[Anaxilus]

Quote:

The Colorfly is pretty large, but it's light for its weight in a negative way -- it feels kind of cheap (more on this later). The units just came yesterday and they weren't used before (brand new units), yet you can see quite a number of defects in the workmanship:
 
If you weren't attentive enough to note the tag attached to the headphone cable in the pictures above.. I left my JH-13s at home when I tried it (packed them since I'm leaving this weekend, plus this was an unplanned visit). I ended up using their demo JH-13s for the comparisons (N.B. they had JH-16 demos too, but I prefer the 13s -- and I've owned both). They recommended that I use the high-gain 6.3mm jack since it ostensibly provides a better sound. I tried the 3.5mm jack as well -- mainly lower gain as I suspected, with much finer control through the volume slider.
 
Over its half-hour of life, I wasn't particularly impressed. It has a fairly bright tonality with fine resolution of inner details, overall. The iPhone 4 tended to be bassier and a tad darker, but it didn't lose that much in resolving capabilities at all. The relative strength in the bass impact/character and stereo width of the iPhone 4 admirably met the very slight refinement advantage of the Colorfly. The gap of difference between the iPhone 4 and the Colorfly is much, much smaller than the former to the HM-801 (going by memory).
 
To be frank, my laptop does it one better (N.B. to be fair, the laptop is an Elitebook 8530p with a 24-bit DAC and relatively strong amp section; it hisses a little). The Colorfly does have a dead silent background; hiss-free, as far as I could hear.
 
The EQ presets weren't particularly very good. They were pretty dramatic, compromising the tonal characteristics inherent to the player. I stuck with the flat setting.
 
I regret that it did not live long enough for me to try it out with larger, more demanding headphones (the next steps were going to be DT-990/250s, other mid-range phones, then T1s). But for bona fide portable use, I would never get this. I would also be concerned for issues with fit, finish and feel.

Thanks for the impressions, much appreciated.

 

[grokit]

I can't believe this $500 brick is made of plastic, that's too bad 

 

[3602]

Seriously someone here has to do a C4 vs. HM-801 vs. iMod/WhipMOD (with different caps/amps). Unbiased. Which means the reviewer better not be "compensated" by any of the companies.
Also that faceplate is plastic? Wow. Just wow. I expected some sort of metal with bronze-imitation treatment. Seriously there are metal cabinet hinges with that treatment, they don't look half bad and don't cost nuttin'.

 

[xz123]

Well, I have both the Colorfly and the HM 801 with me at the moment. And as far as I can tell there's not much difference in sound quality between both when listening with HD 650s, but the usability of the HM 801 is better. But I guess before really being able to judge the sound of them both I'd need a bit more time with them, because I've only had half an hour or so of undisturbed listening time yet. And I couldn't compare the sound with the headphones I mostly use (UE-11) because I only have the high gain amp section for the HM 801.

 

[dragonpark]

IMO at the targeted price points and given the focus on aesthetics such defects are unacceptable. The metal-look of the front face of the player is actually achieved with the use of paint (as evidenced by the small amount on the 3.5mm jack above) over plastic -- it just ends up feeling chintzy. The volume slider doesn't feel particularly firm (i.e. no chance using this thing portably without the provided case). The action of the face buttons is soft and uninspiring. 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I got colorfly yet...
The front face  is Definitely Not a metal plating one. Just hit the front panel. the echo will tell you it's a real metal panel!
and I like the art design.the Control UI,a little bit jazz air. the style just let me remember a video game "Fallout 3"!

 

[qusp]

@ .sup
 
at this size comparison, you can buy pretty much anything that can use external DC power and add a DC power pack if you really need battery power (like those used for laptop travel supplies), desktop use was mentioned so I wasnt talking about batteries, but yeah you can include the apogee duet, RME fireface 400, numerous other prosumer USB audio interfaces. its not like its headout is balanced, so there are many comparisons with midfi recording gear possible and these do not focus on skin deep (apparently not even that deep) cosmetics
 
but I totally dont get your question, seems irrelevant given my comment is in reply to someone using it as a desktop device.

 

[3X0]

Quote:

The front face  is Definitely Not a metal plating one. Just hit the front panel. the echo will tell you it's a real metal panel!
and I like the art design.the Control UI,a little bit jazz air. the style just let me remember a video game "Fallout 3"!

 
IIRC I tapped it and I don't remember it echoing. The most important part was the feel -- it didn't feel like metal at all. It might have been the paint job, but I was hoping for a real brushed-metal plate rather than a painted-on effect. Even an iPod feels more "premium." 

 The most obvious part are the screws/bolts.. from the paintjob it looks like the face is a one-piece design rather than a discrete assembly, which is a shame.

 

[Anaxilus]

Easy, metal will be cold when off.

 

[anadin]

It looks like my Rockboxed Clip+ is safe to come out and play.

 

[3X0]

Quote:

Easy, metal will be cold when off.

Yup, that's my personal test. The Colorfly's fauxmetal face was never cold-to-the-touch; the temperature was always the same as that of the wood.

 

[nqwalker]

Have test results?

 

[david1978jp]

RMAA here. It is in Chinese, but you can read graphics.
 
http://bbs.imp3.net/thread-965857-1-2.html

 

[Bennyboy71]

If anyone is thinking of buying one of these Colorfly things, please pm me as I have just perfected an upgrade to it using my 3 year old nephew's lego, which I call The Craptasm(tm). It's amp and dac are made of pure plasticine and it can downsample 96 and 192 files to zero with the simple slide of a paperclip sellotaped to the bottom. The Craptasm(tm) comes with modded ipod earbuds (I have cut the wires off the buds to improve portability) bundled for free at $1759 plus shipping.  Optional four minute warranty is also available based on a sliding scale calculated by my high tech algorithmic gullibility/wages index .

 

[friacaif]

At least it comes with a nice looking emblum on the back

 

[nqwalker]

Quote:

RMAA here. It is in Chinese, but you can read graphics.
 
http://bbs.imp3.net/thread-965857-1-2.html

 
thank you!