Aaron Friedman
100+ Head-Fier
I received my 801 and listened to it using the PK-1. Many on this site talk of lack of bass. I do not find a lack of bass at all. There are bass heads who love the bass loud to almost overwhelm the music and blow out your eardrum. Live music bass is a part of the music not overwhelming loud in your eardrum except in a disco setting. It should be present in the background as part of the whole music picture.
The one problem I do find is the lack of liquidity and somewhat dry sound. That means that there is a lack of extension in the high end. That is less noticable in the line out and much more in the headphone out. I can only guess that magnetic nickle connectors, cheap volume pod and or none audiophile solder may have been used. I compared it to my Creative vision M mp3 and creatives $59 ubs soundblaster exterior xfi box (all without equilization using wave files). Both sounded better. The soundstage was larger on the HIFIMAN. However the liqudity (high frequency extension) was sweet and smooth in the creative products. The creative products where significantly more musical.
Nothing bothers me much about the HiFiMAn except the dry lack of liquidity and high end extension. There is no doubt that some parts used where great. However when A $59 dollar item (granted you need a laptop connection) sounds better, clearly the volume and headphone amp section was not designed properly using using non magnetic parts in the signal path. Magnetic parts in the audio signal path can cause havic to the sound.
The one problem I do find is the lack of liquidity and somewhat dry sound. That means that there is a lack of extension in the high end. That is less noticable in the line out and much more in the headphone out. I can only guess that magnetic nickle connectors, cheap volume pod and or none audiophile solder may have been used. I compared it to my Creative vision M mp3 and creatives $59 ubs soundblaster exterior xfi box (all without equilization using wave files). Both sounded better. The soundstage was larger on the HIFIMAN. However the liqudity (high frequency extension) was sweet and smooth in the creative products. The creative products where significantly more musical.
Nothing bothers me much about the HiFiMAn except the dry lack of liquidity and high end extension. There is no doubt that some parts used where great. However when A $59 dollar item (granted you need a laptop connection) sounds better, clearly the volume and headphone amp section was not designed properly using using non magnetic parts in the signal path. Magnetic parts in the audio signal path can cause havic to the sound.
