Colorfly CK4, finally some competition for the HifiMan 60X ? - Page 4

@stozzer123 : I was contemplating the same thing, but the german distributor gave more info in the past, so it's probably better like this. Thanks for the effort and keep us updated on the result.

@shigzeo and RAFA : You've been going a bit further the scope of the topic, but since we probably won't get any new info before the actual launch, we have some space to go a bit off-topic.

First thank you for the RMAA Shigzeo, I'm always looking forward to reading your reviews and measurement tests. I hope your arm gets better fast.

The RMAA thing is definitely a useful tool, but as any tool it needs to be used in a proper way. Here I'll beg to differ from you shigzeo, as even if anybody "can" do some RMAA tests, that doesn't mean they understand the scientific background. That means it's very easy to just spit out some numbers and create confusion between tests with different hardware and settings. I think that's the last thing we need at the moment given that, for some here, the idea alone of measuring what we hear is meaningless. I've read too many times the moto "if it measures bad and sounds good, then you're measuring the wrong thing" just written to shut down the debate about measurement. In some way it's absolutely true that one frequency response test measurement doesn't say all, but when you have a group of tests you can actually cover quite some ground. We probably just need to get some additional tests to explain some things. At least I'm not ready to give up on science just yet, because a group of guys disagree with measurements.

One thing that I've noticed in the test made by Sonove that I've linked before (under 16Ohm dummy load), is the capability of the Hifiman 801 and 602 (probably 601 too actually), to suppress most if not any ringing (I think that's the term, correct me if I'm wrong) in the impulse response. Compared to an iphone 3GS the graph is quite clear. I was wondering if that could explain all the fuss about the HifiMan's sound quality debate, even with the roll-off. Shigzeo's RMAA for the 601 adds another hint by showing how the Stereo Crosstalk stays quite flat, unlike the T51/S:Flo2. This sort of measurement/review results make more sense to me than just an "it just sounds good" comment, even out of the review of a trusted Head-fi member. But I guess not everyone is interested in understanding the underlying principles, and that's understandable.

Now I'll unfortunately have to agree with your comments on the actual state of the pseudo-audiophile market. It's a shame to see that the only real improvements in the last years have been coming solely from China. Not simply because it's China of course, but because the market has it's own way to work and because standardization is still a far dream over there. It's already difficult to get these players out of China, but given the few customers abroad there's just no way they actually listen to us. At least with big companies you see consistency and standard across a product's life, most of the time based on measurement but also incremental evolution. Actually in both cases the number of clients is driving the companies, but China has more a try and see attitude that leads them to get lucky once in a while. Problem is, when they get lucky it's not always because they were looking for it. So even if Teclast wanted to create a successor to the T51/S:Flo2, they wouldn't necessarily get it right, or even in the way you would like to have it. With a big western company, you'll see slow improvements only.  

Thank you for clearing that up for me Shigzeo. In any case there's obviously more than one parameter influencing the final sound quality. The search goes on

Quote:

Originally Posted by shigzeo 

Frenchbat - I think that ringing may contribute to some, but the iPods I have actually don't ring - or ring very little. It is possible they ring more than the 601, but on square waves, the ringing is similar or less. Some of that ringing is probably not bad sounding, as many players I've seen that ring, are noted as good-sounding by many owners. 

 

 

Hi all,

I've been trying to read the chinese web with my friend google, and it seems like the difference between the two versions of CK4 would be done via the Line Out. Let's take this as a rumor rather than a fact, but that sounds coherent enough. 

So according to what I've read, the higher version LO would use the same amp chip as the C4, while the lower version would use a different one (the C4R I've read elsewhere). It also seems like the Opamp and the capacitors could be different. That would result in a lower output capability for the cheaper version.

And RAFA, you're not the one complaining about the delay The chinese too are complaining ! Well anyway, they're now talking of mid-March. We'll know soon if that was realistic.

http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fbbs.erji.com%2Fread.php%3Ftid%3D999246&sl=zh-CN&tl=en&hl=&ie=UTF-8

Great find RAFA ! We get some more tidbits, like the screen size etc ... I'll update the first post with the new info.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RAFA 

It is listed on taobao. The 8gb version goes from 799 rmb. NO sign of the 16gb version. Here is the Link: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=9424427690

Almost. I'm waiting for the circuit diagrams and then I'll post it on Rockbox

Finally looks like you won't have to wait too much, however it's difficult to know if Taobao actually has some stock.

Hi Coatze, thanks for chiming in. That's the first time I hear about 100ps for the jitter. Theoretically it's supposed to be the same as the C4, hence less than 5, but we haven't seen anything conclusive for the CK4.

Since you seem to read Chinese language, maybe you could give us a hand with the info . Do you know from the page if the CK4 listed on Taobao is the high or the low version ? and if there is any other info that we haven't picked up yet ?

Anyway at this point any first hand info is good, so if you have the opportunity to play a bit with the player, please come back to give us your comments.

Cheers.