I’ve heard the black and the red, personally didn’t like the red all that much, sounded sloppy and overly warm, somewhat blunted as well and not all that capable given the cost. The black was a much more refined tuning and was more technically capable as well, although not that close to the level of the P6 ime, but it was an enjoyable and sweeter signature that was more relaxed, although I question if I would buy one new at the price they go for, used they are much more reasonable (whereas even at 3k new the p6 is still a compelling buy imo)
I do like the hugo 2, but it is getting old at this point and does need a refresh. Also the 2go is too expensive for what it is
There’s def a fair amount of cool stuff out there for sure, I hope it continues to improve lol, so I can get to the point where I can have one of my desktop main dacs in my pocket (although it’s prob going to take awhile before that will happen lol). Regardless considering that imo the P6 has dac quality inbetween a cyan and a spring 2 (reason I make that comparison is that I do think they share some similarities with holo dacs) with a slight lean towards spring 2, I hope the p6 pro pushes even closer to the spring 2 in performance (or exceeds or at least matches, that would be pretty amazing)
The looks of the P6 Pro are killer and im sure the touch screen will make it much more friendly. Even if i had the money i would find it hard to carry an item worth that much around in my pocket especially since my daps are/were used for hustle and bustle commuting.
Then i would also think i would need more than the hfi 780s to pair.
Maybe a one day if its very very discounted used type purchase or if i want my desktop and portable set ups to be condensed into one
Unfortunately for myself when trading in, you don’t get the new finish, you get the new internals in the regular p6 case, personally I don’t care all that much but some might
That is a legit concern, it’s built well enough to where it doesn’t feel fragile but that doesn’t stop me from babying it and taking extra care in preventing anything from happening
Yup. This is my main problem. I give the hugo2 some excuses because of when it was released, but the 2go is just a damn joke.
Im greatly looking forward to your impressions of it. TBH, if it does actually match a spring 2 its not exactly a horrid value. Like obviously a massive premium compared to a desktop setup, but not as much as I would expect (I was already pretty surprised when you said the p6 passed the cyan for ~2.5x the cost but portable tbh). Also, mind if I ask what your desktop chain looks like if pushing S2 territory still isn’t there?
Mind if I ask how much the trade in program is?
As an added, completely off topic question, in you review a couple months ago you talked about using the micro BL for a warmer experience. Did you mean Use the BL as a separate device or just use it as an add on amp to the P6?
So many people were thinking the announcement for it was going to be the hugo 3 or mojo 2, but no, it was just a poly for a hugo lol
I personally would say the p6 is a decent value for what it can offer, as long as the p6 pro can improve on what the p6 already offers, I think it can still remain a compelling option at it’s price point (but if it’s a marginal upgrade than that’s not worth)
If you check my profile you can see my various desktop chains I commonly use
Around 500 ish bucks from musictek
What review lol? If your talking about my posts above, they are more just random thoughts and experiences, not something I would say is fitting to be called a review tbh, regardless, typically I use the micro bl as a dac amp combo when I talk about it. Typically I use it connected to a phone or a m11 as a transport only. I hopefully didn’t say it was to the level of the p6 pro because it really isn’t that, but it’s still a pretty quality portable for the money given you enjoy the signature it offers, very nice for powering headphones on the go, and it’s feature set is pretty versatile for a desk as well
Edit: was 589 for the upgrade from the p6 to the pro
Like, I get why they did it from a business poin of view. Probably way easier to make and I guarantee they still sold a bunch of them, but damn guys. Just give us a hugo or mojo with even vaugely modern IO guys…
Thats actually interesting. Im pretty sure they makes it cheaper to buy an open box p6 and have it converted than it is to buy one out right by quite a margin. The upgrades are just UI and amp, right?
haha, you certainly didnt call them equal. Just said you use the BL for a warm experience and I wasnt sure if the amp stage of the BL was warm ontop of the super smoothed over burr brown it uses
I actually think that if you buy an open box p6 from musictek they won’t let you upgrade it to the pro, I think this is more for people who were early adopters to the p6, and they felt bad about releasing a new model so quick, so they further refined it and added more value and made it semi reasonable cost
So it is warmer, but feeding it a more neutral or neutral bright dac it will make it less warm and give it a bit warmer tilt, but the dac does really double down on the warmth and smoothness (it does make a nice dac on line out though and doesn’t lean too far)
Ah, ok. That makes quite a bit of sense. Now completely OT. If one wants a portable with a better DAC than the micro BL (purely dac), what tier of DAP (or other dac/amp) would you need to look at? Is something along the lines of the M11 Pro, R6 2020, or similar going to be an actual step up from it? Or do you realistically need to jump to something in the tier of the the paw 6000/kahn alpha/etc?
Well I mean that’s outperform level but not totally eclipse or anything, and also daps are going to be inherently more expensive since they have a player aspect where the micro bl is basically only a dac/amp and doesn’t have to have a mini android phone in there lol
oh, 100%. I just dont see much in the portable world that isnt a dap (besides the hugo 2 and WA11) in that tier. Any recommendations for that matter? Just other stuff to look into at the top tier of the potable world?
For dac amp combos, also the WA8, alo continental dual mono, a phatlab chimera d, swan song mini dac, cypher labs theorem 720, centrance hifi-m8 v2, ray samuels the intruder, etc and more obscure stuff
There’s more options if you just want a portable amp to then stack with a dap
That’s a ton of shit I’ve never heard of! TYVM for something new to look at. Ultimately I need something to run some of my more efficient headphones and IEMs, but I dont want to step down sound quality wise from the BL (It just blows my ears out in some stuff at minimum volume). I had kinda thought I didnt have any real options other than Hugo 2, maybe the honey H1, and DAPs in that range for portable tbh.
Regarding what I mentioned, the alo, woo, phatlab, and swan song would be solid upgrades over the micro bl for iems and sensitive headphones, whereas the cypher labs, centrance, and ray samuals would be slight upgrades or sidegrades in some regards to the micro bl
Haven’t heard that one yet, would be interested to see how well it did
Yah. Eco on w/ IE match on the highest mests and clears blow my ears out if I have an even vaguely quiet room but qudelix 5k sounds, idk, anemic? The stage and layering just arent there to the same extent as the BL at all (though the treble detail may actually be a dash better/easier to find since its not as smoothed over)
That’s good info. TYVM. Anything non-DAP you personally think competes with the likes of the p6 dac wise? TBH, anything I get in that price range I would like to be able to use as a desktop DAC as well.
Fair. Im quite curious as well. Pretty well every review I’ve seen of it thinks is amazing if you like the tonality
Dang I’m surprised that eco + ultra doesn’t give you enough volume range
Nope, not yet at least, I have yet to hear a portable dac/amp combo that can surpass the p6 dac wise. The p6 can be used as a dac for a pc though
Also if you want a pretty great portable or transportable setup, the P6 acting as a dac to an xi broadway would be pretty great lol (although the battery on the broadway isn’t that long, like 5 hrs)
There is massive channel imbalance below 9 o’clock on my unit (about average from what I can tell) so by the time the channels are level its fairly loud on sensitive stuff. Isnt an issue on 2Cs or argons, but the clears and mests are loudish (clear) and loud as hell (mest) by then
Kinda figured. That thing does look awesome.
Wait, it can or cannot be used as a USB dac?
Hahaha. I have been drooling over the broadway and portable stax energizers for a fair while now. Definitely my current foseable endgame. I’ve been told not to expect to get the most from aryas until I step up amp wise past the micr BLand that got me drooling over the broadway and BX-2
Ah ok gotcha, hmmm yeah that’s pretty unfortunate on the imbalance issue, since your only solution would be to reduce digital source volume which isn’t the best for sound quality (you are prob fine a few ticks down but reducing lower would most likely be pretty noticeable)
It can, it has a usb dac mode
The P6 + tur06es is a pretty amazing combo, and for headphones I use the phantasy ii or bx2 plus for the amp for the p6, really pretty great (also sometimes the wa11 since the wa11 plays better for iems than the phantasy ii)
I mean it’s the same for the clears, you might be surprised at how much better the clears get with nicer amplification too (and a nicer dac of course). Other portable amps I like (but don’t have at the moment) is the bakoon hpa-01 and vorzuge vorzamp duo ii which are pretty nice imo
yah, and with the mests especially I need to drop digital source to 1/2 or lower. Hence why I’m all of a sudden looking in a new space.
Ok, Perfect. Just wanted to make sure. Speaking of the thing this thread is actually about… did they ever fix the song/storage cap?
Now just to figure out a portable that can run susvaras and my end game dream team will be complete
I had just figured the BL would be plenty for them tbh. I guess I have a new question. In my situation, with the BL and 5k being my only sources, would you prioritize a better amp and just use the LO of the BL for now? That’s massively unwieldy, don’t get me wrong, im just curious what you think the priority should be to elevate my setup.
FWIW, my other cans are LCD-X/2C, Kinera Na-Nan, X00 PH, and Argons and I dont really have any plans to get other cans as of right now (I’ll probabaly downsize tbh) unless I decide I want more comfort than the mests provide.
