GUI.

All the testing was done using 1.10.23 firmware (new fw is up to 1.11.02).

I know it probably going to sound shallow because sound quality should be the highest priority, but after a few recent reviews of DAPs with touch screen interface I’m having a problem going back to navigation buttons and scrolling wheels.  Use of smartphone and tablet audio apps turned me into a creature of habit where I want instant gratification of flipping through dozens of songs, stopping on the one I want, and swiping through to fast forward to my favorite part.  For me personally, the user experience of DAP operation is very important, and Opus#1 definitely got a big check mark next to it!  Not everything is perfect yet, but I’ve already seen 3 firmware updates in less than a month since I received this DAP for review.

First of all, Opus OS is Android based, but you are not running full Android OS.  There is a custom Audio Player app/interface running on top of the Android OS which is in the background, and you don’t have access to wifi or BT or being able to install any other apps.  So if you are looking to stream from Spotify or Tidal or want to pair up wireless headphones, you can stop reading this review because Opus#1 will not offer that.  Presumably, full Android support will be available in Opus#2 release.  If you are OK using only internal storage with a very responsive touch swipe interface, then you can proceed to find out more.

From the moment you press the power button, the current startup is a bit on a slower side, closer to 20-22sec where I feel like something is being indexed or perhaps some extra Android processes are being loaded in the background.  After a few latest firmware updates, this start up time is actually down from the original 30+ sec.  Hopefully, theBit will continue with further optimization of a start up; no complaints about a shutdown which only takes a few seconds.

Once you are in the Main Playback screen, you have a clear layout with artwork taking approximately half of the screen and other controls at the top in the notification area and Playback control in the lower part of the screen.  Notification area is semi transparent so you can still see the top of the song/album artwork, if one is embedded.  Up there all the way at the top you have a notification bar where you will find play/pause icon and repeat/shuffle mode indicators on the left, balanced on/off and volume level in the middle, and sleep and selected EQ and battery indication all the way to the right.  That area is for notifications only, nothing to pull down or to launch by tapping.

Right below it, you have touch icon for  File Browser (on the left), Current Directory Playlist with corresponding number of songs in the folder and which one is being played – in the middle, and Setup icon to enter Shortcuts menu on the right.  File Browser takes you to another screen where you can view/sort tracks by Songs, Albums, Artists, Genres, Folders (at the top you can select MicroSD 1, 2, or Internal source), and Favorite (from your favorite list of tagged songs).  Within those screens, tapping in the middle of the top below Notification bar takes you back to the currently playing song.  Current Directory Playlist index has a bit of inconsistent behavior where upon tapping it usually shows you a list of songs in the current sub-directory, but when you are playing songs from the main root directory (/Music/) – it shows every song including all your subdirectories (I treat all my albums as sub-directories).  Not sure if it’s intended “by design”, but I hope it will be fixed in a future firmware release.

Clicking on Setup opens up a sub-menu with a few shortcuts, for EQ, Balanced Output selection, Sleep, Screen Brightness control, and another Tools icon in the upper right to enter the actual Settings menu.  Every DAP has their own implementation of menus and controls, and it just takes awhile to get used to it.  EQ just enables the eq with currently selected preset (there are 3 user customizable presets), Balanced Out toggles 2.5mm output on/off, and Sleep starts a sleep timer.  Screen Brightness slider just does what it says, adjusts the brightness of the screen.

Settings menu is rather simple.  You have EQ toggle switch (the same one you can access from the shortcuts menu), User Equalizer takes you to 3 separate User# settings where you can customize 10-band typical paragraphic EQ (or reset it – touch icon in upper right corner).  Current EQ implementation is useless because you can’t adjust bands in real time as you listening to the song.  The EQ change will only go in effect after you pause and re-start playing the music.  I personally don’t use EQ, but would be very frustrated with this implementation.  I also hope they will add genre specific presets for EQ since some people might find it useful.  Also when EQ is selected, it needs to show EQ preset# in the notification bar.

Next in the Settings menu you have Balanced Out toggle (the same as in shortcuts menu), Balance control to adjust L/R sound balance, Language selection, Screen brightness (the same as in shortcuts menu), Auto Display off timeout setting, Sleep toggle (the same as in shortcuts menu) with Sleep Time setting, System info indicating fw version, Internal and External storage capacity including being able to mount and to erase each SD card, and a link to Open Source licenses.  Update takes you to System Update to apply new firmware which you have to manually download and copy into the root directory – no OTA update is supported due to lack of wifi.  Last, but not least, is Initialization with DB initialize (this one re-inits the database with song index), Settings initialize (to reset settings), and Factory reset (resets device to factory state, including erasing all your songs stored in internal memory).

In the Main Playback screen, below artwork area, you have a touch swipe playback control where you can swipe to fast forward through a song, and you can see playback marker position in time, the song format, and the remaining time (no total song time can be displayed).  Below that you have Song/Album name info, and Play/Pause and Skip touch icons.  You can also skip between the songs by swiping the artwork area of the display left/right.  All the way at the bottom in the left corner you can select Repeat mode where you can either repeat a song in a loop, or you can repeat all (if you are playing all songs) or a folder (if you are inside of a folder) or an album (if you are playing an album).  All the way to the right is Shuffle selection.  Both Repeat and Shuffle could be selected at the same time, and corresponding icon will appear in notification bar next to the playback function icon on the left.  Favorite “star” icon is in the middle all the way at the bottom, and you simply tag the currently playing song to be added to your Favorite folder – very easy.

Every manufacturer has their own creative way of implementing GUI and the way how they partition and organize the functionality within it.  There is always a learning curve when you get a new “toy” and it’s no different with Opus#1.  I got used to this interface very quickly, and everything now makes perfect sense to me, especially since I have been using this DAP exclusively for the last 2-3 weeks.  I still hope EQ will be implemented properly, and I can copy my “loose” tracks into the root /Music/ directory where I can navigate and skip through those specific songs instead of the list of All song including sub-folders.  For now, I just created /Music/Various/ folder where I have compilation of my various tracks I moved from the root /Music/ directory.

Here are a few other random observations about the interface and the playback.  Gapless seems to be nearly perfect, at least with my “gapless” split DJ mix directory I use for testing.  I also had no problem reading CUE file and could fast forward through it, but wasn’t able to skip through the tracks embedded in there.  Hitting Play/Pause has a slight delay and that is probably due to a deep sleep mode which Opus#1 enters when you pause it, the same when sometimes I have a screen off and play/pause hw button doesn’t always respond until I turn the screen on.  But I still find it remarkable how I can pause the song, and come back to this DAP a few days later to find hardly any dent in battery life.  USB DAC is not currently enabled, but on their to-do list.

Overall, the interface is very responsive, like dealing with your typical smartphone touch screen.  The resolution is just perfect to display artwork, if embedded with a song.  If not, it will display a default image, though I also found a bug where artwork embedded with one of my songs showed up across half a dozen of other songs without embedded artwork.  This is an example of another firmware quirk which should be easy to fix.  I would also like to see a battery capacity indicator so I don’t have to guess remaining battery time based on 4 segments of the icon.  Definitely, more work needs to be done, but none of this is critical or a showstopper.

 

Sound Analysis.

When I received Opus for review, I put it through burn in for a few days, switching between 3.5mm and 2.5mm outputs while I was spot checking the sound.  During these few days, I quickly realized that brief spot checking wasn’t enough for me because I really started to like what I’m hearing.  As a result, I ended up doing half of the burn in while actually listening to Opus#1 at home or during my lunch break at work.

Starting with the low end, I hear a nicely textured and deeply extended sub-bass rumble, adding a nice warm analog flavor to the sound.  Moving to the mid-bass – I found it to be not as aggressive as I hear it with other DAPs where you have more speed and faster attack.  Here it was a bit laid back and slightly relaxed, though at the same time still very articulate and with a noticeable impact.  Moving to the mids, lower mids have a nice body and never add muddiness to any of my headphones beyond their own sound signature characteristics, while upper mids region is very resolving, very detailed, with an excellent transparency, and still sounding organic and natural. Treble is very detailed and highly resolving as well, adding nice degree of airiness to many of my headphones.  At the same time I hear it being slightly rolled off at the top where even my harsh/grainy headphones sound pleasant to my ears.  I was quite impressed how some of my borderline sibilant IEMs and full size headphones (with a typical metallic sheen) never lost their level of micro-detail retrieval yet they were smooth and resolving at the same time.

The soundstage is wide, and it improves even further when you switch to balanced output where it gets even a little bit wider and deeper, resulting in a more holographic staging.  The layering and separation is very good, even when I use my warmer headphones which could sound congested with some sources.  But one thing that impressed me the most was how transparent and dynamic Opus#1 sounds.  You don’t realize this until you do a/b comparison with other DAPs, and you suddenly start to hear how the sound opens up and becomes uncompressed and expanded.

Overall, I found Opus#1 to have a very unique, open, musical, highly resolving, transparent sound with a smooth natural tonality.  It’s hard to just classify it as being on a warmer side based on its low end performance, or the brighter side based on its upper mids/treble performance.  It has a very interesting blend of a revealing highly resolving sound with an analog musical smoothness.  Like a hybrid, it kind of combines both worlds of analog smoothness and digital precision without too much coloring.

Pair up.

While going through pair up test using different headphones in my collection, I noted next to each one a volume level to give a better idea for relative comparison.  Opus#1 volume scale goes up 150 steps, but when you reach 120 clicks, you get a warning about volume being too high.  It’s always good to have a warning, but I wish it could be disabled.

DN2kJ (79) – very faint hissing, sounds a little mid-forward, bass is not as articulate and slightly pushed back, mids are very vivid, clean, and detailed, a little bright but not harsh at all, treble is crisp and airy; nice soundstage expansion

ZEN v1 (110) – nicely balanced smooth detailed sound, drives ZENs with authority from a nice low end deep  textured extension to full body mids, and clean well defined treble.  Soundstage was pleasantly wide.

ZEN v2 (105) – well balanced smooth detailed sound, definitely a good pair up, bass is a little laid back, not as punchy, mids have full body, smooth, very organic, treble is well defined. Nice soundstage expansion.

K10UA (75) – a little hissing, nicely balanced and very detailed sound, deep low end extension with punchy fast mid-bass, lower mids have a nice body (not too thin or too thick), upper mids are very detailed, not harsh or grainy, vocals sounds organic and very detailed, crisp airy treble extension.  Good soundstage expansion, not holographic but wide enough.

Savant (84) – dead silent, very smooth balanced detailed sound, excellent bass extension down to textured sub-bass (Opus actually brought up bass in Savant), punchy mid-bass, lower mids have a nice body (not too thin or too thick), upper mids are organic, natural, detailed, excellent rendition of vocals.  Treble is detailed, airy, under control without being too crisp.  Soundstage is relatively wide.  Excellent pair up!

U12 (75) – dead silent, very smooth detailed sound, powerful low end impact with deep sub-bass extension, punchy mid-bass (but not too fast or aggressive), nice balanced mids, lower mids add nice body to the sound (maybe a bit on a thicker side, but never muddy), upper mids are smooth, organic, lush and at the same time very detailed.  Treble is well defined, detailed, and not too crisp, with some airiness.  Staging is wide.  LOVE this pair up very much, though keep in mind I’m using U12 with TWau cable and B1 filter.

ES60 (65) – a little hissing, reference quality smooth detailed neutral sound, nice low end extension with a punchy fast mid-bass, smooth lower mids, a bit on a leaner side but still with some nice body, clear detailed  upper mids, very organic detailed vocals performance, clear detailed crisp airy treble. Soundstage expansion is excellent.  A very impressive pair up, especially when I use ES60 with Super BaX balanced cable.

T5p.2 (98) – detailed revealing sound with a punchy fast mid-bass, slightly rolled off sub-bass (which I can get back by switching to Alpha pads), lean lower mids, crisp detailed slightly recessed upper mids – revealing analytical quality which can get a bit harsh, but never crosses sibilance threshold, and switching to Alpha pads it becomes smoother and still very detailed.  Treble is very crisp, airy, extended.  Overall sound lacks a little bit of warmth until you switch to Alpha pads. Soundstage is very well expanded.  Did I mention Alpha pads?!?

A2000Z (98) – very detailed revealing balanced sound, a little rolled off sub-bass (more quality than quantity), punchy fast mid-bass, nicely balanced lower mids (not too lean or too full), very detailed revealing upper mids, never gets harsh or grainy, crisp, airy, extended treble.  Perfectly balanced sound sig, and expanded soundstage.  Excellent pair up!

R70x (124) – very natural detailed balanced sound, I enjoyed everything from a textured sub-bass to a punchy tight mid-bass, lower mids with some nice body (not too thick or too lean) and smooth detailed organic upper mids with a perfect delivery of vocals, and detailed crisp airy extended treble.  Soundstage expansion of these open backs was excellent.  Definitely among best pair ups to drive these 470 ohm open back cans to perfection without a need for an external amp.

EL-8C (107) – bright revealing balanced sound, rolled off sub-bass (another example of quality over quantity), nice punchy mid-bass, leaner lower mids, bright revealing upper mids – NO metallic harshness at all, crisp detailed, airy extended treble, and a very good soundstage expansion.  Yes, you read it correctly, NO metallic harshness!!!

PM-3 (104) – smooth balanced detailed sound, excellent low end extension with a deep sub-bass, punchy fast mid-bass, full body lower mids (not too thick or muddy), smooth organic detailed upper mids, detailed airy treble with a nice definition.  It has a great soundstage expansion as well.  PM-3 pair up could be tricky, perhaps due to planar magnetic nature of the drivers and their smooth signature.  But with Opus#1 the sound was open and detailed.

Comparison to other DAPs.

While comparing Opus#1 performance to other DAPs, I used ES60 for this test since I consider these CIEMs to have a more reference quality sound, and their high sensitivity makes a good test for hissing.

Opus vs AK120ii – Opus has a bit of hissing, while AK is dead quiet.  Both have a very similar sound signature and tonality, but AK is a bit smoother which adds more analog warmth and loses some micro details.  Opus is a little better in layering and separation and also a bit more transparent, in comparison to smoother AK.  One thing that kind of bothered me a bit is Opus being wider.  Don’t get me wrong, it fits comfortably in my hand, but when you compare it to AK120ii, you notice the physical width.

Opus vs Gold – both have a little bit of hissing.  They both have a similar retrieval of details on micro-detail level, and very similar layering and separation of the sound, though Gold is a touch better.  Gold has a little better transparency and slightly better dynamic performance.  Gold has a tighter bass with a stronger mid-bass punch, while Opus is more neutral in comparison when it comes to bass quantity.  Both have a very similar soundstage expansion, maybe with Gold being a touch wider.  LPG is still among top dogs, but when it comes to retrieval of details and sound transparency, Opus#1 comes closer than any other DAPs I have tested before.  Factor in fluid touch screen interface and standard micro-usb charging, and you can see why lately I spent more time with Opus#1 over LPG.

Opus vs L5Pro – both exhibit slight hissing.  Similar sound signature, while L5Pro is slightly warmer due to treble being a touch rolled off in comparison.  L5Pro has a stronger and a bit deeper sub-bass and more aggressive mid-bass punch, while Opus sub-bass is a little softer and mid-bass is not as fast, a little less aggressive.  Opus soundstage is a little wider.  Opus sound is more dynamic, and it has a slightly better transparency, including a little better separation of sounds and a little better retrieval of details.  L5 Pro is no slouch, and once L&P implements touch swiping – its functional value should go up.

Opus vs X7 – X7 has a darker background.  X7 sound is a little leaner.  X7 sub-bass doesn’t extend as deep as Opus, mid-bass is similar, though Opus mids have more body and sound is more organic.  Both have a very similar dynamic performance, and layering/separation.  Overall, X7 sounds a little more digital in comparison while Opus sounds more analog and smoother. Both have similar retrieval of details.  Also, Opus soundstage width is a touch wider.

Opus vs DX80 – DX has slightly less hissing.  Both have similar sub-bass extension, but DX bass is tighter and punchier, while Opus is softer and slower.  Opus has a slight edge in having a more transparent and better layered sound, but definitely not on a level of night’n’day difference.  One thing is noticeable, Opus sounds a little more dynamic, while DX80 sounds a bit more compressed in comparison.  Keep in mind, this is a relative comparison.  Soundstage expansion is close enough.

Opus vs N5 – similar level of slight hissing during playback.  N5 has similarly deep sub-bass but faster mid-bass punch.  Opus sound is a little more transparent and with slightly better dynamics, but layering and separation is similar.  Soundstage width is a little wider in Opus.  Comparing Opus to N5 really puts a contrast on touch screen vs button/wheel controlled interface, but with i5 around the corner this should change.

Conclusion.

I discovered Opus#1 by accident, without even realizing that it will get catapulted to the top of my DAP list.  It’s still work in progress since USB DAC functionality needs to be enabled, not even something I would use on a daily basis, but still a nice feature to complete the package.  Plus, a few other minor fw fixes and optimizations would be nice, including EQ fix, but nothing which I consider to be a showstopper.  Priced to be somewhere between other mid-fi and summit-fi DAPs, Opus#1 definitely offers a summit-fi sound quality with an open, musical, highly resolving, transparent sound wrapped in a smooth natural tonality.  Add to that a great battery life of 10-11hrs (headphone dependent), storage capacity of up to 432GB, full touch screen interface with external hardware transport control buttons, single ended and balanced outputs, digital optical output – and you see not only summit-fi sound quality but also summit-fi list of features.  With a current bonus offer of a custom Dignis leather case, still included under Amazon listing, you have a complete DAP package with a very impressive price/performance ratio.