[SAR14]

Using minibox (not gold) here. Still my favourite.

 

[d3885u]

Bumping up the thread...and patiently waiting for new firmware that fix the scroll wheel lags and enhanced the dsd playback performance.

 

[LarsHP]

Fixing the scroll wheel lagging might not be a software issue, but a hardware one I'm afraid ...

 

[lexus91]

Just bought second hand unit from a friend. they sounds amazing. First i listened to the hm901s with minibox gold amp card to dita truth. They sounded too bright. But then i listened to the balance card - dita, they actually sounds really good. so i decided to "raid" my friend's hm901s. 
 
The unit he gave me provided with 3 cards, the balance, minibox, and classic card. the music card will be sent to me later on.
 
with the balance - dita combo it provides me with reference quality sound. neutral - warmish sounds, very good clarity, wide staging, amazing impact and full bodied midrange.
 
but my fave combination with dita is the classic card, since they sounds so dynamic and produces very good musicality. 
 
meanwhile with my TH600 the classic card messes up everything. the balance card has very good low impact and wide staging, but the mid range feels hollow. i feel that TH600 pairs the best with the minibox gold card since the sounds reproduction is full and maintaining all benefits given by the balance card.

 

[donkeanu]

Just bought second hand unit from a friend. they sounds amazing. First i listened to the hm901s with minibox gold amp card to dita truth. They sounded too bright. But then i listened to the balance card - dita, they actually sounds really good. so i decided to "raid" my friend's hm901s. 

The unit he gave me provided with 3 cards, the balance, minibox, and classic card. the music card will be sent to me later on.

with the balance - dita combo it provides me with reference quality sound. neutral - warmish sounds, very good clarity, wide staging, amazing impact and full bodied midrange.

but my fave combination with dita is the classic card, since they sounds so dynamic and produces very good musicality. 

meanwhile with my TH600 the classic card messes up everything. the balance card has very good low impact and wide staging, but the mid range feels hollow. i feel that TH600 pairs the best with the minibox gold card since the sounds reproduction is full and maintaining all benefits given by the balance card.

congrats on your 901s!

 

[punit]

I had an issue in Oct 2015 where my 901s battery died & Hifiman sent me a new one after I shipped the defective battery back to them. Well ..the  battery has died again, have written to Hifiman. Waiting for a response. 

 

[donkeanu]

I had an issue in Oct 2015 where my 901s battery died & Hifiman sent me a new one after I shipped the defective battery back to them. Well ..the  battery has died again, have written to Hifiman. Waiting for a response. :mad:

i had mine since oct2015 too and am still getting at least 8hrs out of it playing mostly 16bit..
by saying 'died', you mean it cant be charged anymore or it drains too fast?

 

[punit]

It does not charge anymore

 

[nakedtoes]

It does not charge anymore

charger spoil I guess

 

[punit]

The player works only when connected to the charger

 

[SAR14]

I had the issue a few times. With no reason. Then it worked again.
Light was green and it has to be red while charging. However charge worked some times even if it was green.
Did they ask for the bill for the battery ? When mine died they did not replace it because I lost it.

 

[unclesam70]

happily coming from a fiio x5 with e12 and paired with k3 / ultrasone pro / fad h viii / shure 535 (in that order probably lol) and thinking to upgrade the dap this time
(one reason for that is the stutter fiio gets with high resolution files, although waiting for a sandisk ultra 80mb/s to fix that - my samsung evo 128g is approx 45 mb/s - read somewhere it would do the trick).
 
My question is whether, running on a tighter badget, I would be just as good or marginally less so, by going for a second hand zx2 for 600euro or pull the trigger on a 2nd hand 901s with minibox for a 1000e...I listen to various types of music from classical, folk, indie and classic rock to black metal...really very puzzled, although I figure, that I would like hifiman better, even without prior experience whatsoever.
 
I like the murky signature of x5 and recently compared it to a sensa clip ('sport' I guess) which knocked me out with its darkish, full signature and sq for a less than 50 euro price and a plastic, picollo size!...

 

[LarsHP]

  happily coming from a fiio x5 with e12 and paired with k3 / ultrasone pro / fad h viii / shure 535 (in that order probably lol) and thinking to upgrade the dap this time
(one reason for that is the stutter fiio gets with high resolution files, although waiting for a sandisk ultra 80mb/s to fix that - my samsung evo 128g is approx 45 mb/s - read somewhere it would do the trick).
 
My question is whether, running on a tighter badget, I would be just as good or marginally less so, by going for a second hand zx2 for 600euro or pull the trigger on a 2nd hand 901s with minibox for a 1000e...I listen to various types of music from classical, folk, indie and classic rock to black metal...really very puzzled, although I figure, that I would like hifiman better, even without prior experience whatsoever.
 
I like the murky signature of x5 and recently compared it to a sensa clip ('sport' I guess) which knocked me out with its darkish, full signature and sq for a less than 50 euro price and a plastic, picollo size!...

Hmmm. If you like a dark sound signature, then the HM-801 would be your best bet within the HiFiMan DAP realm. HM901s is quite neutral, clean and transparent - unless you turn on the Digital Filter in the menu, which rolls off the highs quite a bit. Too much in my opinion.
 
The old HM801 has nice warm mids and moderately rolled off highs. However, it will not read exFAT, only FAT32, which means you are limited to SDHC format and max 32GB per card. It only supports 24-bit files in FLAC in either 44, 48 or 96kHz. In other words not 88kHz, and not higher than 96kHz. Also beware that none of the amp cards has a low output impedance.

 

[Kiats]

To add on to LarsHP's suggestion: have a look at the HM802S which has been released as counterpart to the 901S. It comes with a default amp card which is supposed to be the same amp unit as the 801. You therefore have the benefit of dual wolfson DAC chips with the same sonic signature as the 801 with less limitations on SD card size and type of files you can play. See: https://store.hifiman.com/index.php/hm802s-portable-player.html

 

[unclesam70]

  Hmmm. If you like a dark sound signature, then the HM-801 would be your best bet within the HiFiMan DAP realm. HM901s is quite neutral, clean and transparent - unless you turn on the Digital Filter in the menu, which rolls off the highs quite a bit. Too much in my opinion.
 
The old HM801 has nice warm mids and moderately rolled off highs. However, it will not read exFAT, only FAT32, which means you are limited to SDHC format and max 32GB per card. It only supports 24-bit files in FLAC in either 44, 48 or 96kHz. In other words not 88kHz, and not higher than 96kHz. Also beware that none of the amp cards has a low output impedance.

thanks LarsHP for your input, just about to pull the trigger on a second hand 901 w standard card for a very good price - guess that would be something of both worlds...