Audio-Opus Opus #1 Quick Review

Audio-Opus Opus #1 Quick Review

Thanks to Hifiheadphones for the loaner.

Brief:  A touchscreen but with real buttons too.

Price:  £449 or about US$515 when VAT’s removed and converted

Specification:  DAC: Cirrus Logic CS4398 x 2EA Dual DAC, Processor: ARM Cortex-A9 1.4GHz, Quad-Core CPU DDR3 1GB, 32bit processor core, Operating System: Customised Android operating system, Signal to Noise Ratio: 114dB @ 1kHz, Unbalanced & 115dB @ 1kHz, Balanced, Frequency Response: ±0.02dB (Condition: 20Hz~20kHz) Unbalanced & Balanced / ±0.3dB (Condition: 10Hz - 70kHz) , Unbalanced & Balanced, Input: USB Micro-B (charging and data transfer), Charging Time: 4 Hours, Continuous Playback: 10 Hours, Battery: Built-in rechargeable: 4000mAh / 3.7V Li-Polymer, Dimensions (WxHxD): 72x112x18 mm, Weight: 185g

Build Quality:  Great.  Snugly put together and it all feels firm.

Aesthetics:  I like it, it looks fantastic with its leather case on.  That thing really looks and feels great being so snug and perfectly formed.  Without its still nice, but mostly a nondescript black obelisk.

Power:  It had plenty of headroom on it play anything you wanted.  The Oppo PM-3 and the Senn HD600 both ran rather well from it.  IEM’s in particular felt very nicely powered, not endless power but always sufficient to make things sing.

Sound:  It is quite the paragon of flavourless neutrality.  It wants to add no flavouring of its own and thus it was not only great sounding but it was highly adept at pairing with whatever you throw at it.  From cold to warm it just got on with things and happily, skilfully played back any musical style with the same lack of colouring of its own.  So very, very highly versatile.  It I could see really appealing to all us crazy people who have earphones by the dozen.  If for some reason you only want to have one kick ass DAP then this baby will pair great with them all.  Sure it’s not adding things mean that you don’t get the super sultry pairings nor hyper dazzling ones.  From Scissor Sisters to to Bach, its neutrality meant its musical versatility was crazy.  You really could chuck anything at it and it would perfectly playback without skipping a beat.  Everything, just everything sounded great on it.  It is one of the products that I can’t help but thinking it has a little something of Mary Poppins about it, practically perfect in every way.  Speaking of which they also sound glorious with the itty bitty q-JAYS 2.0.   Everything is just exactly how it ought to be, nothing boosted, nothing tweaked, everything has just been left as nature intended to give a wonderful sonic purity and clarity.  Of course that means it’s not a bombastic drama machine, nor is it a chocolate factory, what goes in is exactly what comes out completely unfettered by the Opus’s hang ups.

Value:  Okay so there is a bit of wallet ouchy ouchy but suck it up princess, if you’re after this sort of purity and sheer ability your wallets going to take a pounding no matter what you go for.  This one though is the most versatile.

Pro’s:  Sound Quality.  Real buttons.  Huge capacity.  Sound versatility.

Con’s:  Pointless big screen.  Wallet ouchy.