[Juiced]

i realy considered to buy a hm-601 but the buzzing issue and the lack of support from head-direct to answer my e-mail realy turned me off

 

[melomaniac]

Quote:

i realy considered to buy a hm-601 but the buzzing issue and the lack of support from head-direct to answer my e-mail realy turned me off

 
okay. so can the fact that others on head-fi report that their units have no buzzing, and that they get prompt customer service, turn you back on?

 

[kryten123]

With reference to melomaniacs comments:
I have emailed Head-Direct for a replacement\refund - so I will soon find out how good the customer service is.
 
A big gripe for me is the fact that I was charged another £15 by UPS before they would hand it over to me - I think Head-Direct need to either factor that into the price or give the option of an alternate delivery method.
I assume if I get a replacement, I will be charged another £15 by UPS?
 
As for the buzzing, its now got so bad, that I just cant use it any longer.
Maybe, I have just been unlucky, if others have not had a similar issue?

Allowing for the fact that my initial impressions were clouded by my faulty IEMs and ignoring the buzzing, I have found the sound to be very similar to my S9 but somehow nicer. There is something in the sound which I cant quite put my finger on. I just seem to enjoy my music more through the HM-601 than my S9...but only just.

The difference, although not huge, is enough to make me favour the HM-601 over the S9 with my T1s (Not so much with my SE530s). I am not sure exactly what it is, but I feel that the HM-601 sound is richer\lusher\warmer and that it pushes my T1s harder and the sound they exude (now they are fixed) is just more sublime.
 
I havent really had a chance to try my Pro900 with the HM-601, and with the current buzzing unit, I wont be able to. If I decide to go for a replacement, I will spend more time with the Pro900s' and see how they work out.

My overall impressions so far are, that the HM-601 has the potential to be a fantastic unit if only its shortfalls could be addressed; such as the buzzing, battery life and hit and miss support of SDHC cards(of which I have to say, I love the ability to be able to swap my music on a whim via SDHC cards)
 
If you ignore all those things, for the price range, you are getting a great sounding unit.

My advice is that if you are happy with your current player, are not using high end IEMs and are not planning on driving Cans...wait for them to release the HM-601 mark II.
 
 

 

[melomaniac]

Quote:

 
My advice is that if you are happy with your current player, are not using high end IEMs and are not planning on driving Cans...wait for them to release the HM-601 mark II.

 
- which, rumor has it, will be called 603. anyone glean more info yet?

 

[kryten123]

Quote:

With reference to melomaniacs comments:
I have emailed Head-Direct for a replacement\refund - so I will soon find out how good the customer service is.

 
Well, 5 days on and not so much as an acknowledgement of my email.

 

[debitsohn]

yep good luck with that. no response to my emails or paypal dispute.

 

[melomaniac]

 
[size=medium]

fwiw, Stereophile (May 2011) has a review of the HM-602 by John Atkinson
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[kryten123]

Quote:

 

fwiw, Stereophile (May 2011) has a review of the HM-602 by John Atkinson
​

I'll have to check that out
 

 

[debitsohn]

fun times. no response from them and paypal denied my claim saying that they do not handle quality of item, only if the item was delivered.  great business practice. you release an item you know is defective (by your own admission that the buzzing issue is now fixed) and i return it and you tax me extra shipping money saying that you had to ship it from china. thanks for nothing. 

 

[melomaniac]

Quote:

 
[size=medium]

fwiw, Stereophile (May 2011) has a review of the HM-602 by John Atkinson
​

[/size]

- and stephen meijas. the atkinson measurements are also discussed by fang bian in his response. so three reasons for anyone interested in hifiman DAPs to check out this issue

 

[prone2phone]

maybe anyone compared hm-601 to ibasso d12? cant find it

 

[kostalex]

I've compared D12 to HM-602. I was surprised by D12 - lively sound and a lot of power. It is the best WM8740-based device I listened, better than Pico, D10, D3, D2 Viper. But I like HM-602 more due to its natural, coherent, analog-like sound.

 

[prone2phone]

can you tell me which of these go better with re262? thanx

 

[kostalex]

HiFiMan

 

[kryten123]

**** An update with my faulty HM-601 ie the buzzing\shrieking ****
I eventually recieved an email from Fang apologising as he had been away from his email on business. He did suggest that I should have contacted the customer support email address - I didnt know\couldnt find it. So for anyone else that needs it, here it is for your reference: head.direct.customerservice@gmail.com
 
I discussed with Ms T the fact that UPS insist on doing you a favour and "fast tracking" items through UK customs and then charge you £15 for the privilege when they arrive at your door. This was bad enough and unexpected first time around, but I am not happy about paying it again for a replacement HM-601. Anyway, Ms T suggested that I specify that they use a different courier when sending the replacement from China. I have made a note on the return slip that they choose another courier(as I dont know the couriers in China) or they use normal Air mail as I am prepared to wait longer for the item, as long as I am not charged by the courier again....so we will see what happens,as the faulty HM-601 was despatched to the US yesterday.
 
Once I had the correct email address, the impression I have got is that they genuinely want to help and provide a good customer service. However, they will need to address the courier\customs thing, if they are planning on shipping around the world.