Mission 778X Integrated Amplifier & DAC Review

[Mart68]

At some point, if we can't hear bad things, does it matter it measures not so well?

No. The worst case here is that distortion is 80dB down, no-one's going to hear that.

In 2026 it could and should measure better but, for practical use, it's fine. Some people do want state of the art measurements for their electronics, which is fair enough, but it isn't necessary.

The measurements here just show you exactly what you're getting for your money, manufacturers should really provide this info as standard practice.

 

[Paul7777x]

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.
View attachment 520846
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:
View attachment 520847
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)
View attachment 520848

Was disappointed to see high distortion spikes, putting the unit in "fair" category of all DACs tested:
View attachment 520849
View attachment 520850

I tested the unit while adjusting the volume control to see if the performance improves. It doesn't much:
View attachment 520858

Let's move on to amplification tests.

Mission 778X Amplifier Measurements
Let's start with analog input:
View attachment 520851
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:"
View attachment 520852

As is, performance lands right at the median of all amps tested:
View attachment 520853

Dynamic range is not great at 5 watts but improves at full power:
View attachment 520855

Multitone shows fair bit of grass:
View attachment 520856

Frequency response is good enough:
View attachment 520857

Amplifier produces modest amount of power with average amount of noise and distortion, while meeting spec:
View attachment 520859

View attachment 520861

View attachment 520860

Power sweeps at different frequencies indicate a linear (non class-d) design:
View attachment 520862

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/

Seems entirely middling, but not appalling.

Built for and sold to those who buy by name perhaps.

Ps, this is not a British amp. Entirely made and owned by the Chinese IAG business.

They keep an office in Cambridge, England for ‘authenticity’ purposes presumably.

But only the name was bought, along with several others.

 

[Boredcarrot]

I have one of these and sound wise, it's a brilliant little thing. As soon as I heard it I knew it would measure "poorly", but let's leave it at that - I'll just say I love how it sounds. Maybe you guys can let me know if an amplifier manufacturer can build a bit of EQ tweaking into the architecture of their amplifier to give it a bit of a "boost"? I've always been curious about this and forgive me if it's a stupid theory. My room is fairly small and despite the limited power specs has no problem running my 87db efficient PMC Prodigy 1's to volumes higher than I am ever going to comfortably listen (or piss off my adjoining neighbours). Anyone reading this, don't be put off by the review, even the DAC doesn't sound half bad. Oh and in case no one has mentioned it previously, a quick read of the manual will tell you that you can toggle between volume indicator lights turning off or staying on by pushing in the volume knob for 3 seconds.

 

[Boredcarrot]

Thank you for reviewing this amp!
I have a Mission 778x and I am happy with the sound.
To me it’s a neutral sounding amplifier with no problem driving my Heco Aurora 300’s, but I was expecting better measurements.
I have to ask, did you just measure the amp or did you do some listening as well?

I love mine, too! I don't know about "neutral" though, as I find it more dynamic and sweeter sounding than any of my class D amps - so it's left me wondering how manufacturers build sound characteristics into their devices to give them a bit of a "boost" (I'm not a technician, obviously!). Anyway, whatever they have or haven't done, It's been the amp who's sound I have liked the most - and I've had quite a few "mid fi" ones up till this point and one more than double the price. Also, Amir mustn't have read the manual re the volume light issue. I made a comment which includes this just now.

 

[Boredcarrot]

The way the inputs/controls & indicators work makes this a hard pass for me no matter what else & the 'else' is also not that great.
Had to vote 'poor' here.

Well those front panel issues are on-issues. The selector knob works like a selector knob - maybe it doesn't "click" as positively as some, but it still indents at each input - you also have the tidy little remote to easily click through them too. The volume lights are also a non-issue as, if Amir had read the manual, would have known that you can toggle between the indicator lights staying on or going off by pushing it in for 3 seconds, as I did with mine.

 

[Boredcarrot]

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.
View attachment 520846
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:
View attachment 520847
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)
View attachment 520848

Was disappointed to see high distortion spikes, putting the unit in "fair" category of all DACs tested:
View attachment 520849
View attachment 520850

I tested the unit while adjusting the volume control to see if the performance improves. It doesn't much:
View attachment 520858

Let's move on to amplification tests.

Mission 778X Amplifier Measurements
Let's start with analog input:
View attachment 520851
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:"
View attachment 520852

As is, performance lands right at the median of all amps tested:
View attachment 520853

Dynamic range is not great at 5 watts but improves at full power:
View attachment 520855

Multitone shows fair bit of grass:
View attachment 520856

Frequency response is good enough:
View attachment 520857

Amplifier produces modest amount of power with average amount of noise and distortion, while meeting spec:
View attachment 520859

View attachment 520861

View attachment 520860

Power sweeps at different frequencies indicate a linear (non class-d) design:
View attachment 520862

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/

"The rotary volume control turns off its LEDs after a bit so you don't know the current volume." - Amir, if you read the manual you would see that the volume indicator lights can toggle on or off by holding pushing the knob in for 3 seconds.

 

[Alice of Old Vincennes]

The only reason I'm on ASR at all is because Amir's measurements DID correlate with the differences that I heard between the top and bottom half amplifiers.

Whether I could tell the difference between any of the amplifiers within the top half of the chart is another matter. I wouldn't be sure about that.

For the avoidance of doubt, I was doing blind tests before ASR started.

Sure

 

[A Surfer]

I don’t have the need for USB or Airplay as in my case I simply stream in full CD quality from Tidal & Spotify Connect using the WiiM App on my phone as a remote.

I have incorporated an old $200 Velodyne sub that I cross using the WiiM App at 70hz, which takes the pressure off the 100 watt WiiM Amp and also my B&W AM01 outdoor speakers. Together with room fit it cleans up the mid range and female voices sound very natural. All subjective I know but Amir’s review supports what I hear.

I also replaced a friends Sonos Amp with the WiiM Ultra and he uses it as a front end for a pair of Sonos Play 5 active speakers in Stereo, significant improvement in sound quality and he’s a happy Chappy.

I know the name changer is bandied around a lot but with an excellent DAC, EQ and a decent amp the WiiM really is an absolute bargain IMO. Perfect for a second system.

I'm confused, how was your friend using the Sonos amp? I am probably showing my ignorance here, but is the Sonos amp not used with non-active speakers allowing them to be integrated with a Sonos system? How would you improve the sound of the Play 5s via the Wiim?

 

[antcollinet]

This is my unit.

@amirm, thanks for your time and effort, it is greatly appreciated.

Unfortunately it didn't measure as good as I had hoped it would...

Thanks for sending it in. I gave it "fine". Distinctly average performance compared with SOTA - but good enough to be pretty much indistinguishable from any other amp for almost everyone in real world listening.


Oh - and as always, thanks for the review @amirm

 

[RoA]

Seems entirely middling, but not appalling.

Built for and sold to those who buy by name perhaps.

Ps, this is not a British amp. Entirely made and owned by the Chinese IAG business.

They keep an office in Cambridge, England for ‘authenticity’ purposes presumably.

But only the name was bought, along with several others.

Correct, under management by Peter J Comeau, the face of IAG and a man very familiar with British Hifi. Probably better built and longer lasting than much of the other unpronounceable bargain basement stuff appearing here and originating from somewhere in Shenzhen. IAG are big, make most things themselves and have some of the most modern manufacturing plants.

 

[Gremlins]

No. The worst case here is that distortion is 80dB down, no-one's going to hear that.

In 2026 it could and should measure better but, for practical use, it's fine. Some people do want state of the art measurements for their electronics, which is fair enough, but it isn't necessary.

The measurements here just show you exactly what you're getting for your money, manufacturers should really provide this info as standard practice.

The older i get the more i don't care anymore about specs i will never hear, i just want clean sound from my electronics and speakers that are joy to my ears

If i had to put big money in electronics, of course i would want state of the art measurements, to kind of justify the amount of money i am throwing on that aluminium case , but for less than a thousand euro, i dont really care anymore as far as it IS inaudible

And these days, for Mess than 500 , you already have thé state of the art

 

[Chr1]

My first speakers, at age 15 were Mission 700s, then later 770 Mk2s, + 780 Argonauts, and I still have a broken vintage Stan Curtis designed 772 power amplifier.

Have to say that I love the looks of this amp, (tho I'd opt for the black version.)
However, personally I don't need multiple inputs and I doubt it sounds any better than my Topping Mini 300. Hard to justify the price per Watt these days...
(Aesthetics and reliability then.)

 

[338h10]

Correct, under management by Peter J Comeau, the face of IAG and a man very familiar with British Hifi. Probably better built and longer lasting than much of the other unpronounceable bargain basement stuff appearing here and originating from somewhere in Shenzhen. IAG are big, make most things themselves and have some of the most modern manufacturing plants.

"Unpronounceable" by whom, and why would that matter here? Sounds like very specific and interntional innuendo here.

 

[Paul7777x]

Correct, under management by Peter J Comeau, the face of IAG and a man very familiar with British Hifi. Probably better built and longer lasting than much of the other unpronounceable bargain basement stuff appearing here and originating from somewhere in Shenzhen. IAG are big, make most things themselves and have some of the most modern manufacturing plants.

Indeed. They are a big business indeed.

I owned both the Audiolab CDQ8200 and the original M-Dac.

I was happy with both. They were used with a pair of Adam Audio Compact Classics.

It’s a lot of years ago now but I did thoroughly enjoy all three.

 

[Ajax]

I'm confused, how was your friend using the Sonos amp? I am probably showing my ignorance here, but is the Sonos amp not used with non-active speakers allowing them to be integrated with a Sonos system? How would you improve the sound of the Play 5s via the Wiim?

I don't blame you for being confused, my bad. My friend's original set up was Sonos Connect with a pair of Sonos 5 active speakers, i.e. the amp is located within the speakers.

I simply replaced a Sonos Connect with a Wiim Ultra (without the inbuilt amp) and believe we got better sound and features for very little outlay and hassle ..... better DAC, EQ, Sub out, Roomfit etc.

FYI even though he did not have a sub I set the sub crossover to 50 Hz as there is little music below this level and the Sonos Play 5 can't realistically go that low anyway, this takes pressure off the amp (within the speakers) and clears up the mid range IMO.

Apologies for the confusion.

Amir recommends the Wiim Ultra, however, his review is not all that complementary, but if you are just streaming and not using the analogue input it is brilliant.

WiiM Ultra Streamer Preamp Review

This is a review and detailed measurements of the WiiM Ultra network streamer, DAC, phono stage and preamplifier. It was sent to me by the company and costs US $329. Physical attribute are modern and attractive enough. Alas, I can't say the same thing about the graphical interface. Icons seem...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[Håkan]

We measure because such listening is not an accurate way to evaluate a product.

Question for folks is whether the measurements match the expectations they had. If it is worse, then it means you partially or completely bought into the marketing story of the product, not its actual performance. By buying products after looking at the measurements, you eliminate this issue. And with it, potentially save money as well.

Regardless of whether it is an amplifier or a pair of speakers you want to buy, it is clear that you want to listen to them to see that they suit each other and the listening room.
If the THD of the amplifier is 1% or 0.01%, I think very few people can hear that difference considering that speakers (even really good ones) have a distortion that far exceeds that of the amplifier.
And if we are to assume that an amplifier can only sound good if it measures well, then all tube amplifiers should sound really bad, but I think most people who have listened to a good tube amplifier think differently

 

[338h10]

Regardless of whether it is an amplifier or a pair of speakers you want to buy, it is clear that you want to listen to them to see that they suit each other and the listening room.
If the THD of the amplifier is 1% or 0.01%, I think very few people can hear that difference considering that speakers (even really good ones) have a distortion that far exceeds that of the amplifier.
And if we are to assume that an amplifier can only sound good if it measures well, then all tube amplifiers should sound really bad, but I think most people who have listened to a good tube amplifier think differently

Most people who enjoy the tube sound do not look for accurate reproduction, but coloration arising from secondary harmonic distortion, which is fine.

If sounding "good" means a re-creation of the source materials with additions of distrortion so that certain badly-recorded source materials may sound better to select ears, I agree with you that sounding "good" does not necessarily require measuring well. This is like certain re-mastering approaches of historical recordings, by lowering the highs/hiss, adding reverb/ambience, etc.

 

[Håkan]

Most people who enjoy the tube sound do not look for accurate reproduction, but coloration arising from secondary harmonic distortion, which is fine.

If sounding "good" means a re-creation of the source materials with additions of distrortion so that certain badly-recorded source materials may sound better to select ears, I agree with you that sounding "good" does not necessarily require measuring well. This is like certain re-mastering approaches of historical recordings, by lowering the highs/hiss, adding reverb/ambience, etc.

Tube sound can still be very good, or nice...

 

[Endibol]

Seems entirely middling, but not appalling.

Built for and sold to those who buy by name perhaps.

Ps, this is not a British amp. Entirely made and owned by the Chinese IAG business.

They keep an office in Cambridge, England for ‘authenticity’ purposes presumably.

But only the name was bought, along with several others.

Happy to hear that it is made by Chinese. They make better electronic gear than the British nowadays (on average that is..).

 

[Chr1]

... Em.
Coaxial speakers?

I'm a Tannoy fan. And there's KEF.

Not yet, that I am aware of. Could be wrong and doubtless only a matter of time however.