[LevA]

shigzeo,
 
How does the HM601 compare to TTVJ millet portable hybrid hooked up with ipod classic?
I know you reviewed both the hybrid and the slim on your site, and from your descriptions would I be right to say HM601 delivers similar sound SQ? 
I assume you do not have the TTVJ MPH anymore but any comparison you could give would be much appreciated. if you had to choose between ipod+LOD+TTVJ MPH and HM601 which would you give the upper hand based on sound only? 
with the ability of gapless playback+ ~40hrs amp+ large capacity I will give the edge to the Ipod+TTVJ combo so only interested in sound..
thanks!
 
Quote:

 
Now, it isn't the last word on accuracy. I accept that especially as it is a player, like its older siblings, that is built with NOS components and made for a specific sound. Playing around with Teclast, cowon, iPod, etc., you get a different feel in music. There are things to enjoy in every player, but the HM601 (and by extension, the HM602), you can run into a comfortable veil of deep bass and warm, smooth mids. Yes, the top end is rolled off and yes, I am generally against roll off. But, where other players are built from off-the-shelf parts and label themselves 'audiophile' or 'professional', the HM601 is more laid back.
 
For trance and fast techno, I tend to prefer the iPod from HPO or from LO to a good amp. But put on CK10 from audio technica and Dianna Krall or Nick Cave or anything with slower vocals and natural instruments, and HELLO, the HM601 is beautiful. Again, toss accuracy out the window for a moment and enjoy the sound. That is it. 
 
 

 

[shigzeo]

LevA - I am sorry, but the only amps I've reviewed officially to date are: Firestone Fireye I and II, ALO Rx, Graham Slee Voyager, iBasso T3D and T3, and partially the P3+ and a few home amps. I would love to hear the Millet, but I've not heard it. 
 
The HM601 is warm and smooth, but it doesn't sound like a valve amp to me - it's not THAT overall warm. The warmth pervades the mids and the highs, but since the highs are actually digitally curtailed, it's not just that they get some extra distortion (ala valves), they just stay smooth. 
 
I can mention the surprise hit: VentureCraft GoDAP - it isn't quite as smooth in the mids as the HM601, but it is a very close contest and the bass isn't as warm, but it is much smoother than a naked iPod. It costs 200, has included 30-pin, battery pack (for charging) and gets music playback of around 10 hours or can charge your iPod. 
 
Both are great with high-pitched earphones. But, every other amp I've tried (again, never the millet) are quite different. 

 

[LevA]

thanks shigzeo, much appreciated.
for some reason I thought you did review the TTVJ MPH and the TTVJ slim, but I guess it was someone else..
btw just checked venturecraft Godap on your site. certainly very interesting design!

 

[shigzeo]

I am trying to finish up the review this weekend, but I've doubts! . There is only one flaw in its design: there is no OFF switch for the amp section (which draws a lot of power), so in order to charge your iPod/iPhone or sync it, the amp draws power.
 
You can turn the pack off, but then, it is just dead weight.
 
Honestly, it is impressive and if only it had that option, it would get full marks from me. The other thing that would be great (but not necessary) is tradable plates so that you could easily attach iPod's and the iPhone 4. I gaffered up the thing (okay, so it is actually electrician's tape) enough to fit my iPod touch 2G and while it works, it is pretty... ugly.
 
Overall, great idea that sounds great and performs very well, adding a smoother and prettier midsection to the iPod/iPhone. 
 
The HM601 is warmer, but not distractingly so. I'd have a hard time choosing between the two in any case unless it was for very specific genres. One, of course, has an in-built low pass filter (HM601) and the other has the high-pass filter (GoDAP) that isn't roll off as it sustains the same signal whether under load or not. Obviously, both are design decisions, and in this case, I agree that they are good design decisions. Had they been roll off as effected by load, I'd pshaaaaah both as that is a design fault, especially in audiophile players.
 
Both seem to hold signals very well with reasonable moves under load, but nothing like DAP's suffer in general.

 

[xzobinx]

forgive my stupid question because I'm still a noob and I have no exp with any DAP
is it worth to get a HM-601 compare to a clip+
I want to buy a music player for a long time and don't plan to change it each year
and if I buy it and sell the re-zero without using it how much I could get because I hate in-ears and want to get a portable headphone
srr have to spam it again because i need an answer quickly the deadline is coming and I don't know if it is still a good deal any more :-s
 
 

 

[Nod2mybeats]

Sorry to BUMP this, I'm just not sure where else to put the question. I received my 601 today and I LOVE it. But I can't get the tracklisting correct. When I try to select songs by ALBUM the songs still show up in alphabetical order as opposed to by tracklisting. The ID3 tags are correct and they are .FLAC files.I set the Playback order option to "order" but to no avail. Does anyone know how to do it?

 

[tommyjp]

"it's like saying stock apple earbuds and HD650 sound the same because it says so on paper in an FR graph." - kitecki
 
I would speculate that they would look different kitecki.

 

[tommyjp]

"it's like saying stock apple earbuds and HD650 sound the same because it says so on paper in an FR graph." - kitecki
 
I would speculate that they would look different kitecki

 

[waleman]

I just took delivery of my 601, the sound quality is immense. I've been using Clip+, Cowon i9, and for a short while the sflo2..which, apart from SQ, was a complete turd of a player.
Is there no way of getting playlists on Hifiman players? I tried getting an answer from Head Direct but not getting anywhere.
 
What would be a good amp for the 601, I currently have a Fiio E7 and Westone 4's with a Chord ichord 3.5 cable. Any suggestions?
 
Cheers.
 
 

 

[Megalomaniac]

How do I tag my music to correctly show the album? Whenever I go to the album section it just shows artist.
 

 

[kryten123]

Well I've received my 601 and been listening to it on and off for a few days.
So...my initial impressions are that I am NOT blown away. I am not sure what I was expecting but I did think it would sound much more different than my S9.
I am not going to give a full analysis yet, but just share my initial impressions and thoughts.
 
My testing has been through my ACS T1s without an amp, just direct to the HM601. I have also briefly tested a pair of unamped Ultrasone Pro900
Firstly let me clarify a point. The Cowon in comparison to the 601 sounds rubbish without the EQ set up, whereas the 601 doesn't need any EQ turned on.
So I have set the 601 to EQ Off and the Cowon EQ = Rock.
All music were CD FLAC rips.
 
I have listened to a variety of songs and have swapped immediately from one player to the other.
 
My main findings have been that the 601 is much darker than the S9. It is not as analytical sounding as the S9 and the mids ie vocals and guitars...while clear, have a slight veiled, almost muddy sound, which also appear to be slightly recessed in some way.
 
Examples of HM-601 vs S9
 
1) Magenta - Live at The Realworld - "Children of The Sun"
Female vocals - clear but at the trailing edge appears to be veiled - you dont really hear the "T"s in the words
Guitars - clear but not as easy to distinguish each string
 
 
2) Songs: Ohia - The Lioness - "Tigress" (my default track for judging bass as the riff is so deep)
The bass is DEEP!
The ACS T1s really make bass sound good with the S9 but the HM-601 takes it even further down without any distortion - I can almost feel my teeth rattle
Male vocals sound fairly clear but again the trailing edge of voice seems to be ever so slightly blurred whereas the S9 picks up the "Ttt" and "Tss" at the end of words, its much harder to distinguish with the HM-601
Guitar not as easy to pick up individual strings being strummed.
 
 
3) Odin Dragonfly - Odin Dragonfly - "Magpie"
The whole song feels congested and all the voices and instruments are centred when played together. The S9 has much more seperation in the vocals, guitar, piano and flute.
Again vocals are muffled at the trailing edge of words....is that what is known as "rolloff"?
Not a good track for the HM-601
 
 
4)The Steeldrivers - The Steeldrivers - "Blue Side of the Mountain"
On the S9, the Dobro comes through really metallic and its very easy to hear that distinct Dobro sound. The HM-601 is much softer and less obvious its a Dobro
Female vocals - on the S9 you can easily tell that she is set back in the soundstage. On the HM-601 she is almost at the same level as the male vocals.
 
 
If I had come to the HM-601 from another player, I may not have noticed these differences quite as much.
Perhaps the amp is too powerful (even on low gain) for my T1s as I found listening to the HM-601 became fatiguing at anything over a volume of 1.5, in short space of time.
Maybe the problem is combining the HM-601 with my T1s, which are already warm and lush.
 
Doing some brief tests with the Pro900s, I found that the HM-601 sounded a little better, but the Pro900s are very bright anyway (but thats another story).
I will endeavour to do some more testing with the Pro900s and see how they compare.
 
So, overall I have found... that the mids seemed to be veiled, that the Bass is phenomenal and that the High Gain is more than sufficient to drive and improve the sound of my Pro900s and that the S9 is a fantastic player (with the right EQ settings)
 
I'll give the HM-601s some more time with both the T1s and Pro900s and see how I get on...I may even have a pay with the EQ settings....otherwise there maybe a reduced unit on here, some time soon.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

[Anaxilus]

Since you are focusing on the FR against an EQ'd DAP it seems to me the point of the NOS DAC being more analog/musical sounding is lost.  Could be some synergy issues or more burn-in needed or it's just not for you.  I haven't heard the 601 but have the 602.  Darker or warmer sure.  Veiled and muddy, not a chance.

 

[kryten123]

Your points are fair enough. Maybe I've used the wrong terminology to try and describe what I am hearing...that will be down to my newness in this arena.
 
However, what I was trying to describe was that the vocals and guitars although clear, sound darker and less bright. It is as if on the HM-601, the singer is ever so slightly mumbling the trailing edge of the words, whereas on the S9, the words have much clearer pronunciations and are projected more forward....and even though the guitars sound like guitars, the strings dont really ring out and the difference is very noticeable with Dobros.
My guess is that the problem lies with the combination of the T1s and the HM-601 and with those IEMs I just prefer the sound of the S9.
 
I really want to like this player because where it is good, it is really is good ie the Bass is incredible. Also the sound appears "fuller" (correct term?) It's like hearing the difference between low quality mp3s and FLAC, its just a shame that it currently just seems too dark for me.
 
What I really wanted to highlight with my write up is not to expect miracles from it. From reviews I had read, I was expecting something truly epic and I have so far been left somewhat disappointed.

 

[tommyjp]

@krysto. haven't hard 601 yet but am very suspicious of warm sound and roll off. thank for your observations as they do suggest i may be right to worry. I did have a qls qa350 which I bought as upgrade  of the cowon i9 i used to have. this thing sounds in the same vein as the cowon  but so much better. dynamic, vivid, bold,  detailed etc. unfortunately I managed to lose it in the post on the way to a mod2 upgrade which is supposed to sound even better. 

 

[kryten123]

Tommyjp, I've looked at the qls qa350, but it only plays .WAV....and I've only just converted all my CDs to FLAC....not sure i want to do more conversions LOL.
I am going to keep playing with the 601 and investigate the EQ setup.