HiFiMAN HM-801: Desktop-Class Digital Sound, To Go - Page 3

Excellent review on personal experiences, as well as the tidbits added by dj nelli.

As a portable all-in-one combo, I think this is in a league of it's own,. As for use as a standalone DAC or amp, I think the debate opens up some more.

Thanks for the input!

the Evil writer who got me into this mess in the 1st place lol

never the less the journey has been nothing but fun and joyful ~ (albeit very very painful to my bank account lol listening to madonna celebration atm) i get to visit so many old albums and tapping my toes with them

thanks for the great review, this is the "part II" of original review isnt it ?

Wow, you still remember the part II !

Quote:

Originally Posted by testrichard 

 

thanks for the great review, this is the "part II" of original review isnt it ?

Quote:

Originally Posted by GreenLeo 

Isn't that comparing a 800 dollar multi-purpose DAP to a 3000+ dollar uni-purpose cd player an example to show the superiority of the 801 as a DAC?  I'm not disagreeing/agreeing to your statement that "this review is a bit over exaggerated" but just cannot truly understand the logic.  Can you elaborate a bit?

That's my point. 801 has its own use and its great. But do not dress it as a hifi stand alone desktop rig course it is not, that's the logic.

PS. "3000+ dollar uni-purpose cd player" is first a cd transport and then a DAC.

I think this would make a brilliant standalone DAC.  It implements the most advanced R2R DAC chip ever designed.  This is a quote by Richard Kulavik of AKM Semiconductors:

"In the past, many of the old Phillips and BurrBrown parts were R-2R* based products. These older products were looked upon as some of the best. One of the reasons was high frequency noise. In older R-2R parts, HF noise was not present. In all delta-sigma parts prior to the AK4396, everyone has fought HF noise caused from the delta-sigma modulator with the insertion of large filters and other parts to attempt to solve a problem created by the delta-sigma design.  All of this HF noise can cause many audible artifacts downstream."

from what I understand, the PCM1704 DAC is the pinnacle of the R2R concept.  I recently purchased a cheap Phillips R2R dac and it is good enough for me to want to sell off my Bryston BDA-1 dac that costs 50 times as much.  I don't think price is an issue when this portable contains the absolute best in R2R architecture.  I know that some people would prefer the HM-801 over any modern DAC, regardless of price.  Throw in its portable Ipod like capability, and I was quite surprised that such a product actually exists at such a low price.

sure i do lol ~ Jude's article is what got me into these mess in the 1st place lol initially i step into audio world by purchase my 1st TF10 then cmoy amp and straight into 801 ~ now it looks like this hobby could well cost me a nice car or two soon

i also remember some thing about (cough) th(cough)ree(cough) yr (cough cough)(cough and spiting blood) warrant buffet

lol

Quote:

Originally Posted by GreenLeo 

Wow, you still remember the part II !

 

Thanks for the explanation.  Can you site a few hifi stand alone desktop DACs in your opinion?  I just want to have more knowledge on this for my next purchase of a DAC.  Also, is the Ref7 from Audio-Gd or the Isabellina from RWA a  hifi stand alone desktop DAC?  I'm curious because both of them is sub 2000 dollars.

Originally Posted by Jian 

 

That's my point. 801 has its own use and its great. But do not dress it as a hifi stand alone desktop rig course it is not, that's the logic.

PS. "3000+ dollar uni-purpose cd player" is first a cd transport and then a DAC.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GreenLeo 

Thanks for the explanation.  Can you site a few hifi stand alone desktop DACs in your opinion?  I just want to have more knowledge on this for my next purchase of a DAC.  Also, is the Ref7 from Audio-Gd or the Isabellina from RWA a  hifi stand alone desktop DAC?  I'm curious because both of them is sub 2000 dollars.

 

I ran into these guys back at Can Jam and was impressed enough to have placed an order for one of their DACs recently:  http://store.antelopeaudio.com/pd-zodiac1.cfm

Looking forward to playing with it.

/Edit=Found a picture, disregard.

Eh....a dumb question here...

Can music purchased from iTunes be used on the HiFiMAN?

My FIRST post on HeadFi, all the way back in 2002, dealt with HeadRoom's plan to build an MP3 player (which they never did). I suggested they name it the WATTermelon.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Czilla9000 

Eh....a dumb question here...

 

Can music purchased from iTunes be used on the HiFiMAN?

 

 

My FIRST post on HeadFi, all the way back in 2002, dealt with HeadRoom's plan to build an MP3 player (which they never did). I suggested they name it the WATTermelon.

If you upgraded your purchased music to the iTunes Plus format, which removed the DRM protection, you should be able to convert it into mp3 format and then you can use it on the HiFiMAN.  This is necessary because the HiFiMAN doesn't natively support the Apple compression file formats.
 

Really, it doesn't support AAC?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Czilla9000 

Really, it doesn't support AAC?

That it does, if that's what you use.  What it doesn't support is .m4a and .aiff.

Here is the full list for your reference:

FLAC -- lossless VBR-44.1kHz and 24bit-96KHz (downsampled to 24/48 playback on HM-602 only)

APE -- Fast, Normal, and High Mode

AAC -- 16K-320Kbps

WMA --  8-355kbps

OGG -- Quality 0-Quality 10

WAV -- PCM,MS-ADPCM,IMA-ADPCM

MP3(VBR) -- 8-320Kbps

I didn't realize that it downsampled to 24/48, that's interesting.  Gotta say though it is in a different class from any portable player i have ever heard by a big margin.  I have not heard a single glitch in the sound quality or playing either.  The only drawback is the antiquated menu, but if you can deal with that then it is pretty incredible.  I am 100% happy with it, it is one of my best audio purchases.  I have had a few faceslaps but this one isn't one of them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dallan 

I didn't realize that it downsampled to 24/48, that's interesting.  Gotta say though it is in a different class from any portable player i have ever heard by a big margin.  I have not heard a single glitch in the sound quality or playing either.  The only drawback is the antiquated menu, but if you can deal with that then it is pretty incredible.  I am 100% happy with it, it is one of my best audio purchases.  I have had a few faceslaps but this one isn't one of them.

Only the 602 downsamples, the 801's Burr-Brown's dual-DAC is natively processing up to 24/96.  Sorry about the glitch there, I just copied the list out of my HM602 review.  The file support list applies to both of them with this being the only difference.

I have edited the above thread.