For audiophiles, the name Mission conjures up a golden age of British hi-fi and the company’s products. In 2022, the loudspeaker specialist launched a compact integrated amplifier which it called the 778X. I wrote about it for Forbes at the time. It was the first new amp under the Mission brand in almost four decades. It was an instant hit, partly because of its sensible price and the unmistakable Mission styling. It delivered a mix of classic styling, modern facilities and a great sound.
Now, Mission has embarked on the next stage in its 778 project using the same chassis as the 778X amplifier. However, this time it’s a streamer designed to partner the amp and Mission’s loudspeakers, although it works just fine with other brands, too.
The Mission 778S measures just 236 x 98 x 357mm, but it’s packed with the latest streaming technology, including a high-performance DAC and comprehensive connectivity. The symmetrically arranged front panel features two rotary controls for select and volume and there’s a dimmable OLED display.
Plenty Of Inputs
With a broad range of digital inputs, including dual-band Wi-Fi and Gigabit Ethernet for network streaming, plus USB-C for PC/Mac connectivity, the 778S also has two USB-A ports for pluggin in storage devices like hard drives, SSDs and thumb drives.
When it comes to audio outputs, the unit has balanced XLR and single-ended RCA sockets for connection to an analog amplifier. It also has coaxial, optical and USB-A digital outputs for connection to an optional external DAC. There’s even a headphone output so the 778S can be used as a standalone ‘head-fi’ music streamer without the need for loudspeakers or an external amplifier.
Mission says its objective in creating the 778S was to make a compact music streamer with excellent sonic skills for a sensible price. Following an exhaustive search for a suitable streaming technology specialist with which to partner, the company finally settled on Silent Angel.
Silent Angel
Formed in 2014, Silent Angel has spent a decade building its reputation as a network streaming platform. The company’s technology is designed to deliver a clear sonic advantage. It has an accompanying app built for performance that’s easy to use.
The two companies began working closely together to develop the 778S by integrating a custom version of Silent Angel’s streaming engine with Mission’s own circuit designs. ARM Cortex-A72 and Cortex-A53 multi-core CPUs supply the processing muscle and a specialized app, based on Silent Angel’s VitOS software, has a user-friendly interface and is available for iOS and Android devices.
The 778S supports Tidal Connect, Qobuz Connect, Spotify Connect and TuneIn radio. Each streaming service is supported to its highest audio quality. Apple AirPlay 2 is also included for streaming directly from macOS and iOS devices. The 778S is also fully UPnP/DLNA compliant and can connect with other DLNA devices on a home network such as a NAS drive with all your favorite ripped music on it.
Already Roon Ready
The 778S is certified Roon Ready, with Roon Advanced Audio Transport protocol built in. This ensures it works as an endpoint in a Roon-connected audio environment, controlled by the Roon app. Roon is many audiophiles’ preferred ecosystem.
The 778S has an ES9038Q2M DAC at its heart. This high-specification 32-bit DAC chip is from the ESS Sabre series and has a proprietary clock and power supply circuitry to make the most of ESS Technology’s HyperStream II architecture and Time Domain Jitter Eliminator.
Although technically excellent, Sabre’s DACs can be fussy creatures and they require very careful implementation to perform to their full potential. Mission says the post-DAC active filter is a critical element here and its engineers incorporated a Class A circuit designed to unlock the full potential of the ES9038Q2M’s signal-to-noise performance and dynamic range.
Clean And Consistent Power
The 778S has a noise-isolated signal path and linear power supply with a high-quality toroidal transformer for clean and consistent power, which is fed to all the sensitive parts of the digital and analog stages. The XMOS chip, MCU and DAC each have their own dedicated power supply with multiple discrete ultra-low-noise regulators for each stage of the digital-to-analog conversion process.
The post-DAC analog circuitry uses high-quality components and has a balanced topology that eliminates any noise and distortion in the signal path. This feeds the XLR outputs directly, so if the 778S is connected to an amplifier with balanced analog inputs, they will hear the difference. Meanwhile, the 6.35mm headphone output has its own onboard amp with a high-quality current-feedback design and high slew rate, for a dynamic performance with almost any headphones.
The 778S can handle PCM digital files up to 32-bit/768kHz (including fixed-point PCM via the Mission app) and native DSD up to 22.5MHz (DSD512). Every major hi-res and lossless audio format covered, spanning FLAC, Apple Lossless (ALAC), WAV, AIFF and APE, alongside native DSD in DSF and DIFF form, as well as DoP (DSD over PCM). ‘Lossy’ format support includes MP3, WMA, AAC and OGG.
Wide Format Compatibility
Unusually for a music streamer of this price, PCM audio streams are upsampled to 352.8kHz or 384kHz before conversion to analog. Mission says this is not just to look good on a spec sheet. It pushes digital artefacts further away from the audible spectrum, allowing gentler reconstruction filtering and maintaining a clean, consistent feed into the DAC.
In combination with ESS Technology’s Time Domain Jitter Eliminator, the upsampling supports the ES9038Q2M chip’s low-noise and low-distortion performance, producing sharper transients, greater dynamic nuance, plus a more natural soundstage.
Alternatively, users can turn off the upsampling facility and apply one of five DAC reconstruction filters to fine-tune the sound. These sonic tailoring options are particularly useful given the variable quality of digital audio formats and streaming services.
Pricing and Availability:
The Mission 778S network music player will be available from late January 2026 and comes in a choice of black or silver finishes priced at $1,699 / £799 / €949.