What about the bass slam, bass speed and texture of the M6 Ultra ?
While I am not usually a heavy bass afficianado, I made an attempt to evaluate the M6U for:
- Bass Slam - Short powerful bass as in a drum kick
- Bass Speed - as in attack and decay
- Bass Texture - the overall sound created multiple instruments (in this case focusing on bass)
I use Qobuz for all of my lossless audio - I used the
Become Immersed Audioultra playlist (tracks in 16bit and 24bit @44.1kHz) as well as a 10 track collection
Bass Test - Bass Tester (16-bit 44.1 kHz)
I streamed the tracks using UAPP in Bit Perfect mode to minimize outside coloration.
I listened to tracks first with UE Reference Remastered IEM's and then with Campfire Audio Mammoth IEM's (which are VERY bass forward)
I will say that the M6U is a very well balanced DAP and that it plays well across the spectrum for all music.
Using the UE's -
Bass Slam - Good - slam was easily discerened with what I call a medium intensity.
Bass Speed - this varied depending on which Lowpass filter was used. There is no way to bypass the filter and I found the Short Delay-Slow Roll as the "cleanest" and the Low Dispersion-Short Delay to impact quality the most
Bass Texture - Good/Very Good - for this I used other source tracks that incorporated a wider selection of bass forward instruments (i.e.
American Patrol - BBC Big Band Orchestra).
Using the CA Mammoth's -
Bass Slam - Very Good - slam was far more direct and with a much greater intensity with crisp definition.
Bass Speed - this varied depending on which Lowpass filter was used. There is no way to bypass the filter and I found the Short Delay-Slow Roll as the "cleanest" and the Low Dispersion-Short Delay to impact quality the most
Bass Texture - Very Good/Excellent - for this I used other source tracks that incorporated a wider selection of bass forward instruments (i.e.
American Patrol - BBC Big Band Orchestra). The soundstage was much wider and while the bass was far more forward in the mix, it didn't overpower the rest of the instruments.
If you are
really bass heavy in your focus, I think you will want/need to incorporate some additional means of enhancing the bass performance of the M6U either through bass forward IEM's/headphoness and/or some additional equalization (i.e. flat equalizer or a similar app) to get the sound you are looking for.
I apologize if I don't use the same level of illustrative terms for sound that some people use - I am relatively straight forward - it either sounds good or it doesn't.
Hope this helps.
