HiFiMan with Protector with JH13 or 16? Overkill? - Page 2

Then what kind of information is it you are looking for ?

I think it is fairly well agreed on that the amp module in the HiFiMan is not quite up there quality wise with the best portable amps so that could be one reason. Another reason could be that somebody simply prefers a sound signature that is different from what the build in amp gives. I don't think there are any other "portable" sources that produce the level of line-out quality that the HiFiMan does, the source part of the unit is much higher quality than the amp part. It is not for me due to size, limited capacity, short battery life and so on but it does really sound very, very good.

Quote:

Originally Posted by High_Q 

Can you tell me what kind of signal the line out is?  Is it digital??  If so, what is the point of carrying a HiFiMan if all you are accessing is the digital signal?  So majority of the big thing(amp and all the circuity included) should not be used?  Wow, that pretty expensive line out source.

Line out signal is analog not digital.

The DAC is also a power hungry component. Also, the HiFIMAN has no digital out, it would defeat the purpose of the device.

Quote:

Originally Posted by High_Q 

How much more power hungry than the Amp?

I don't know exactly but I'd say it's more power hungry than the amp.

There are two of these power hungry DAC's. One for each channel. Also remember they are other things feeding off of the battery. The battery delivers about 400mA at 14.8 volts.

Quote:

Originally Posted by High_Q 

Can you tell me how the Dual DACs benefit the sound quality besides telling me it has good sound quality?  Can you explain?

I don't know if 2 DAC's per channel makes a difference. But, I do know the DAC's chosen for the HiFiMAN makes a difference.

dac for each channel provides better stereo separation, in theory, and probably in actuality, because one dac handles the left channel signal and one dac handles the right channel signal.  and so therefore there is less crosstalk, and less error in decoding the stereo signal.

maybe i got some of that wrong, but there ya have it.

my d4 has dual dac chips, and it's surprisingly pretty amazing at stereo image considering its a portable.

I wondered why there are multiple dacs too, not just in this but in other products as well. Based on the relatively poor crosstalk performance of the hifiman i am not sure that is why though.

actually this is totally incorrect. a large percentage of high end dacs use parallel chips to increase DNR, output swing, reduce decoding errors, increase bitdepth and lastly if a dual mono amp and power source is used, then yes reduce crosstalk.

in fact many of the latest high end chips like the sabre ESS9018 and 9012 have 8 dacs inside the one chip for the same reasons and even then some manufacturers are using multiple chips