Updated: HifiMAN HM-801 Portable Music Player Preorder - Page 3

Another question, Nankai.

Is the outer housing of the HiFiMan all Plastic, metal, or mixed metal/plastic?

(looks like injection molded plastic to me).

-Ed

I wonder if you may provide a lite version that has no input but the DAC and the HP output. Then it will become a super IPod or IPod killer .

Given that I may use SD cards to feed the input, I'd rather have a top HP out rather than the coax and usb inputs in the current design. However, I agree that a SD card with bigger memory size would be a very welcoming feature.

I certainly can't hear any gaps at track borders on things like complete operas or other cd's where one track leads directly over into the next like Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells. A 1-2 second gap in these situations will completely kill the music.

And I'm not trying to diss this new product, just saying that at it's price point you will expect a lot.

If this is meant as a joke, it's rather sad and condescending. MP3 players are the ONLY devices that don't play gapless - contrary to CDs, vinyl, MiniDisc, etc - which ALL are gapless by default, and always have been. I would expect a little more knowledge from a manufacturer, or at least a better attitude.

Live albums, operas, symphonies, soundtracks, concept albums - they all need gapless playback to not sound completely mangled. The classic example of course is Dark Side Of The Moon - just try and listen to it on an average MP3 player without gapless - it simply sucks and kills the mood.

Even the market leader, the iPod, has had gapless for the last few generations - and so does any Rockboxed player, the Zune, the Trekstor Vibez, or the Rio Karma. Not supporting it on a device that aims to be the pinnacle for true music loves will certainly not cut it. Even the best sound quality won't help if the music isn't played the way it's meant to be.

mm, i think there are tons of free soft that can merge mp3 files into one. no?

Possibly but I have no intention of having to process my music collection in order to use it on a new player and I don't think the primary market for this unit is mp3 files anyway. Also there are occaisions where it is handy to be able to go to a specific point in a piece of music hence the use of track numbers on the cd in the first place.

This is a very interesting announcement and I'm looking forward to additional details going forward on the amp section Nankai.

I do have to say I too am confused about the gapless remarks in respect to traditional media. Perhaps there is some misunderstanding here?

As someone whose listening preferences tend not to be affected by gapless playback in the vast majority of CDs owned, even I have to say the feature should be reconsidered here. For many it IS about sound quality, not an alternative to sacrifice. If you search back through the portable forum you'll see requests for years on this subject for some players and other dead players still coveted because for this feature.

In my case the 24/96 future support would be nice, however the few 24/96 titles I own are disproportionally affected by lack of gapless playback. Certainly I'd say the affect on musical enjoyment from the bump of 16/44 to 24/96 is minor compared to non-gapless to gapless (or perhaps the other way around as most are raised on gapless so natural) playback. High res is nice, but silence is silence.

Please reconsider, even if only (likely) specific codecs/formats.

Nice concept.

Looks intriguing, retro-ish, unique.

I really hope it does sell well. While I don't have the money for it, but I'm glad to see such an anouncement coming from Head-Direct.

By the way, I know there will be some demand for it, but Nankai, have you thought about making a matching stand for it?

It would look great as a dedicated bedside rig .

It certainly takes some balls to dive into the extremely small portable "audiophile" market, and I wish you the best of luck.

Samuel

Excellent!

Looking forward to the bigger pics.

-Ed

X2

Very interesting product indeed.

I will chime in as well in regards to gapless support. With the larger storage capabilities available these days, manufacturers should expect customers to keep entire CDs on their DAPs and not just selected songs. There are many CDs across many genres that contain tracks that are meant to be gapless. I listen to a lot of electronic and alternative music and many CDs contain tracks that flow from one to another. In fact, gapless support is a deal breaker for me. I refuse to own a DAP that does not support it. It is the only reason I never owned any of Iaudio's DAPs even though I like how they sound.

Regardless, I do applaud HifiMAN for giving a distinctive nod to those of us who demand audio quality in a DAP. It will be interesting to see how this unit develops and if there will be ensuing generations.

Can you please answer if the opamps will be rollable?