HiFiMAN HM-801 Portable Player / DAC Review: Part One of Two - Page 32

People should remember that this is a 14+v power supply feeding OPA627 opamps, so it sounds closer to a desktop amp. I can't say it it will match the M^3 or even a Travagans Red with OPA627 installed in them, but it should surpass many 5v portable amps.

The 801 is worlds above my D10/rockboxed H120. But I am using the HD OEM version. The CF version doesn't sound better than the HD version, does it?
I love my D10/H120 setup. Love it more than ice cream. It's just that the 801 is like ice cream in your favorite brand, in your favorite flavor.

This is so true, so true. Well put Steve.

Regarding the GUI, yes there are many units that have much nicer interfaces with a nicer button association, but nothing comes close to the sound of the HiFiMAN, and unless you are exhibiting your DAP on top of your fireplace mantle, for all to see, under the in-laws mandatory picture, then the GUI doesn't matter.
That will change with time and upgrade revisions. Right now, when I press a button, expecting music to come out of my headphones, each and every time, I am amazed on how good this unit sounds. Truly amazed.

Damn, I may have to try one of these babies out!

Sounds much better than my Marantz 67SE by a pretty wide margin.

HiFiMAN line out to my Little Country III headphone amp hooked to my Senn HD600's is pure sonic bliss.

Just got my replacement HM-801. It still has the high frequency issue(very quiet high pitched 16KHz "Eeeee" noise when touching buttons), unfortunately. But it seems to be quieter and mostly on the left side. I can hear it with built in amp, and with my Pico through it's line out. But I don't hear it at all with a Line out to my Grace m902 unbalanced input.

This is when using my JH13's which I can hear this noise clearly. It's much more difficult to hear with my other headphones like my ES3X. I'll test them with my R10's later, and the Shure SRH840 which I'm getting next week, and a loaner HifiMan RE252 I'm getting later as well.

Another unfortunate part is the build quality. While there was little to no sacrifice with regards to the internal parts, the outside is not quite the case. Both HM-801's I had had dirty and messed up LCD's (under the outer glass cover). The previous one had scratches and dust. The current one has a fingerprint there. Also a weird blotchiness under the glass. Granted none of these are visible when the LCD is on, but it's still annoying to see under light.

Otherwise, I really missed having the HM-801 it sounds so great.
-Ed

I would probably be ordering this right now if not for the lack of ALAC.

ALAC can only be used in IPod and the SQ of IPod cannot be that good.

I thought that RockBox played alac but can't test as i have sold my H140

First impressions!

Well gents, thanks for all your comments! They inspired me to take the plunge and add the Hifiman to the repertoire a couple months back. I am working overseas and am always on the prowl for some good portable audio equipment. (You should see the strange looks my audio bag gets in third world country customs...add the visa stamps from all the places I've been and they think they are getting a promotion going through all my stuff) The Hifiman made it here last night and I got it charged up. I have a thing early morning tomorrow but as I was sitting at my desk...and opened up this thread and saw the mention of Wadia and SPDIF coaxial....I thought to myself I just added a Wadia iTransport as well...why not run it digital through the DAC as I am a bit short on SD cards at the moment...running close to a terabyte of music though I will likely bring closer to a couple hundred gigs with me when I travel.

First impressions on the HiFiman running digital through the Wadia iTransport is that it is amazing! I don't have some of the higher end phones in my collection over here but I was going through what I had and was very very happy. (I did a limited listening session with my ALO modded Grado 225s, Westone 3's and some recabled Senn HD 650's. I am using an ALO SPDIF coaxial cable from the Wadia i170 to the small adaptor provided with the Hifiman. The session was more or less straight out of the box so once it is burned in a bit more I will add more. I am running mainly Apple Lossless audio files for now.

I made the initial mistake while I was playing with the mode button on the i170 to not check the volume knob on the Hifiman while wearing the Westone 3's....the Hifiman puts out some great power...so be careful haha. Really grabbed the 225's and the Senn's as well.

There is some amazing detail here with the Hifiman and the Wadia...the Wadia is pretty new to me so I am not sure how much that influenced the sound but it sounds great. Nice black background, amazing fine detail and separation...listened to some Cosmic Gate and the "bass wave synth" they throw in alot of their music literally gave me goosebumps. A little AC/DC Razors Edge (Sorry Bonn Scott fans) sounded great...it was a different sound but didn't steal the balls from the music...AC/DC sounded super clear but all the raw that is there in the music with the band was there...awesome! I really hate a clinical sound to my tunes, I want some passion in my music and so far on day 1 I have been enjoying running through my collection and picking out those little new details I was missing before. To expand a bit on the AC/DC, it was all there...it felt on some live recordings you could tell when Angus was maybe going through the motions but on the recordings where he was in the moment, when he was on fire you could feel the intensity...I never really noticed that before with a set up...pretty cool. I know that most aren't going to do a listening impression based on Razor's Edge...haha...but if you are a fan, give the old AC/DC files some more play time and reconnect with the memories once again.

So out of the box I hear what I would call great separation, the soundstage I am getting seems very detailed and seems to layer the music very well. This will be a great companion for me on trips and the gear that I have right now with me is gear that I use when I travel so I am very pleased. For those of you that are on the fence, great sounding product...I doubt very much that you will be disappointed.

Not smart on alot of the opamp debate here so I will leave that to the true connoisseurs!

The ALAC not working with the HiFiMan is going to be a pain for me...as I have alot of files to play around with but I will likely initially travel with an assortment of my gear until I have to leave some at home...I usually travel with 2 or 3 ipods...I like having alot of music to choose from but I also have some really, really long flights.

Download dBPoweramp and convert all of your alac files to flac. If you have any kind of modern computer (Dual Core or above) the conversion is quick and simple. I have 2 terabytes of flac on external drives, and once a week, I spend a 1/2 hour converting 10 or so albums for my iMod
It is free for a month, and then its about $30 for a lifetime. It will convert anything to anything.

Immtbiker, thanks for the heads up on the program...I was going ask around for suggestions but now I am headed in the right direction.

Spent way too much time last night going through songs...I had to be up by 4 so it was a long day....worth it but a long day.

Uh oh! : o

Seems like bad QC. Or perhaps ask the handlers put on some gloves?

Combat Audio,

I'm currently debating purchasing a HM-801 and was wondering if you could spare some time for me to listen to a tune on your player before I make the jump. I pass through the Annex about every to weeks, so I hit your neck of the woods fairly often.