[FraGGleR]

Quote:

I completely agree with everything the reviewer said. I know some of my earlier gushing impressions may have been glossed over by some, but this thing really sounds that good. I'm very experienced with high end gear and this things gets you really close to a high end "desktop" rig. It's a good deal better than any midfi setup I've owned or heard.  There's an initial shock upon first listen that this thing can't possibly sound this good. I took it to a friend's house who owns around 60-70,000.00 worth of high end gear, and he was more impressed than I was. He thought the dac was as good as his more than 2,000.00 byrston, and the amp on the same level as his 2500.00 peak/volcano. 
 
 I've lived with it for a while, so I can pick out the minor differences that separate his setup from the m8. But upon first listen I can understand why he would say that. It does take a bit of going back and forth to do that. But it has a better dac than my 800.00 stagedac, and the headphone amp is as good as anything I've heard in the 700.00-800.00 range, and better than some from a few years ago in the 1000.00 range. IMO portable gear has never been good cost/performace ratio performers. You are paying a premium to get good sound out of a battery powered device that fits in the palm of you hands. For example, a 500.00 portable amp won't sound as good as a 500.00 desktop amp relatively speaking. That changes with this device. Not only does it sound as good as a 700.00 desktop combo, it exceeds many and approach the performance of combos much higher. This thing still impresses me every time I turn it on.

I am torn between hoping that this is true and I can sell my other gear and have just the M8 and hoping that it isn't true since I really like my main rig.  I might move out of the country soon and it would certainly be convenient to only have the M8 but not miss much from a full desktop rig.

 

[DrSheep]

Deployment?

 

[TigreNegrito]

 
Special thanks to Smeggy, Michael Goodman, Brian Goto and the Willett family.
 

 
They're real.... and they're FANTASTIC!

 

[aamefford]

LOL, you always make me laugh.

Excellent. Providing a chuckle to others is one of life's true pleasures!

Get ready for the joy of your life. It will blow your helmet off when you heard it.

I hope not the purple one... I am really getting excited to hear it. I'm hoping it will let me offload my PB2/DB2 stack, which is a lot nicer than most folks realize.

 

[wormsdriver]

 

[ButtUglyJeff]

Quote:

 
Special thanks to Smeggy, Michael Goodman, Brian Goto and the Willett family.
 

 
Not gonna lie......
 
I'm a little envious of the Smeggy Thunderpants with the BTG treatment.  I really wanted the same thing (same wood and everything), but alas I don't think its going to happen...

 

[aamefford]

Nice one!

 

[bmichels]

 I need to find a very good CLOSED headphone that DO NOT LEAK sound outside for when I listen in the bed...close to my wife.   Obviously my TH-900 leaks too much sound...
 
--> Any suggestion for the BEST non leaking cam  (best sound + least leak) to go with my HiFi M8 that I should get in 1 month (waiting list) ? 
 
I have in mind for example : Beyerdynamic T5p, Edition 8 , Signature PRO... ?
 
thanks for your advices...

 

[verber]

Quote:

I am torn between hoping that this is true and I can sell my other gear and have just the M8 and hoping that it isn't true since I really like my main rig.  I might move out of the country soon and it would certainly be convenient to only have the M8 but not miss much from a full desktop rig.

 
I have been listening to my HiFi-M8 for several weeks now and generally be happy with it.  I agree with the review, the HiFi-M8 is one of the few portable amplifiers that can drive the HD800 well.  If I had to purchase a single, do everything unit, the HiFI-M8 would be it.  It's quite versatile, sound good, and having everything in a single box  is super nice. I still have a slight preference for the sound of the AQ Dragonfly into a Headamp Pico Power, but the HiFi-M8 is certainly much more convenient to use and manage and has the added bonus of taking inputs from a larger number of sources than the Dragonfly. I would put the HiFi-M8 into what I refer to as the 80% category.  It's about as good as you will get before the price starts going exponential compared to the improvement in sound quality.  Given all it's features.. assuming you will want to use most of them, I think it's a very good value.
 
Could it replace a full desktop rig?  It depends on the which desktop.  From the list on your profile, the answer is I think so.  I think you will find the HiFi-M8 as good as any of the solid state amplifiers you list in your profile.  Against the bottlehead... can't predict what you would prefer, though I think it should compare well.  It would be fine for me though I am not typically a "tube" guy.
 
Would I happily swap my desktop for the HiFi-M8?  Nope. But to be fair, my desktop is more than 5x the cost.  My desktop doesn't have 5x the sound quality, it's more like 20%... but oh, that 20% is so nice.
 
--Mark

 

[verber]

Quote:

 I need to find a very good CLOSED headphone that DO NOT LEAK sound outside for when I listen in the bed...close to my wife.   Obviously my TH-900 leaks too much sound...
 
--> Any suggestion for the BEST non leaking cam  (best sound + least leak) to go with my HiFi M8 that I should get in 1 month (waiting list) ? 
 
I have in mind for example : Beyerdynamic T5p, Edition 8 , Signature PRO... ?
 
thanks for your advices...

 
Would IEM (universal or custom) be acceptable?  A couple of years ago I was looking for the same thing and concluded than when it came to zero leak + sound quality, a good IEM was impossible to be beat.
 
--Mark

 

[bmichels]

Quote:

 
Would IEM (universal or custom) be acceptable?  A couple of years ago I was looking for the same thing and concluded than when it came to zero leak + sound quality, a good IEM was impossible to be beat.
 
--Mark

Thanks for your answer.   Actually I owe already some Westone ES3X CIEM, but I am looking for a much larger soundstage that the "in the head" sound provided by IEMs.   
 
And what are the BEST of the BEST IEMs recommended ?

 

[DrSheep]

Don't quote me on this, but for the AK120 stock unamped, the IE800 should goes well with it.  Others reported good things with the SE846, but I don't think it is totally perfect.

 

[Angular Mo]

Quote:

Could you do me a favor and move this to an email thread. I will respond to that within hours, rather than days and we will work quickly to help figure this out. pm me for the email address if you don't have it or ask Stacie and she will connect us.

Mr Goodman,
I hope you share with this thread the resolution of the interference issue.
thank you,
Angular Mo

 

[Audiowood]

Quote:

Thanks for your answer.   Actually I owe already some Westone ES3X CIEM, but I am looking for a much larger soundstage that the "in the head" sound provided by IEMs.   
 
And what are the BEST of the BEST IEMs recommended ?

If you like the TH900, the 1p2 is the closest universal IEM to the TH900 sound quality. Many experts say TH900 is the best close headphone, and many has now claim the 1p2 is the best sounding universal IEM. I highly recommend 1p2.

 

[bmichels]

Quote:

If you like the TH900, the 1p2 is the closest to the TH900 sound quality. Many experts say TH900 is the best close headphone, and many has now claim the 1p2 is the best sounding universal IEM $$ can buy. I highly recommend 1p2.

 
 Thanks for the 1P2 suggestion.   I read somewere that the 1P2 is not really a "closedIEM" because it uses "vents" and therefore allow external noise to come in.  is it true ?  And... does those "vents" also let music leaking outside ?