HiFiMAN HM-901 visit pg 18. IMGS pg 19. NEW beta FW 1st page. . to the 901s. .new 901s FW .
Nov 9, 2014 at 11:24 AM Post #3,091 of 3,445
In one of the reviews I read that balance amplifier card is just double IEM card.
Does anyone have any information about it?

I mean that makes IEM amp equal to Balance card, but having less power.
* putting aside the balance aspect which I do not need.

My point here is if I do not need much volume, power, not wanting to listen too loudly can I use my IEM card for "big" home headphones without losing quality of sound?
 
Nov 9, 2014 at 12:12 PM Post #3,092 of 3,445
  Watch this youtube video from 3:50 min. 
 
The guy removes the amplifier card and then gets it back.
I did the same way. It is very easy, no risk involved. 
Even an eight old little girl could do it. 
 
And afterwards, please, tell me how HiFiMan-901 sounds without the onboard amp with your Porthaphile only. 
Thank you
 
 

It's not hard to do but dang it you really need to have finger nails, I tried getting out the BATTERY and I couldn't push that tab as I have no nails :/ the meat part of my finger wasn't able to squueze into that tiny little opening. The Amp card was just as bad to get out <.<
 
so it's not at ALL hard [if you have tiny little fingers n nails] 
 
Nov 9, 2014 at 12:58 PM Post #3,093 of 3,445
You sure he is busy? I thought he is at home most of the time even when working
tongue.gif

He has fans to entertain. Haha. 
 
Nov 9, 2014 at 5:08 PM Post #3,094 of 3,445
In one of the reviews I read that balance amplifier card is just double IEM card.
Does anyone have any information about it?

I mean that makes IEM amp equal to Balance card, but having less power.
* putting aside the balance aspect which I do not need.

My point here is if I do not need much volume, power, not wanting to listen too loudly can I use my IEM card for "big" home headphones without losing quality of sound?
The Balanced Card it's not like the double of the IEM card. The main thing it's that "balanced" it's a different configuration, with advantages and disadvantages, made some research about it but for using the Balanced Card in balanced mode you need Headphones with a special configuration of their cables. All the HiFiMan's cards run in Single Ended mode and only the Balanced Card can run in both, Balanced mode and Single Ended. Also every card has different circuit design, not only different level of gain. In the other hand, the IEM card it's very weak for use with big headphones, the sound will be like hollow, and the louder you'll set the volume it will be worst. Likely you'll be fine with the stock card cos has a better balance between hi and low gain (the low gain it's low enough for iems and the hi gain for full size headphones) unless you have high impedance headphones than needs even more power.
 
Nov 13, 2014 at 2:53 PM Post #3,101 of 3,445
The Balanced Card it's not like the double of the IEM card. The main thing it's that "balanced" it's a different configuration, with advantages and disadvantages, made some research about it but for using the Balanced Card in balanced mode you need Headphones with a special configuration of their cables. All the HiFiMan's cards run in Single Ended mode and only the Balanced Card can run in both, Balanced mode and Single Ended. Also every card has different circuit design, not only different level of gain. In the other hand, the IEM card it's very weak for use with big headphones, the sound will be like hollow, and the louder you'll set the volume it will be worst. Likely you'll be fine with the stock card cos has a better balance between hi and low gain (the low gain it's low enough for iems and the hi gain for full size headphones) unless you have high impedance headphones than needs even more power.

I know, I know, I read everything on hifiman.com about Balanced Card. But those who have both Balanced card and IEM card say that these two cards sound exactly the same, with the only difference that Balanced Card is two times as loud as IEM card. And one of those who tested IEM card wrote in his review that IEM card is powerfull enough for big home headphones which surprised me. 
I already bought headphones Hifiman HE-560 and I must tell you that they sound excellent with my IEM card. Yes they are not too loud but the thing is that I am kind of a guy who doesn't like loud music in his headphones. Even with my IEM card I use 70-80% of the volume which is quite enough for me. 
 
My problem is that maybe, just maybe, IEM card is not supposed to be used with big home headphones like my Hifiman HE-560. And maybe(!) if I bought a Minibox Card my headphones HE-560 would sound even better. 
Though I am totally satisfied with my IEM card for HE-560 (they sound amazingly good) buying Minibox card is a strong temptation.
 
What would you recommend me? 
 
You see, I feel like I will be greatly disappointed after buying Minibox card.
My opinion is that the IEM card was designed by HiFiMan just to be less powerfull than the other cards which makes it better suited to tune volume in weak in ear phones which are too sensitive for other cards. 
But if I do not like my music loud this IEM card is perfect for me and for my HE-560 :)
 
Nov 13, 2014 at 3:32 PM Post #3,102 of 3,445
I would trust my ears if I was in your situation, Russian1, especially since you say that it sounds great and that you are not a loud player/listener. HE-560 has a fairly good sensitivity (90dB @ 1mW), and this means that you should be able to get very good sound with the IEM card.
 
If you feel that you want to squeeze the last bit of sound quality out of your HM-901 and HE-560, I would rather recommend getting a high end desktop amp (for home use).
 
Nov 13, 2014 at 3:51 PM Post #3,103 of 3,445
I would trust my ears if I was in your situation, Russian1, especially since you say that it sounds great and that you are not a loud player/listener. HE-560 has a fairly good sensitivity (90dB @ 1mW), and this means that you should be able to get very good sound with the IEM card.


 


If you feel that you want to squeeze the last bit of sound quality out of your HM-901 and HE-560, I would rather recommend getting a high end desktop amp (for home use).

 


Yes, I am seriously considering getting desktop amp for home use.
But I've never had any.

Will a good amp really improve sound quality of my HM-901 and HE-560?

I am thinking of Hifiman EF-5 or EF-6...
 
Nov 13, 2014 at 3:57 PM Post #3,104 of 3,445
I know, I know, I read everything on hifiman.com about Balanced Card. But those who have both Balanced card and IEM card say that these two cards sound exactly the same, with the only difference that Balanced Card is two times as loud as IEM card. And one of those who tested IEM card wrote in his review that IEM card is powerfull enough for big home headphones which surprised me. 
I already bought headphones Hifiman HE-560 and I must tell you that they sound excellent with my IEM card. Yes they are not too loud but the thing is that I am kind of a guy who doesn't like loud music in his headphones. Even with my IEM card I use 70-80% of the volume which is quite enough for me. 

My problem is that maybe, just maybe, IEM card is not supposed to be used with big home headphones like my Hifiman HE-560. And maybe(!) if I bought a Minibox Card my headphones HE-560 would sound even better. 
Though I am totally satisfied with my IEM card for HE-560 (they sound amazingly good) buying Minibox card is a strong temptation.

What would you recommend me? 

You see, I feel like I will be greatly disappointed after buying Minibox card.
My opinion is that the IEM card was designed by HiFiMan just to be less powerfull than the other cards which makes it better suited to tune volume in weak in ear phones which are too sensitive for other cards. 
But if I do not like my music loud this IEM card is perfect for me and for my HE-560 :)
I agree with LarsHP. The HE-560 has high sensitivity and very low impedance (8 ohms) so technically should be driven well by the IEM card. There's no need of a more powerful card.
 

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