Member Reviews: HM-601 Music Players

  Hifiman HM-601 + RE-272     Story and scope After the Danish Head-fi meet, nc8000 (the father of our Danish Head-fi society) said Fang from Head-direct had given him a HM-601 + RE-272 to pass on to another head-fi’er who would write a review of the HM-601 together with the enclosed in-ear headphones, the RE-272. I volunteered because I thought it would be fun to compare it to the Hisoundaudio player described above.   I was told that a lot has already been said about the HM-602 and the HM-601. So I hope it makes more sense to compare the HM-601 to the Hisoundaudio Studio-I other than just writing a review on the HM-601 by itself - at least that was...

  "The packaging was very boutique. It demonstrated the fact that head direct is a small company. The pleather box it came in had the bottom falling apart due to the glue unsticking, but it was an easy fix. It came with a chinese power adaptor with a US plug (which means I had to buy yet another because I live in aus). Charging took 2 to 3 hours. It also comes with a microfibre cloth, and decent length usb cable and a velvet bag with strings you pull to close the opening. The hifiman itself was chunky and had a plastic feel to it, but the size was very reasonable. The plastic casing around the directional buttons is raised, which at first annoyed me until I realized how handy it...

If you are after good sound this is all you need.  There is no need to carry a portable amp. There is enough power drive my 250 ohm DT-990's with power to spare. The sound is full and lush and takes my EIM's to another lever.  I have the RE-262 and thought they were good. Matching them with the HM-601 brings out their full potential. Tighter bass, crispier highs, depth and wider sound stage.  Over a very crisp clean sound. My co workers joked around when they saw it and didn't take it a serious DAP saying it looked like it was from the 80's., However the shocked look on their face after they heard it, said everything.

Very nice player, it is my second favorite DAP. But will be my best player if I update it with RockBox, and that's if we have a stable version!!!