HiFiMAN HM-801 Portable Player / DAC Review: Part One of Two - Page 2

this thing sounds more intriguing when you hear the philosophy behind its inception re no eq etc.

I can't wait to hear people's listening impressions about this player.

It would be awesome if it supported Apple Lossless, too.

Hmmm... I am wondering if Fang used the base form the module based Media Player that was popular on gizmodo a few years ago. It had intechangable parts and a similar design look. The big thing with those on the underground is that it had very easy to work on parts and was a completely linux friendly development environment that let you deisgn your own interface.

I would very interested to see if Fang would open the interface source code up for those of us who might like to change things a bit. :very_evil: Too bad I use my iPod touch like a PDA/mini laptop or I would be all over this. Personally, it would be nice to see an extended module that is a completely discrete output and whether the op-amps will be hot-swappable.

Very exciting to see Portable Audio taking a BIG step forward!

Well, I've liked every Head-Direct product I've heard so far, though I've only heard the PK1s, 3s, minibox E+, the Octavert (sp?) amp, and the EF1. Is this going to be at CanJam?

You could open source the player specs, so the best of all DAP firmwares could run on it (at least as an alternative to the stock firmware) - Rockbox.

Gapless isn't a feature that changes the sound though

This. Will be interesting to compare this to say other high-end ports such as the Archos' and that Kenwood (forgot the name).
If Fang's got business smarts, in which I'm sure he's got plenty of, he'll bring this device to CanJam.

Head-Direct getting bigger and bolder!

Also Fang remember, a great player hardware wise can be ruined by bad software!
Software is just as important as the hardware.

It does change the perception though. Imagine listening to Rach3 with a slight pause between the 2nd and 3rd movement

I wonder if this player is designed for headphones or IEMs.

You could just change the headphone amp compartment deending on what you're using it with.

Will the HM801 come with various amp sections standard?

Umm... Archos is the opposite of "high end", at least sound wise - they're some of the worst sounding players out there.

And yes, gapless is a 100% absolute must for anything that calls itself "Hi-Fi". As I said, as long as the specs are open, Rockbox could be ported easily, taking all the guesswork out of the firmware and delivering the best there is.

Rockbox + This woudl be epic.

Lets just hope the battery life picks up to at least 12 hours.

Don't see the point of rockbox with the HiFi since rockbox main priority is to expand sound tweaking abilities. The HiFi probably is in able to tweak the sound because of it's hardware.

How does it compare with the D50's, both as a DAP and DAC? Quite a lot people concern about this

You mean Sony D50? It can be used as standalone DAC?