![]() 2 and 5 felt most "musical", while I liked 1 and 6 as well for more crisp rendering. So I leave it to Andy's great description, with which I essentially fully agree and have little to add to. After all, the source does not make any sound on its own. ![]() I really have significant difficulty trying to break the sound into the ranges: it is nicely coherent and not too much skewed or coloured to my ears. To summarize all the pitfalls, evoking the Muse motto on the box: "Pursue the ultimate in the ultimate" (the power consumption and the weight are totally it), "find simplicity in the simple" (hardwired 4.4 and 3.5 surely qualify there).īut (and that is a big "BUT" pardon my pun), the musical output if M3 is really nice, and the ESS 9038 filters are well implemented for a simple device and seem to be more different than I could expect, based on my previous experience with 9018 filters, and finally the positive of the nice aesthetics of the design, which is one of the Muse distinctive features. When M3 gets hot, the expansion fills the gaps, so the "clicking" is likely another unfortunate aspect of the power management together with the heavy metal enclosure. What else on the functional downside - the knobs are clicking while cold. Third, despite being heavy at 50+ gram, M3 gets pretty hot, especially in idle, and instructions are trying to address that it is "normal", stating that it "only consumes a small amount of power", which is so far from reality: nearly 200 mA translates to >1 W wasted (!!) ![]() As for the idle - well, no idle is expected with this dongle - total music immersion is an absolute must Ridiculous (at least for the idle) would not be a poweful enough word.įrom an attempt on a positive perspective here, all the power is likely needed for the capable music rendering/processing. To add onto it: M3 takes 185-195 mA (1 W!!) in idle with no shutdown after 5+ minutes. Next, and most significant, M3 is the total power hog - consuming 145 mA while playing - an absolute record value compared to 62 mA of E44 and 92 mA of mighty powerful E1DA SG3. To further aggravate the hard-wired 4.4-mm output, all my 4.4 cables did not work without the spacers (that are included but not mentioned anywhere in the instructions, not saving for a lot of unnecessary frustrations).Īndy was able to put a nice positive spin on this aspect, once again: some special cables may benefit from the flexibility provided by spacers (that is why he is an expert reviewer ) Furthermore, provided slightly different THD+N values are a bit deceptive, considering, once again, two directly hardwired outputs.įrom a positive perspective, I do love how Andy put it in his review: no need for volume adjustments between two different outputs here - they are perfectly identical after all The output power values are not provided by Muse, perhaps, to disguise this aspect. Starting, as promised, with the grudges on functionality:įirst, 4.4 and 3.5 outputs are hard-wired, so M3 is an undoubtedly a single-ended source. While trying to make a short review, I did spend a good chunk of time enjoying M3 using several IEMs: KBear Neon (a very revelaling sugle BA), KZ AS16 pro (one of my favourite all-BAs), KZ PR1 pro (a good budget planar with the treble piercing to many), and KZ EDX (LCP single DD on a warmer side an unapologetic KZ fan here) and comparing with several DACs: E1DA SG3, Shanling UA2, iBasso DC04, Tempotec Sonata HD pro, Sonata III, E44, and BHD among few other sources. Given the great Andy's review below, and mostly agreeing with his description, I made my "opinion piece" to be complementary, largely reflecting upon a personal perspective of my journey in DACs. I have acquired Muse M3 based on advice/recommendations of Andy (while taking full adultish responsibility, and being grateful for his detailed description and guidance using my own funds, saving for the disclaimer).ĭespite several glaring functional deficiencies (and venting them here), musically, M3 fullfilled exactly (or very close) to what I was looking for in a DAC: gentle and capable interpretation of the ESS sound rendering.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |