Updated: HifiMAN HM-801 Portable Music Player Preorder - Page 12

Nankai, is it at all possible to have 24/96 with the USB DAC connection in the future?

I know it's possible to output 24/96 through USB as there are several USB to SPDIF converters out there.

-Ed

I noticed that Head-Direct's website lists "PCM1704U" now.

Gotta give it up to Fang on customer service. I e-mailed him with a question regarding delivery times and he responded within 12 minutes.

And are there any news? I'm willing to buy HM-801 but it's oh so quiet around here...

I don't mind the extra wait for the 24/96 addition. (I preordered) I'm sure Fang is busy ironing everything out in the firmware. When I talked to Fang at CanJam, the hardware was set to be done by July. So it's the firmware that is taking more time.

I'd rather wait a little longer and have firmware that works properly than have a rushed unit with buggy firmware that needs to be patched later.

-Ed

I apologize for my tardiness and not reading the whole thread. But has there been any updates on the availability of Apple Lossless -support?

That's the only thing holding me back at the moment

Thanks

Not likely due to ALAC being a proprietary Apple codec.

Well, any Rockbox player and the Cowon O2 (probably the Q5W too) do support ALAC... so I assume the decoder is free of charge, just like Apple's AAC decoder (only the encoder needs to be licensed).

Hmm, well I don't suppose reconverting from ALAC to FLAC would be too much of a deal, in either terms of risking the quality of the files or effort

I've been aching for a new portable with no-compromise sound quality; I'm sure this is closest to being just that.

Thank you all for this informative speculation!

As I've read through the thread, I've seen discussion over the SDHC memory cards. Was a "128gb" card originally supposed to be included? Since there are no such cards, is it even replaced with a 32gb one? (Cannot find a mention at head-direct.com) Even 32gb cards cost quite a lot in Finland, so I was just wondering..

There will never be SDHC cards larger than 32GB, that's where the official specs end. The new generation SDXC cards will start at sizes of 64GB and should be available next year. If the Hifiman will support those is another story.

Pardon my english; I am perfectly aware of that

I just remember that someone mentioned seeing a 128gb listed in the included accessories, which was obviously a mistake from the manufacturer. So I was wondering whether a 32gb sdhc card would be included instead of the non-existing one, since there now is no mention of any kind of memory card to be included in the package at head-direct.com..

And no, I don't think supporting an SDXC-card would be covered with mere software update

While waiting for more interesting reading about this product, allow me to up my post count with some quick notes to reflect my anticipation. Gotta talk to someone about it, y'know.

Key points with rating 1-5
Sound quality: Very promising +++++
DAC with USB implementation: Very interesting feature +++++
Possible 3rd party amp modules: Very interesting +++++
Price point: Possible great bargain if replacing a fairly high quality desktop DAC ++++(+)
Form factor: Almost "deck of cards" size category; certainly very nice "mini-brick". ++++
Weight: Haven't seen a number but it's reportedly lightweight +++(++)
Storage: SD instead of HD is IMO the right decision; SDXC in a future version would be sheer excellence +++(++)
Battery life: Naturally a trade-off but shouldn't be a real problem; depending on price of a replacement battery, 6hrs is acceptable and 8hrs is fine. ++(+)

Other
UI: don't know; simple and logical I should hope, but if anything will make/break this product for me personally, it's the sq and desktop versatility of its DAC sooner than the UI.

As a desktop DAC, it simply works like any USB DAC. Plug in and it is recognized as a USB DAC. Worked just like plugging in my Pico DAC at CanJam.

-Ed

So it's probably easy to to be used via Foobar/Asio4all. When I moved from iTunes/windows kmixer to Foobar/Asio with my Emu 0202, the difference was almost night and day. No noise floor, extreme transparency and huge dynamics in relation. So, for all XP-users, don't use it as the default soundcard in your windows system if you're after good sound-quality.

I'm pretty excited myself. I'm putting my order in now.