Johnny Golden
Head-Fier
I've used it with my Beyerdynamic T90's and my Sennheiser HD58x's with decent result so... Yes!
iFi Hip-DAC Impressions Thread
- Thread starter inexactscience
- Start date
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- hip-dac ifi ifi audio ifi hip-dac
I've used it with my Beyerdynamic T90's and my Sennheiser HD58x's with decent result so... Yes!
I've got the hip dac as part of the review tour.
I've been using with my Samsung S20 Ultra phone, for most of the time I've been using with UAPP and then accessing Qobus through UAPP.
Today when comparing to other bits of kit I decided not use the UAPP app. Now when I play any music through Qobus or Spotify I get constant interference on the tracks, little crackles like a badly played vinyl lp. Now I had this with the Audioquest Cobalt when using hi-res tracks and was told by them that its to do with the limits on Android drivers, they advised using UAPP to bypass the android drivers. This makes sense however I'm getting this now with the hip dac playing anything when not using the UAPP app and it's drivers.
Is this normal?
I've been using with my Samsung S20 Ultra phone, for most of the time I've been using with UAPP and then accessing Qobus through UAPP.
Today when comparing to other bits of kit I decided not use the UAPP app. Now when I play any music through Qobus or Spotify I get constant interference on the tracks, little crackles like a badly played vinyl lp. Now I had this with the Audioquest Cobalt when using hi-res tracks and was told by them that its to do with the limits on Android drivers, they advised using UAPP to bypass the android drivers. This makes sense however I'm getting this now with the hip dac playing anything when not using the UAPP app and it's drivers.
Is this normal?
Ok it appears after a little further research that this issue may confined to Samsung handsets.
Discussion on Samsung community where others are having the same issues. Crazy really considering the price and spec of the phone.
Be interested to hear from other Samsung owners and if they have found a workround for this. It's not the end of the world as UAPP takes the issue away but limits all DACS to UAPP on Samsung handsets.
Discussion on Samsung community where others are having the same issues. Crazy really considering the price and spec of the phone.
Be interested to hear from other Samsung owners and if they have found a workround for this. It's not the end of the world as UAPP takes the issue away but limits all DACS to UAPP on Samsung handsets.
I've decided to some battery life testing on my Hip-Dac. Today I did a continuous 100% to full discharge run on my Tin HiFi P1 connected via the 4.4 mm socket with Xbass on.
I got just under 6 hours (5 hours and 57 minutes exactly) of uninterrupted playtime. Less than half of the claimed 12 hours.
However, I did notice something weird about the battery charge indicator LED.
The manual says that the LED stays white between 100% and 75%. In my test today the light turned from white to green after 1 hour, which would indicate that the battery should last only 4 hours. Then, the light turned from green (75% to 25%) to red (25% to 10%) after the next 2 hours and 45 minutes. Following that the red light started blinking (which indicates 10% or less charge) after 2 more hours of playtime, and the unit shut off after another 12 minutes.
Those indications are completely inaccurate vis-a-vis what the manual states, the 12 hours' claim notwithstanding.
Tomorrow I am going to do another run with Moondrop Starfield, which is the most sensitive set I have and see how long the battery lasts.
EDIT: Quick update. Subsequent charging to full took 2 hours and 50 minutes with my mobile phone adapter so at least that bit about charging time being ~3 hours is correct.
I got just under 6 hours (5 hours and 57 minutes exactly) of uninterrupted playtime. Less than half of the claimed 12 hours.
However, I did notice something weird about the battery charge indicator LED.
The manual says that the LED stays white between 100% and 75%. In my test today the light turned from white to green after 1 hour, which would indicate that the battery should last only 4 hours. Then, the light turned from green (75% to 25%) to red (25% to 10%) after the next 2 hours and 45 minutes. Following that the red light started blinking (which indicates 10% or less charge) after 2 more hours of playtime, and the unit shut off after another 12 minutes.
Those indications are completely inaccurate vis-a-vis what the manual states, the 12 hours' claim notwithstanding.
Tomorrow I am going to do another run with Moondrop Starfield, which is the most sensitive set I have and see how long the battery lasts.
EDIT: Quick update. Subsequent charging to full took 2 hours and 50 minutes with my mobile phone adapter so at least that bit about charging time being ~3 hours is correct.
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Day 2: battery life test on high-sensitivity IEMs.
Right from the start I have to say that I will need to repeat the previous test. This morning I decided to connect the Hip-Dac to the charger again before commencing the test just to make sure the battery is full and for some reason the device accepted 40 minutes of charge after 15 hours from disconnecting the charger on the previous day. This suggests the battery may not have been completely full during the P1 test. It also suggests that the battery in the Hip-Dac self-discharges pretty badly, because 40 minutes is 25% of the total charging time from the previous afternoon.
Another bit of information that is probably required is that I am testing battery life by having the unit connected to my PC and playing music from Spotify.
In today's test I got 6 hours and 41 minutes (20 minutes more in white LED stage and 25 minutes more in green LED stage; surprisingly the red stage in this case also lasted 2 hours and the final, blinking red stage lasted 11 minutes) until the Hip-Dac shut off due to depleted battery, which is only roughly 45 minutes more than on the previous day. Next, I will redo the P1 test in identical conditions: 3.5 mm jack and no XBass this time to get the most comparable results and see how IEM sensitivity affects battery life.
Day 3: battery life test with Tin HiFi P1 connected over 3.5 mm with Power Match and XBass features off.
The result I obtained was nearly identical to the Moondrop Starlight. The Hip-Dac ran out of juice after 6 hours and 37 minutes.
Day 4: With my Tin HiFi P1 over 4.4 mm cable the Hip-Dac lasted 6 hours and 39 minutes.
Day 5: Tin HiFi P1 over 4.4 mm with XBass on. This time I got 5 hours and 42 minutes, which interestingly is 15 minutes less than during the very first test in these conditions in which the Hip-Dac had been left alone for a few days after charging and wasn't topped up before the test.
Tin HiFi P1 over 4.4 mm with Power Match on yielded 6 hours and 40 minutes. This was very surprising because with the significant increase in volume I expected the battery life to be shorter, but it looks like in the case of the P1 it didn't make a shred of difference. But I expect full-sized headphones to have a bigger drain on the battery.
Also, from these tests I can now better estimate (roughly) what each of the battery charge LED's colours represent:
White: 100-80%
Green: 80-30%
Red: 30-3%
Blinking red: 3-0%
Right from the start I have to say that I will need to repeat the previous test. This morning I decided to connect the Hip-Dac to the charger again before commencing the test just to make sure the battery is full and for some reason the device accepted 40 minutes of charge after 15 hours from disconnecting the charger on the previous day. This suggests the battery may not have been completely full during the P1 test. It also suggests that the battery in the Hip-Dac self-discharges pretty badly, because 40 minutes is 25% of the total charging time from the previous afternoon.
Another bit of information that is probably required is that I am testing battery life by having the unit connected to my PC and playing music from Spotify.
In today's test I got 6 hours and 41 minutes (20 minutes more in white LED stage and 25 minutes more in green LED stage; surprisingly the red stage in this case also lasted 2 hours and the final, blinking red stage lasted 11 minutes) until the Hip-Dac shut off due to depleted battery, which is only roughly 45 minutes more than on the previous day. Next, I will redo the P1 test in identical conditions: 3.5 mm jack and no XBass this time to get the most comparable results and see how IEM sensitivity affects battery life.
Day 3: battery life test with Tin HiFi P1 connected over 3.5 mm with Power Match and XBass features off.
The result I obtained was nearly identical to the Moondrop Starlight. The Hip-Dac ran out of juice after 6 hours and 37 minutes.
Day 4: With my Tin HiFi P1 over 4.4 mm cable the Hip-Dac lasted 6 hours and 39 minutes.
Day 5: Tin HiFi P1 over 4.4 mm with XBass on. This time I got 5 hours and 42 minutes, which interestingly is 15 minutes less than during the very first test in these conditions in which the Hip-Dac had been left alone for a few days after charging and wasn't topped up before the test.
Tin HiFi P1 over 4.4 mm with Power Match on yielded 6 hours and 40 minutes. This was very surprising because with the significant increase in volume I expected the battery life to be shorter, but it looks like in the case of the P1 it didn't make a shred of difference. But I expect full-sized headphones to have a bigger drain on the battery.
Also, from these tests I can now better estimate (roughly) what each of the battery charge LED's colours represent:
White: 100-80%
Green: 80-30%
Red: 30-3%
Blinking red: 3-0%
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balleklorin
Head-Fier
The sent me a new. No problems with the 4,4 mm balanced connection on the new one.
I received my IFi HiP DAC and I love it,with HD650 so much headroom, such a nice full sound and even xBass is nice time to time use for some music. I have to say amazing for the price! I am very happy for now. Able to use it with iPhone,Android and Pc makes it so versatile device. Find only small problem that is it can't charge and run same time,but I can live with it.
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Wow, not cool at all.
Ynot1
500+ Head-Fier
I think it charges while listening to music. But rather or not when someone can be running is a personal choice.
Yes it charge but when it reaches 100% charge stop and hipdac will use battery that's what I mean sorry I wrote it badly
I think it may be bad for battery life if you use the hip-dac while it is charging. And I believe the noise from the USB C may bleed into the headphone outs.
I think this is why IFi did it this way so battery life will be longer.
Moumin
New Head-Fier
Hi everyone,
I received the Hip-Dac a little ago, and am wondering whether mine has a power issue: I understand one can plug it in one's computer before turning the Hip-Dac on to avoid draining on the Hip-Dac's battery, yet mine uses its battery despite being put on after being plugged to the computer?
I received the Hip-Dac a little ago, and am wondering whether mine has a power issue: I understand one can plug it in one's computer before turning the Hip-Dac on to avoid draining on the Hip-Dac's battery, yet mine uses its battery despite being put on after being plugged to the computer?
I think this is normal! It is not made to keep charge when used on PC.
Moumin
New Head-Fier
Hi, thanks for your answer!
Well from what I read on the manual part 4. (https://media.ifi-audio.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/hip-dac_manual_Ver1.1.pdf) is that you should be able to power it from USB, no?
This reviewer also posts about it (https://www.techhive.com/article/3534718/ifi-hip-dac-review.html) "In addition to the battery, the hip-dac can be powered directly from the USB port on a computer. [...] To use USB power, connect the hip-dac to the source first, then turn on its power; to use battery power, turn it on before connecting it to the source device."
And to be fair this was one of my main reasons of purchase lol, being able to use it on my desk powered by the computer, or on the go for my phone.
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