[kova4a]

Quote:

Didn't see the post, I'll explain. When anything from outside the EU is payed over 22 euro's / 28,80 dollars for we get charged all kinds of **** for import:

1. 21% VAT
2. "Inklaringskosten", not sure what the English word for it is.

 
Which means the Hifimediy does not cost me 49 dollars  (shipped) * 1.21 = 59.29, + 16,38 (inklaringskosten) = 75,67 dollars.4 times the ELE DAC/amp combo. And besides that, the amp section would be only used accidentally; daily it will be connected to my Pioneer amp which has it's own amplifier

Sorry for double post but it doesn't. It will cost you 54 usd shipped or like 42 euro. You can get it from their ebay store and you just pay the $45 and $9 for shipping. They already send stocks of the Hifimediy in Europe and it will come from Germany with German Post, so you want pay VAT or additional taxes. And for me the price difference is well worth it over the ELE but yeah, the ELE is hard to beat if you're on a budget and it performs really really well.

 

[JTNL]

Ok, if that's true it might be a bit more interesting, I'll do some extra research on it. As long as it doesn't come from outside the EU it's an option.
 

 

[BenF]

Quote:

Didn't see the post, I'll explain. When anything from outside the EU is payed over 22 euro's / 28,80 dollars for we get charged all kinds of **** for import:

1. 21% VAT
2. "Inklaringskosten", not sure what the English word for it is.

 
Which means the Hifimediy does not cost me 49 dollars  (shipped) * 1.21 = 59.29, + 16,38 (inklaringskosten) = 75,67 dollars.4 times the ELE DAC/amp combo. And besides that, the amp section would be only used accidentally; daily it will be connected to my Pioneer amp which has it's own amplifier

You can ask them to put any value on the package...

 

[kova4a]

Quote:

Ok, if that's true it might be a bit more interesting, I'll do some extra research on it. As long as it doesn't come from outside the EU it's an option.
 

Yeah, http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hifimediy-Sabre-USB-DAC-ES9023-Tenor-TE7022-96khz-24bit-96-24-usb-to-optical-/140957375052?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20d1b6da4c . It does say item location China and $7 shipping but there are other shipping option with the $9 one was recommended for people in Europe but not in UK. And with my bad recent experience with stuff coming from China I expected to wait for it a least a month and possibly pay VAT but it seems they have a warehouse or something in Germany coz imagine my surprise when 2 days after paying for it I got a tracking number from Deutsche Post and I received the Hifimediy 4 days later straight from Germany.

 

[BenF]

Quote:

LOL Or maybe people who want to use it with their portable devices as it's smaller and is possibly supported by more devices like Android phones, tablets etc. I doubt that they went through all the trouble to make a new version just so that someone can save 15 bucks. And I don't think anyone looking for an external DAC for a pc or laptop will choose it over its bigger brother. I guess if it was 20 bucks or the shipping was cheaper it would be selling like crazy.

It will still need the OTG cable for Android phones, just like the original. There is no reason why it would work somewhere the original doesn't.
I wish they would make a higher-end DAC. If their 42$ DAC competes with 150$ ODAC, what can they do for 150$?

 

[kova4a]

Quote:

It will still need the OTG cable for Android phones, just like the original. There is no reason why it would work somewhere the original doesn't.
I wish they would make a higher-end DAC. If their 42$ DAC competes with 150$ ODAC, what can they do for 150$?

Well, it's obvious it will need otg cable. It's the USB receiver chip that is different and will possibly work better with android as it's a known issue that the Hifimediy has issues connecting to android devices.

 

[JTNL]

Quote:

Yeah, http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hifimediy-Sabre-USB-DAC-ES9023-Tenor-TE7022-96khz-24bit-96-24-usb-to-optical-/140957375052?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20d1b6da4c . It does say item location China and $7 shipping but there are other shipping option with the $9 one was recommended for people in Europe but not in UK. And with my bad recent experience with stuff coming from China I expected to wait for it a least a month and possibly pay VAT but it seems they have a warehouse or something in Germany coz imagine my surprise when 2 days after paying for it I got a tracking number from IDeutsche Post and I received the Hifimediy 4 days later straight from Germany.

I will check it out. But first some research; numbers like 192khz upsampling are nice but I want to be sure I am paying for upgrades I can actually hear instead of only numbers.
 
Quote:

You can ask them to put any value on the package...

Yes and when the customs don't trust it they will keep the package untill you send them the original receipt...so it is still a risk.

 

[TekeRugburn]

Quote:

It will still need the OTG cable for Android phones, just like the original. There is no reason why it would work somewhere the original doesn't.
I wish they would make a higher-end DAC. If their 42$ DAC competes with 150$ ODAC, what can they do for 150$?

 the original hifimediy sabre dac doesnt work with android phones.... lots of people tried to no avail.  
 
Thats why I went with the ud100.  Maybe the cheaper new version will have better luck working with android

 

[Jakkal]

Quote:

Ok, if that's true it might be a bit more interesting, I'll do some extra research on it. As long as it doesn't come from outside the EU it's an option.
 

 
The info is on their website:
 
 

 

SHIPPING FROM BELGIUM TO EU COUNTRIES

Belgium mail
5-12 days shipping time
We can now offer shipping from Belgium with Belgium Mail to many countries in the EU. We send daily orders from China to Belgium where they go through customs and are then sent out as regular mail. There will be no additional VAT payment requested from the customer

This shipping option is only available on small and low valued orders.

UK Royal Mail
To customers in the UK we can send with Royal. Same conditions as belgium mail described above. 

Note that we do not provide a VAT invoice.

 

[kova4a]

For some reason the Belgium post option is relatively expensive but they do have cheaper ones 

Shipping from China
	Swiss Post (from China via Zurich) REGISTERED	$6.65​
	German post (from China via Germany) REGISTERED	$8.91​

With the German Post being the recommended one on ebay. Maybe they often have big shipments to Germany as I know there was people who waited a while to get it via Swiss Post
edit: of course, I'm just guessing that eastern audio is actually affiliated with Hifimediy store or just by chance offer the same options. 

 

[JTNL]

Looks good
 
Another thing to consider: how is power usage of a DAC on an Android phone, what does it do to battery life? Cause if it sucks the battery dry I probably won't use it on my phone but if it's still reasonable then I'd like a DAC that works on my phone too.
 

 

[BenF]

Quote:

 the original hifimediy sabre dac doesnt work with android phones.... lots of people tried to no avail.  
 
Thats why I went with the ud100.  Maybe the cheaper new version will have better luck working with android

 
These "lots of people" need to learn what an OTG cable is:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/321051411863?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

 
Works for me with HTC Onex X+

 

[kova4a]

Quote:

 
These "lots of people" need to learn what an OTG cable is:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/321051411863?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

 
Works for me with HTC Onex X+

Well, it's been reported to have issues with phones like Galaxy S3, Note 2 etc and only working with USB Audio Recorder Pro and still with dodgy success. Everyone knows what an otg cable is but not every DAC works with every android device that has otg support. So I guess using a simpler USB controller like PCM2706 in the Hifimediy was done to try to achieve seamless connection with more devices.

 

[BenF]

Quote:

Well, it's been reported to have issues with phones like Galaxy S3, Note 2 etc and only working with USB Audio Recorder Pro and still with dodgy success. Everyone knows what an otg cable is but not every DAC works with every android device that has otg support. So I guess using a simpler USB controller like PCM2706 in the Hifimediy was done to try to achieve seamless connection with more devices.

 
Hifimediy works on HTC One X+ with any application I ever tried - Jetaudio, Google Music, UberHype, Tunein etc.
If a cellphone supports being an USB host to an audio device, hifimediy should work fine with it.
If a cellphone doesn't support USB host functionality, very few DACs will work with it.
Complexity of USB receiver is really irrelevant here.
 
There is a small trick - after connecting the hifimediy, click the "volume up" button to make the music appear.

 

[kova4a]

Quote:

 
Hifimediy works on HTC One X+ with any application I ever tried - Jetaudio, Google Music, UberHype, Tunein etc.
If a cellphone supports being an USB host to an audio device, hifimediy should work fine with it.
If a cellphone doesn't support USB host functionality, very few DACs will work with it.
Complexity of USB receiver is really irrelevant here.
 
There is a small trick - after connecting the hifimediy, click the "volume up" button to make the music appear.

You're assuming that every device that supports otg audio works with each USB DAC, which isn't correct. It's been stated many times that some android phones work with certain DACs without issues while others don't. There's even weird stuff like the Note 2 and SGS3 reported by many not working with certain DAC but for instance the US version of S3 working with it (like Pico). It's just that android devices are very different from each other - custom drivers from the manufacturer, different implementation etc. That's why Hifimediy probably even bothered making a different version and stating that it should work with more devices - to try to get a piece of the growing number of audio enthusiasts looking for DACs working with their phones like with Fiio and the e18.