I don't know but I can assure you that the DAC portion is on the same level with the Gustard DAC R26. That good it is. Treat the great headphone amplifier as a bonus!!!.
Hifiman Serenade - Himalaya Pro R2R DAC headamp all-in-one
- Thread starter godmax
- Start date
From my experience with HE1000SE, Utopia, ZMF Verite, Meze Elite.....the Seranade seems voiced best with the HE1000SE. It seems it is made best for Hifiman headphones.
I am returning mine. I got too many excuses and nonsense from their customer service about the bluetooth issue. And with other concerns with the noise I heard I will wait for the beta testers to sort it out and maybe try something else for now.
I am returning mine. I got too many excuses and nonsense from their customer service about the bluetooth issue. And with other concerns with the noise I heard I will wait for the beta testers to sort it out and maybe try something else for now.
I read you use Verite on it. I have Serenade and i have to tell you something weird that the unbalance jack and the 4.4mm sound off and not resolving. I only use the XLR which is very good. So i end up buying adaptor from XLR to 4.4mm for my other gear that use 4.4mm cable. My headphone is Verite and i have tried he1kse with it too and it sound amazing too. But honestly ZMF verite was made by ZACH with OTL amplifier so SS amp or Serenade wont be resolving for Verite.
Regarding bluetooth there is 2 version Serenade and Goldenwave serenade(have bluetooth and pricier).
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Actually Hifiman customer service stated that the newer models have dropped the bluetooth feature but that mine had received the older firmware by mistake and needed an update.
As for Verite I actually like best with Woo Audio WA22 fully balanced amplifier. I have also tried ZMF headphones with the newer version LeeLoo amplifier from Headphones .com (Pendant amplifier) with excellent results. I think the Feliks sounds clear but lacks bass thump.
What? Really? I didnt know that maybe i should ask my local dealer. Yes Verite must use OTL(Tube) to sound good. I think Atrium also sound best with tube. Only Caldera can be used with any amp.
Serenade with not hard to drive headphone sound so good it has very big soundstage adding body and warm to music without losing detail. It also sound realistic. IMO it is very resolving.
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Yes I think for the price Serenade is a very good sounding solid state amp. But then when I go back to tubes it does not compare.
I am running Denafrips ARCE into Venus II then fully balanced into Woo Audio WA22 for one system. Another setup is Eversolo WA6 Masters with upgraded linear power supply into Chord Qutest and then into my other single ended tube amplifiers (LeeLoo, Forge, Euforia etc).
Still nothing compares to a good source into a good tube amplifier. No solid state I have ever heard sounds as good. And ZMF sounds excellent on all the tube amps. No problem with 300 ohm.
A good transformer coupled tube amp (with high quality transparent transformers) is much better than OTL in every case I have heard. With OTL you are listening to the sonics of the coupling capacitors and often lacking the current to drive a good bass response.
From Hifiman email.....
"Firstly, we want to thank you for buying Hifiman products and we feel sorry for the confusion caused. For the promotion cable, it will be shipped separately. We will give you an update when the tracking is available. And the latest Serenade comes without bluetooth. There might be something that needs an update. Could you please help take a photo of the screen showing the bluetooth input?"
I have been notified by local dealer that now hifiman goldenwave serenade is only available in china. Bluetooth license issue.
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Thanks for the info.
Mine is Goldenwave Serenade in service because of product deffect . Lucky they still want to replace mine. Anyway i find out something weird with this device again. If you connect to PC or your Streamer via USB it doesnt sound that good. The best sound i experience is from the Coaxial in. I dont know why. It sound better with more resolution and holographicness to it. I think my Verite sound very good with the Coax in compared to USB. The difference is quite significant i dont know why it is very noticable.
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Assationater
100+ Head-Fier
depends on your source, the cable, coax vs usb etc. Happens.
Alexsan
Head-Fier
After purchasing this device, it was decided to take measurements, since I could not find any measurement results on the Internet.
This is what silence sounds like, according to Hifiman. Extraneous noises are perfectly audible.
This spectrum is perfectly audible. On low-impedance headphones, you can simply hear perfectly with all the nightingale trills.
Frequency response and phase response are simply “standard”
As a result, we get ~96dB dynamic range and ~90dB SINAD (background noise eats 6dB), or 15bit.
We see clicks in the measurements, but we cannot hear them by ear. Also, strong background noise penetrates into the preamplifier and final amplification path, it is visible in the measurements and is clearly audible.
But the most important question is: what, exactly, were they selling us under the guise of the R-2R? In the pictures below you can see the typical result of the Asahi Kasei Sharp Roll-off filter - the characteristic “ding” of delta-sigma.
But Hifiman claims that he does not filter the signal after the R-2R decoder, in principle.
Can someone comment on what's going on?
***
added afrer 5 hours:
Headphone amplifier test results.
Actual power before cutoff: 2.15W per channel.
The volume control has an inverse logarithmic curve, that is, up to 12 o'clock the volume increases like an avalanche, and after that it grows linearly.
Class A (pure) can be assumed only up to 11 o'clock in the regulator (input 0 dB), then the amplifier leaves linear mode. Cut-off current ~ 250mA
But the linear mode goes away much earlier. I'm guessing 20-30mA
This implies a fact: the amplifier is not designed for a low-impedance load (that is, most planar headphones).
The growth of odd harmonics greatly outpaces the increase in volume after 12 hours of the control position (0dB input)
Harmonics are not distributed evenly. There is a significant increase at high frequencies.
At gain levels close to maximum, with an impedance of 32 Ohms, the dynamic range is reduced to 70 dB. With an impedance of 16 Ohms everything is even worse.
In general, the sound of the amplifier is pleasant, but I believe that for this money it should not only be pleasant, but also provide a full dynamic range over the entire power range and not produce extraneous noise and interference to the headphones.
***
added after 24 hours
Final measurements Hifiman serenada:
Balanced output 32 (7.65 Ohm)
19.65 maximum (55V)
10.18 (247mA)
8.29 (1.89x 33.5 Ohm) 2.05 W
Balanced output 16 (7.77Ohm)
6.2 (252mA)
4.24 (1.96x 16.78 Ohm) 1.071 W
Output impedance
7.7Ohm
Single 32 (4.12Ohm)
9.43 maximum (27V)
7.78 (206mA)
6.93 (0.85x 33.5 Ohm) 1.43 W
Single 16 (4.23Ohm)
5.12 (243mA)
4.09 (1.03x 16.78 Ohm) 0.996 W
Output impedance
4.19Ohm
This is what silence sounds like, according to Hifiman. Extraneous noises are perfectly audible.
This spectrum is perfectly audible. On low-impedance headphones, you can simply hear perfectly with all the nightingale trills.
Frequency response and phase response are simply “standard”
As a result, we get ~96dB dynamic range and ~90dB SINAD (background noise eats 6dB), or 15bit.
We see clicks in the measurements, but we cannot hear them by ear. Also, strong background noise penetrates into the preamplifier and final amplification path, it is visible in the measurements and is clearly audible.
But the most important question is: what, exactly, were they selling us under the guise of the R-2R? In the pictures below you can see the typical result of the Asahi Kasei Sharp Roll-off filter - the characteristic “ding” of delta-sigma.
But Hifiman claims that he does not filter the signal after the R-2R decoder, in principle.
Can someone comment on what's going on?
***
added afrer 5 hours:
Headphone amplifier test results.
Actual power before cutoff: 2.15W per channel.
The volume control has an inverse logarithmic curve, that is, up to 12 o'clock the volume increases like an avalanche, and after that it grows linearly.
Class A (pure) can be assumed only up to 11 o'clock in the regulator (input 0 dB), then the amplifier leaves linear mode. Cut-off current ~ 250mA
But the linear mode goes away much earlier. I'm guessing 20-30mA
This implies a fact: the amplifier is not designed for a low-impedance load (that is, most planar headphones).
The growth of odd harmonics greatly outpaces the increase in volume after 12 hours of the control position (0dB input)
Harmonics are not distributed evenly. There is a significant increase at high frequencies.
At gain levels close to maximum, with an impedance of 32 Ohms, the dynamic range is reduced to 70 dB. With an impedance of 16 Ohms everything is even worse.
In general, the sound of the amplifier is pleasant, but I believe that for this money it should not only be pleasant, but also provide a full dynamic range over the entire power range and not produce extraneous noise and interference to the headphones.
***
added after 24 hours
Final measurements Hifiman serenada:
Balanced output 32 (7.65 Ohm)
19.65 maximum (55V)
10.18 (247mA)
8.29 (1.89x 33.5 Ohm) 2.05 W
Balanced output 16 (7.77Ohm)
6.2 (252mA)
4.24 (1.96x 16.78 Ohm) 1.071 W
Output impedance
7.7Ohm
Single 32 (4.12Ohm)
9.43 maximum (27V)
7.78 (206mA)
6.93 (0.85x 33.5 Ohm) 1.43 W
Single 16 (4.23Ohm)
5.12 (243mA)
4.09 (1.03x 16.78 Ohm) 0.996 W
Output impedance
4.19Ohm
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Anouk
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Jul 8, 2008
- Posts
- 2,494
- Likes
- 42
Hello everyone,
This would be my first device that has streaming capabilities. I have owned dacamps in the past but you would just plug them in straight with usb.
You can use this with a lan cable from your router, right? But can you then stream from tidal or apple music or just from specialty players like roon?
one more question: can you connect the iphone 15 to this as source device with an usb cable?
Thanks in advance for any info
Greetings, Anouk,
This would be my first device that has streaming capabilities. I have owned dacamps in the past but you would just plug them in straight with usb.
You can use this with a lan cable from your router, right? But can you then stream from tidal or apple music or just from specialty players like roon?
one more question: can you connect the iphone 15 to this as source device with an usb cable?
Thanks in advance for any info
Greetings, Anouk,
Does this device have channel balance setting? Thx.
Does anyone experience chanel imbalance with serenade ? I find out that my Serenade had potentiometer issue i was notified by the technician who checked mine. What i find is that if you rotate the volume until 12 o clock there is no imbalance. The problem is who listen to such loudness? Most people use their headphone maybe around 8-10 am of the volume knob.
Charles C
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Oct 3, 2009
- Posts
- 40
- Likes
- 29
still no feedback if Serenade is now TIdal Connect Certified.
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