To start with, this is a Class-A portable headphone amp from a Chinese company call Shonyun, and I have this demo unit from a retailer to write a review about this amp.

The retail price by the time I ask for is MYR550. This price tag may change for several reasons. So this price is just for reference use.

The equipment I will use in this review is listed in this list:
Ipod touch 4th gen
Beyerdynamic T90
Audio-Technica M50s/LE
Jerry Harvey JH-5pro
Cambridge Audio DacMagic 100
Fostex Hp-p1
BigOnNoise level 1 30pin to USB cable
Wireworld starlight USB cable
Wireworld Luna 7 RCA to 3.5mm cable
PcWorks Legato-S 3.5-3.5mm cable
PcWorks Legato-C 3.5-3.5mm cable
Shonyun 306-a Amplifier

I will inspect this amp from 3 aspect: Design, Package Contents, and Sound Quality(with comparisons).

Design: 7/10
The size is actually almost identical to an iPod touch 4th gen( or iphone 4/4S), which you can see from the image.


This is a good start from the view of design, as you don’t want a big brick to hide in your pocket.
The power indicator is actually the blue/red LED light that also serves as the light to lighten up the company’s name on the amp. This indicator, for me is not well design. First, unless you tight your amp facing down with your DAP, you can’t see the LED lights as it’s blocked by the DAP.

The blue/red indicator for me provides not enough battery information, as the blue means working/functioning and red means charging. So, expect some sudden run out of battery situation in this amp, because there is no “low battery” light indicator in this amp.
The Body of this amp has the absolute feel of- Made in China (sorry not insulting). The Front and back panel is not made from metal plate (assumed to be plastic), and they need screen protector to prevent any scratches. This is a very, very poor design for me, as they should knew that portable design should have at least resistant to scratches.

However, the volume and power switch is the best design I have in my amp collection. You have the ALPS push-lock potentiometer that can be hiding or pop-out to adjust volume, which decrease the total size of the amp and prevent accidentally changing in volume.

You can’t physically find the power switch, because the power switch is already integrated with the headphone out socket. Which means, whenever you plug in the headphone jack, automatically it switch on the power; and turns off if you unplugged it. Again, avoid a physical power switch eliminate the possibility to accidentally toggle the switch.

The input, output and others switches are very limited in this amp. What you have is a 3.5mm analog input, and a 3.5mm analog output. No gain switch is available in this amp.
Overall in this part, this amp has a big strength in portable design, in terms of the size and the push-lock switch. However, certain details still has the room for improvement.

Package Contents: 6.5/10
The point why I gave only 6.5 out of 10 is mainly the charger they provided- the charger can’t even fit properly with a universal socket…..I have out of idea how to plug it in properly, so as long as it charges, I leave it there. Although a nice detail charge indicator is available for the charger, but the unfit issue just kills my temper on the overall package.
A very huge drawback still is, from charger. There is no USB charging option available in this amp, which I found this to be really inconvenient as I need to find an electric socket to charge the amp instead of just using a MYR20 power bank.
A 3.5-3.5mm interconnect is provided, according to the manual. I can’t show the interconnect here because it’s not included in my review unit.
Else, the package is on par with other brands you can get in the market. You have a box with foams that fills up the rest of the space, then sits inside your amp, charger, the interconnect, and a small manual booklet.

Sound Quality: 8/10 (except for IEMs)

Forget about the cons of this amp, the sound quality of this amp surprises me.(in this price range )

Impression with: HP-P1(line out)-->BigonNoise Level 1 USB cable-->Legato-C/Legato-S-->Shonyun 306a-->ATH-M50s/LE:
Treble:
Treble is the strength of this amp. With a bit of enhancement, you can’t really miss the treble in any song. Even in comparison with the Hp-p1 (amp section), it can stands out in this category.

Mids/sound layout (soundstage)
In this amp may not sounds good for some ears. The sound for mid, in broad description, is very forward. Sometimes you feel that there is no separation between mids and low because of the forward sounding.
Interconnects do play the trick to change the sound layout. With different cable, the sound layout tends to be change. So I recommend to test the amp with your interconnects before making a purchase decision.
For reference, with Legato-S cable, treble is bright and lively, a bit narrow mids and punchy bass. In comparison, Legato-C cable has less treble, more smoother mids and the bass is less punchy.
Again, for reference, OFC copper cable is a better match for this amp compare to silver cable. The reason would be that OFC copper provides a less fatigue treble and a smoother overall delivery.

Bass :
Bass is precise and well presented in both Legato-C and Legato-S cable. As I mention earlier, the presentation is vary from the interconnects; with OFC copper, more bass is presented, but not as punchy as silver, whereas silver has a bit less amount of bass, but more punchy/impact.

To make sure the sound signature doesn’t have a big change for different DAC setup, I have made another impression with different DAC.
Impression with: Cambridge Audio DacMagic 100-->Wireworld Luna 7 RCA to 3.5mm cable-->Shonyun 306a-->ATH-M50s/LE
The result is almost similar with the previous one, with just a few minor changes in sound presentation; don’t forget that WM8740 and AKM4480 has different sound signature. But overall, the sound presentation doesn’t change as much as the difference in Interconnects.

For impression with Beyerdynamic T90, I am quite sure not to write up too much about it as I don’t really used with the pairing. The forward sounding in this amp made my T90 feels like a closed 40mm driver headphone instead of the full open headphone sounding. Of course this amp can drive this headphone, just the sound that this pair produced just not in my favour.

*IEMs*
I am not so sure with the combination of IEMs+Shonyun 306-a amp. From my JH-5 impression, huge channel imbalance comes out; which made me confirmed that this amp is not pairing well with IEMs. HOWEVER with SE846 and Etymotic ER.4S (100ohm), the channel imbalance is not so obvious. So I really do recommend every potential buyer to have a test with the unit with your IEM first before purchase.

Conclusion:
This amp for me is a 70/30 buy. A few failures on design and package, but the sound quality, at this price range is definitely something you should put inside your consider list. This amp might not be the “best” portable amp you can buy, but a very “reasonable & great sounding” sub MYR550 amp you can buy in recent days.
Another good news, and perhaps very great news for lots of Head-Fiers is, it does pair very well with ATH-M50, one of the most bestselling headphones nowadays. So, M50 owners, prepare your wallet to have one of these if you are looking for a decent amplification for your headphones
Thanks for reading this long review. Have a nice day Head-fiers

Do feel free to post comments or question about the amplifier and the review