Jul 20, 20221 min read

It's Never Too Late To Own An Great Amplifier - EX-M1 (South Africa)

As soon as I swapped out my previous AMP with the EX-M1 my first reaction was that of anger, I was angry because I realized that I have wasted many years listening to my own system in a degraded state.

I thought my previous amplification was perfectly fine not knowing how much difference an superior amplifier can make.

Right after I unboxed and powered the EX-M1 on for the first time I played the first random song in my ROON playlist and the sound was immediately better. No burn-in or warmup. Instantly better. Simply put, the largest difference any component has made aside from speaker change.

So what does better mean to me? In my situation, the holographic presentation of the music. Sometimes the music seem to originate from inside my head. I also find long listen sessions less fatiguing in the sense that my brain has to work less to figure out what is happening deep inside the music.

Somewhat less important to me, but worth noting is that this amp in unbelievably powerful, I regularly vibrate my ribcage at 35% volume levels.

Specifications:

Audio Server: ROON server in another room

Source: ROON Bridge on highly optimized battery powered Windows 10 with JPLAY ASIO Driver.

Cabling and interconnects: Audioquest

DDC: Denafrips IRIS using I2S (AQ Vodka cable)

DAC: Denafrips Pontus II using OS mode and the slow filter (I2S pinout config 010)

Amplification: Kinki Studios EX-M1 using the balanced inputs and the DC filtering option is enabled.

Speakers: Monitor Audio Platinum 300 MKII