Audiophilepure

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“The Monolith 788 offers an extremely pure feeling bass experience, one that would require massive amounts of DSP to alter into the realm of warm feeling. Again, this is a great trait to have for clinical enthusiasts out there.

Liquid and crystalline in physical tactility, the Monolith here pairs exceptionally well with the Sennheiser HD800, especially so in balanced mode. The extra fullness is very appreciated with proper driving power behind it, top that off with the potential to dial-up or down some problem areas via the EQ onboard and you have a great recipe for some truly amazing dynamism.”

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“The good news is that these few quirks in no way diminish the DMP-Z1’s essential riches, which are its sonics. The sound reminds me of the Sony NW-WMZ1 portable player—it is lush without being sluggish and detailed without sounding mechanical. The bass through the Abyss Diana headphones connected via its balanced output extended down to the depths. And while with some amps the Sony MDR-Z1R headphones can sound bass-heavy, the DMP-Z1 tightly and successfully controlled the MDR-Z1’s low bass. Spatial characteristics through both headphones mentioned were superb—tight, well defined, with effortless three-dimensional imaging.

If you are searching for a great all-around, flexible, and ergonomically elegant DAC/headphone amp for your desktop look at Sony’s superb TA-Z1ES. But if you want to experience the bleeding edge of high-resolution DAC/headphone amplifier design and execution (with some limited flexibility) I encourage you to investigate the Sony DMP- Z1 further. It has the most beautiful sound (and volume knob) I have experienced from a desktop-based DAC/headphone amplifier so far.”

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“So let’s just get this out of the way: the Pro iFi is a ridiculously good DAC, and likely the last D/A converter you’ll ever need, provided that’s what you ask from it. It will decode, filter, and dispatch any known file-type and play it back with believable, and emotive analogue ease. It’s also a very good headphone amplifier, and unless you believe you need to strap your vintage planars to the back of a stereo-amp to “get the best out of them”, you’ll be well-served with the Pro iDSD.
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“Going to the back of the Audio Valve Solaris you’ll find a set of speaker binding post for very efficient speakers as the Audio Valve Solaris will push an average of 8 to 12 Watt maximum. So, if you have some speaker with a sensitivity of 94dB or higher, you’ll love this unit. If not there’s are a pair of XLR and RCA outputs for your amplifier, a USB for your Computer, a pair of RCA’s for your Turntable and two pair of XLR and RCA inputs. So I heard two people call this the Swiss knife of headphone amps but I’d say it was more a kin to the kitchen sink.

For fun I started out a generic USB cord to my Apple MacBook Air and plugged in my Nordost Valhalla into my Audio Valve Baldur 70’s monoblocks. Those power a pair of Avance Century 100 loudspeakers and the sound was like nothing I have ever heard in my system. it was much more detailed which in no way meant the preamplifier section is analytical, cause it is not. Think musicality over pure analytics, but always with great clarity. If female vocals are your thing (they are for me), then you will love the Audio Valve Solaris as preamp DAC combination. In general the voices are exceptionally good, natural, sweet and romantic. The Solaris does everything so effortless, it is a pure pleasure to listen to. It’s musicality, and richness completely took me over, there was a passion, persuasiveness in ever instrument.”

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“So this was a remarkable journey testing this great piece of equipment out. My notes put it as one of the best sounding amplifiers under $1,000. I found that acoustic songs are very detailed and intimate. The detail of the music is exceptional, even at higher volumes. While the soundstage may not be vast like some other mid-range amplifiers, it was more than adequate, I’d say…just right. When you listen to songs with emotion, this amp really does “amplify” those emotions and brings it home. I found that when playing high-resolution files the vocals were forward, the bass was vibrant and foot-tapping good, but the mids were on the recessed side.”

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“The quality factor is pure enough for me to consider the bass tonality and texture as rock-solid in terms of physicality. It never feels loose, lacking or irregular. I’ve a few other amps in this price tier that do feel “watery” by comparison. Right now, the only dedicated amplifier that can match and exceed it that I’ve on hand is my personally owned Heron 5 by Airist Audio, which retailed for $1000 or so when I purchased it years ago.

That is really saying something in the way of physicality and tactility of the bass experience as a whole. Our ears can pick up on the subtle varying inabilities of amps and headphones to cope with more or less bass in our tracks than what is offered on a neutral setting. By that, I mean responsiveness to EQ. I can add more in and rock all the way up to an insane +7dB before I noticed anything problematic. That is a hell of a feat for an amp of this price.”

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“The volume pot also doubles up as a power-on resistance-based switch and you will have to wait a few seconds after turning it on for it to activate. A small safety precaution if you will. There is no stepped attenuation design to the pot here, this is a custom Alps potentiometer design with a very smooth turn. Also, thank you so very much Auris for putting in some white markers to judge volume levels accurately.

The level of potential functionality of the Euterpe seems excellent though our primary review focus will be on the built-in DAC and amp all-in-one performance. That being said, the pre-amp and analog inputs as a pure amp combined with a higher-end DAC such as the Qutest and even an M-Scaler behind that will be intriguing to see just how good the SET amp inside really is.”