Hifi59
1000+ Head-Fier
.
Let me preface this by stating that with my main rig in the living room, my system has been professionally calibrated for audio (and video) and with that my ears are sensitive to nice accurate sound ( didn't say perfect) sound. If there was any excessive colorations and major frequency aberrations I would be sure to pick up on it.
I've been a hobbiest going back to the mid 70's.
I've had the Fiio E12DIY for a few months now and have been listening to it nightly with my Hifiman HE560 headphones. This pha comes with 12 different combinations of opamp/buffers to tailor the sound to my liking.
After going through every possible combo, I settled on the OPA604 opamp / LME49600 buffer. This combo was the most open and airy with a tight deep bass. My sources for this comparison were Spotify at 320kbs and my Vinyl collection played on a 4500.00 turntable/cartridge combo.
In the months that followed,I never had an urge or desire to change this synergy between the Fiio and the Hifiman headphones. Every night from the moment I put the phones on my head, it was always an "ahhh" moment that would continue throughout the listening session. I would keep listening into the wee hours often with my wife signaling me to get to sleep. No listening fatigue here!
A few weeks ago I came across a great deal on the Centrance Hifi M8 pha (class A) configured for an idevice. I received the amp last week. I naturally compared its sound to that of the Fiio. The Centrance has a balanced output, but I kept it apples to apples and volume matched as close as humanly possible before judging their sound against each other.
I went back and forth for hours and that soon became days comparing these two with various genres of music.
My subjective opinions/conclusions are as follows.
1. As powerful as the M8 is known to be, the Fiio was significantly more capable of playing louder (without distorting).
The M8 drove the difficult to drive Hifimans to a satisfactory level, but the Fiio simply went louder. This was appreciated when playing some mp3s that had lower output.
2. The Fiio had more slam! The bass is deep and solid. The M8 bass was a bit looser and not quite as deep but still excellent. ( I played with the bass tailoring switch on the M8 but the added bass only made things worse IMO.
3. The midrange was slightly more full with the M8. I wasn't sure which midrange I liked better. Both were pleasing. The M8 perhaps a bit more forward.
4. The treble was more open airy and slightly more extended with the Fiio. This was the area where the biggest difference was noted. It was as if a thin veil was lifted off the music. Very nice. There was never any edginess from this extended treble with the He-560's! I would go back to the M8 and still say this thing is still awesome but the Fiio was just more "alive" and engaging. I tinkered with the treble trim on the M8 to see if it would match up to the Fiio but it never really did. It helped with some music but not so much with other music. It is a subtle effect and well done by Centrance.. I would still say both are neutral though! Wierd.
5. There is "something" about the M8s sound signature that is still appealing though. Maybe it's the class A amplification. Not sure. Both sounded distortion/grain free.
6. Battery life is twice as long with the Fiio at 12hrs max vs. the M8 at 6 max. Btw, I feel the M8 sounded its best after about 20 minutes of being turned on. I let it sit for 20 minutes before comparing.
7. The Fiio is much more compact.
8. The M8 is much more flexible with impedence matching (I played with this a lot. It's effect is noticeable
but not significantly so. It has 1,2,and11 ohm setting. The Hifiman HE-560s sounded best with the 1 ohm setting. Bass,treble and gain adjustments are all nice features too.
9. The M8 has balanced output. The Fiio does not.
10. The Fiio lets you tailor the sound to your liking via a variety of opamps and buffers.
So in conclusion I have decided to keep them both. I would put them both up against my Burson Soloist full size Headphone class A amp at 1000.00 ! They are in the same league IMO. Had I paid the full retail of the M8 (700.00) , I would likely have returned it knowing that the Fiio (250.00) was a much better value.
During my testing I did discover right off the bat that the 1/4" headphone jack on the M8 was channel reversed. I saw online that it is a known issue and so I just sent it off for the repair. I continued testing using its 3.5mm Jack.
So there you have it. Take it to heart or with a grain of salt. They are both top notch but there is something about
the Fiio/ He-560 synergy that keeps me wanting more!
Let me preface this by stating that with my main rig in the living room, my system has been professionally calibrated for audio (and video) and with that my ears are sensitive to nice accurate sound ( didn't say perfect) sound. If there was any excessive colorations and major frequency aberrations I would be sure to pick up on it.
I've been a hobbiest going back to the mid 70's.
I've had the Fiio E12DIY for a few months now and have been listening to it nightly with my Hifiman HE560 headphones. This pha comes with 12 different combinations of opamp/buffers to tailor the sound to my liking.
After going through every possible combo, I settled on the OPA604 opamp / LME49600 buffer. This combo was the most open and airy with a tight deep bass. My sources for this comparison were Spotify at 320kbs and my Vinyl collection played on a 4500.00 turntable/cartridge combo.
In the months that followed,I never had an urge or desire to change this synergy between the Fiio and the Hifiman headphones. Every night from the moment I put the phones on my head, it was always an "ahhh" moment that would continue throughout the listening session. I would keep listening into the wee hours often with my wife signaling me to get to sleep. No listening fatigue here!
A few weeks ago I came across a great deal on the Centrance Hifi M8 pha (class A) configured for an idevice. I received the amp last week. I naturally compared its sound to that of the Fiio. The Centrance has a balanced output, but I kept it apples to apples and volume matched as close as humanly possible before judging their sound against each other.
I went back and forth for hours and that soon became days comparing these two with various genres of music.
My subjective opinions/conclusions are as follows.
1. As powerful as the M8 is known to be, the Fiio was significantly more capable of playing louder (without distorting).
The M8 drove the difficult to drive Hifimans to a satisfactory level, but the Fiio simply went louder. This was appreciated when playing some mp3s that had lower output.
2. The Fiio had more slam! The bass is deep and solid. The M8 bass was a bit looser and not quite as deep but still excellent. ( I played with the bass tailoring switch on the M8 but the added bass only made things worse IMO.
3. The midrange was slightly more full with the M8. I wasn't sure which midrange I liked better. Both were pleasing. The M8 perhaps a bit more forward.
4. The treble was more open airy and slightly more extended with the Fiio. This was the area where the biggest difference was noted. It was as if a thin veil was lifted off the music. Very nice. There was never any edginess from this extended treble with the He-560's! I would go back to the M8 and still say this thing is still awesome but the Fiio was just more "alive" and engaging. I tinkered with the treble trim on the M8 to see if it would match up to the Fiio but it never really did. It helped with some music but not so much with other music. It is a subtle effect and well done by Centrance.. I would still say both are neutral though! Wierd.
5. There is "something" about the M8s sound signature that is still appealing though. Maybe it's the class A amplification. Not sure. Both sounded distortion/grain free.
6. Battery life is twice as long with the Fiio at 12hrs max vs. the M8 at 6 max. Btw, I feel the M8 sounded its best after about 20 minutes of being turned on. I let it sit for 20 minutes before comparing.
7. The Fiio is much more compact.
8. The M8 is much more flexible with impedence matching (I played with this a lot. It's effect is noticeable
but not significantly so. It has 1,2,and11 ohm setting. The Hifiman HE-560s sounded best with the 1 ohm setting. Bass,treble and gain adjustments are all nice features too.
9. The M8 has balanced output. The Fiio does not.
10. The Fiio lets you tailor the sound to your liking via a variety of opamps and buffers.
So in conclusion I have decided to keep them both. I would put them both up against my Burson Soloist full size Headphone class A amp at 1000.00 ! They are in the same league IMO. Had I paid the full retail of the M8 (700.00) , I would likely have returned it knowing that the Fiio (250.00) was a much better value.
During my testing I did discover right off the bat that the 1/4" headphone jack on the M8 was channel reversed. I saw online that it is a known issue and so I just sent it off for the repair. I continued testing using its 3.5mm Jack.
So there you have it. Take it to heart or with a grain of salt. They are both top notch but there is something about
the Fiio/ He-560 synergy that keeps me wanting more!
