[nc8000]

Indeed, just wish the battery would last longer than 4-5 hours. And sometimes the player will ignore the cue file and just treat the wav file as one long track.

Also wonder if it will be able to use a 64GB SDXC memory card.

 

[snowboardingmrp]

Had a colorfly C4 on trial for around 4weeks and i have to say, at first the sound (when comparing with to my Hifiman 602) wasn't what i liked and i was ready to hand it back to the store i got it from. Noticeably the bass or lack off compared to my 602.
I did stick with it though and run it in for around 100hours and i have to say "i love it". The bass has come into play (still not as much as the 602) and its sounds fantastic. I am hearing sounds in my music that i never heard before on any music player.
The interface takes a little to get used to but nothing to difficult and i actually prefer it now to the Hifiman.
The look of the thing though is something really special. Is a little on the large size and i wouldn't be taking it on a MTB ride or similar, but the sound more than makes up for the size.
I really like the option of having the 6.5mm and 3.5mm sockets for headphones.
Charging from a USB port is another advantage.
My trial is coming to an end now, and i think i am going to have to press the 'Yes' button and start listening to my music collection all over again.
The Hifiman is a great piece of kit though, but in my opinion not quite as good as this C4.
If i was to offer one piece of advice to future owners it would be to hang in there for 100hours as it does open up and you should be pleasantly surprised.

 

[nc8000]

Also wonder if it will be able to use a 64GB SDXC memory card.

To answer my own question, yes it is. However you have to load it via a card reader as the pc does not recognize it when the C4 is connected to the pc via usb

 

[vovkinson]

I'm a little concerned about built-in battery in C4. It's not user-replaceable.
Where's the service for this device. Where am I supposed to send it if something goes wrong. So far  Ebay is only place to purchase from.

 

[nc8000]

http://www.colorfly.eu/where_to_buy_oview.html

 

[sbradley02]

Just received my C4 and haven't really used it yet.
I will be using 256k MP3 (Amazon) and 500k OGG.

 

[nc8000]

In my opinion the whole point of these expensive and finicky players is hires playback

 

[sbradley02]

Quote:

In my opinion the whole point of these expensive and finicky players is hires playback

There are of course different drivers and usage models. My previous setup is an ancient iRiver driving a Leckerton DAC/Amp via TOSLink. Sounds great but the iRiver can be flaky and two devices is more complex than I like. All the high-end single box solutions can probably be defined as expensive and finicky. That's the nature of a very limited market appeal item. And I have no desire to ever own an Apple product, which would mean two boxes at any rate.
 
We can get into the audible differences between high bit rate lossy like OGG Q-1.0 and redbook, but I don't want to derail the thread. I have a handful of higher rate recordings but I have down sampled them for portability. Maybe I will copy one over for an A-B comparison if I get really ambitious.

 

[ElCrazo]

Hi. I am not about to give a review here on the C4. Over the past 21 months I have posted more than enough regarding this DAP, mostly correcting ill informed and incorrect postings on several sites.
Most of what I read is the subjective opinions of people who have never even seen or listened to this player. I am not connected in any way with Colorful although I was the first to import the C4 into the U.K. because at the time it was the only way I could get my hands on one. Having sold about 50 or more with no complaints or returns I think this says a lot about its build quality and performance. Unlike most people I like the UI and the way it functions, touch screens always give me grief being too easy to make a mistake.
 
The C4 was designed to be a player that would eliminate the need for a rig, a stand alone player that could give even fussy people like me what I wanted straight from the box without the need to carry about a separate head amp for example. I only ever use 16/44 WAV files although for playback my C4 is set at 24/96. I'm not interested in having displayed album covers, tags, metadata etc. only the best quality sound and one that never annoys me. All the talk I read about headphones is a joke since headphones are mostly a con and are certainly very subjective and personal.
 
I once read a post suggesting that the C4 used as a transport into a separate DAC was very expensive but even this is not the case given that the C4 is probable the best transport for the cost and certainly when used with my custom built DAC into a simple valve amp has so far out performed any CD player I have heard. I honestly believe the biggest issue comes down to the format being used and I for one do not use FLAC. In many blind tests a 16/44 WAV comes out on top over a 24/96 FLAC file, especially those from HD Tracks. 
 
Comments regarding the 801 often do not reflect the true cost e.g. no internal memory and the modules add further cost. Nothing is perfect for all people and my only complaint about the C4 is its lack of remote control which I find very useful on my QLS but then the UI on the QLS is next to useless.Still excellent value for money though as a source into a full size system.
 
Maybe I am simply lucky in that each component I use within my system seems to just work well together, synergie ?? Also, I have no unnecessary circuits/components in the way between source and speakers. No Xovers on my speakers, no bass, treble or balance controls on my amp and no need to use the EQ settings on the C4. In my view a clean as possible signal path. On the very odd occasion I hear a track that sounds not quite right it has always been down to the original recording/mastering, not the C4 or my system.
 
So, after 21 months now of constant use I am more than happy with the C4. As for firmware updates - if it aint broke don't try and fix it and since the C4 has the ability to charge and play or charge only then battery life is never a problem. 
 
These are my thoughts and I do not expect everyone to agree with me but for those who have never used the C4 it's about time those postings came to an end. For me, I no longer care as I am terminal and will be lucky to see Christmas. My C4 will be the last thing I part with.

 

[nc8000]

That sucks man

I also like the gui of the C4 and find the C4 the coolest audio component I have owned. I agree that build quality at lest on my unit is very good. If one works to prep the music files it can give fantastic sound (I made one disc wav files with a cue file) and powers all phones I have very well. However I ended up selling it as I found that I would almost every time reach for and use my iPod+ SR71B rig instead.

 

[lee730]

Quote:

I've had my Colorfly C4 for 10 days now and I am impressed.  I do not own (but have used) an HM801 so I can not give an in depth comparison of the two.  I will say that the Colorfly C4 is all that I hoped it would be.  I've had to recode some of my highest quality 24/96 Flac to 24/192 .wav, which was no big deal.  I purchased the C4 mainly to listen to Flac at 16/44 anyway.  I can say that the upsampling of 16/44 Flac to 24bit/192kHz on-the-fly works flawlessly and sounds beautiful.  I almost did not buy the Colorfly C4 because some of the post in this thread, especially ones that said the metal/brass face was really plastic, this is absolutely NOT true, the face is metal with a brass effect finish, and at least on my C4 is flawless.  The Black Walnut backing never fails to get a "wow thats beautiful" response from those that I've let hold it.  The interface does not take long to get used to, and is intuitive after a few hours.  There is something about the esthetics of the Colorfly C4 that appeals to me, a warmth that the plastic looking HM801 lacks.  The quality of playback was essentially indistinguishable from the HM801, at least to my humble ears.  In the end, the Colorfly C4 sounds astonishing (and is a benchmark in mobile HiFi) and appealed to me (like a classic Leica camera would) in appearance and internal components.  I am a very happy C4 owner.

Why would you upsample your 24/96 files to 24/192? That will not improve the quality of it? Do you mean expand them to WAV from Flac? Seems like you got both mixed up.

 

[nc8000]

The C4 supports upsampling and there are supposed to be advantages to doing upsampling but I don't remember the technical details. I personally was not able to hear any difference with upsampling enabled but that does not mean that others can't

 

[lee730]

I understand that but he kinda made it sound like he was gonna blow the file up from 24/96 to 24/192. Now I don't see any advantage in doing that at all and it would more likely degrade sound than help it.
 

 

[nc8000]

Yes that does not make any sense unless he finds that upsampling the file gives better sound than letting the C4 do on the fly upsampling

 

[sbradley02]

Quote:

That sucks man
I also like the gui of the C4 and find the C4 the coolest audio component I have owned. I agree that build quality at lest on my unit is very good. If one works to prep the music files it can give fantastic sound (I made one disc wav files with a cue file) and powers all phones I have very well. However I ended up selling it as I found that I would almost every time reach for and use my iPod+ SR71B rig instead.

Why did you prefer the iPod combo?