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Less is more - Dethonray
Today I would like to introduce a rather unknown manufacturer who wants to stand out from the competition through his "Less is more" approach.
Anson, boss and mastermind at Dethonray, wants to reduce his products to the absolute essentials : The sound. Everything that could negatively affect the sound quality is left out.
This means, among other things, that his Digital Audio Player (DAP) DTR1+ has to make do without a large touchscreen, apps or internal memory. The design with the large gold buttons on the front is reminiscent of the beginnings of mobile MP3 players and could easily be described as retro chic. Here Dethonray are clearly swimming against the current of what is currently available and popular on the market.
You don't have to compromise on sound, on the contrary:
The DTR1+ can easily keep up with the best far above its price range. In general, I would like to describe the sound of this tiny and light player as really great!
When testing with the Empire Ears Odin, I had the feeling that I was listening to open over-ear headphones and not an in-ear monitor. By the way, the DTR1+ also copes well with large headphones because it has more than enough power.
The Honey H1 DAC/AMP for mobile use goes a step further and catapults the sound to unimagined heights in combination with the DTR1+. Rarely have I heard so much power and joy from such a small and comparatively inexpensive mobile headphone amplifier. Of course, the Honey H1 also works great with other DAPs, smartphones, tablets or laptops!
By the way, Dethonray offers presets for various in-ears and headphones for download for the Honey H1, which can be used to adjust the sound of the device. They even provide their own preset for their own in-ears, the Tender1.
The Tender1 are the only in-ears that Dethonray offers. And Anson's "Less is more" approach can also be found here, because the Tender1 only has a single driver, but one that packs a punch: a Planar Magnetic driver!
It needs one thing above all: lots of power to fully exploit its strengths. Luckily, the DTR1+ has a special "Extra High Gain" mode that provides the necessary "juice" and keeps the Tender1 well under control.
All-round worry-free package
The three devices that Dethonray currently offers form a perfect unit and could be an all-round carefree package for one or two music lovers which you can be very happy for a very long time and in all situations in life.
But Dethonray's products can also be used individually as excellent "playmates" for other equipment, especially since the price/performance is simply right.