[AnakChan]

Quote:

The 901s is an incompleted product from HIFIMAN imo. I would rather choose the AK120 for its better UI, quality control and battery life. As the 901s and ak120 both have wonderful SQ. changing the headphone / IEM would be easier to get better improvement.

 
 I have both and I actually spend more time with the 901 than with the AK120. Reason being is that I have a desk job and (thank goodness) my work doesn't involve talking to people so much as it is e-mailing or some kind of office communicator. So I do actually get the opportunity to spend a couple of hours listening whilst working. As such, once the music starts playing, I actually don't fiddle with the DAP much except for the volume from track to track. So the UI doesn't bother me that much.
 
As for the battery life with the 901 on its former 1.80 firmware, it lasts for about 7 hours. I've not measured with the new 1.81beta yet.
 
Therefore I have the opportunity to make SQ as my priority instead of UI, etc. And to my ears the 901 is sonically more satisfying to my ears (with my IEMS  - TG!334, MH335DW, or Kaede's). Don't get me wrong, the AK120s aren't bad but between the two, I reach out for the 901 more.
 
The AK120 OTOH gets used when during lunch when I go out, whist commuting to/from work, and during the weekends when I'm going shopping around town. It's great for on-the-go use.

 

[kkcc]

 I have both and I actually spend more time with the 901 than with the AK120. Reason being is that I have a desk job and (thank goodness) my work doesn't involve talking to people so much as it is e-mailing or some kind of office communicator. So I do actually get the opportunity to spend a couple of hours listening whilst working. As such, once the music starts playing, I actually don't fiddle with the DAP much except for the volume from track to track. So the UI doesn't bother me that much.

As for the battery life with the 901 on its former 1.80 firmware, it lasts for about 7 hours. I've not measured with the new 1.81beta yet.


Therefore I have the opportunity to make SQ as my priority instead of UI, etc. And to my ears the 901 is sonically more satisfying to my ears (with my IEMS  - TG!334, MH335DW, or Kaede's). Don't get me wrong, the AK120s aren't bad but between the two, I reach out for the 901 more.

The AK120 OTOH gets used when during lunch when I go out, whist commuting to/from work, and during the weekends when I'm going shopping around town. It's great for on-the-go use.

Anakchan is going thru the journey I went thru as someone owning both 901 and ak120.

I bought ak120 first as an upgrade from dx100/ak100 OVER the 901 due to its form factor. But a further demo of the 901 AFTER being a happy AK120 owner had me ended up getting the 901 also.

Since getting the 901+balanced amp, I had started with probably 30:70 usage of hm901:AK120, to 50:50, to now 80:20. AK120 is nice, but once there is comparisons of the same tracks in both DAPs it is HARD to stay satisfied with the inferior one. Of course what is superior and inferior is subjective, but like Anakchan the AK120 had been relegated to backup status now. I liked the 901 paired with all my phones from LCD3 to er4s to tg334. I had reach the point I m wanting to replace the expensive backup with something less exotic (read: DX50).

And this is in spite of the form factor, UI, appearance disadvantages of the 901 against the ak120. 901's sound is THAT good for me to forgo all those things I had always prioritized for a DAP.

YMMV.

 

[kkcc]

...changing the headphone / IEM would be easier to get better improvement.

Not with my tg334, 1plus2, and LCD3....

 

[Mimouille]

I am thinking that the 901 could replace my ak120 and I have Tera for more portable. I am bit worried about quality issues and UI issues / stability.

 

[VisceriousZERO]

Ive been using my 901 A LOT since getting it. I havent touched my AK120 for almost a week now. Only use my x3 right now for a transport but i forgot to charge it again so back to the 901...

 

[Mimouille]

Ive been using my 901 A LOT since getting it. I havent touched my AK120 for almost a week now. Only use my x3 right now for a transport but i forgot to charge it again so back to the 901...

You have balanced amp card? Do you really prefer the sq over ak120? No UI or quality issues?

 

[archeryc]

Anakchan is going thru the journey I went thru as someone owning both 901 and ak120.

I bought ak120 first as an upgrade from dx100/ak100 OVER the 901 due to its form factor. But a further demo of the 901 AFTER being a happy AK120 owner had me ended up getting the 901 also.

Since getting the 901+balanced amp, I had started with probably 30:70 usage of hm901:AK120, to 50:50, to now 80:20. AK120 is nice, but once there is comparisons of the same tracks in both DAPs it is HARD to stay satisfied with the inferior one. Of course what is superior and inferior is subjective, but like Anakchan the AK120 had been relegated to backup status now. I liked the 901 paired with all my phones from LCD3 to er4s to tg334. I had reach the point I m wanting to replace the expensive backup with something less exotic (read: DX50).

And this is in spite of the form factor, UI, appearance disadvantages of the 901 against the ak120. 901's sound is THAT good for me to forgo all those things I had always prioritized for a DAP.

YMMV.

Thanks Anakchan and kkcc for sharing your experience!

I'm actually have the same thoughts like you guys. However the first day I received my 901 and many problems came out. Can not charge the battery, no sound come out from the headphone output, minibox card can not sit into the card slot, the machine will shut down in 5 seconds if I don't keep in charge the 901, also the quality of the battery is awful... LOL

All these things made me feel terriblely disappointed... And that's why I'm sending back my 901 to StereoDesk and ask for changing the AK120.

Don't you guys have these problems during your usage? Or maybe it's just my unlucky first time...

 

[pekingduck]

As much as I like the sound, I can't help but feel the firmware was rushed out. Even up to now some long-standing bugs are still not fixed (e.g. the first few seconds of some particular tracks get chopped off). Occasionally the device would act weirdly and the only fix was a hard reset.
 
On the bright side these issues only happen once in a while so to me it's still tolerable.

 

[Mimouille]

Damn you guys are messing with my head! To buy or not to buy? A few quick questions:

What is the totally capacity? 128g sdcard plus how much imternal?

Can the 901 handle playlists? I mean imported in m3u for instance?

Are there tagging issues with Flac?

 

[pekingduck]

There's no internal memory, and the 901 can't handle playlists yet (except "Favorites").
 
I use folder browsing exclusively but the major tags (album, artist ... etc) are read properly.
 
Quote:

Damn you guys are messing with my head! To buy or not to buy? A few quick questions:

What is the totally capacity? 128g sdcard plus how much imternal?

Can the 901 handle playlists? I mean imported in m3u for instance?

Are there tagging issues with Flac?

 

[Mimouille]

Ouch.

 

[kkcc]

Thanks Anakchan and kkcc for sharing your experience!

I'm actually have the same thoughts like you guys. However the first day I received my 901 and many problems came out. Can not charge the battery, no sound come out from the headphone output, minibox card can not sit into the card slot, the machine will shut down in 5 seconds if I don't keep in charge the 901, also the quality of the battery is awful... LOL

All these things made me feel terriblely disappointed... And that's why I'm sending back my 901 to StereoDesk and ask for changing the AK120.

Don't you guys have these problems during your usage? Or maybe it's just my unlucky first time...

Your experience looks like a horror story. But are actually down to two issues: probably broken charger (can't charge thus shut down etc), not secured amp board (that would caused no sound obviously).

I have had the firmware issue (main gripes is the missing first second or so of first track I play or when navigating to another track mid-track) but none of the built issue for all the amp boards I had and kept. Charger issue was not isolated incident as there were multiple reports of it needing RMA. Hope you had better experience with the AK120.

I would probably sell the ak120 when it still has good value and wait for the next AK, or get vinnie's 8741 mod to get closer to the transparency and resolution I have now gotten used to with the 901.

 

[kkcc]

Ouch.

Yup. Not many ticks in terms of UI. Hence I am really surprised I picked up the 901 everyday IN SPITE of these issues. If you tell me I would feel this way 2 months ago I would have told you are out of your mind. Guess I m the one out of my mind now....

 

[Mimouille]

I think at the end of the day, it's all about the sound. I mainly listen to se5 and 1plus2 and the ak120 drives them well, but they are beasts and I just FEEL they have more under the hood. Thus this 901 connundrum.

 

[Trogdor]

Damn you guys are messing with my head! To buy or not to buy? A few quick questions:

Are there tagging issues with Flac?

Yes. It seems to get 90% of them but it has trouble with multi-disc box sets (its very annoying to have Track 1, Track 1, Track 2 Track 2, etc.).