Heathb
New Head-Fier
I have had the Deva for about a week and want to point out a couple of things nobody has mentioned to this point. These are neither negative or positive as the sound is fantastic and I will also comment on this also below.
1.) The ear ups themselves are huge. I am assuming this is due to the driver being used. I have a pair of HE400i and the difference is very apparent. The Deva will sit lower than most headphones. It almost comes in contact with your neck.
2.) The headband is very think but not very wide compared to most headphones. This can make finding the sweet spot on your head difficult depending on how your head is contoured. This can make the Deva’s feel a little unstable. Initially.
I also feel like a better understanding of the three ways the Deva’s can be hooked up need clarification.
1.) Using the blue mini will be a Bluetooth connection. I will say this upfront. The sound the blue mini provides is outstanding. 80% output is way loud enough and the Deva’s holds all its compsure. 60% is the perfect.
2.) Using wired USB connection utilized the blue mini’s DAC/AMP. The Deva’s can be hooked up directly out of your computers USB port into the Blue Mini. This cord is included and probably 6ft in length. In theory this should provide the best possible sound of all the connection. I preferred the Bluetooth connection. This connection seemed to take away some of the dynamics that come through Bluetooth. I know this should not be the case but there is some magic happening through the Bluetooth connection.
3. Wired 3.5 connection. You can remove the blue mini which exposes a 3.5mm balanced connection which accepts the included 6ft 3.5mm cored. Take note when using this connection one end of the 3.5mm is balanced and on is not. You must connect the balanced end into the Deva’s and the other end into your single ended source. The connection has the most opportunity. The sound through this connection was as good as Bluetooth. I do not have a lot of DAC’s/AMP but I used it with the following:
Ear Studio ES100- Good match for sound quality but didn’t have enough power.
Fiio Q1 Mark 2: Didn’t sound as good as Ear Studio but provided better power.
I then used the Ear Studio and FIio as DAC’s through my Nobsound Tube amp and this was pretty good. Had the power and sound quality.
My plan is to get a Schiit Modi 3+/Hersey and I think this think will come alive through a wired connections.
Overall, the sound quality can be summed up with these two words: Resolution and Detail
These have unbelievable resolution and detail to levels I have not heard. Along with my 400i’s my other headphone reference points are the Meze 99 Classics and a set of Blon 03 IEMS. By the way if anyone has not heard the BLON’s i urged you to spend the $35 and buy em. They will not disappoint. They are in a class all their own. Imaging on the Deva is decent but not the best. I guess something has to be sacrificed to get this level of detail. It goes without saying the these headphones are going to play what you give them and play them exactly how it was recorded. These leads to some songs just killing it through the Deva’s and other just sound really good. The Deva’s are not a flat or boring headphone. They cover the frequency range extremely well especially in the bass and mid area. The bass is fantastic and true planar. The bass does not hit extremely hard its just all there. Drums are Amazing. Vocals are very good and well positioned. Treble is butter smooth with no fatigue for my ears.
Hifiman has created something very unique that seems to check all the boxes.
1.) The ear ups themselves are huge. I am assuming this is due to the driver being used. I have a pair of HE400i and the difference is very apparent. The Deva will sit lower than most headphones. It almost comes in contact with your neck.
2.) The headband is very think but not very wide compared to most headphones. This can make finding the sweet spot on your head difficult depending on how your head is contoured. This can make the Deva’s feel a little unstable. Initially.
I also feel like a better understanding of the three ways the Deva’s can be hooked up need clarification.
1.) Using the blue mini will be a Bluetooth connection. I will say this upfront. The sound the blue mini provides is outstanding. 80% output is way loud enough and the Deva’s holds all its compsure. 60% is the perfect.
2.) Using wired USB connection utilized the blue mini’s DAC/AMP. The Deva’s can be hooked up directly out of your computers USB port into the Blue Mini. This cord is included and probably 6ft in length. In theory this should provide the best possible sound of all the connection. I preferred the Bluetooth connection. This connection seemed to take away some of the dynamics that come through Bluetooth. I know this should not be the case but there is some magic happening through the Bluetooth connection.
3. Wired 3.5 connection. You can remove the blue mini which exposes a 3.5mm balanced connection which accepts the included 6ft 3.5mm cored. Take note when using this connection one end of the 3.5mm is balanced and on is not. You must connect the balanced end into the Deva’s and the other end into your single ended source. The connection has the most opportunity. The sound through this connection was as good as Bluetooth. I do not have a lot of DAC’s/AMP but I used it with the following:
Ear Studio ES100- Good match for sound quality but didn’t have enough power.
Fiio Q1 Mark 2: Didn’t sound as good as Ear Studio but provided better power.
I then used the Ear Studio and FIio as DAC’s through my Nobsound Tube amp and this was pretty good. Had the power and sound quality.
My plan is to get a Schiit Modi 3+/Hersey and I think this think will come alive through a wired connections.
Overall, the sound quality can be summed up with these two words: Resolution and Detail
These have unbelievable resolution and detail to levels I have not heard. Along with my 400i’s my other headphone reference points are the Meze 99 Classics and a set of Blon 03 IEMS. By the way if anyone has not heard the BLON’s i urged you to spend the $35 and buy em. They will not disappoint. They are in a class all their own. Imaging on the Deva is decent but not the best. I guess something has to be sacrificed to get this level of detail. It goes without saying the these headphones are going to play what you give them and play them exactly how it was recorded. These leads to some songs just killing it through the Deva’s and other just sound really good. The Deva’s are not a flat or boring headphone. They cover the frequency range extremely well especially in the bass and mid area. The bass is fantastic and true planar. The bass does not hit extremely hard its just all there. Drums are Amazing. Vocals are very good and well positioned. Treble is butter smooth with no fatigue for my ears.
Hifiman has created something very unique that seems to check all the boxes.
