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After a few weeks of bedside burn-in off a digitally tapped iPod on a Pure i20 dock, things moved downstairs into the big rig for the key showdown against the $599 Asus deck. This was a tri-fold bout first as headphone amp with ALO-recabled beyerdynamic T1 and Audez'e LCD-2; then as iMac DAC receiving 176.4kHz upsampled signal from PureMusic 1.89g in memory mode feeding my usual Nagra Jazz preamp; and finally as DAC/pre directly into Goldmund's budget sensation Job 225 amp which here powered a pair of Lithuanian AudioSolutions Rhapsody 200 speakers still gussied up with ENIGMA's Sopranino super tweeters from their ongoing review.

Below is the complete review system. On price and ambition it arguably far exceeded our likely target shopper. To address the keep-it-real equation I'd still hop atop the desktop where the DDH-1 would replace the DAC/preamp stage in my $1.495 Wyred4Sound mINT integrated driving Gallo Strada 2 atop beefy Mapleshade stands. In the big system the first quantitative surprise was bass. The tiny Japanese played it bigger than my customary Metrum Hex which I've never felt was shy but just right. Here the DDH-1 was extra beefy which the very extended white towers didn't fail to notice. Switching between AMI and Asus, I fed both coaxially from SOtM's top battery-powered USB bridge to eliminate having to reboot PureMusic with each source swap. I simply reseated my Tombo Trøn S/PDIF cable, switched inputs on the Nagra and voilà for instant shake'n'stir.


Such a best-case scenario on ancillaries quickly determined that AMI's clearly experienced engineering team was equal to the presumably far greater R&D resources of the Taiwanese IT giant. Whilst for the same coin the latter give us a fully balanced circuit, a far bigger casing, dual volume controls and flashy blue lights, on sonics the positively petit box with its more subdued LED scheme occupied the same performance strata. I'd give a small nod to Asus on ambient recovery or what we call hard separation, a rather bigger one to AMI for tonal juiciness. Though it's become cheap but popular audiophile sport to diss opamps, the best of the breed as we find them by default in portable amps from ALO Audio to Ray Samuels are shockingly good. In fact Pass Labs' top three-box preamp relies on a JRC chip for its volume control.

Vanishingly low noise floor and equally absentee distortion are arguably bigger op-amp selling points than tone. Here and quite emphatically so the DDH-1's strategic blend of bits and bobs begs to differ. It's a very substantial materially self-assured sound. Nothing turns toward the zippy, tizzy, bleached, hollow, needly or pixilated. Though not ultimately airy in turn, this portrays excellent body whilst the fully developed bass adds the necessary black values to the color palette. On this core quality the DDH-1 exceeded what the standard Essence One could put out. Here one basically previews the Muses Edition version of the Asus deck 300 quid early. Put differently, it's a bit of a Burson déjà vu which is doubly keen considering how staunchly the Australians condemn opamps.

The same tone-density distinction if not more so applied to the headphone output. The Asus played it glossier, brighter and edgier. Think Blade Runner and shiny neon billboards in the rain. The AMI was warmer and fuller, its surface textures satin rather than mirror gloss. To say it direct albeit in criminally generalized terms, the Asus machine pursued 'obvious' resolution with higher treble energy and transient spice. AMI went after rounder more relaxed grounded musicality. Doing a fair bit of musical recon on Spotify+ to hunt down full-resolution files or physical discs of my favorite finds later—Spotify's Premium service streams at 320kbps—the DDH-1 would be far preferable especially with an innately lit-up energetic can like the Sennheiser HD-800 which I like less than my beyer T1 or T5p. At this juncture you won't be surprised to learn that the small silver box asserted itself in the very same way also when used as a variable source. Whilst it reads radical or stillborn foolish, the DDH-1 direct into Goldmund's $1.495 Job 225 amp was astonishingly satisfying. Yes, lack of remote control becomes an obvious limitation now but those constrained by budget to opt for sound over convenience would be surprised.


Where the Sabre-based AURALiC Vega and Burson Conductor both stutter and drop bits when leashed to the Cambridge Audio iD100 dock whose S/PDIF stream apparently is more erratic than the freaky ESS silicon can digest (Pure's i20 dock and Sabre do fine), the DDH-1's Burr-Brown 1795 played nice with the Brit. Comparing the latter linked digitally to the mINT versus analog through the AMI in fixed mode made for a rerun of the above. The DDH-1 is a literal heavy in how its inclusion affects the chain. It gets more grounded, meaty and relaxed. Heavy like gravitas. Polish contributor Wojciech is fond of distinguishing between faux warmth derived from high THD, rolled off treble and emphasized mids; and true warmth which manifests as an absence of coloration. AMI's warmth is of the latter sort. It doesn't obscure things, only blunts a budget shopper's potential desire for firecracker virtues which would ink a 5-minute audition deal. It speaks highly of this company's first product that it appeals to more mature refined tastes which have long since recognized flash for what it is - short-lived artifice one shuns like a plague. The absence of gaudy light pipes and sundry merely completes that recipe. At most the DDH-1 shows two small not hyper-bright green LEDs when input sample rates are 176.4 or 192kHz.

In typical opamp fashion gain here is high. This goes a lot farther than size and weight would suggest. 6.3/3.5mm headphone sockets eliminate the need for an adaptor which many costlier machines don't even consider. It's really a very well considered box, this strangely named AMI Musik DDH-1. Even the oft-maligned Toslink input comes in very handy with a good cable and a superior source like Astell & Kern's AK-100 shown below with Aëdle's VK-1 headphones from France. In fact the AK-100 as digital transport sounds better than a 'converted' iPod with its extra dock.

The real question isn't whether the DDH-1 is good. It's terrific for its asking price and speaks highly to the hearing sophistication and technical know-how of its engineers. It's whether this market segment can properly support yet another brand. If AMI can weather the uphill struggle and unavoidable time of securing proper distribution whilst bridging the wait with their online shop, on the evidence of their first product they definitely deserve to make it in the wilderness that is performance audio. Let's wish them bonne chance as the French Swiss would say and congratulate them on a lovely debut. Dealers who have room for what currently is a single SKU might want to pay attention. Think easy ground floor opportunity and all that. Because soon more is coming like the DSD128-ready AMI Musik DS5 below and the very sleek DDH-2 with top-mounted volume wheel...
AMI Musik website