Altmann Micro Machines Tera-Player Review

February 8, 2012 | by Mike | $1000-$5000, Portable Source | Altmann

The lack of screen is indeed a pro and cons issue. Personally, it wasn’t a big issue for me to deal with since I don’t need to have 10,000 different songs stored on my DAP at one time. I listen to my music on an album basis, and so having 10 different albums would suffice for one week of listening time. But I realize that this is not the case with the majority of people who likes to have 500 different albums on their Ipod at any time. This is indeed a big minus with the Tera, but on the other hand the lack of screen again makes it a really though DAP. I’m never scared about accidentally dropping or stepping on the Tera (you know those things happen, right?).

One thing that I enjoyed very much with the Tera-Player was the ultra-speedy interface. You can move between tracks, albums, and artists using the combined button, and there is absolutely no lag between album changes. The WAV only support was really difficult to live with, I have to admit. I have my files in all sorts of format, including WAV, FLAC, and ALAC. And I find myself having to reconvert everything to WAV now that I am using the Tera. It’s not the most convenient thing to be honest. I don’t know how much of a performance hit the Tera would take if it supports FLAC instead of only WAV, but that’s certainly a feature I’d like to see on Tera 2.0.

Finally, the limited power output of the headphone amplifier. This was another big deal to me as I am a big time headphone user. No I didn’t test the Tera with the Koss Porta Pro (I probably should, but I’ve never thought about the Koss too highly). I would expect the Tera to be able to drive relatively easy headphones like the Sennheiser HD25-1 but it doesn’t! As a result, I’m stuck to using my IEMs with the Tera. Still a very good combination and IEMs are far more resolving than the average portable headphones, but it would’ve been good if we can have more power. Of course you can add in a portable amp to the Tera (simply use headphone out), but then you add bulk to the package. Maybe with something like the RSA Mustang you can have a nice little stack that can drive big full size headphones.

The price is definitely not easy to swallow. But if you think about it, from the days of the first RWA Imod + portable amplifier stack, it’s not that uncommon to see a portable rig that costs over $1,000. Personally, I don’t have that sort of money, but again I don’t think Charles is interested in making a player for the masses.

FLAC Support

Me: Any plans to include FLAC support?

Charles: No. Let me explain: I wanted (for myself) a small portable player, with a real
DAC, super-fidelity sound quality, rugged, no frills and long playtime. I also wanted high-resolution audio playback up to 24/192 kHz, which is theDVD-A standard.Now look at other ‘portable’ devices that claim to be capable of 192kHz playback.

1) there are very very few, just a couple maybe.

2) they are not pocket size, they are bag-sized, heavy and have low
playtime, and

Now how is it possible that a one-man developed product beats all others ? I have chosen a very small ARM chip with low power-consumption. But a small chip with low power consumption also means: small program memory, small data-memory. To get the performance I have written the software in ARM-assembler language which is extremely fast and very compact. However I don’t have enough memory to perform data-conversions from one file-format to another. Therefore I have chosen the .wav file format as it is the most simple and it is absolutely lossless.

Another advantage is that by not using any file conversion inside the
player, the playback routines can be finetuned to enable a very smooth and
regular power-consumption, which is important for sound quality.

Gear used for review

Tera-Player, CypherLabs AlgoRhythm Solo, Fostex HP-P1, Hifiman HM-801, JDSLabs O2, JDSLabs C421, JHAudio JH5Pro, Etymotics ER4P, Shure SE215, Sennheiser HD25-1, HD580, Superlux HD661.

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http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1063825347 Rian Kurniawan

I was discussing abut this during a local gathering and the simplest explaination we came up with is: It is not meant to be sold, Charles wanted to make a simple, small and good-sounding DAP without carrying bulky setup. He achieved it thru Altman Terra and would like to share it with the world.

other than this, one of us mentioned about modern art, where a simple blue and black squares are worth thousands of dollar and still there are people buying them.
- http://www.headfonia.com Mike
  
  Thanks, Rian.
http://www.facebook.com/rudolfs.verdins Rudolfs Verdins

I was looking for a DAP for a while, and yesterday I finally ordered Tera Player.
Why this one?
I ruled out QLS QA350 as not portable + difficult/ limited warranty, left HiFiMan as last resort for the bulk (+warranty), — which left me with iPods. Closed devices with limited (and expensive) memory. Or a micro HDD… I thought I’d rather stick to my Sansa Fuses.
It was a bit annoying to know the introductory price, which I obviously missed – but Charles was kind enough to offer some discount.
I will report back on my impressions (let’s see whether PortaPro will indeed prove to be better than V6, HD 25-1 II, DT 1350, T5P or Edition 8).
- http://www.facebook.com/people/Rūdolfs-Putniņš/100001284307683 Rūdolfs Putniņš
  
  Es skatos, ka neesmu vienīgais Dievzemītes austiņu cienītājs.
  - http://www.facebook.com/rudolfs.verdins Rudolfs Verdins
    
    Nē, nēesi vis
    Bet es jau bezmaz 8 gadus pamatā mītu ārpus Latvijas (pēdējie 7 gadi Briselē). Trimdā… nu, toties varu atļauties nopirkt austiņas ))
    - http://www.facebook.com/people/Rūdolfs-Putniņš/100001284307683 Rūdolfs Putniņš
      
      Nū… Arī šeit nav tik traki, ja esi pareizajā robā. Bet līdz Ed 8 vēl tālu, hehe. Man HD25-II ir pilnīgi pietiekami sēdēšanai autobusā, varbūt augstāk pakāptos nopērkot kādu labu IEM.
      
      Nu žēl, ka Briselē. Domāju jau vienubrīd rīkot kaut kādu LV austiņu audio tikšanos. Gan jau tāpat vairāk par pieciem cilvēkiem nesavāktu.
http://www.facebook.com/rudolfs.verdins Rudolfs Verdins

I have it for some 6 days now.
It is capable to drive Ultrasone Edition 8, beyerdynamic Tesla T5P and DT 1350, as well as Sennheiser HD 25 Adidas. Or Denon D-2000, and even Sennheiser HD 600. It cannot drive AKG K 701, and I did not even try beyerdynamic DT 880 which I have in 600 Ohm version. In a word sound is very good. I’m still getting used to it and forming my opinion.
- http://www.headfonia.com/ L.
  
  Great! Keep us posted
  - http://www.facebook.com/people/Ieva-Verdina/100003527944654 Ieva Verdina
    
    DEL
  - http://www.facebook.com/rudolfs.verdins Rudolfs Verdins
    
    Time is ticking, and I use my Tera-Player daily. I mainly use it with Ultrasone Edition 8, occasionally I go back to beyer T5P, which definitely is better with classical, — but as I stick to Ed. 8, I listen more to rock and pop. I listen to quite a few things which I did not find very exciting on my speakers (e.g., Queen and Queen II – great records, just somewhat boring on Lowthers). I do prefer speakers, but I must admit that Tera-Player + Ed. 8 gives the best overall quality that I have ever experienced with most of the material. I tried HD 25 Originals and PortaPro with Tera-Player, and [again] Ed. 8 with Fuze; that is passable, even fine, but it seems pointless to go back once you have heard something which is clearly better…
    I remain thoroughly satisfied with the player.
Anthony Tumiwa

Mike, Sem said that there are 2 version of altmann player, one with green bolt/screw, and the other one is red bolt/screw, can u give us more information regarding the difference between these 2?
- http://www.headfonia.com Mike
  
  Just difference on gain levels, nothing more.
  - http://www.facebook.com/rudolfs.verdins Rudolfs Verdins
    
    When you order one, you can ask Charles for V0 or V1 – regular gain or high gain. Charles said that there is noticeable difference with ~300 Ohm cans, but almost none at all with 32 Ohm cans. That made me wonder about output impedance of Vo and V1 (If gain is adjusted by feedback in the end stage, I would expect VO to have less output impedance), and I ordered V0.
    V0 is barely loud enough for HD 600, and just a bit better with D-2000 (although its control of the usually booming bass registers of D-2000 is remarkable), but it drives Edition 8, HD 25, DT 1350 and T5P loudly and proudly.
vertskyline

There’s definitely an ease + effortlessness to playback on this DAP, that I assume is due to lack of jitter and distortion. I’m not thrilled with the navigation, but it’s similar to playing USB sticks on the Naim DAC – another very low jitter setup.
- vertskyline
  
  In fact, it’s easy just to kick back, relax, and enjoy the music. Many times I forget the music’s playing because there isn’t distortion capturing my attention.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Mike-Roderigo/100003302462063 Mike Roderigo

Mike, I hope you still have your tera player on hand as I’m really looking forward to you impression on how the tera player+hd700 combo sounds like
Kindest regards.
- http://www.headfonia.com Mike
  
  I didn’t pair it directly as I find the Tera to lack punch when driving full size headphones. However I often use the Tera player as a high quality source with a good headphone amp.
  - http://www.facebook.com/people/Mike-Roderigo/100003302462063 Mike Roderigo
    
    thanks mike but there is something I might be missing. If the standard Ipod drives the hd700 fine, can’t the tera player do much better?
    - http://www.headfonia.com Mike
      
      Mike,
      The portable players can drive the HD700 to sufficient loudness, but they can’t deliver sufficient impact.
      Rule #5 from A Guide To Headphones: http://www.headfonia.com/a-guide-to-headphones/
      “The rule that I use is that the bigger the size of the headphone, the bigger the need for amplification. Of course factors like driver sensitivity and impedance will matter, but the general rule of thumb is, use a dedicated headphone amplifier for a full size headphone. Even a portable amplifier can be enough, depending on the type of the headphones. Also remember that open back headphones usually require more amplification power.”
      - mike roderigo
        
        thanks for the clarification mike
        I guess something like the forthcoming amperior will be a better fit?
        kindest regards.
        
        http://www.headfonia.com Mike
        
        Sorry for the confusion, mike.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Mike-Roderigo/100003302462063 Mike Roderigo

ps: what are those on picture 5/6
mike roderigo

One more thing mike, what kind/level of desktop dac would you compare the dac part of the tera player? sometinhg like fiios (e10 -e17) of more like centrance dacport lx/hrt streamer II+? or above ? burson / audio-gd higher models?
I’m asking it cause I was wondering if I could use the tera as a high quality source with my speaker amp ?
kindest regards
- http://www.headfonia.com Mike
  
  Okay perhaps better than the $300 DACs but not quite $1,000 DACs level.
- http://twitter.com/vertskyline vince h
  
  The Tera is in a league of it’s own. Don’t even compare it to the portable DACs you mentioned. In fact, it’s so unfatiguing and enjoyable that I was surprised it replaced my home setup.
  - http://www.headfonia.com Mike
    
    The Tera is just so nice.
    - http://twitter.com/vertskyline vince h
      
      It is very nice. It still surprises me everyday how good it is.
mike roderigo

hey mike, did you prefer the shure se215 over the jh5pro with the tera player?
kindest regards
- http://www.headfonia.com Mike
  
  The JH5Pro is more impressive overall, but there are things about how a dynamic driver that I just can’t get with a BA.
  - mike roderigo
    
    coherence maybe
    thanks for the reply
    kindest regards
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1105093041 Ronizam Idderis

Mike, I own a Hifiman 801, would the Tera player be something of an upgrade or should I just wait for the hM-901?
- http://www.headfonia.com Mike
  
  I wrote a brief comparison to the HM-801 and it was a plus-minus situation in terms of sound quality.
  
  However, the real difference is in the day to day use. The Altmann Tera is very small and is build very tough, you never worry about it getting scratched in your pocket and such.
http://www.facebook.com/Mohammaduf Mohammad Ashraf

Everyone needs to realize this is Mikes view of the product and that is all, he has the right to express them and you guys should be thankful for his services.

Would I buy this, no simply because it lacks many features that i am accustom to, for the very reason I never bought any ipod shuffle this product at this price range is not going be suitable for me. However having said that who is to say it cannot sound Good?

I am sure if the people who made this unit had an effective way to mass produce this the price would be considerably lower.

I never thought of myself buying a hisound DAP 2 years ago! I actually laughed at anyone who bought it, but now I actually own their BA Hisound and respect it greatly.

Wish the price margin was lower so I could give them ago, but as far as the price goes I dont think I will ever risk buying something with this design, this amount of feature with that price tag.
- http://www.headfonia.com Mike
  
  Thanks Mohammad.
  
  Some products are not meant to be mainstream and this is one of it.
http://www.facebook.com/Mohammaduf Mohammad Ashraf

My view is that if this unit was to be mass produced its cost would be way cheaper. Lets not forget guys the high cost is mostly to a)create prestige to this and b)has to do with the fact that Mr Altmann is hand assembling it. So we are paying for the product design, cost, and hand production from the designer.

It is just a shame that he is not mass producing his unit, I dont think I will ever be able to try it at this price tag. Not even if I had the money as the risk is too high, and sometimes the convince of lack of UI would make the SQ excellent not worth while.
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Андрей Фалеев

it is so strange situation in Measurementes of tera player desribed below from head-fi.org member “Skamp”:

“I contacted several TP owners in private a while ago. One of them (who shall remain anonymous) seemed quite motivated to have the Tera Player measured, to satisfy me and the other sceptics. I asked if he would publish the measurements even if they turned out to be bad. He assured me that he would, as he believed it wouldn’t mean anything to the TP owners, who know “how good it really sounds”.

Several weeks passed without any news, so I inquired about it. The TP owner dismissed my inquiry without any explanation.”
hic, nihil verum est

Just to keep everybody happy. Whenever you review ‘audiophile’ DAPs such as this one, why don’t you simply do a blind test. Say use a clip as a comparison point as it graphs amazingly! If the Tera comes out on top, then nobody can really complain can they?

Erwin’s comments are indeed vitriolic but one can never discount the incredibly powerful effects of placebo in audio.
nbarnard36

Mike, I own a pair of UE 10 custom iems and their impedence is rated at 13 ohms. Do you think there is a good chance that these headphones would sound great with the Tera? Or do you think that the impedence would be too little to match up well?