Review: HiFiMAN HM-602 vs. HM-801 Comparison (56K Warning) - Page 4

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pisn4e 

Has the HM-602 with better price, battery life and size made the SQ to cost ratio unjustified when considering the 801?

Will you reach for the 602 over the 801 because of the above or will 801 still reign supreme?

It depends on the usage scenario and it's too early to answer.  I'd like to reevaluate my opinion in a few weeks once I gave the 602 the proper burn-in.  Both opamp modules of my HM-801 by now have accumulated several hundred hours, so these are early impressions at best.  For 24/96 recordings the HM-801 will definitely be my preferred choice because of its NOS dual-DAC design.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rawrster 

That was a great investment obviously ;p

T'was.  As a high-school student with no income, I had to sell all my treasured vinyl records to cough up the dough.  But I was the coolest dork in town.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anaxilus 

Think they meant the 801.

Possibly, but the packaging is essentially at the same level for both devices, which had impressed me.  I agree that at the $790 HM-801 price point, premium packaging like that is expected, but I did not expect it for the HM-602.  It is certainly a nice touch and made a positive impression for me which is why I made the unboxing video.

It stays pretty cool, because it uses a lot less power than the HM-801.  I have also noticed that when I connected it to my MBP in USB Data Exchange mode, the battery charge indicator started up.  So, theoretically, you can charge the battery via USB also, but I'm not sure yet how practical it is, i.e., how long it takes to charge it that way.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anaxilus 

Btw, does the 602 get warm, hot or stay cool w/ use?

Sure.  In my burn-in test, the 8 hrs was achieved thru nearly continuous playback.  Normally you wouldn't use it that way, but I was burning it in.  So, I don't see the batter not having enough capacity to last thru a typical workday on a single charge.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pisn4e 

Quote:

 

That's good news. Might get me through the day at work if the battery dies, which looked like a problem after battery update said ~8hrs.

Thanks Warp for the review and the responses. 
 

File formats supported by the HM-602 are identical to those by the HM-801.  No surprise there, but this has been officially confirmed by Fang.  Also, there will be a User Manual supplied also, but was not ready to be included in my particular shipment.

No, because of the limitation of the main controller chip itself, which cannot be circumvented by FW code alone.  It'll have to be a feature of the next generation model.