Three man, two years and a visit from outer space - Hifi E.T MA9, yet another audiophile DAP from China.

[ClieOS]

Saw this over at erji.net, from a new audiophile DAP company..

Three Chinese audiophiles spent their last two years developed their own vision of an audiophile DAP called the MA9, and only 30 units are made in the first batch for sale under the 'Hifi E.T' brand. The final price is RMB$4880, or roughly US$770. It is available only in China for pre-order (RMB$4500) at this moment.

Here are some spec:
Screen size: 320*240 QVGA 2.36inches
DAC: PCM1704 (swappable / upgradeable by manufacturer)
AMP: OPA627+ dual BUF634 each channel (single end or balanced output, also swappable / upgradeable by user)
I/V: OPA627
LPF: LME49722
USB-DAC supported (PCM2707)
Voltage swing (max): 2.9V @ 16ohm, 5V @ 300ohm
FR: 0Hz ~ 25kHz
SNR: 103dB@1kHz
Crosstalk: 89db@1kHz 0dB
Distortion: 0.00275%
Max output: 50mw @ 32ohm
Recommended Headphone impedance: 16~300ohm
Memory: TF card up to 32GB
Supported lossless format: APE, FLAC, WAV (plus mp3, cue support)
Battery: +/-8.4V dual supply. 2300mAH total capacity
External +/-9V power supply
Battery life: >8hours
Recharge: 2 hours
Connection: Power / USB / Headphone-out / Line-out
Full aluminium housing
Size: 64*120*25.5(mm)
Weight: 300g

Main board

DAC board (top) and amp board (bottom)

The whole DAP is on modular design, the SoC and USB receiver are on the main board, while the DAC and amp section are on individual board.

If you read Chinese, here is the blog of the developer.

 

[seeteeyou]

.

 

[ClieOS]

Those are not bad impression, just a lot of bad speculation that leads to nowhere. I think it is too early to tell the SQ at this moment. Not that I don't trust Chinese reviewer, but often they have too much 'noise' among themselves that flood out many of the valid observation.

 

[wilzc]

Only 50mW at 32??
 
Why
 
Back to the Clip+ it is...

 

[audionewbi]

OMG just read about it, so excited

 

[ClieOS]

Only 50mW at 32??

Why

Back to the Clip+ it is...

You do realize Clip+ has max output of 15mW into 16ohm or 7.5mW into 32ohm?

 

[wilzc]

I do
 
But unless these are ridiculously powerful, they won't warrant the price over the clip+
 
The clip+ wont drive the HE-500, neither would these.
 
At the 50mw over 32ohms, these will drive stuff that the clip+ arguably can as well!!
 
But then again, the Studio-V is..  80mw over 32 i think?  And they're half the price!
 
The world needs less 'audiophile coloured' players and more education in better quality music sources. Not poorly mastered recordings in severely coloured chinese DAPs.
 
The only thing that seperates these from the cheaper 100-300 DAPs are going to probably be the subjective 'audiophile sound' its tuned for.
 
I'm still waiting for the next neutral and simple DAP with the driving power of saaayy a Headstage arrow into one chassis with a decent playback time of say 15-20 hours.

 

[dscythe]

Quote:

 
I'm still waiting for the next neutral and simple DAP with the driving power of saaayy a Headstage arrow into one chassis with a decent playback time of say 15-20 hours.

One can only dream. If something like that ever existed with such a long battery life i dont think anyone could afford it

 

[ClieOS]

I do

But unless these are ridiculously powerful, they won't warrant the price over the clip+
...

One can always argue we don't need anything better than Clip+ for day to day listening, and in a way, I won't disagree. But then again, I would imagine there will also always be people who are willing to pay any amount of money to get even the tiniest of improvement - it won't be me but I am not going to stop them either. At the end, the value of thing is always personal call. The MA9 might seem overpriced for what it does, but that doesn't make it a less interesting a topic for discussion. At least I think the total modulation approach deserves some credit.

 

[goodvibes]

Love the parts selection and looks nicely done. A bit more than I want to spend on a portable because I feel that there are inherant limitations in this type of format but this sort of speciality comes with this sort of price. Value vs quality of sound is very personal.

 

[audionewbi]

this dap is designed for future upgrades, it is just not another dap! could have lots of potentials!

 

[H20Fidelity]

I was over on facebook looking at the usual abomination of friends updates and came across this interesting new DAP on one of headfonia.com updates.

The player consists of three parts: the main control board, a decoding board and amp plate, thus the replacement of a decoding board and amp plate becomes possible, fans can select decode board and amp plate that can be based on personal preferences . The player also has USB sound card functions, can be connected with the computer play high-fidelity music, make PC music fans can always enjoy high-end audio equipment HIFI class music.a USB

I don't really understand all the specs to well, I'm sure others can make sense of everything in this link.

Looks pretty funky though. I should add the price is $849.99 Aus

http://headphone-id.com/index.php?threads%2Fhifi-et-ma9-portable-nondestructive-player-amplifier-decoder.296%2F


And a photo.

 

[RAFA]

Y ALWAYS PRICE SO HIGH ლ(ಠ益ಠლ).

 

[H20Fidelity]

I'd love to listen to what this things actually capable of. At the price point of $849, is not something I will be owning to soon.

Be great if a willing member would take the plunge. Then send it straight out on tour.

 

[RAFA]

It seems that the manufacturer can swap the DAC for you, probably just TI options.