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22 Sold
Product Description
The Opus #1S is a mastering quality sound (MQS) audio player engineered to bring listeners high-definition and high-resolution sound on a portable scale. A step up from Opus #1, it features two CS43198 DACs released by Cirrus Logic in 2017—one manages the left channel and one manages the right channel—to create a more spacious sound with higher resolution Read More
The sound is very clean although the equalizer is not fully functional.
I love the sound of the player is great even though the player appears to either have bad firmware or hardware malfunction. I cannot adjust the 31.5 Hz slider if the equalizer settings. I am beyond the warranty or exchange period and I would have had little recourse other to return the unit.
While the base is nice and all the punchy drums are irritating, bordering on deafening. Turning down the volume it really seems like something odd is going on with the dynamics of the sound. Tried many FLAC encoded songs and multiple headphones. Very fatiguing is my overall impression of this product.
Short Review:
When I consider arranging my words to form a review, it is clear that talking about a DAP without counterpart IEM is improper. Therefore, in short, this 3.4 Vrms smart brick well drives my hungry AKG n5005 .
My first impression with Opus#1S is undoubtedly positive, though I feel it might not be for everyone.
Sound: Very clean, neutral tone, everything sounds just right, but on the other hand, it feels lack of character. I would say this is one of the most neutral DAPs I have experienced.
UI and everything else: Everything is very straightforward. Very easy interface design, everything feel extremely fluent and responsive, yet very minimal customization options. You have access to the equalizer and three levels of gain controls, and that's pretty much it. I have to say that all the included features and options work very well. Build quality is excellent and feels well put together, only slightly let down by the plastic frame.
Quick comparisons:
Sony NW-WM1A
The reason I picked up the NW-WM1A for the comparison is that they have similar sound characteristics. The WM1A sounds a bit more spacious and more extended on both ends. #S1 has a bit more weight in the mids.
Cowon Plenue D2
PD2 has dual CS43131, and #S1 uses dual CS43198. PD2 is much warmer and has better dynamics I have to say. There are a lot of sound customizations you can do with the Cowon device. Sound-wise I prefer PD2 overall, and it also supports .cue file which is missing in the #S1. On the other hand, the Cowon device's system is very unreliable and buggy, if it isn't that the PD2 would be the clear winner of the two.
Opus#1S is a very straightforward device, it plays music, and it does that perfectly well. The system is smooth and responsive, and everything works as intended. Sound is clean and neutral and without any hisses. If you like neutral sound signature and value hassle-free experience, this fits the bill, but if you want warm sounding DAPs, such as Cowon PD2 and R2R2000, this is not for you. I hope this will help.