Softone Model M10 Balanced Output Headphone Amplifier
The Model 10 is a fully discrete and internally differential headphone amplifier with a single ended 3.5mm and three balanced (2.5mm, 3mm and 3,5mm) headphone outputs. Internally differential as it is RCA in only but once received the two channels are independently amplified.
One channel of Model10 consists of 4 differential amplification stages and 2 SEPP output output stages.
‘1’ is a first-stage differential amplifier […]
The input signal is differentially amplified and sent to the positive driver stage ‘3’ and the negative driver stage ‘2’.
‘2’ and ‘3’ are driver stage differential amplifiers […]
Positive and negative signals are amplified to a large amplitude and sent to the SEPP stage […]
‘4’ is a common mode feedback differential amplifier…
The price without shipping or local taxes is 220USD and as far as I am aware it is only available from the small Japanese company that builds it.
The device is very cleanly and sturdily built. Part selection is of decent quality and the finish is workmanlike - definitely professional quality but with savings made to keep cost down.
To my mind the Softone Model 10 is an excellent example of how a well designed and well engineered device can hugely outperform the sum of its parts. Cheaper than many of the endless supply of fancy looking and exhaustively marketed amplifiers on the market it is a case of substance over style.
The first time I listened using the amplifier I had to stop, sit up and pay attention. I’ve heard a fair few sub 500USD head-amps and many have been a pleasant enough listen, but none of them have had the impact this first encounter had other then the RNHP.
Treble is sharp and present. Not airy but well defined and quick. You can easily pick out the finger squeaks on guitar strings or the breath of a flautist, it isn’t etched and unnatural it is just present and distinct. Bass is equally fast and competent. Drums are distinct from each other and when called for can convey the frenetic exertion of the musician. Mids do not slouch, they are as much there in the mix. Electric guitars are picked out and not lost in the mix, vocals too are precise and sound natural. It is full bodied from lows to highs.
There is a theme to this. The Model 10 gives you detail. Layers and layers of it. Focus on one instrument and it feels like the amplifier focuses with you, shift your attention and it feels like it goes with you. It is also quick, I have yet to find a piece of music it can’t keep up with and it is entirely unfazed by passages than can leave others of its low-fi brethren struggling.
Unlike most of those amplifiers that lean in to this kind of sound it does not become overly etched and unnatural or muddy and loose. Lift yourself out of the details and you are presented with music, coherent and whole, a sum of parts and not disjointed. It does not have the brittleness of some Toppings, the overly coloured sound of an Ifi, nor the clinicality of an SMSL or the haziness of a Gustard. It does not have the musicality of the RNHP, being less soft and flowing and no where near and slick in how it blends sounds, but in my opinion it is at least its equal in terms of detail and sound quality. More in your face and much, much faster it excels at high tempo music with complicated rhythms yet is still able to convey the delicacy of a lone violinist. The RNHP will give you the emotion of the music while the Model 10 will give you the positions of the fingers on the strings.
It has power too, on a whim I plugged my DT880 in and at 50% volume was more than able to give a definitely loud enough, pleasing and addictive listen. This pairing is excellent as the Model 10 very competently controls the drivers of the DT880 to provide an encompassing and deep ranging sound. Turn down the source volume and it will give some very clean sound to IEMs and low impedance headphones.
The main weakness of the Model 10 is the soundstage. It is not going to give you great width and has almost no depth. It puts you right in the middle of the sound and it does feel like the music is a cloud around your head – imagine the width and depth of one of the Sennheiser HD6xx series. Within that narrow band imaging is good and easily discerned with all that detail in the sound and rarely gives the impression of being less than a complete 180 degrees.
It is also not a happy pairing with some headphones. Anything too V shaped and you can find the treble getting too hot, equally anything too dark and the bass gets flabby and distorted. It is just as fussy about the source. It was not a happy pairing with the BF2, something just sounded off about the tonal balance. I currently have it fed by the most recent FPGA Aune dac with a Burson v5i opamp and it seems happy with this.
The limits of the Model 10 are less in the quality of the sound and more in how it interacts with everything plugged into it. It has a definite idea of what it wants and what you are going to get and is not prepared to compromise about it.
I really like this amplifier. At some point I really need to hear an amp over 1000USD so I can compare this and my Whammy. My gut tells me this cheap little amp would trade blows. It feels like whoever built this really loves amplifiers, it feels like they put a great deal of that love into how they built the Model 10. For the price I think it is a special thing.
