Mission 778X Integrated Amplifier & DAC Review

[338h10]

I also appreciate this little amplifier for its complete lack of tone correction and the simplicity of its circuitry...

There are things you can hear and numbers you can read... many numbers you read on a blog are very interesting for understanding electronics, but they don't represent real problems that compromise transparency or the signal, as others have already written in this forum. Good evening.

It is precisely those digits recorded in CDs/Wav/Flac files that define exactly what you should hear, and it is precisely the electronics/room and measured response that dictate exactly how you will hear it. There is absolutely nothing more than that. If you end up hear something beyond what the digits have prescribed, you have heard distortion. If something is not measured/measurable by a precision instrument, your ears certainly cannot hear it. The precision instruments are the real "golden ears" -- we need to trust them more than anything else.

If you think your ears can hear things better than a precision test instrument, please let us know.

 

[antcollinet]

but they don't represent real problems that compromise transparency or the signal,

That sounds like something currently un-known to science or engineering. I'd love you to explain what real problems are not represented by the numbers, and how they compromise the transparency or the signal.

 

[gasolin75]

Thanks for the review !

I can't help but compare this to a good class D integrated, like Audiophonics DA-S250NC, which gives you way more for a similar price...

Why ??? Look at the difference in inputs,outputs, the audiophonics amp is not match for the mission amp

 

[A Surfer]

I also appreciate this little amplifier for its complete lack of tone correction and the simplicity of its circuitry...

There are things you can hear and numbers you can read... many numbers you read on a blog are very interesting for understanding electronics, but they don't represent real problems that compromise transparency or the signal, as others have already written in this forum. Good evening.

Complete hogwash. Honestly.

 

[Mnyb]

I don't apricate the lack of tone correction especially nowadays when it's comes practically without penalty ( total tranparency ) .

I think its absurd , but you sell a lot of cables and tweaks to people who could just have turned a knob in the 70's if something was to bright or lacked bass
High end preamps are especially absurd .

 

[ralph]

I don't apricate the lack of tone correction especially nowadays when it's comes practically without penalty ( total tranparency ) .

Would like to get a loudness knob back (Yamaha amps still have them) , for my main system. But then, I've got a Wiim streamer with PEQ - isn't that kind of a contradiction?

 

[AudioSceptic]

That sounds like something currently un-known to science or engineering. I'd love you to explain what real problems are not represented by the numbers, and how they compromise the transparency or the signal.

I know that many more of us would like to know what these might be, and how they've resisted all efforts to measure them!

 

[vkvedam]

Thanks for the review @amirm, I like your optimism in finding a decently measured amplifier from these age-old HiFi firms; I didn't expect anything more than what's been measured. This will be true for most of the firms out there, with their bog standard design philosophy.

 

[Linnie]

Would be nice to learn more about that. People who buy this product category would probably be interested in connecting a record player.

Meanwhile I did some research myself on the phono stage and found these measurements made by German AUDIO magazine (issue 3/2023):

Not really sure what the colours mean in detail, and they don’t tell you. The upper graphs seem to be line frequency with several loads, in the middle digital frequency with different sampling rates and „the green graph“(s) below is the phono stage. Slopes down very early, which is according to the lab commentary mentioning a „dull“ sound. No wonder, Amir didn’t like it.

 

[telemike]

Looks like a Cyrus

 

[NHL99]

Looks like a Cyrus

Makes sense, TL;DR 'the Mission Cyrus One and the Mission Cyrus Two', see also

Old amplifier vs new amplifier: does the best hi-fi stand the test of time?

In 1984 an affordable stereo amp arrived that blew away the competition, but can it beat the best modern amps?

www.whathifi.com

 

[Rick63]

The UPS man dropped it off awhile ago (thanks @amirm) and I have hooked it back up in place of the V3 monoblocks. I'm going to give it a few days to see how well it powers the Sierra LXs. Then I may or may not be listing it for sale...

...and someday soon perhaps I'll get the ambition to do some cable management

 

[DSJR]

Worldradiohistory has fairly detailed if old-fashioned tests of the original Cyrus One and Two in the mid 80s, which were phased out around 1993 I think. By this time, the PSX supply in the '2' really did help with some speakers, fleshing the bass out a little. Apparently, not much measurement difference by adding the PSX (a larger transformer and reservoir supply which fed the power-amp side only once the line fuses were removed, leaving the phono stage if needed, powered by the existing supply.

 

[Håkan]

Worldradiohistory has fairly detailed if old-fashioned tests of the original Cyrus One and Two in the mid 80s, which were phased out around 1993 I think. By this time, the PSX supply in the '2' really did help with some speakers, fleshing the bass out a little. Apparently, not much measurement difference by adding the PSX (a larger transformer and reservoir supply which fed the power-amp side only once the line fuses were removed, leaving the phono stage if needed, powered by the existing supply.

I listened to the original Cyrus 1 and 2 back in the day and I found the sound to be a bit on the "thin" side.
Not much bass and with some speakers they sounded very cold and shouty, the 1 more than the 2.
Cyrus 2 with the PSX power supply was a bit better, but it never had the warm sound I prefer.

 

[Rick63]

OK, I had the place to myself for the afternoon so I could crank it up a good bit, and it was enough time to realize that my Sierra LXs definitely like more power than the 50 watts this amp put out. Therefore I have just listed it for sale here.

 

[A Surfer]

Not surprised. 50 watts really is a healthy minimum for me. Of course that is dictated by the speakers and play back level. I used to drive some HPM 100s with a Pioneer SX 680 I believe. That was only rated at 30 watts, but 1980s watts so probably somewhat conservatively rated.

 

[Rick63]

Not surprised. 50 watts really is a healthy minimum for me. Of course that is dictated by the speakers and play back level. I used to drive some HPM 100s with a Pioneer SX 680 I believe.

Me neither actually. With more efficient speakers in a room not too big it would be OK for lots of folks.

 

[A Surfer]

Me neither actually. With more efficient speakers in a room not too big it would be OK for lots of folks.

Absolutely. Probably would struggle to even produce a sustained 75 decibels, but I'm guessing.

 

[Rick63]

Absolutely. Probably would struggle to even produce a sustained 75 decibels, but I'm guessing.

Actually when listening today with the volume LEDs at exactly noon on the dial, I measured between 74-76 db average levels (measured by my Parts Express SPL meter) for about 7 hours and it really didn't sound like it was struggling. As a general rule pretty much any amp I've owned have lived between about the 9-10 o'clock position on the knob, FWIW.

 

[A Surfer]

Actually when listening today with the volume LEDs at exactly noon on the dial, I measured between 74-76 db average levels (measured by my Parts Express SPL meter) for about 7 hours and it really didn't sound like it was struggling. As a general rule pretty much any amp I've owned have lived between about the 9-10 o'clock position on the knob, FWIW.

Not that bad. I'm going to assume that you like to have the headroom to be at around 85 decibels with room for peaks. That is my sweet spot anyway.