[fengwei007]

  fengwei:
Maybe becuase I structure Genre/Artist/Album so more directories for it to traverse? I have about 350 directories and 3000 files on a 64Gb.

 
Well, I'm using 256GB card, I also organize my directories like what you did. I ever got more than 11000 files under near 1000 directories, no problem at all. Sometimes I did need to rescan it because of firmware glitch, but as long as I do a reset settings, then rescan, problem solved.
 
Right now I'm using the same card w/ more than 400 folders and near 5000 files, all in WAV. Don't think the sound improved any over FlACs, but I'd just like to give it a try.

 

[system11]

So have any 901 -> 901S owners noticed any real difference in sound quality?  Did they implement vintage mode in software at all (I actually use it a lot)?

 

[KT66]

Unfortunately yes, I heard the 901s with balanced card at London Canjam, I wish I hadn't heard it! Compared with my 901 minibox, it was smoother, with blacker backgrounds.

 

[system11]

Really need to use the same amp on both to rule that out, could have just been the balanced being better than minibox which I think people have been saying for a while.  I'm a fan of the standard classic one myself.

 

[KT66]

Could be or could not be. Source first, the player affects the sound the most. Amplifiers,have a very easy job to do.
I wasn't addicted to buying guitars id get one

 

[b0ssMax]

Why isn't hifiman hm901/s getting much love? I got the 901s recently and i think it competes really well with the 380 in SQ.

 

[KT66]

Did you ever have an 801? Sounds perfect for you, still one of the best things I have ever heard !

 

[LarsHP]

  So have any 901 -> 901S owners noticed any real difference in sound quality?  Did they implement vintage mode in software at all (I actually use it a lot)?

Yes. Search this thread. I posted my impressions and found a real sonic difference (based on memory though). With the HM901 and Balanced amp I felt I wanted to upgrade the amp card. With the HM901s and the exact same amp card that feeling is gone: The bottleneck was not the amp card, but the DAP itself.

 

[system11]

Why isn't hifiman hm901/s getting much love? I got the 901s recently and i think it competes really well with the 380 in SQ.

 
That wouldn't be hard if the 380 sounds anything like the 240 did in sound signature.  I was impressed when testing one but very, very quickly suffered listening fatigue and no amount of messing the with the EQ could fix it.  I can listen to my 901 (when it's working) for hours and hours without suffering that in the slightest.

 

[SAR14]

They are really different.
Body heavy for 901. More speed, air and details for 901S.
S can sound lean at firts when you directly jump from 901, but it is very balanced in fact. Not easy to forget the huge body of 901 with a short listening time. It takes some time to accustom to the S sound but it is a real improvement in many departments.

 

[system11]

They are really different.
Body heavy for 901. More speed, air and details for 901S.
S can sound lean at firts when you directly jump from 901, but it is very balanced in fact. Not easy to forget the huge body of 901 with a short listening time. It takes some time to accustom to the S sound but it is a real improvement in many departments.

 
Thanks, this was very helpful if I understood your description properly.  I think you're calling body the thing I called 'warmth' when I got my 901.  It's one of the reasons I consider it better than the AK models I tested.  When I listen to things people call flat or balanced with a good recording, I find the mid-highs to be too much for me as if it's drilling into my head the same way heavily compressed music does.  I've had tinnitus for many years, I'm not even sure where I got it from - I think back in my late teens where our mission in life was to create vintage hifi stacks so large they could wake the dead.  It was that or the DJing.
 
The current combination of 901 / Classic / Denon AH-D7100 is really quite warm and full of body.  Zero fatigue and really flattering to the kinds of music I mostly listen to now (70s prog, classical, jazz etc).

 

[punit]

    Did they implement vintage mode in software at all (I actually use it a lot)?

Yes they did.

 

[Bengkia369]

I listened to 901s with my Sennheiser IE800 today, find it very very mid centric.
Not the type of sound signature that I like.

 

[LarsHP]

I listened to 901s with my Sennheiser IE800 today, find it very very mid centric.
Not the type of sound signature that I like.

I wonder if you listened with the digital filter on which rolls off the treble quite a bit. I certainly can't relate the faintest to your impression. Either it's the earphone you used it with - or if not - then you must be used to having EQ on the other sources you have used it with.
 
When I compare HM901 / HM901s to my Audio-gd Reference 7.1 DAC, it's in no way mid centric or otherwise lacking in any way: In fact the HM901(s) is extremely impressive.

 

[Bengkia369]

I wonder if you listened with the digital filter on which rolls off the treble quite a bit. I certainly can't relate the faintest to your impression. Either it's the earphone you used it with - or if not - then you must be used to having EQ on the other sources you have used it with.

When I compare HM901 / HM901s to my Audio-gd Reference 7.1 DAC, it's in no way mid centric or otherwise lacking in any way: In fact the HM901(s) is extremely impressive.

Maybe I'm too used to the source I listening to (ak240, Hugo).