This is a review and detailed measurements of the MISSION 778X integrated amplifier with DAC and phono stage functionality. It is on kind loan from a member and sells for US $799.
The 778X is attractive as it is unique. There is fair bit of heft to the (deep) unit. Usability is not great though. The rotary volume control turns off its LEDs after a bit so you don't know the current volume. The left input selector is oddly a rotary encoder so there is no specific click that is associated with any input. You rotate it until, after some delay, one of the input selector LEDs light up. The single red LED has similar usability issue in the way that it doesn't change color. Rather, it gets a bit dimmer when the unit is in standby.
Back panel shows rich functionality:
So much so that I just noticed it has digital out!
Due to extensive functionality, I am only going to run a subset of my tests.
Mission 778X DAC Measurements
I captured the pre-out while feeding the unit through USB at max volume: (no speaker connected)
Was disappointed to see high distortion spikes, putting the unit in "fair" category of all DACs tested:
I tested the unit while adjusting the volume control to see if the performance improves. It doesn't much:
Let's move on to amplification tests.
Mission 778X Amplifier Measurements
Let's start with analog input:
Performance is not bad but we have a messy spectrum with a lot of power supply noise and harmonic distortion. Switching to digital unfortunately doesn't help much, indicating the amp is the "bottleneck:"
As is, performance lands right at the median of all amps tested:
Dynamic range is not great at 5 watts but improves at full power:
Multitone shows fair bit of grass:
Frequency response is good enough:
Amplifier produces modest amount of power with average amount of noise and distortion, while meeting spec:
Power sweeps at different frequencies indicate a linear (non class-d) design:
20 Hz response is not great but you are not likely to have a speaker that goes down that low anyway for this type of amp.
Conclusions
The British company follows the stand practice of adding digital connectivity to their integrated amplifier. And like many major brands, these additions only bring adequate performance that clearly has not benefited from optimization. No matter where you look, nothing stands out as far as objective fidelity. What it does well is the amount of functionality with very nice looking packaging at an attractive price. Would love to see a V2 with improved performance.
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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
The 778X is attractive as it is unique. There is fair bit of heft to the (deep) unit. Usability is not great though. The rotary volume control turns off its LEDs after a bit so you don't know the current volume. The left input selector is oddly a rotary encoder so there is no specific click that is associated with any input. You rotate it until, after some delay, one of the input selector LEDs light up. The single red LED has similar usability issue in the way that it doesn't change color. Rather, it gets a bit dimmer when the unit is in standby.
Back panel shows rich functionality:
So much so that I just noticed it has digital out!
Due to extensive functionality, I am only going to run a subset of my tests.
Mission 778X DAC Measurements
I captured the pre-out while feeding the unit through USB at max volume: (no speaker connected)
Was disappointed to see high distortion spikes, putting the unit in "fair" category of all DACs tested:
I tested the unit while adjusting the volume control to see if the performance improves. It doesn't much:
Let's move on to amplification tests.
Mission 778X Amplifier Measurements
Let's start with analog input:
Performance is not bad but we have a messy spectrum with a lot of power supply noise and harmonic distortion. Switching to digital unfortunately doesn't help much, indicating the amp is the "bottleneck:"
As is, performance lands right at the median of all amps tested:
Dynamic range is not great at 5 watts but improves at full power:
Multitone shows fair bit of grass:
Frequency response is good enough:
Amplifier produces modest amount of power with average amount of noise and distortion, while meeting spec:
Power sweeps at different frequencies indicate a linear (non class-d) design:
20 Hz response is not great but you are not likely to have a speaker that goes down that low anyway for this type of amp.
Conclusions
The British company follows the stand practice of adding digital connectivity to their integrated amplifier. And like many major brands, these additions only bring adequate performance that clearly has not benefited from optimization. No matter where you look, nothing stands out as far as objective fidelity. What it does well is the amount of functionality with very nice looking packaging at an attractive price. Would love to see a V2 with improved performance.
----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
