Colorfly CK4, finally some competition for the HifiMan 60X ? - Page 12

Quote:

Originally Posted by frenchbat 

@ Volfman : Have you tried to take contact with Colorfly for instructions ? Also don't feel offended but have you tried the reset switch ?

@ All : Thanks for keeping the thread alive, I've been quite busy lately. Plus there's no real new info from Colorfly at this point. However I think I should point out that Fujiya, a good audio shop in Tokyo and the sponsor of the Headphone Festival last month, is now distributing the C4 and CK4. Prices are higher than China obviously, but if they feel the player good enough to distribute it, it's a good sign (they have never distributed the T51/SFlo2 for example, even if it's quite popular here).
 

I believe Fujiya store is not a real  distributor of Colorfly C4/CK4. They only sell it. The distributor of Colorfly  is MusicaAcoustics.jp

Dimitri is the guy in Charge of this company and he also owns a site for Export goods at musicaAcoustics.com

I myself been dealing with Dimitri ever since the Radius DDM came out. Highly recommended seller.

BTW, I just ordered a CK4 from MusicaAcoustics shop, will comment once I get it in..
 

how is the sq compared to cowon s9/j3?

Against ...

Head-Direct HM-801

and/or

QLS QA350 (or 550)

and/or

Teclast/MP4 Nation S:Flo2 or T-51?

I just got my CK4 and so far I am really happy with it!

Downside: all the problems mentioned in the comments above are real. That means that there is no way to tell its abilities above anything more than 16/44.1 ... we definitely need to wait for a firmware update.

Compared to the Cowon J3 and S9, or any iPhone/iPod which I own: It is just another world of sound - more detail, clearity, dynamics, great stage. It just seems like there was a blanket removed from the overall sound. 

So far I just used my Sennheiser IE8 with it - they seem to be a good match. I'll be able to say more about it, when I get to my other place where there is a STAX and a GT40 waiting for some comparing.

Being spoiled by the nice user interface of the Cowons or iStuff, the CK4 is just horrible - no touch screen, no cover arts, some bugs in displaying the information. BUT I had to downgrade all my other players to almost exclusive use for audio books - there is no way of going back to them as music players.

I had a friend bring it from China, so it set me back only 800RMB (85 Euros) for the 8GB-verison (plus a 16GB microSD which I had anyway) - this is just the best price/sound ratio in the world right now. ;-)

That's it so far - more updates later.

For anyone interested, here's an RMAA test of the CK4 with 16ohm load.

Quote:

Originally Posted by james444 

For anyone interested, here's an RMAA test of the CK4 with 16ohm load.

Thank you James for the RMAA. To understand it right, we have bass roll-off here?

The only audiophile Chinese player that graphs well is the Sflo2, too bad it also has a slight imbalanced which I will attribute to the analogue volume adjuster. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Inks 

The only audiophile Chinese player that graphs well is the Sflo2, too bad it also has a slight imbalanced which I will attribute to the analogue volume adjuster. 

You just have to make you have the appropriate hearing loss in the correct ear.    The Sflo2 is excellent sounding for the price and size.  At least for what I had paid at the time ($110).  

I honestly liked the sound of the firmware 2 S:Flo2 over the 601/2 but the interface was hell. Here is the graph by the way. Matter of fact, the S:Flo2 graphs better than any standalone portable player I know. 

Initially I had CK4 and 16 ohm hifiman re-zero and was quite satisfied with the sound - at least after playing a bit with the filters. Re-262 was a major upgrade in regards of soundstage and also added a bit of low frequency, which I must say was very welcome. But it was only when I got my first amp, FiiO E11, when I appreciated what 262s are capable of. You can look at the graphs as much as you like, and you may think that 150 ohm headphones would not have any bass roll-off. Well, out of the player they still do. HFM 601 was already better in this department - I mean, driving IEMs unamped - but the sound was a bit muddy and not quite to my liking. CK4 is very bright and clear but IMO needs amping.

I've done some comparison between CK4 and clip+, using FiiO E11 as an amp and re-262. While sound signature is very much similar, CK4 has better defined high frequencies and its imaginary soundstage lies in front of you, while clip+ gives you impression that you stand on the very stage - which is never the case if you're not performing .