Interesting I never went to other site always went here:
http://www.masskobo.com/index-e.htm
Just assumed I had to my the forex transaction myself
Iāve been eyeing the Mass Kobo Model 394 II, but this 433 might be a great match with my Elite, and itās far cheaper than the 394. @M0N Iāve read your positive impressions of the 433. What other solid-state amps does it compare to? Is it in the V550 or Bliss tier or slightly below.
I personally think itās above the V550 or bryston or gsx mini level (not heard the bliss so canāt comment), probably at pass or above hpa 1 or cavalli liquid gold level, although very different from those two lol. Itās hard because above it is sort of a solid state deadspace in the market imo
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I imagine youād generally pair it with more richer and warmer leaning DACs, right (basing it off your mysphere article)?
So actually, I have my 394ii paired with my berkeley, and really like that combo lol. But I do think pairing it with a warmer source is better for more casual listening, can get intense with some of the cleaner and more dry leaning sources.
I think some really nice more price appropriate starting pairings would be a crane song solaris quantum (something a bit warmer and sweeter leaning but still neutral and well balanced overall), schiit og yggy a2 (something a bit warmer and more fun per se but not going to far), and a berkeley alpha s2 or soekris dac2541 if you wanted something very neutral that would emphasize what itās good at but also make it a bit more focused and intense. And actually a solid value that fits into this category would be the aqua la voce s3 as thatās good for something pretty neutral yet slightly relaxed, used prices have just gotten.
Going higher end, I thought the wavedream balanced was really quite a fun pairing space wise while keeping it on the cleaner side of things. Mojo evo pro was a great option for something warmer, richer, sweeter, but still being very technical and refined (also think the lavry quintessence is very nice for this too). For something more dead neutral I really liked a berk rs2, bricasti m1 mdx, or weiss 501 although again be ready for that lol. I would give a mention to totaldac but they donāt see the single anymore and while I bet the unity is awesome, itās likely too much a price jump to justify lol
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Ah I see, canāt help but be curious how itād pair with my linnenberg, it would probably be along the lines of above. The balance with the crayon seems just right to me, as long as I bypass the volume pot as much as possible on the crayon lol
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@M0N Is there a substantial difference between the 433 and 394 II? Thereās obviously a substantial price difference. I just wonder if one is using relatively easy to drive headphones if the 433 might be plenty.
For some context, I recently bought a relatively unknown $2500 solid-state amp that was meant to replace all my other accumulated amps, tube and solid-state. It was the Cen.Grand 9i-806 āLittle Silver Foxā. It was gigantic and very powerful, but in the end I didnāt hear enough improvement over my $300 used Cayin iHA-6 and Quicksilver. Donāt get me wrong, the amp was high quality and might have impressed me more if I had harder-to-drive headphones. My Bifrost 2 might have also been a bottleneck in the chain, holding the amp back a bit. Iām the end, I returned the Little Silver Fox.
Iām still interested in finding a one-and-done solid-state amp to sit alongside my little SW51+ tube amp, which is too good/too cheap to sell. As some of you may have seen, I sold my Cayin iHA-6 recently. Insanely, I actually bought another one almost immediately when one popped up for sale on Head-Fi. That was a case of instant sellerās remorse! It really is a great little amp, especially in āhigh currentā mode with the Elite. Itās silly good for the $300 itās now going for on the used market.
I have made up my mind, and Iām definitely selling the Quicksilver. I went back and forth about it after I returned the Little Silver Fox. I actually found a local buyer for it, which never happens in Birmingham, Alabama. Iāll really miss this amp. It was my first nice tube amp, and I learned a lot about tubes while owning it.
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From my brief experience, still yes even with more sensitive headphones
Gotcha
The cayin really is quite nice for the price for sure, gotten really really low used for what it is lol
I think it would really help to know what sonic aspects you want to prioritize if the mass kobo makes sense. Iād also say itās pretty important to also plan to upgrade the dac as well later on. An amp can only really be as good as the digital source allows it to be, if you arenāt getting the next level out of your dac, you arenāt going to get the next level out of your amp.
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I actually think youāre right. A DAC upgrade should probably be my next goal instead of an amp. My Zen Stream > BF2 > iHA-6 > Elite chain really lacks nothing for my preferences to be honest.
As we all know, this hobby always seems to find a way of tempting us to look for ways to improve on whatās already amazing sound.
Easy solution there would be to move to an og schiit yggy a2, direct upgrade from the bf2 for the most part, would pair well enough with your current amp obs, and the mass kobo if you went for that, and pretty easy to find imo. Of course if you wanted to shift things up or buy a dac specifically for a future amp in mind (especially a single ended one) then thereās plenty of other options
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Yeah, Iāve been leaning towards a LIM or A2. Before I moved to a balanced amp, I was aiming for the LIM which had better single-ended outputs, but now I might look for an A2.
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Im also intrigued by the 433, not that much info on it really but its probably a high tier sound for most dynamics and some planars
My budget can allow for one, but im not considering it yet due to lack of info/hype
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Iāll be demoing one in a few weeks and will share some impressions, most likely with Utopia and Stellia
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Does anyone know if the mass kobo 428 has international voltage or that doesnt even matter because it uses a battery?
Also I see the numbers a bit lacking in the power section, what kind of headphones would you guys use with a mk 428?
It either uses AA batteries USB micro b 5v DC, so it works fine internationally. iirc all modern mass Kobo have switchable voltage and frequency for their desktop products too
Not really in use, for mine I ended up using it most often with a Diana v2, mysphere 3.2, adx5k, th900, hd800, etc. I think itās most at home with dynamics but despite the lackluster numbers on paper it also has a surprisingly decent drive for planar as well where I wouldnāt be as worried about it for easy to moderately demanding planar.
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Thank you, its a neat little beast then
Do you find it to be as good as other battery options like the woo wa8 eclipse or bakoon hpa21?
Or is it comparable even against desktop options like the quicksilver ha or the mk 433? Just to name some random amps, Ive never heard a mass kobo but people really respect the brand.
I dont have a portable dac to match so maybe a desktop option could be better
I find it largely better than both for my preferences, although there are cases where I might rather have some of the other options (like if I really favored something a lot more rich, sweet, looser, a bit more larger in stage, at the cost of some general technicalities Iād go for the woo. The 21 is mediocre at voltage drive output, but on basically very specific headphones like lcd 2 or hd800s I might favor the current drive, but in most all other headphones Iād rather have the MK).
Really the only truly comparable portable amp to me so far is the brise tungsuari (or how ever you spell it), and the mk is a much better value imo. The brise takes a bit more of a larger, smoother, warmer, and richer focus without sacrificing technicalities. I still favor the mk over the brise though personally for the headphones I use, but I could easily see someone going either way depending on preference and synergy. The brise is a big high priced in comparison though given I donāt really think itās above the mk. Iāve got both right now, and I donāt think Iāll be keeping the brise around lol
I would say the portable mk is absolutely compeditive with desktop gear. I donāt know exactly where Iād place it against, but Iād say itās compeditive with some of the other 1-2k desktop amps for sure with more sensitive headphones and iems. Itās one of the few portable things I have that I actually think can replace a desktop setup for someone. vs the quicksilver, itās a very different sound so hard to compare, but Iād say the mk is ahead in some respects and not in others, so easily they both trade blows. Iād rather have a 424 over a gsx mini I guess as an example lol
I donāt think itās at the level of the 433 though, or esp 394ii.
Really the 394 and 424 are amps that I never really talk about, but theyāre one of my all time favorites that I use almost daily lol. Theyāre just very honest amps, a bit more forward than normal but very lively, great texture, great dynamics, great accuracy, they really scream āreferenceā to me
The 424/428 works great as a desktop amp, get it a high quality 5v psu (I use a Fidelizer Nikola2 and find it a great pairing overall) and itās a great option for a desktop quality sound at a desk or on the go. Battery life is weak though, and if you use rechargables you canāt recharge them though the unit. Iād say it sounds best either with a very nice psu or off battery power. Iād say it sounds better of battery than vs something like an ifi ipowerx or something.
Dac wise, personally I end up pairing it with the lp p6p as I think thatās just one of the best dacs you can get portable, and I also think itās overall sonic goals mesh really well with the unit (adding a bit of extra warmth and body but also keeping the awesome texture and liveliness and dynamics and whatnot). I also think that the lpgt is a great pairing for something very deadpan neutral perhaps slightly a bit more forward.
I didnāt like it with some other daps that were either just lacking in the dac/line out area or ones that added too much coloration (like a hiby rs6 for example). I havenāt experimented too much with desktop dacs since at that point Iād just use my 394, but it scales really really well for a portable lol
Overall, love my little unit, would consider it the best battery powered āportableā unit you can get, after that if you want to get better youāve got to move to desktop amps.
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Thanks a lot! That hypes me up to try since maybe I can get it along the pass, quicksilver and v550 being my other options but im leaning for the qs and mk428
Do yo think a shanti LPS could work well for a budget 5v PSU? Also in short what is the frequency response/tuning of the mk428 like?
If I dont end up liking the he6 on the pass hpa1 I might sell it and go for he1000 v2 instead
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That would be a very nice collection lol
I donāt like the shanti pairing, it gets too bright/thin and too forward. Iād rather consider a warmer psu like the fidelizer or on the cheaper end perhaps a SGC LPS, but Iām not the most up to date on what are the currently popular high value psus lol
Iād say the overall voicing of the mass kobo is forward and cleaner leaning, perhaps eversoslightly bright but not harsh, but also has nice bite and snap. Spatially itās more depth than width focused and is very accurate in that regard. I think itās overall very lively in both macro and micro dynamics, and is more punchy than slammy. Itās very fast, and very accurate and tight control. Itās also pretty resolving but not overly forward with that resolution. Timbre wise itās on the cooler side of things but still organic, and itās a bit more dryer leaning weighting wise. Itās sort of what youād think of if you thought āstudio neutralā but itās also more organic and enjoyable to listen to than what youād typically think of that being lol. I hate to use the word, but itās one of those amps that focuses on being somewhat transparent to the source a bit, and is just going to try and be faithful to what itās fed (not super chameleon or something but still). Awesome texture, thatās a standout, itās a very tactile sounding amp
Iād personally say the hekv2 or especially hekse is a better match for the pass, but I donāt think youāll be disappointed with the he6 either lol
You ended up snagging a pass? Niceeee
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