Mission 778X integrated amplifier

Over the past 45 years, Mission has become famous for its speakers offering remarkable musicality and value for money.

However, during its illustrious history, the British brand has also been at the origin of hi-fi electronic devices and other vinyl turntables (Mission 775) and the famous Mission 774 tonearm.

Today Mission returns with a surprising little amp that does almost everything and above all does it well! The Mission 778x. 

Mission 778X : Front

We find the “shoe box” format dear to many British manufacturers.

The box is available in a superb satin black or aluminum finish.

This front is reminiscent of two other legendary amplifiers, the Cyrus One and the Nain Nait 2.

It therefore receives the two large rotary buttons. The one on the left manages the selection of sources and the one on the right the volume.

In the center we find a headphone output on the 6.35mm jack format and the power button. This excellent quality output is powered by a high-power Class AB headphone amplifier.

Mission 778X : Connection

On the rear panel, there is an excellent quality phono input (MM) which offers good sensitivity (2.5mV). It adapts automatically with the cell and therefore requires no adjustment. This phono stage is built around JFET devices (junction gate field effect transistor) which is quite rare in an amplifier offered at this price.

Added to this are 2 high-level inputs and a pre-out output which can be used as fixed or variable.

The input of the Dac offers a coaxial input, two optical inputs and a USB B input. They are supplemented by coaxial output and an optical output. The coaxial and optical inputs support 24b/192 KHz and the USB digital input, 32b/192 KHz, PCM 384 kHz, DSD64, 128 and 256!

The Bluetooth 5.0 connection is aptX® and high definition! 

The connection to the speakers is made via a good quality terminal block which accepts banana plugs.

Mission 778X: Technology

Inside, the layout is orderly. In the middle, behind the facade, we find a power transformer. This is associated with 2 filtering capacities perfectly sized to the current demand. The power supply of this integrated amplifier has been optimized to produce minimal noise and distortion.

The Mission 778X is a Class AB amplifier that generates 45 watts into 8 ohms and 65 into 4 ohms. The power transistors are placed on a heat sink to the left of the circuit. 

To the right of the main board we find the phono stage and the DAC board.

The headphone output promises performance equal to that of standalone headphone amplifiers. The design provides rapid transition of the output signal thanks to a high slew rate which enables excellent performance with all types of headphones.

The Mission 778X DAC is equipped with a very high performance Saber ESS ES9018K2M chip featuring ESS Technology's 32-bit HyperStream architecture. To this is added a circuit and a Jitter eliminator in the time domain. The Mission 778X offers compatibility with ultra-low noise digital audio files, with a sample rate of up to 384 kHz (PCM) and DSD256!

The Mission 778x comes with a remote control which takes over all the basic functions of the amplifier.

Mission 778X: Test and listen 

The overall performance of the Mission 778X is remarkable compared to the price at which it is offered. The restitution is detailed and very refined. This amplifier recalls the glory days of hi-fi from the 1970s and early 1980s. 

Transparency and definition are excellent, regardless of the source used. It is dynamic and lively enough to reproduce all styles of music.

This also translates in practice into a superb balance between punch and refinement, which is actually difficult to find below 1000 euros!

Although it only offers 45 watts, and that's not a huge amount of power, the Mission 778X reproduces every one of those watts without harshness or harshness.

The Mission 778x amplifier is a fantastic amplifier that offers rare musicality at this price and even above. It works brilliantly with a wide selection of bookshelf and floorstanding speakers.

The quality of the phono input and its digital connection possibilities make it the “Best Buy” of the moment! It provides a perfect basis for building a great music system at a very affordable price.

Our favorite!