Note: I was using this product and was so excited about it, that I wrote this review. Then as I was finishing it up, I remembered Tom Fine already reviewed it a few issues back [Tape Op#124] âhttps://tapeop.com/reviews/gear/124/m900-headphone-ampdacpreamp/. I went back and re-read Tomâs review and in the end I think we both said different things about the m900 and even more interestingly, Tomâs one minor gripe about the m900 was implemented by Grace by the time I got my m900 a few months later. Thatâs a pretty responsive company!
About six years ago I bought a Gracem902headphone amp/monitor controller/DAC [Tape Op#68]. Itâs not something that I use every day in sessions, but when I do use it, itâs one of those tools that youâre thankful you have, and like all Grace products, you canât help but be impressed with itâs sleek industrial design. At first glance, the 1/2 rack spacem902is a headphone amp but as you look closer it does quite a bit more. Sure it has two headphone jacks and a volume knob, but when you look around back you see how much functionality is packed into them902. There are two analog inputs, balanced and unbalanced as well as a USB input. Besides the headphone outputs on the front panel, there are also two analog outputs. I recently put together a remote recording rig for artist Avery Hellman and engineer/producer Robert Cheek and we used them902as the centerpiece for monitoring the session. Our usage is a great example of the versatility of them902. The stereo output of our RADAR rig running Pro Tools went to the balanced input of them902. We had an 1/8â stereo jack going into the unbalanced input for Averyâs laptop and phone and a USB cable for Robertâs laptop. This made it easy to bounce between sources as they were listening to music in pre-production discussions. Robert brought a trusted pair of headphones for critical listening (we were in a barn) that plugged into the front of them902while one of the analog outputs fed a pair of Yamaha HS8 monitors and the other output fed a small pair of M-Audio computer/reference monitors. So with one small half-rack unit, we had a high end headphone amp and multiple source/destination monitor control. Iâve used them902on similar remote recording gigs over the years and itâs perfect for that, but would be equally at home in a small studio situation. And, in-between remote gigs them902went back home with me and acted as a DAC between my laptop and my Jolida tube amp. But since Iâd moved a few years ago, I didnât have as much space and them902was a bit awkwardly on its side edge as I didnât have room for it to lie flat. So when I was chatting with Eben Grace at the recent AES show and he was showing me the newm900, which is much smaller than them902, I was curious to check it out for my home set-up. Them900is a bit simpler in terms of IO than them902, but was all I needed for my home rig with a USB input â one unbalanced analog output and two headphone jacks on the front panel. There is also a S/PDIF and TOSLINK optical input. A big bonus in my book is that it is bus powered when using a USB input so you donât need a power cable or wall wart which is nice. But there is a second USB input for power only so you can use an external wall wart supply if using the other inputs or an Android of iOS type mobile device that wonât supply power via USB. A volume knob sits on top of the elegantly spare, small three-inch square black box. Itâs hard to really qualitatively AB test converters without a pretty involved set up that I donât have in my living room. I will say that them902always sounded great to my ears, but I feel like them900sounds even better on playback of sources I know well. In particular the bottom end sounds tighter and more focused. Them900is also 32 bit and supports sample rates up to 384kHz PCM or 256x DSD.
The other really cool thing about them900is that when you push the volume encoder in you can access some pretty extensive âbonusâ features. Crossfeed can be turned on or off for the headphone outputs and you can switch between four different DAC filter settings for instance. But, what I think will be of the most interest to a lot ofTape Opreaders is the ability to switch monitoring modes, similar to the Little Labs Monotor [Tape Op#117] for instance. There are seven different monitoring modes available: Mono, left minus right, left and right swapped, left on both channels, right on both channels, left only, right only and of course normal monitoring mode. I have a Monotor at Panoramic and itâs amazing for checking mixes on, so having these functions on them900is really useful. I would highly recommend either of these units. Them902is no longer in production but can be found on the used market. The m900 is in production, and while itâs a bit more money than the Dragonfly type USB DACs, itâs a substantial upgrade in terms of functionality while still being portable and bus powered.
Links:
Grace Design: m900 Headphone Amp/DAC/Preamp
Grace Design: m902 Headphone Amplifier
m900 $499 street;gracedesign.com -JB
