Comparison.

I started my comparison with AP80 Copper vs Aluminum, where both have the same FW2.0 beta, the same min phase fast roll-off filter setting, and using U18t for monitoring.

Al has softer bass, a leaner, thinner, brighter mids, a touch smoother treble, and overall a more transparent brighter tonality.

Cu has a stronger mid-bass punch, fuller body, more musical, natural mids, and a touch more sparkle in treble, and overall tonality is warmer.

Both have more extended out of your head soundstage depth, but Cu has a noticeably more soundstage width with improved imaging and placement of sounds.

Here is how it stacks up against other portable DAPs.

vs Shanling M0 has a tonality closer to Cu, but Cu soundstage width is more expanded, and I hear a bit more sparkle and airiness in treble.  Cu bass also punches stronger in comparison to M0.

vs Hiby R3 sound is somewhere between Al and Cu, with a tonality warmer than Al but not quite as full bodied as Cu, but it’s very close.  Cu bass punches stronger, and treble has just a touch more sparkle.  When it comes to soundstage, R3 3.5mm output has a little narrower staging, but R3 2.5mm balanced output has a soundstage width similar to Cu.

vs iBasso DX120 sound is also between Al and Cu, with a tonality being warmer and closer to Cu version.  There are some other subtle differences.  For example, I hear in U18t pair up with DX120 a little more sub-bass and smoother treble, while in pair up with AP80 Cu I hear a stronger mid-bass punch and more sparkle in treble.  Also, AP80 Cu has a little wider soundstage, while DX120 extends further out of your head (more depth).  One noticeable difference, DX120 has a lot more hissing with sensitive low impedance IEMs.

vs Cayin N3 sound has a very similar warm tonality as Cu, but also a few noticeable differences.  For example, Cu mid-bass has a shorter attack/decay, making the bass punch faster and with more control, while N3 bass is a little more laidback.  And Cu treble has more sparkle while N3 treble is smoother.  Also, Cu has a wider soundstage.

vs Hidizs AP200 sound is closer to a brighter tonality of Al with a leaner, thinner, brighter mids, and less aggressive bass.  But the treble of AP200 has more sparkle and sounds closer to Cu version.  Also, AP200 soundstage is wide enough to be closer to Cu.

Pair up.

In the following pair up examples everything was tested with AP80 in high gain, and I also noted the volume level (x/100).

Campfire Audio Andromeda (27/100) – zero hissing, balanced organic sound with a stronger mid-bass punch, warmer smoother natural mids with a slightly pulled back presentation, natural crisp treble (not harsh at all), wide soundstage.

Campfire Audio Solaris (23/100) – zero hissing, balanced organic sound with a strong fast mid-bass punch, warmer natural mids which also slightly pulled back, crisp airy treble (not harsh or fatigue). Very wide soundstage.

HiFiMAN RE2000 (44/100) – zero hissing, more v-shaped sound with a deep bass impact (nice rumble), and a very crisp sparkly treble.  Mids here are very lean (to my surprise) and pulled back in presentation.  Very wide soundstage with a nice depth, reaching holographic level.  If you like deep strong bass and crisp airy treble, these are good.  I personally was missing the warmth in vocals.

64 Audio U18t (33/100) – zero hissing, nicely balanced sound sig, fast punchy bass with a nice sub-bass rumble, more neutral natural revealing mids with a slightly more forward presentation, crisp sparkly treble (not fatigue, but a little more sparkle than I’m used to).

Empire Ears Legend X (38/100) – zero hissing, v-shaped sound sig with a very strong mid-bass punch, mids are very natural and detailed, treble is crisp and well controlled.  Bass definitely dominating the sound here, but it didn’t feel overwhelming or out of control.  Soundstage is also very wide here.

Beyerdynamic T5p 2nd (43/100) – even so it drove these loud enough with plenty of volume headroom, the sound was a bit off, especially in mids, like something was missing in vocals.  Bass and treble are fine, strong mid-bass punch and crisp airy treble, but mids tonality was a bit off.

Audeze EL8C (62/100) – mid-forward signature with a fast speed neutral bass, lean bright mids, and very crisp treble.  Treble wasn’t harsh, but here I found quite an obvious lack of body in the sound.

Oppo PM3 (47/100) – balanced sound sig with a natural detailed tonality; a good sub-bass rumble with a nice average speed mid-bass punch; good body in mids with a natural tonality and very good retrieval of details, and well-defined non-fatigue treble.  Wide soundstage with more out of your heard depth.  Surprisingly, very good pair up!

Meze Empyrean (55/100) – slightly mid-forward signature with a more neutral fast mid-bass punch, closer to neutral more forward natural mids, and crisp airy treble. Wide open soundstage.  Tonality here wasn’t exactly as I heard it with some other more powerful sources where the signature was more balanced, and bass had more weight.  As expected, AP80 wasn’t designed to drive more demanding planar magnetic headphones.

VE ZEN Omega Edition (50/100) – a good example where high gain adds more clarity to vocals, but I didn’t have to push the volume above 50 here.  Overall, warm full-bodied sound with a good retrieval of details, even for such warm sig. But needs high gain which makes a huge difference.  Soundstage was wide.

Page 4 – Wired and wireless connections, and Conclusion.

Share this:

• X
• Facebook
• Email

Like Loading...

Related

Pages: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4