**Hifiman HE-400 Impressions and Discussion Thread**
Jan 21, 2013 at 3:07 PM Post #5,806 of 22,116
If you're running out of a laptop, I'd say the E17, simply because you can take it anywhere, and not need to carry any power adapters, extra amp, etc. The bass/treble control is incredibly convenient.
 
Jan 21, 2013 at 3:12 PM Post #5,808 of 22,116
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I just double checked and there's no dent... But just in case...


 
This is awesome, I need to make myself one.
 
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I just moved 10,000 songs to a playlist and removed a few to make sure you could do it, maybe it took closer to 5 seconds, sorry. If it takes you a long time you simply have your music poorly organized.

Alas this is off track though, so back to the he-400.

*facepalm*
 
The fact that my music folder has to be organized in a specific way is exactly the reason why foobar's library management is bad. It's missing a feature that basically every other media player has, and I happen to like that feature. I don't know why you're having so much trouble comprehending this.
 
Jan 21, 2013 at 3:19 PM Post #5,809 of 22,116
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So I'm reading this thread and a couple of budget options (I can't drop more than 200 and ideally not more than 150) for an AMP/DAC:
 
Fiio E07K at roughly 90
Fiio E17 at roughly 120
Fiio E07K + Fiio E09K for 200
SchiIt Magni for 100
Schiit Magni + Modi for 200
Schiit Magni + Cheap $50? DAC
 
What's the best value option here? 
 
[running the HE-400 exclusively from a laptop with USB-out for a DAC, no other connections (i.e. spdif) needed]
 
[stationary laptop, no need for portability]

Goes well together :)
 
Jan 21, 2013 at 3:32 PM Post #5,810 of 22,116
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This is awesome, I need to make myself one.
 
*facepalm*
 
The fact that my music folder has to be organized in a specific way is exactly the reason why foobar's library management is bad. It's missing a feature that basically every other media player has, and I happen to like that feature. I don't know why you're having so much trouble comprehending this.


I have no problem comprehending that your lazy, I got that like 5 posts ago. But like I said, were off topic so back to the he-400 
biggrin.gif

 
Jan 21, 2013 at 3:47 PM Post #5,811 of 22,116
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So I'm reading this thread and a couple of budget options (I can't drop more than 200 and ideally not more than 150) for an AMP/DAC:
 
Fiio E07K at roughly 90
Fiio E17 at roughly 120
Fiio E07K + Fiio E09K for 200
SchiIt Magni for 100
Schiit Magni + Modi for 200
Schiit Magni + Cheap $50? DAC
 
What's the best value option here? 
 
[running the HE-400 exclusively from a laptop with USB-out for a DAC, no other connections (i.e. spdif) needed]
 
[stationary laptop, no need for portability]

 
ODAC sounds perfect for you.
 
Jan 21, 2013 at 3:52 PM Post #5,812 of 22,116
Ok, so someone up there diss'd iTunes, which I use quite happily. We all have different preferences for interface design, library organization, etc—often, it's mostly about what you're used to. Is there something technically deficient about iTunes in terms of how it reproduces music? My impression is that its limitations in terms of sample rate and bit depth match those of Apple's audio hardware. Am I wrong about that? Is there something else wrong with it? Again, I'm asking about its ability to play music, not the color of the widget in the lower-left corner of the third window from the top.
 
Jan 21, 2013 at 3:57 PM Post #5,813 of 22,116
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Ok, so someone up there diss'd iTunes, which I use quite happily. We all have different preferences for interface design, library organization, etc—often, it's mostly about what you're used to. Is there something technically deficient about iTunes in terms of how it reproduces music? My impression is that its limitations in terms of sample rate and bit depth match those of Apple's audio hardware. Am I wrong about that? Is there something else wrong with it? Again, I'm asking about its ability to play music, not the color of the widget in the lower-left corner of the third window from the top.

I don't know about its compatibility with higher sample rates and bit depth, but for regular 16/44.1 playback it's just fine. People have this impression that different media players somehow forget obscure details and whatnot, but that's false. If a media player sucks at playback it's going to be noticable, dropouts and the like. Resampling can be an issue too as it can cause aliasing and such(you'll notice this on the really low and really high frequencies), but this is irrelevant if your Window's settings are at 44.1 as well as your music.
 
This is assuming volume is at 100% though. I think some media players might reduce bit-depth when you lower the volume. But not a lot of bit-depth is needed or even desirable at lower volumes.
 
Jan 21, 2013 at 4:00 PM Post #5,814 of 22,116
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If you're running out of a laptop, I'd say the E17, simply because you can take it anywhere, and not need to carry any power adapters, extra amp, etc. The bass/treble control is incredibly convenient.

I think I lost everyone on the second part of my post from the 'crap between the ears' hp stand... but I was wondering what you guys use for settings on the e17?  I'm using win7-64 and it shows the spdif interface automatically when the e17 is plugged in, and I max that out (it's a digital output so max level should not cause any distortion... AFAIK.  I have gain on the 17 at 6db and it seems to get plenty loud enough - but thought middle of the road would be good vs low gain - high amplification, high gain - low amplification.
 
I'm trying out the spotify premium (free 2 days or 30 days, I can't figure it out..) and trying to find the best way to get android -> e17, in case anyone here is doing the same.
 
Jan 21, 2013 at 4:27 PM Post #5,819 of 22,116
I'll throw my Foobar setup out there also.  These are my two views I use in Foobar.  The first is all out full screen, the second is my minimal view.  I really like the waveform seekbar I can see how bad songs are brickwalled when I play them.
 
 

 

 
Jan 21, 2013 at 4:29 PM Post #5,820 of 22,116
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iTunes does support 24 bit.  Supporting flac is no big deal, just convert into wav or other lossless formats.

Sure but why not just use a more convenient player? Many support FLAC natively or via extensions that are easy to download. Apple forces you to either convert to WAV or use their ALAC...
 

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