Havi B3 Pro-1 Impressions Thread

[Dsnuts]

C5 plays well with IEM? Not too much power?

With everything my friend. Your most sensitive iems to power hungry 600Ohm cans. 800mW @32Ohm. It has more power than you will ever use..It should come with a warning actually. Responsible enthusiasts only..It will and can blow out your ear drums. Very low noise floor if not dead silent like it is for my 12 Ohm Doppios. Astounding amp. People on headfi have no idea. Lol. One of the best hardware purchases you guys will ever make.. What it does for your earphones it does even better for your fulll sized headphones..A master  work of sound. Worth way more than what Cayin is charging for them in sonics alone.
 
I compared them to my micro ICAN in sonics and it is at a very similar level. I would imagine the DIYE12 being somewhere similar to the C5 in sonics with the best op amps and buf combos.

 

[peter123]

With everything my friend. Your most sensitive iems to power hungry 600Ohm cans. 800mW @32Ohm. It has more power than you will every use..It should come with a warning actually. Responsible enthusiasts only..It will and can blow out your ear drums. Very low noise floor if not dead silent like it is for my 12 Ohm Doppios. Astounding amp. People on headfi have no idea. Lol. One of the best hardware purchases you guys will ever make.. What it does for your earphones it does even better for your fulll sized headphones..A master  work of sound. Worth way more than what Cayin is charging for them in sonics alone.

+1, spot on!

 

[spurxiii]

So far for amps we have @Hisoundfi
and @Wokei
 aka the truth reporting that the havis work well with the nx1 and smsl sap5.
@Hisoundfi
 also was reported good synergy with the jdslabs c5.

@peter123
 and @Dsnuts
 reporting that they work well with the day in c5.

@peter123
 also mentioned that the havis pair well with the e12 and even straight out of the ho of the x3.

@spurxiii
 paired the havi with the pb2. And seems content.

Anymore I failed to mention?

How about bad pairings?

It's beautiful out of the PB2 which has oodles of power. Enough to drive orthos. Giving me goosebumps right now its really really good. No hiss whatsoever to report, dead silent

 

[Dsnuts]

But this thread is about the Havis. Nice earphones. Pretty stunned how great these sound. They sound high end to my ears properly amped..

 

[nmatheis]

Uh yeah, loves me some Havis !

Dsnuts: You nailed my concern with the blowing out your eardrums statement! I prefer IEM, and a lot of them are pretty sensitive but could benefit at least a teensy-weensy bit from an amp. I'm just worried I couldn't move the volume pot more than a click or two from dead silence without making my ears bleed. Can you assuage my fears? Pretty please? If so, I might consider ordering from the site that cannot be named, lol .

 

[waynes world]

  But this thread is about the Havis. Nice earphones. Pretty stunned how great these sound. They sound high end to my ears properly amped..

 

 

[Dsnuts]

I know most iems are easy to drive, at least most are made that way more efficient as most are used to be driven from a smart phone or a simple source but a good amp paired up with your favorite iem is like supersizing the abilities of that particular iem. In the case of the C5 it makes everything I own sound like a higher end version of itself. Everything I tried with the C5 sounds amazing.
 
I noticed that about good amps in general. If it was made with care and great design it will be compatible for sensitive iems but with enough power to drive power hungry phones as well. For guys that own multiple earphones and headphones having a clean source is one aspect of the sound chain but then you add the sheer power and room filling sound of something like a C5 and you got true high fidelity on the go. For guys that don't believe amping is necessary for your efficient earphones. As long as your ok with the sound of your earphones that is perfectly fine. I suppose that saying ignorance is bliss is so very true with this aspect.

 

[spurxiii]

I just tried the Havis out of the iphone 5c with the same music. It does get loud enough but it sounds like a fuzzier, blurrier and congested version in comparison. The comparison is:

With amp: like if a person was talking in the room with you,

Without the amp: like the person is outside the room, shouting (keeping the sound level the same)

That additional clarity and detail is lost

I'll also add that the DX50 DAC would also be better than the iPhone 5c

 

[uncola]

I spent all last night switching between my e11k and my maverick a1 desktop speaker/headphone amp and it was very hard for me to tell the difference.  the e11k might have been a tad brighter.  I might be in danger in moving to the "all amps sound the same" category!

 

[peter123]

I spent all last night switching between my e11k and my maverick a1 desktop speaker/headphone amp and it was very hard for me to tell the difference.  the e11k might have been a tad brighter.  I might be in danger in moving to the "all amps sound the same" category!

What headphones did you use?

 

[uncola]

havi b3 pro 1 of course.  
I should say I could definitely hear a decrease in sound quality using my laptops headphone out.. and a slight decrease using my nexus 4 out.. but both headphone amps seem about the same.. 

 

[Baycode]

@spurxiii  Glad to hear that you're liking the B3 Pro1!
 
I am adding your initial impressions to the FP.  May I suggest you to write a comparative review after 200+h burn-in (which I'd like to add to FP as well)?
 
Because somethings going to change a little... Please refer to the Burn-in Periods of Havi on the FP.  
 
So far you’re the 3’rd person on head-fi to find B3 Pro1  on par/better  than UE900 and this speaks volume to me.
 
@Dsnuts welcome to the thread 

 
 
Hey, Havi people, I am constantly updating the FP 

  Especially the "LINKS" section. There you can find best sources and amps for Havi B3 Pro1.
 
I am also going to add the new inputs in a minute...
 

 
 

 

[H20Fidelity]

  I spent all last night switching between my e11k and my maverick a1 desktop speaker/headphone amp and it was very hard for me to tell the difference.  the e11k might have been a tad brighter.  I might be in danger in moving to the "all amps sound the same" category!

Oh gawd no....

 

[gyx11]

I realized that I have never actually used my desktop o2 odac with my Havi B3s for any significant period of time before, since it's been strictly used for travelling recently.

So I did the pairing, and then realized that something was very odd about it. I'd auditioned the B3 with the JDS O2 at an audio store a long time back. The O2 then was more than sufficient to drive it, and I never had to turn the volume knob above the halfway mark.

Imagine my surprise when I had to turn the knob of my O2 all the way to 3/4 just to get a to a loud volume level (not even anywhere near intolerable). Worst of all, the B3 had the same relative mid veil that was apparent when using my older amps such as the Fiio E07K and HUD-MX1.

It took a while for me to recall that the EPHO2 has a lower default gain setting than the JDS version, and fortunately when i switched the high gain, the midrange bloat went away.

In terms of synergy, I must say it's a pretty strange one. Transparency was most noticeably top notch, and almost everything else was great. I'd maybe have liked a little more warmth especially in the lower midrange. The O2/ODAC is noticeable quite sterile, and the B3 reminded me somewhat of the ATH-IM02. However, I'm not sure if it's the 'fault' of the ODAC or O2, but with some of my songs, when the music goes through a complex phase a large number of instrumentals playing, things start to get a little 'blurry/hazy' for a lack of a better word. I'm not quite ready to call it imaging, but it just seems to go a little haywire with the placement and separation of each individual instrument. Strangely, when this doesn't occur, I actually find imaging to be perfectly good. I've never encountered this phenomenon with any setup I've used with the B3 before.

 

[Baycode]

I realized that I have never actually used my desktop o2 odac with my Havi B3s for any significant period of time before, since it's been strictly used for travelling recently.

So I did the pairing, and then realized that something was very odd about it. I'd auditioned the B3 with the JDS O2 at an audio store a long time back. The O2 then was more than sufficient to drive it, and I never had to turn the volume knob above the halfway mark.

Imagine my surprise when I had to turn the knob of my O2 all the way to 3/4 just to get a to a loud volume level (not even anywhere near intolerable). Worst of all, the B3 had the same relative mid veil that was apparent when using my older amps such as the Fiio E07K and HUD-MX1.

It took a while for me to recall that the EPHO2 has a lower default gain setting than the JDS version, and fortunately when i switched the high gain, the midrange bloat went away.

In terms of synergy, I must say it's a pretty strange one. Transparency was most noticeably top notch, and almost everything else was great. I'd maybe have liked a little more warmth especially in the lower midrange. The O2/ODAC is noticeable quite sterile, and the B3 reminded me somewhat of the ATH-IM02. However, I'm not sure if it's the 'fault' of the ODAC or O2, but with some of my songs, when the music goes through a complex phase a large number of instrumentals playing, things start to get a little 'blurry/hazy' for a lack of a better word. I'm not quite ready to call it imaging, but it just seems to go a little haywire with the placement and separation of each individual instrument. Strangely, when this doesn't occur, I actually find imaging to be perfectly good. I've never encountered this phenomenon with any setup I've used with the B3 before.

 
So can I conclude that the O2/ODAC is in the non-compatible amp/source category?