[darmok]

Can anyone who has demoed both the EF499 and EF500 comment on whether the gain settings are the same on both? I have an EF499 now and the low gain mode is too much for anything short of my HE6se V2 when listening to low dynamic range music like EDM. I have an IEmatch 4.4 but I'd prefer not to have to use that if possible.

Alternatively, I've noticed that the EF499 does expose a USB volume control but I'm assuming that's implemented digitally, and the Philips DACs in the EF499 don't have a low enough noise floor to make that viable. Does the EF500 behave better with the digital volume control?

If @TeamHiFiMAN is taking suggestions for future amps, a negative gain mode would be appreciated. My Edition XS and my ears will thank you.

 

[grailnewt]

The gain is the same on both yes the ef500 is actually louder than the 499 in most cases and not nearly as good in sq in my opinion.
Both amps I'm pretty sure were designed to drive harder to drive planars...

 

[Erick Muller]

Can anyone who has demoed both the EF499 and EF500 comment on whether the gain settings are the same on both? I have an EF499 now and the low gain mode is too much for anything short of my HE6se V2 when listening to low dynamic range music like EDM. I have an IEmatch 4.4 but I'd prefer not to have to use that if possible.

Alternatively, I've noticed that the EF499 does expose a USB volume control but I'm assuming that's implemented digitally, and the Philips DACs in the EF499 don't have a low enough noise floor to make that viable. Does the EF500 behave better with the digital volume control?

If @TeamHiFiMAN is taking suggestions for future amps, a negative gain mode would be appreciated. My Edition XS and my ears will thank you.

Yep, the noise floor in the EF499 is kind of high and I think this makes it not viable for IEMs.

When it comes to power and volume, the amp can get loud enough, but because I'm doing some pretty intensive EQ on my cans, on low gain I can get pretty high on the volume pot, and I'm talking about cans like the LCD-X 2021, Arya Organic, HEKse and Focal Clear, so nothing that's really hard to drive. I think it's powerful enough to drive almost anything, but once you start doing stuff like EQ, depending how hard to drive it's your can, you might run out of headroom with this amp and of course how loud do you listen to music, so this is going to vary by user and their specific use case and necessities.

I think that the difference between low and high gain is not that much, I'm suspecting that with the EF499 there's a similar issue to my S17, that the gain difference between both low and high is not that much and when I looked the specs for the S17, I saw that the low gain for the S17 was already at a somewhat elevated gain level, so there might be some merit to what you're reporting.

 

[Lohb]

Anyone moved on up from HiFiman EF500 to Serenade ? Worth the jump to the latest one from HFM ?
I also see a Serenade Jr. has been released, but unsure on the difference....as its cheaper so some downgrade inside on materials.

Edit : OK, I just picked up on comparisons a few pages back...cool !

 

[Lohb]

Great comparisons...I was going in direction of serenade, but thinking to go for EF-500 now... Thanks (x5)

 

[Lohb]

Am thinking to go for EF499 and Schitt Midgard vs the all-in-1 EF500 now...to bring that more euphonic TDA1543 source..that, combined with the spaciousness of the Midgard Holo tech without having OTT drive and channel imbalance on cans at lower volume.

 

[fabri956]

Hi everyone. This is my first post
Does someone know if the max power spec on the ef499 is peak-to-peak or RMS? I was wondering because it has a very good price for what it offers

 

[grailnewt]

Hi everyone. This is my first post
Does someone know if the max power spec on the ef499 is peak-to-peak or RMS? I was wondering because it has a very good price for what it offers

I believe according to the specifications it's rms.
It's listed as 4.35w per channel so ?? Not sure what else you need to know.

 

[Viper Necklampy]

I received EF500 today after a lot of time to it being back in stock.. Sound very good, even much better than my SMSL M500 dac and THX AAA 789 amp, wider stage, organic sound, mellowy bass...

But, sound was going off for about 1 second sometimes, defenately boring

So, i dediced to see the Voltage and it was pointed on 115V even tho it is written in white 230V, i switched, of course i didn't read any as it wasn't any very visible sign of red warning or red signal of caution.. i was just bored of the sound going off randomly.

No manual inside the box, no nothing, I switched the Voltage and it goes... Off, i couldn't more make it on..

Very sadly, after a long wait.. i'm asking Hifiman if that's the cause and anyway, wasn't working properly at start with intermittent sound going off and then on for a second when somethings playing..

I don't know if is back in stock and they could send one again, i'm not that happy with my current setup, or a refund, because that should be written in a manual, but there's any in the box! And the warning in white...

Even when opening the box, there is a red label written to choose the right current, but no clear instructions, and mostly, no red triangle of danger above, and one even tho, focuses on the cable box not on that, like me or someones who have pressure to try it! The result?

I'm pissed off because it's broken, instructions weren't clear and i didn't study that. Now of course i'd like sent another working unit or a refund.

Edit: Changed the fuse with 250V 1A for the 220V version and now it's working. Still, my EF500 is defected. (Not defected, is just my tv have audio dropoff with certains dacs i think. Limited bandwidth.)

 

[Hyde00]

So, i dediced to see the Voltage and it was pointed on 115V even tho it is written in white 230V, i switched, of course i didn't read any as it wasn't any very visible sign of red warning or red signal of caution..

I too find those 115v/230v confusing, it's like is up actually 115v or is it down? Then the label kind of have it in opposite of what you'd expect.

 

[llysender]

QR Code for manual on the box and can be looked up online and it states that the number viable is the current voltage.

 

[Taposo]

The units volume knob is analog or digital ?

 

[grailnewt]

The units volume knob is analog or digital ?

Analog

 

[TeamHiFiMAN]

Sharing an informative review from Headfonia!
https://www.headfonia.com/hifiman-ef499-review/

 

[Viper Necklampy]

Does Hifiman R2r dac/amps works with your tv flawlessy? My EF500 with High-end 2022 tv QN95B have the problem that sometimes randomly it shut offs the sound for less than one second..