-r.
 
After a focused comparison, I figured out both DAPs had this huge and immersive soundstage, lots of détails and a very very natural sound (I'm very sensitive to this, as well as an immersive soundstage). The Tera was the more natural but the Questyle went further down and further up, giving it a small edge in terms of pure sound quality. Emotion-Wise, I had to recognize I was torn. Both shared immense qualities, not the least touching my heart, what I love most. And then I thought about the cons. Especially one again the other. Tera is impossibly fast to start and navigate (sort of) between folders and its autonomy is impressive given its size. The Questyle had all the other pros, above all, 2 micro SD card slots and a UI, though not great.
 
And so the decision was taken. I had to part with the Tera. Reluctantly, but now I'm at peace with this choice. I didn't need a Tera, not at such a high price (and I mean both money and daily use-Wise). Now I'm happy, as I was before. So that's what I think of the Tera. This is surely a unique DAP, its sound is almost unique, it's great in détails, soundstage, emotions. But there are the obvious letdowns.