Earman sparrow10/27/2022 ![]() ![]() Overall, I’m impressed with the EarMen Sparrow. Comparisons with other, non-balanced units should be seen in terms of price – and not having heard similarly priced SE units, I can’t usefully comment. The Earstudio HUD100 Mk2 (currently $120), a favorite of Jürgen’s which I haven’t heard, could make for an interesting comparison because although being single-ended, has two outputs, one with high power. ![]() However, the Sonata BHD is currently under 1/3 the price of the Sparrow. Compared to the EarMen Sparrow this has tonal emphasis in the upper mids, a splashier/hashier treble, a more rounded bass, and transients which apart from in the bass are similar in speed to the Sparrow but lesser in weight. The most obvious comparison among the units I have here – because it’s the only other one with a balanced output – is the dual-CS43131 Tempotec Sonata BHD. Jürgen found the drain when using SE to be in the higher half of his tested units be aware that balanced use will drain your battery faster still. #EARMAN SPARROW UPDATE#This doesn’t happen every time, though, and I suspect a recent UAPP update might have cured the problem entirely I haven’t seen it in the last couple of weeks.Īlso, the EarMen Sparrow gets very warm in balanced mode – you can tell it’s putting out some power! This is good, but will come with a pretty high battery drain. Minor considerations: unlike with other dongles, sometimes the EarMen Sparrow doesn’t play right away from UAPP when hot-swapped in after another dongle, requiring a re-boot of the player. If you can keep the dongle away from your phone, if you only use it in airplane mode, or if your phone/carrier/local signal doesn’t give you this problem (Jürgen tells me he didn’t experience it with his iPhone SE), great – but it might be a lottery.įor me (Nokia 4.2) it’s much reduced (or absent) from the SE output, but present enough to be annoying at listening levels from balanced when everything’s jumbled together in a pocket. I replaced the original with another that was reported to help, the OEAudio OEOTG, which improved the issue but didn’t completely solve it. This has been discussed on internet forums, and EarMen to their credit tried to address it by replacing the original cable with a longer, better shielded one. Here’s what might be a deal-breaker for some: when playing from the balanced output, the EarMen Sparrow can pick up interference when it’s close to a phone. And the latter is more relaxed than the single-ended Shanling UA1, and – except notably in the bass – than the single-ended Helm Bolt (which uses the same ES9281Pro SoC as the EarMen Sparrow). The contrast however is very pronounced, especially when comparing with others: The Tempotec Sonata BHD, for example – a balanced-only unit – is itself pretty revealing but is notably less dynamic than the Sparrow’s balanced output and notably more dynamic than it’s SE output. Single-ended: There’s a notable hit in macrodynamics and low-level resolution from the 3.5mm SE output vs balanced, and note definition, particularly in the bass, is weaker, leading to a much more relaxed presentation.Īs mentioned above, depending on the transducers the EarMen Sparrow is paired with, this might not be a bad thing. Matching with smoother ‘phones, or switching to the SE output, might be preferable for long listening sessions. While I liked it, the dynamic and fast presentation from the balanced output might become fatiguing after a while with revealing and dynamic transducers like the JVCs and especially with very ‘technical’ multi-balanced-armature IEMs. Tonal balance is good too, no particular part of the range seeming over- or under-emphasized. #EARMAN SPARROW ANDROID#Being an Android user, I sent audio (mostly 16/44.1 FLAC files) to the Sparrow with USB Audio Player Pro.īalanced: From the balanced output, performance is impressive: macrodynamics, note definition & weight, instrument separation, and transient resolution are all excellent, making for a very ‘technical’ package. to 3.5 SE adapter where necessary to minimize possible cable differences. Listening to all was mainly done with the Drop+JVC HA-FDX1 single dynamic-driver IEMs using the Mee Audio MMCX balanced cable(SPC), with a 2.5 bal. I listened to the EarMen as part of a comparison of a few USB DAC/amp dongles old and new. ![]()
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