SoundAware Audio Pro 1 Gold

The m1pro (analogue) = more smiles. its truely a unique player. the UI is occasionally strange (double screen split display as posted here a while back) + a few pauses and occasional crash - but generally it does the job and is acceptable. Took about 2hours to scan my twin sd cards (about 100gb). But it starts up quick, and only takes a small while to get into said scanned music directory. Seems a quicker startup time compared to the calyxm from off to playing music in random play mode. Form factor is fantastic agreed. Light, compact. I am a bit underwhelmed by the buttons however, and the funny cover thing over the sd cards. The gold colour is more like champagne gold to me. Album art view as fullscreen is nice but the screen resolution aint the best ive seen. From a normal viewing distance its ok though.

The sound seems to be opening up - improved bass and a bit less 'treble edge' than the 1st hour or so of listening. (call it brain burn in if you like). Nice improvements over time.

The biggest thing I can try to express is this: its extremely "musical"! Songs that i would have before skipped past - (some jazz that i dont listen to every day for example) - are more engaging as pieces of music. So yes I am hearing things ive not heard before (cliche sounding i know but true)....but also i am feeling the music often in a way ive not felt before. Its hard to put into words. I found the AK240 fantastic and very detailed on audition - but for me, slightly boring. This little gem of a player brings the music to life. And boy oh boy do instruments take on a new realism. Crazy real. Im very impressed by the sound coming out of this dap!

Review by John Young

Original Source found at head-fi.org