Headphones

Dac’s Not All
While Dethonray’s dual-use of its limited real estate is slightly quirky, the Listening M1 still gives a good account of itself when used purely as a DAC – it’s both well-weighted and packed with detail, although that could also be said of any number of less expensive DACs. Thus the Listening M1 needs to justify itself as a headphone amp, with its DAC functionality as an interesting side-hustle, not a core function.

In practice it proved both musically enjoyable and revealing with a wide range of headphones including my original Oppo PM-1 [HFN Jul ’14], the warm and rich Bowers & Wilkins P9 Signature [HFN Mar ’17], and the excellent new Austrian Audio The Composer. The latter have the kind of ultra-revealing sound you might expect from a company with its roots in pro-use microphones and headphones.

The Listening M1 was suitably slinky and extended with the bassline on the Pet Shop Boys’ ‘Dancing Star’ [Dancing Star EP; Parlophone 5021732260321], while still bringing out the good-time Eurobeats and cinematic production, making the Austrian Audio ’phones sound crisp and tight, but also weighty. And with Yundi Li’s Mozart: The Sonata Project – Salzburg [Warner Classics 5054197947391], the speed and definition of the amplifier was never in doubt, even managing to get the smooth, relaxed-sounding Oppo PM-1s fired up and enveloping the listener in the close-up view of the performances.

Saddle Up
Change pace completely to the epic production of Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter [Parkwood Entertainment/Columbia 44.1kHz/24-bit download], in which she brings to country music all the drama and scale she delivered to dance on her Renaissance album, and whether with the lush B&W P9 Signature or the tighter but totally involving Austrian Audio model the results were never less than spectacular.

Her take on Paul McCartney’s ‘Blackbird’ is delicious for its added harmonies, the Dolly Parton intro to Beyoncé’s reimagining of ‘Jolene’ grabs the attention, and the odd snatches of Willie Nelson and classic tracks help build the idea that this isn’t just an album, but a personal documentary on the country genre. And if you get too involved, don’t worry – the Listening M1 will drive headphones as loud as anyone could sensibly want with no signs of stress.

To be honest, I’d like a little more information about the signal being received via the digital inputs. For example, Dethonray quotes the coaxial input as being good for 48kHz, but in fact it will accept 192kHz streams [see PM’s Lab Report, right], so some kind of readout would be handy, and surely not beyond a device at this price. But all that being said, the amp played nicely with both Audirvana and Roon on my computers, and combined well with the little iFi Audio ZEN Stream transport to form a compact, and convincing, desktop network audio system.