HIFIMAN SuperMini Impressions Thread

[Frihed89]

My music files (ALAC, AIFF and Wav, all burned from my Wav CDs) are on Itunes.  How, if at all, can  transfer these files from Itunes to the SuperMini? 

 

[proedros]

  I agree, the price should be half that. No thanks to the boutique pricing put on 'audiophile' equipment (like $999 or $3999 headphones; seems too convenient).
 
But some of the specs given look impressive: 22 hours battery life and 8 op-amps putting out max 4.2V balanced. All in a package smaller than my AK Jr.
 
They claim it sounds almost as good as the HM901 but we'll have to wait for some reviews to find out. I'd definitely get one but not at $400. I have too many daps right now anyway but won't mind getting one if or when the price drops below $200.
 

 
just curious , how much did you pay for AK jr ? 200$ ? 

also , you confuse Hifiman which has good prices in general with other overpriced companies like (you guessed it) AK 

cheers 

 

[gr8soundz]

 
just curious , how much did you pay for AK jr ? 200$ ? 

also , you confuse Hifiman which has good prices in general with other overpriced companies like (you guessed it) AK

 
$280. Got it last year and its currently available for as low as $299. Not sure why you assumed I paid msrp.
 
Also not sure why you think the $3000 HE1K and $1500 HM901S are 'good prices.'
 
The Supermini is clearly an evolution of the HM700 which debuted at $250 (with balanced out and earphones) a couple of years ago. Perhaps you can tell us why the latest version is worth $150 more?
 

 

[mochill]

I want it

 

[BruceBanner]

What attracts me to the mini is it's power to weight ratio. I adore my AP100, but at 156g and 8-10hr battery life it has it's drawbacks. I'm a IEM only kinda guy (well at least on the go), I'd love a 70g machine that can drive my PFE 232's adequately. Definitely keeping my eye on this one...

 

[Saoshyant]

Can anyone compare the background noise to the HM700?

 

[gr8soundz]

I emailed Hifiman and just got this response:
 
"And the earphone with Supermini is not Re600, but it is a balanced earphone."
 

 

[xuan87]

   
$280. Got it last year and its currently available for as low as $299. Not sure why you assumed I paid msrp.
 
Also not sure why you think the $3000 HE1K and $1500 HM901S are 'good prices.'
 
The Supermini is clearly an evolution of the HM700 which debuted at $250 (with balanced out and earphones) a couple of years ago. Perhaps you can tell us why the latest version is worth $150 more?
 

 
I think it's unfair to say that the price is too high, and that it should be halved without listening to it first. Just because it's an evolution of a $250 DAP doesn't mean it should be priced the same. Depending on how it sounds, maybe even $500 is a fair price (to be clear, I also have not listened to it, but I plan to and I'm currently keeping an open mind). 
 
And it's unfair of you to compare the Supermini to the AK Jr because you're comparing street price to msrp in this particular case.
 
I like the Supermini and AK Jr form factor and I initially own an AK Jr before selling it for the DPX1. However, I've faced issue placing the DPX1 in a few of my bottoms, so I'm on the lookout of a smaller DAP. The Shozy Alien is small and sounds great but there are too many limitations with it.

 

[pekingduck]

Tried the Supermini at a local store the other day... Loved the form factor and sound (neutral-ish) but the UI freezed when I tried to go back to the folder view..
 
Sigh.. I'll wait for a more stable firmware before I consider it again..
 
P.S.: There's some slight hiss with my UERM (when no music's playing) but it's not offensive.

 

[BruceBanner]

  Tried the Supermini at a local store the other day... Loved the form factor and sound (neutral-ish) but the UI freezed when I tried to go back to the folder view..
 
Sigh.. I'll wait for a more stable firmware before I consider it again..
 
P.S.: There's some slight hiss with my UERM (when no music's playing) but it's not offensive.

 
My experience has been that hiss in menu/pause also means hiss in the track, it's just harder to hear or decipher between the tracks hiss and the what the DAP is giving. You'd really have to listen to a silent track to tell.

$399 for hiss is a joke imo (if it genuinely does hiss).

 

[Saoshyant]

Just a heads up.  Supermini is now carried by Amazon Prime.  Currently set to be in stock on Sept 9th, so quick shipping is an option.  I'm a little tempted to try it out given the standard return policy.  BTW, does the included IEM have an actual designation?

 

[gr8soundz]

  does the included IEM have an actual designation?

 
Don't think so. They're definitely balanced but Hifiman has confirmed they are not the re600.
 
I bet a good portion of the Supermini's price is also due the included earphones.
 

 

[Saoshyant]

That's part of my concern.

 

[BRCMRGN]

Just got my Supermini.  I tried my Oppo PM-3 with a balanced cable and the Supermini has enough power to blow my ears out.  Comfortable volume was 13 for my test playlist.  Next I tried the HE-500 (also with balanced cable).  To get the same volume, I had to crank it up to 20.  This thing is powerful!
 
On the software side, things are not as nice. A 64GB card worked fine, but when I put in a 200GB FAT32 formatted card that works on about a dozen other players, the Supermini wanted to format because it thought the card was empty.  So, I let it format the card and then I refilled it with the same content.  Trying it now results an error message "The selected file is unsupported", and a hard lockup of the device.  A few resets later, the Supermini decided that the card was OK and rebuild the database.  Now it seems fine.  So just for fun, let's put the 64GB card back in - same error message and lockup as the 200GB, even though this card worked fine before.  Let's reset and put the 200GB back in - same error and hard lockup.  What does seem to work, is powering up the device with no card, insert the card (while the device is on) and then the update the database.
 
I'm traveling for a few days and I'll take it along to get some more impressions.

 

[puppyfi]

  Just got my Supermini.  I tried my Oppo PM-3 with a balanced cable and the Supermini has enough power to blow my ears out.  Comfortable volume was 13 for my test playlist.  Next I tried the HE-500 (also with balanced cable).  To get the same volume, I had to crank it up to 20.  This thing is powerful!
 
On the software side, things are not as nice. A 64GB card worked fine, but when I put in a 200GB FAT32 formatted card that works on about a dozen other players, the Supermini wanted to format because it thought the card was empty.  So, I let it format the card and then I refilled it with the same content.  Trying it now results an error message "The selected file is unsupported", and a hard lockup of the device.  A few resets later, the Supermini decided that the card was OK and rebuild the database.  Now it seems fine.  So just for fun, let's put the 64GB card back in - same error message and lockup as the 200GB, even though this card worked fine before.  Let's reset and put the 200GB back in - same error and hard lockup.  What does seem to work, is powering up the device with no card, insert the card (while the device is on) and then the update the database.
 
I'm traveling for a few days and I'll take it along to get some more impressions.

 
May be can try out exFAT card instead of FAT32? My HM650 seems to like exFAT format. I used to have intermittent  error before  when using FAT32.