Okay, i'm the nostalgic type.
Sometime you make error you know, like letting go the girl of your life for an absurd reason or even worst like letting go the Xuelin Ihifi 812 V2 because you are an immature audiophile on budget that think next DAP purchase (FiioX3) will sound better.
Yes, I sold you Xuelin and i'm so so so sorry, I shouldn't, I was a megalomaniac wool-gathering, can you forgive me and come back please?
I think about you alot, so, from the dream I still have of your syrupy and envelopping sound I will try to write a tearful hymn to you. I really don't understand why you just have one review and that nobody praise your sound....you deserve better!
-REMEMBERING A LOST PARADISE-
The Xuelin ihifi 812V2 was my first HiFi DAP ever owned, it have a special place in my broken heart. This DAP was a torture to use but an healing to listen too, I remember the first time I press play, the voice of Hope Sandoval crawl on me and soak all my being in a nectar of beauty. It was overwhelming, the voice was so enveloping and tridimentional. Yes. I cry. Never before trough ipod or Sony media player have I heard so much details and soundstage, the sparkle in treble was so detailed and sirupy too....oh my, is it a good idea to remember my lost love?
The Xuelin doesn't have a V shaped soundsignature, more a neutral one with a hint of musicality, we can say it sound like an Hifiman 601 with a little bit less bass, a more articulate sound and more fowardness and fullness in medium frequencies.
LOWS:
The bass was big and gently punchy with this player, from what I remember it goes very low but have no emphasis on sub bass. Comparatively to other players, you don't need external amping to earn the real bass from your headphones and it's now that I know how precious this capability really is. Right now i'm listening to Xduoo X3 and feel the amping is just good for IEM or 16OHM headphones, go to capricious 32Ohm one and you will not exploit the full potential of them. I was listening mostly to my 32Ohm Grado Alessandro with my Xuelin and it was a superb synergy, even with my Ibasso Dx90 I could not say that because of the soundsignature of his dac so it's a miracle in it's own. Bass is Beefy and round, it's really there and can be feel, extremely well presented with enough air between instrumentation to make it realistic. It give warm to vocals instead of stealing the star of them.
MIDS:
Oh my, oh my! The mids are Superb, warm, vast, textured and airy! How could it be possible? I really don't know but I guess it's the kind of mids you get from way pricier audio system using a Wolfson WM8740, I don't listen to the Astell & Kern that cost twice the price but can surely say that it isn't because a DAP have a Wolfson dac that it will sound good: The Fiio X3, my ultimate deception, is the proof of this statement. It is how you use the Dac potential that can do miracle and the Ihifi 812V2 really surpass any attempt here. I have own Colorfly C3, Fiio X3, Hifiman 601, Fiio X5 (for 3 weeks) and Ibasso Dx90 (still have) and can say the Xuelin got the more beautifully presented mids of all of them, it is THAT good. Not bright but textured, not congested or regressed but foward and pround to be, not artificial sounding but natural and sweet. Mids are so good that you have to be punish and this is with the highs frequencies: they do not extend to the bottom end.
HIGHS:
Okay, to be honest I do not feel a lack of details because the overall sound was too delicious. But I remember that it was sounding less exceptional with extremely complex electronic music, in this case the low and mids was somewhat distracting and it cause a lack of energy and speed in sound rendering. Strangely, I find the treble sparkly, but the roll off in highs frequencies above 10khz (approximatively!) remind me of Hifiman 601 and give an analogue sounding to the soundsignature. So is it negative or positive? I think it depends of the music genre you listen to, but be sure it will be way enough detailed for normal listener and audiophile that aren't into ultra analytical sounding player.
CONSTRUCTION AND FIRMWARE:
The construction was good and all sturdy if we look it for a durability point of view, it was solid like a rock but big like a bible. All black metal, metal everywhere! It lool like a geeky DIY project that earn a good note but for portability it was not very practical and way too big and uncomfortable to wear. It was heavy too and the big sound bottom volume wheel was prompt for unfortunate turning. It feel more like a small house DAP than a real portable one and this is why I finally sell it and buy the Fiio X3 with the same Dac thinking it have the same sound (you learn from your error). The screen was too little and fragile (only thing fragile about this player) and if a drop of water fall on your player because of the space between screen and metal body it can do serious damage I guess.
Firmware was something from the 80's when you got to write complicate operation to get the basic, it was not a friendly firmware and it was in chinese at the begining...quite complicate to change the langage but once it's done the real problem was the bugs, I can deal with anything but a defect about tracks format. Sometime when it happen it make a sound that peirce your ears (it do that too when it's out of battery sometime)....yep, but even if it does now I'm ready to live with masochism to ear the unique delicious sound of this DAP.
CONCLUSION:
This player is all about sound. Nothing else. No line out, no good firmware, no good portability, no good battery life, just EXQUISITE SOUND. If you feel you need lot of different soundsignature to complement your music collection this is for you, if you listen mostly to signers and midcentric music this is for you, if you like goosebumps of ectasy this is for you, if your capricious and ''ipodophile'' this isn't for you at all, if you check for portability this isn't for you, etc. You get what I mean. Here you pay 180-220$ for a sound experience that is more in the 500$ range and can compete with Astell, Ibasso, (easily) Fiio, and much more expensive player. Really, it's the bad duckling of music player and should'nt be like this, if one day i'm more rich I will for sure buy another one because I miss you Xuelin ihifi812V2. Oh, please, please come back home.
Sometime you make error you know, like letting go the girl of your life for an absurd reason or even worst like letting go the Xuelin Ihifi 812 V2 because you are an immature audiophile on budget that think next DAP purchase (FiioX3) will sound better.
Yes, I sold you Xuelin and i'm so so so sorry, I shouldn't, I was a megalomaniac wool-gathering, can you forgive me and come back please?
I think about you alot, so, from the dream I still have of your syrupy and envelopping sound I will try to write a tearful hymn to you. I really don't understand why you just have one review and that nobody praise your sound....you deserve better!
-REMEMBERING A LOST PARADISE-
The Xuelin ihifi 812V2 was my first HiFi DAP ever owned, it have a special place in my broken heart. This DAP was a torture to use but an healing to listen too, I remember the first time I press play, the voice of Hope Sandoval crawl on me and soak all my being in a nectar of beauty. It was overwhelming, the voice was so enveloping and tridimentional. Yes. I cry. Never before trough ipod or Sony media player have I heard so much details and soundstage, the sparkle in treble was so detailed and sirupy too....oh my, is it a good idea to remember my lost love?
The Xuelin doesn't have a V shaped soundsignature, more a neutral one with a hint of musicality, we can say it sound like an Hifiman 601 with a little bit less bass, a more articulate sound and more fowardness and fullness in medium frequencies.
LOWS:
The bass was big and gently punchy with this player, from what I remember it goes very low but have no emphasis on sub bass. Comparatively to other players, you don't need external amping to earn the real bass from your headphones and it's now that I know how precious this capability really is. Right now i'm listening to Xduoo X3 and feel the amping is just good for IEM or 16OHM headphones, go to capricious 32Ohm one and you will not exploit the full potential of them. I was listening mostly to my 32Ohm Grado Alessandro with my Xuelin and it was a superb synergy, even with my Ibasso Dx90 I could not say that because of the soundsignature of his dac so it's a miracle in it's own. Bass is Beefy and round, it's really there and can be feel, extremely well presented with enough air between instrumentation to make it realistic. It give warm to vocals instead of stealing the star of them.
MIDS:
Oh my, oh my! The mids are Superb, warm, vast, textured and airy! How could it be possible? I really don't know but I guess it's the kind of mids you get from way pricier audio system using a Wolfson WM8740, I don't listen to the Astell & Kern that cost twice the price but can surely say that it isn't because a DAP have a Wolfson dac that it will sound good: The Fiio X3, my ultimate deception, is the proof of this statement. It is how you use the Dac potential that can do miracle and the Ihifi 812V2 really surpass any attempt here. I have own Colorfly C3, Fiio X3, Hifiman 601, Fiio X5 (for 3 weeks) and Ibasso Dx90 (still have) and can say the Xuelin got the more beautifully presented mids of all of them, it is THAT good. Not bright but textured, not congested or regressed but foward and pround to be, not artificial sounding but natural and sweet. Mids are so good that you have to be punish and this is with the highs frequencies: they do not extend to the bottom end.
HIGHS:
Okay, to be honest I do not feel a lack of details because the overall sound was too delicious. But I remember that it was sounding less exceptional with extremely complex electronic music, in this case the low and mids was somewhat distracting and it cause a lack of energy and speed in sound rendering. Strangely, I find the treble sparkly, but the roll off in highs frequencies above 10khz (approximatively!) remind me of Hifiman 601 and give an analogue sounding to the soundsignature. So is it negative or positive? I think it depends of the music genre you listen to, but be sure it will be way enough detailed for normal listener and audiophile that aren't into ultra analytical sounding player.
CONSTRUCTION AND FIRMWARE:
The construction was good and all sturdy if we look it for a durability point of view, it was solid like a rock but big like a bible. All black metal, metal everywhere! It lool like a geeky DIY project that earn a good note but for portability it was not very practical and way too big and uncomfortable to wear. It was heavy too and the big sound bottom volume wheel was prompt for unfortunate turning. It feel more like a small house DAP than a real portable one and this is why I finally sell it and buy the Fiio X3 with the same Dac thinking it have the same sound (you learn from your error). The screen was too little and fragile (only thing fragile about this player) and if a drop of water fall on your player because of the space between screen and metal body it can do serious damage I guess.
Firmware was something from the 80's when you got to write complicate operation to get the basic, it was not a friendly firmware and it was in chinese at the begining...quite complicate to change the langage but once it's done the real problem was the bugs, I can deal with anything but a defect about tracks format. Sometime when it happen it make a sound that peirce your ears (it do that too when it's out of battery sometime)....yep, but even if it does now I'm ready to live with masochism to ear the unique delicious sound of this DAP.
CONCLUSION:
This player is all about sound. Nothing else. No line out, no good firmware, no good portability, no good battery life, just EXQUISITE SOUND. If you feel you need lot of different soundsignature to complement your music collection this is for you, if you listen mostly to signers and midcentric music this is for you, if you like goosebumps of ectasy this is for you, if your capricious and ''ipodophile'' this isn't for you at all, if you check for portability this isn't for you, etc. You get what I mean. Here you pay 180-220$ for a sound experience that is more in the 500$ range and can compete with Astell, Ibasso, (easily) Fiio, and much more expensive player. Really, it's the bad duckling of music player and should'nt be like this, if one day i'm more rich I will for sure buy another one because I miss you Xuelin ihifi812V2. Oh, please, please come back home.
