[BrasilSamba]

I think the 24/88 or 24/96 properly converted flac files are the most optimal for listening with HM901.
As for the dff noise: I tried about 30 isos, some are more noisy, some less ...

 

[VisceriousZERO]

  I'am thinking of getting the HM901 for the JH13 pro, any views on whether I should wait for the Fiio X5 or the HM901. or any other player for that matter.
Sound Quality is of utmost importance but the player needs to be usable

 
I think the 901 is a great pair for the 13Pro. Though I'd ask, when do you use a DAP, while moving about or when you've stopped somewhere and need to listen to something then and there? IMO the 901 gets too hot to handle while moving about, which is why I went with the ZX1 for moving about.

 

[kkcc]

I'am thinking of getting the HM901 for the JH13 pro, any views on whether I should wait for the Fiio X5 or the HM901. or any other player for that matter.
Sound Quality is of utmost importance but the player needs to be usable

I like my 901 /w JH13fp a lot. The transparency is second to none and to me it is clearly a class above X5. X5 still deliver quite a powerful, thick, and musical sound but lacks the transparency/hi-fidelity of 901. OTOH, X5 has a much better looking and responsive UI, and has a more premium built with its all metal casing. Personal I'm not a fan of the front design of X5 but it is purely my subjective aesthetics preference.

With the 901, for pairing with JH13, I would recommend the IEM amp oard over the old stock or new stock card (Classic Card). The classic card has a dreamy mid/vocal voicing but lacks transparency (relative to the IEM card but still better than X5) and have audible hiss with JH13. Minions or balanced card would sound more authoritative and have better PRAT over IEM card but their backgrounds are less black and usable volume range could be an issue with JH13 as it is plenty loud at 1.5 or 2 out of 8. Very hard to fine tune to your desired listening volume.

Hope this helps.

 

[CosmicHolyGhost]

  I use it while riding to work as well as at work.

I also have no issue carrying it in my pants pocket, it is not as big when you think about how big the sound it can produce

 

[kkcc]

Just so I understand you right, the HM901 with the IEM card is worth twice as much as Fiio X5 in terms of sound quality

For me it is as I really enjoy transparency for my music. I can appreciate and actually love different signatures for different music/mood/place but I deem transparency is a technical quality for any source/DAC/amp/headphone/iem combos and I am willing to pay for it.

Value for the 901 for me goes beyond transparency in that I can swap amp boards for different sig/iem pairings. Its power also allows my LCD3 to really sing, and to some extend HD800 also. I can also use it as an excellent source to feed desktop amps. All these combined to help compensate for the lacking UI and built, and the higher price for me.

From a pure SQ-per-buck perspective X5 and clipzip would get my votes. IMHO currently anything above X5 has diminishing return if it's SQ is already good enough. Upcoming DX90/Calyx M might or might not change that. Arguably same can be said for clips at the lower price bracket...

 

[kkcc]

I just recently received my JH13 and have paired it with a sansa fuze, Sound wise its very good  but a little on the warm side.

Also the detail retrieval isn't up to  the benchmark.
I know there is a huge price difference between the sansa fuze and the HM901 that any sound quality comparison is not fiar.
But if I'am going to upgrade the soruce I need to be wowed so does X5 have it or the HM901 with the iem card.

If you don't have prior experiences with other portable DAC/AMP/DAP I would think X5 would be better for you to start before you decide to spend more on DAP. Cheers

 

[Mimouille]

Honestly I love the 901. What would make it almost perfect for me was if they spruced up the UI to include playlist management. Is there any way to manipulate the favorites from tou desktop, a file that can be accessed?

 

[LarsHP]

If you put the files you want in a separate folder and play via folder navigation you get some kind of "playlist" while maintaining album playing through tag browsing. I did this on my 801, so I expect this works on the 901 too. However, files will only be ordered by their file name and if you want the same track in other "playlists", then this is not optimal.

 

[Mimouille]

If you put the files you want in a separate folder and play via folder navigation you get some kind of "playlist" while maintaining album playing through tag browsing. I did this on my 801, so I expect this works on the 901 too. However, files will only be ordered by their file name and if you want the same track in other "playlists", then this is not optimal.

Thanks for the advice. This is more or less what I do already. But what I need is "album playlists". I buy many new albums each month and cue them in a playlist to remember to listen to the new ones, and in a certain order. So on the 901, I just append number before the albums in want in the list, and use folder view. However, it is quite a bother to manipulate, because I have 125 albums in the "to listen" list. I make it simpler by using a bulk renaming program, but still....I wish I could use playlist with MediaMonkey, like I did on the DX100 and AK120.

 

[LarsHP]

We totally agree that playlist support would be super nice to have.
 
I'd also like it to read embedded cover art. Now it only reads embedded covers from mp3 files, so I have to use folder navigation for it to show cover art since practically all my files are FLAC.
 
And as it is now albums with various artists are shown as one album per artist. I have one 6CD album with about one hundred different artists ... Scrolling through that using tag browsing is simply out of the question. So - at the moment tag browsing is simply not usable IMO.
 
All this adds to my conclusion that folder browsing is the only working way to navigate through the music, unfortunately.

 

[Mimouille]

I need to know more about the UI, everyone says its crap.
Now I need the player to boot quickly and play music from the folders that I drag and drop from my PC, is that going to be hard, I don't even meddle with the volume once its set and I don't skip songs either.

All I care about is sound quality and atleast 10 hours battery life

Forget about 10 hours battery life. With balanced card, which is among the best sounding, you get 6 at most. However, besides thr playlist and album tag issue, the UI is just fine. Takes less than 1mn to boot and update library. Then you can very easily browse files. I find the wheel quite convenient and the player fits snuggly in your hand despite the size, unlike the DX100 which truly feels more like a brick. And the sound is the best on any DAP I have tried.

 

[Kiats]

Forget about 10 hours battery life. With balanced card, which is among the best sounding, you get 6 at most. However, besides thr playlist and album tag issue, the UI is just fine. Takes less than 1mn to boot and update library. Then you can very easily browse files. I find the wheel quite convenient and the player fits snuggly in your hand despite the size, unlike the DX100 which truly feels more like a brick. And the sound is the best on any DAP I have tried.

Heheh! Mike, I get about 8-10 hours off the iem amp card. I think that is less draining of the battery than the balanced card.

 

[Mimouille]

Heheh! Mike, I get about 8-10 hours off the iem amp card. I think that is less draining of the battery than the balanced card.

Maybe, but does not pair as well with my SE5...will give the card a second chance with my NT6 when I get them back. I was hesitating on getting the discrete amp card as well...

 

[awry]

Forget about 10 hours battery life. With balanced card, which is among the best sounding, you get 6 at most. However, besides thr playlist and album tag issue, the UI is just fine. Takes less than 1mn to boot and update library. Then you can very easily browse files. I find the wheel quite convenient and the player fits snuggly in your hand despite the size, unlike the DX100 which truly feels more like a brick. And the sound is the best on any DAP I have tried.

+1

 

[kkcc]

Do you run the balanced card as single ended.

 
I do that all the time and don't notice a difference in the 5-6Hr battery life either running SE or Balanced.  
 
FYI typical battery life with my amp cards I experienced:
Balanced - 5.5hr
Discrete - 7hr
Angel - 8hr
Minibox - 8hr
IEM - 9hr
Classic - 10hr
Old stock (8397 card) - 11 hr
 
Note these are NOT battery TEST numbers but just real life usage experience with various bit rate, file types, screen/UI usage etc.