Updated: HifiMAN HM-801 Portable Music Player Preorder

[thathertz]

Originally Posted by Tidus

i ask him through mail...so no prob)

Tidus, head-direct responded to my email last night and they are
still waiting for confirmation of the 'UK' chip - it is not definite yet.

Quote:

"We are waiting for the confirmation of UK order from the supplier."

[SiBurning]

Originally Posted by dungie

SiBurning,
awesome review, with a couple of dark spots though. First, it turns out that you were comparing your hifiman not to benchmark dac1, but rather to dac1 pre or dac1 hdr. Is this correct? Second, it's not quite clear how the comparison was conducted. Was it hifiman hp out vs benchmark hp out? Or was it hifiman line out vs benchmark line out, both with some kind of reference amp (I'm dreaming to see this sort of comparison eventually)? Or maybe it was hifiman+portaphile vs benchmark? Hope to see a bit of clarification

Thanks. I don't want to go into too much depth just yet. I still don't consider the HiFiMan burned in. It's been on continuously for about 100 hours connected to headphones as well as the lineout going to my stereo. It also wasn't intended to be the review, just some preliminary thoughts.

1. DAC-1 USB fed through coax from an Oppo DV981HD.
2. It would be fair to call my comparison between the Benchmark and HiFiMan an overall impression which doesn't really change in any of the configurations. That's why I didn't bother to go into more detail. I'll correct that here.

For the Benchmark I used the CDs. For the other sources, I used FLAC taken from the same CDs. These same FLAC files exist on the HiFiMan and the iRiver.

After my first hour or so of listening, I plugged the HiFiMan's lineout into my stereo system and also plugged in my headphones. For the next three days, nearly all of my listening was through my stereo speakers. These comparisons were between the Benchmark's lineout and the HiFiMan's lineout going to different inputs of my Creek 5350 SE connected to a pair of Epos M5 and Epos M subwoofer. The subwoofer was powered from the amplifier, not through the subwoofer amp. The Benckmark is connected to the Creek using 3' interconnects from Signal Cable. The HiFiMan is connected to the Creek using a GC Mini from Kimber cable--a stereo RCA to mini interconnet. The M5 speakers are connected using ancient 10 ga pure copper speaker wire. The subwoofer is connected to the B channel of the Creek through 15' speaker cables from Signal Cable. I don't know the brand of coax cable. This constitutes one part of the comparison--lineouts to speakers.

Yesterday, I unplugged the HiFiMan from the stereo, and did not listen to speakers at all. These comparisons used the headphone out of the DAC-1. For the HiFiMan, I listened to the headphone out or the lineout going to three portable amps: CoreSound's HeadLine, HeadRoom's 1995 (not upgraded) MicroAmp, and the original Portaphile V2^2 maxxed. I explained why I used outboard amplifiers in addition to the built-in amp. While the (four) amplifiers all sound different, they're consistent enough that the comparison against the benchmark would be the same regardless. If you prefer, it's an average. The cables used for this are a cheap optical cable, the Kimber Cable GC Mini to RCA, and an ALO Audio Jumbo Cryo X Silver Mini to Mini. This constitutes a second part of the comparison--headphone outputs, except here I also used outboard amps for the HiFiMan.

Going beyond what you asked...

At some point, I stopped comparing against the Benchmark and concentrated on the portable amplifiers. For this, I plugged the lineout of the HiFiMan to the three portable amplifiers mentioned above, and also listened to the HiFiMan's headphone output. Just to keep things honest, I also plugged my iRiver HP140 into a 2006 HeadRoom MicroDAC and the HeadLine to have some other sources as a basis. This means I had three DACs as sources going to three amplifiers, plus the HiFiMan straight. (The HeadLine has a DAC and amp, and can be plugged in as pretty much anything.) This is outside the scope of what I wrote about, and is more about how well the HiFiMan supports different portable amplifiers. That's a different can of worms.

[Tidus]

Originally Posted by thathertz

Tidus, head-direct responded to my email last night and they are
still waiting for confirmation of the 'UK' chip - it is not definite yet.

Quote:

"We are waiting for the confirmation of UK order from the supplier."

hmm strange...it have this respong from him:

Hi,

one question please: will be in batch two UK chip?

Nankai:
yes. You will receive it in about 6 weeks.


I understand that this Yes is for Uk chips. You will receive it in about 6 weeks is answer when i will get my Hifiman.

Nevermind. I hope it wiill be with Uk chip cause i already preordered)

[Bojamijams]

I think this is just a case of English being a second language for both of you and the point not being conveyed clearly.

Nankai probably just understood you asking if you'll be in the second batch. Perhaps for the United Kingdom or Europe shipment.

[Bojamijams]

Originally Posted by jpelg

Wondering why Edwood hasn't posted his latest experiences here?

Its probably because this isn't too much a 'thoughts' thread as much as it is on the pre-order. Though I too am curious to read Edwood's thoughts

[dungie]

SiBurning, thank you for extremely detailed info about your rigs, very important. And CAN'T WAIT to see hifiman vs headroom vs headline DAC shoot-out. I strongly believe that DAC is hifiman's best part. I'm pretty sure its amp isn't any better than predator, not even talking about lisa iii. But it's crucial to understand how capable the DAC is against key competitors. Luckily, you pretty much got them all, except for apogee mini-dac - or is it also in your collection? So I'm really eager to lay my eyes on your comparison

[GreenLeo]

May Fang states if the delivery of the 801 to the first batch buyers has been completed or not? If not, any expected date of the delivery?

[SiBurning]

Originally Posted by dungie

SiBurning, thank you for extremely detailed info about your rigs, very important. And CAN'T WAIT to see hifiman vs headroom vs headline DAC shoot-out. I strongly believe that DAC is hifiman's best part. I'm pretty sure its amp isn't any better than predator, not even talking about lisa iii. But it's crucial to understand how capable the DAC is against key competitors. Luckily, you pretty much got them all, except for apogee mini-dac - or is it also in your collection? So I'm really eager to lay my eyes on your comparison

The pluggable amplifier module is one of the major design features of the HiFiMan. I guess Fang's idea was "source first". Provide a good source (DAC) and let us choose which amp we want, or roll our own. That's why it makes sense to talk about how the HiFiMan sounds with other amps plugged into the lineout.

No, I'm not planning to do a shootout. My initial thoughts starting the review are taking me down a different path. I hinted at it in the earlier post, but maybe detailed information about what I want out of my rig is even more important than detailed information about my rig. After all, whatever I say is my personal subjective bias.

[Edwood]

Sorry guys. Been busy with work. Just finished pulling an alnighter, going to be taking a nap soon. I had the HM-801 for only about a day. It had a strange high frequency noise issue, that is hopefully a fluke. It was most noticeable with my JH13's and only when touching the upper front panels and buttons. I have fairly sensitive hearing. My hearing's upper limit is around 19KHz. Fang was so kind to accept an immediate return and is quickly shipping me a new one.

So, I'll be posting my impressions later when I've received the new unit and have had some real time to listen and compare. Suffice to say in my very short time of listening, I'm very impressed with the sound. For those that are curious about the noise floor (hiss), it's very very low. Practically non-existent, only if turned up at "blow your eardrums out" levels can it be heard. Even with my Westone ES3X's. Unfortunately, the Amp's gain is too much for IEM's. There is very little volume adjustment available. It would be nice if there could be a version of this amp module with a Gain switch, even if it were just a little DIP switch where you had to remove the Gan-Qi cover to access.

I'll post my impressions in the HifiMan Appreciation thread so as not to clutter this one up. For now I did snap some pics before sending it out.













-Ed

[Woody469]

Wow the power supply transformer is huge !!!

[GreenLeo]

Hi Ed,

I'm eagerly waiting for your impression as well. When you post the impression in the appreciation thread, is it possible for you to mention if the 801 makes the performance gap between the ES3X and the Jh13Pro bigger or smaller?

Thanks.

[Nirmalanow]

Originally Posted by GreenLeo

Hi Ed,

I'm eagerly waiting for your impression as well. When you post the impression in the appreciation thread, is it possible for you to mention if the 801 makes the performance gap between the ES3X and the Jh13Pro bigger or smaller?

Thanks.

x2 Great question!

[Bojamijams]

I would imagine bigger. Its not like a high quality DAC like this HIDES faults. The JH-13 is using a driver twice as fast as ES3X, not to mention more of them and better tuned.

[Nankai]

DO NOT USE ANY CLASS 6 SDHC CARD! Class 6 SDHC card might fail the firmware. We are working on this problem now. Class 4 kingston is recommended.

[Tidus]

Originally Posted by Nankai

DO NOT USE ANY CLASS 6 SDHC CARD! Class 6 SDHC card might fail the firmware. We are working on this problem now. Class 4 kingston is recommended.

Nice to know)thanx!