[Retrias]

how much did you buy it for ? and where can I find it in singapore?

 

[pekingduck]

Bought one a week ago, finally got it two days ago. So far so good..

 
Great! Any impressions?

 

[fengwei007]

  how much did you buy it for ? and where can I find it in singapore?

 
Sorry I missed this thread some how.. 
 
Anyway, I bought from China directly, price is 2499RMB, so it's slightly over $500SGD. 

 

[fengwei007]

   
Great! Any impressions?

 
Again, sorry for missed this thread ... 
 
I've had it for about abeen listening to it for nearly a week now, had plenty of A/Bs with the HM901 and AK120, I'd say its sound quality is somewhere between the other two, slightly better than the AK120 but not as good as the HM901.
 
The HM650 has pretty much the same (or similar) chips and design as the HM802, but I think its sound is overall a little bit more balanced than the HM802 which is a bit on the warm side. Compared with HM901, the HM650 is still a bit mid centric, probably has a bit less dynamic range, but overall the headphone output is very close to the HM901. I have yet tried its LO from the dock, but from some reviews in China, it seems that HM650's LO isn't as good as the HM901's which is known to have fantastic LO quality. 
 
I only have two amp cards: a discrete card and the stock classic-II card came w/ the HM650). When I put the discrete card in HM650 while the classic-II card in HM901, I can see that the HM650 catches up very nicely in sound quality. Hard to say which one is better when plugged in full sized headphones (GS1000i and T5p). 
 
Compared to the AK120, HM650 sound better to my ears, even with IEMs like JH16 Freqphase (which I just got a couple of weeks ago, and love it). When pluged in full sized headphones (I've tried GS1000i, T5p and HE500 so far), the AK120 just can't compare w/ HM650's much more powerful amp. BTW, I'm using the stock classic-II amp card in the HM650 when I did the comparison. The sound from HM650 is just fuller and more dynamic, vocals or instrument. 
 
With the stock classic-II card, HM650 can last about 9-10 hours between charges, which is much longer than the HM901 w/ discrete card (about 4-5 hours max). It powers up slightly faster than the HM901 too, both on Taiji 2 firmware. It never locked up or died on me yet, very stable so far.
 
For its asking price, I'd say the HM650 is really worth it. 

 

[Retrias]

so its around 4xx usd , this is with the standard amp card right ?

 

[Sound Eq]

so is this much better than dx90 or fiio x5

 

[Retrias]

if its better than the 120 and sits somewhere between that the hm901 , I guess its better than the the DX90. I always thought the dx90 is worse than the ak120. I guess its pretty different compared to the X5, but reading fengweis impressions , I think it won out overall

 

[fengwei007]

so its around 4xx usd , this is with the standard amp card right ?

Yes, I bought the HM650 w stock (classic -II) card. The 2nd generation classic card is much improved over the 1st gen.

 

[fengwei007]

so is this much better than dx90 or fiio x5

Sorry I don't have DX90 nor X5. But I did try both together before, I preferred the DX90 while I was trying both. But I think I like the AK120 better sound wise.

 

[fengwei007]

if its better than the 120 and sits somewhere between that the hm901 , I guess its better than the the DX90. I always thought the dx90 is worse than the ak120. I guess its pretty different compared to the X5, but reading fengweis impressions , I think it won out overall

If you can get used to the hifiman UI ((which is pretty nice imo) and don't mind the size of HM650 (especially compared with dx90), I'd say to go with HM650 is no brainer among these three: DX90, X5 and HM650.

HM650 VS AK120, it's pretty hard call. Sound wise I slightly prefer the HM650, that's paired with IEMs. I feel the HM650 sound is quite a bit better when paired with full sized headphones: GS1000i, RS1i, T5p and even the XS. But if using them only for on the go, the AK120 definitely has its advantage in size/weight and easy volume adjustment. UI wise i think I slightly prefer Hifiman's physical buttons over the tiny touch screen on AK120, but the AK120 has better and finer volume adjustment. Sometimes with certain music, it's hard to get a proper volume on the HM650 due to its volume dial, either too loud or too low. If you use an iPhone for music, you'd know what I mean. Haven't decided which one to keep (to company the HM901 which I only use together with full sized cans at home), so I'm keeping both for now.

 

[Retrias]

Fengwei does it have tag browsing ? As long as it have that working correctly I am okay with it

 

[fengwei007]

Fengwei does it have tag browsing ? As long as it have that working correctly I am okay with it

If you mean browsing by artists/albums/genre, then yes, HM650 supports browsing by those, and works pretty well.

 

[Retrias]

If you mean browsing by artists/albums/genre, then yes, HM650 supports browsing by those, and works pretty well.

thanks for the straight answer, I have been asking about this alot of times for some daps and the answer I most often got is
 
"You only need browser by folder"

 

[fengwei007]

thanks for the straight answer, I have been asking about this alot of times for some daps and the answer I most often got is

"You only need browser by folder"

Really? That's strange. I thought HM901/802 have been supporting these since beginning ... Anyway, after about one week's play, I think this has to one of the best players for less than 500USD. Plus the option of changing amp card, really worth the money.

 

[Retrias]

I mean at some point I knew they supported it , since I found someone who actually own one , and I seen the hm802 (balanced amp only) on my local store , but whenever I asked someone online , I most often didnt get an actual straight answer
 
But yeah , thanks for the answer I hope the local distro got this , they look nice and it sounds like it would be good as well from their track record