So I got a chance to hear the new HM-801 amp card at the New York meet. Fang is a very cool guy and extremely generous--I told him that my HM-801 charger had stopped working, and he just gave me one of his chargers on the spot, no questions asked.
The new amp card, according to Fang, is set to be released next month and it will be the new standard card that ships with all new HM-801s. Fang will offer it basically at cost for all existing owners, which I think is a great way to treat your customers. He also showed me an early prototype of the new balanced amp card, which will be released next year. Headphones with TRSS connectors can plug directly into the amp in the back, with a new amp cover.
He asked me to listen to the new (standard) amp card with my JH16s, since he was already pretty sure they sounded good with full-size headphones. I tried a mix of songs, everything from Chesky recordings (Chesky was at the meet!) to Lauryn Hill and Outkast (all FLAC, the Chesky and Outkast were 24-bit). I didn't have as much time as I would have liked in order to give detailed impressions, but I have to say I was impressed. The first thing that struck me was how full-bodied the sound was; the bass was very robust, maybe to the point of being a bit boomy and cloudy. The treble was very distinct and maybe a bit too sharp, but it's hard for me to say with a short audition. The midrange was quite lush and pleasant, and the sound felt very warm.
My main suggestion to Fang was that the gain is too high for custom IEMs. I had a hard time getting the right volume for a quiet room without channel imbalance. He said he would take this into account and may decrease the gain, since he wants this amp card to work well for all headphones and he knows many HM-801 owners have custom IEMs. I did a quick comparison with my HM-801 with the GAME amp card, and I felt that the GAME card was slightly more refined, with more control over the bass. However, the new amp card seemed to deliver a bigger soundstage and a more rich, warm sound. In my opinion, neither the GAME card nor any of the other amp cards have low enough gain for custom IEMs in a quiet room. Hopefully this is something that Fang will address.
Overall I think that, with a lower gain setting and maybe an adjustment to the bass, the amp card will offer a solid all-around solution for those of us with both custom IEMs and full-size headphones that don't want to switch between the GAME amp and the standard amp all the time. It seemed to deliver a spacious soundstage, with the sense of air and fine detail that the HM-801 has become known for. The card sounded a bit better when I took a quick listen with my full-size Edition 8 headphones, probably more controlled and the big bass sounded more natural with full-size headphones. I think those of you that mostly listen with full-size cans will be very happy with the new amp card, it seems to improve on the standard card (although I wasn't able to compare those side-by-side).
Finally, Fang told me that he doesn't plan to release any more firmware updates for the HM-801. Apparently, the hardware doesn't allow for gapless playback, and the gap between songs is pretty small in his view (it feels like about a second to me). I'm ok with no new firmware, although I would like the ability to delete songs off of the SD card or onboard memory from the player, since adding and deleting songs is a time-consuming process via USB (I have to make notes for myself about which songs I don't like and want to delete later). I suggest being able to delete songs by pressing the top right button twice while a song is playing; this would bring up a prompt asking us if we want to delete the song.
Thank you, Fang, for listening to my feedback and for your hard work producing a wide range of excellent products. Your generosity is also very much appreciated. It was very cool of you to donate a prototype HE-5 to the auction and to help me with my charger problem!