[Rollk2]

Tx jdog, pretty interested in buying it but for instance I want a new CIEM that'll be more permissive on low end source as clip zip or smartphone.

 

[waynes world]

 

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

Well, the iHiFi 770 has arrived and it is very nice.  For all of you that own a Xuelin player (760, 812v2 or 960), this player is markedly different in size, but it still retains the beautiful Xuelin sound quality. The 770 is thin and sleek and really is an attractive music player.  It is about the same size as the Sflo2 (which I think is about the same size as an iphone).  It is quite light-weight; it does not feel as sturdy as the 960 but it does feel solidly built.  I have the iHiFi 960 (dual-core version) and from I can tell so far, the 770 rivals it in sound quality.  The 960 has a wider sound stage, has a slightly warmer sound quality and is a bit better with microdetail, but the sound quality of the 770 (to my ears anyway) is very, very good.  The 770 has 2 head-phone lines out (but no dedicated line out), and the sound quality is noticeably different between the two.  The headphone A port (referred to as "voice" or soft mode by Xuelin) is a bit recessed, and has a bit more base than headphone B (referred to as "elegant and beautiful").  There is enough difference between the two that I prefer different earphones with them.  For headphone A, I prefer to use Westone 2 and Ostry KC06; for headphone B, I prefer zero audio tenore.  For any of you that have the Colorfly C3/C&C BH amp combination, the two outputs on the C&C amp are very similar to the head phone ports on the 770;  Out 1 on the C&C is similar to headphone B, and out 2 is similar to headphone A.
 
 The 770 has much more power than I expected;  the volume settings range from 0 to 60, and with my available earphones, I have not needed to go above a setting of 35, and I tend to listen to music a bit on the louder side. Again referring to the Colorfly C3, the 770 has more power and is much quieter, the 770 has an absolutely black background and there are no pops/clicks between songs or when the player is turned off.  The sound quality of the 770 (at least for me) exceeds that of the C3/C&C BH combo.  It is also easier to carry around as I don't need an amplifier.  I recently read another review (translated from a Chinese forum) in which the reviewer thought the sound quality of the 770 exceeded that of the FiiO X3, but not the FiiO X5.  I don't have either FiiO player, so I cannot comment on this any further...
 
Navigation on the 770 does take some practice, but the firmware is identical to that on the dual-core 960 (version 1.80).  You just have to get used to the key sequences to maneuver between the files.   The 770 has all the UI features  that the 960 has, but instead of physical buttons or a volume knob, the 770 has touch screen "buttons" to make selections and adjust the volume.  The touch screen buttons on my unit are appropriately responsive and the player is quite adept at changing between songs, with no significant lag or delay. To be honest, I do prefer the 960 when it comes to maneuvering the player/volume control, but the 770 is rapidly becoming more familiar as I get more parctice with it.
 
The 770 is supposed to have a battery life of around 13 hrs; I haven't listened to mine long enough to say if this is accurate or not.  The 770 does (in my opinion) have a feature that is more convenient compared to the 960.  The battery of the 770 can be recharged thru the same USB port that is used to transfer music to the player, whereas, the 960 has separate recharge and USB ports.  This will increase the portability of the 770 for me and make it an easier player to use at the office, in the car, etc.  The player has 8 gb internal memory and has a microsd slot said to accomodate cards up to 128 gb.  I am using a 64 gb card and the player reads it quite well and quite fast.
 
So, in summary, I think the 770 is a very nice player with excellent sound quality (if you like the Xuelin sound).  It has an absolute black background with no noise/pops/clicks between songs or when the player is turned off.  The player is smaller than the other Xuelin offerings today, and in my opinion, it is a sleek, attractive player.  The 2 headphone outs offer the user a reasonable choice based on the earphones/headphones the user has.  The player has enough power to easily drive all the earphones I currently own.  The firmware on the 770 does have preset equalizer settings (I am just using normal, like I do on the 960), so this may help some users.  At this point, I do not see the need for an amp for my purposes with this player. The touch screen navigation does take some practice to get used to, but is not complicated.  All in all, I am quite happy with the 770 thus far, and I think it will meet my purposes quite nicely.  I purchased my Xuelin 770 from Penon Audio; the player comes with a USB cable, a user's manual and a protective leather case.  I paid US $180, and this included shipping.

 

 
Just read this again with renewed interest. I listened to Nick's IIFI-812V2 yesterday, and was slightly annoyed to find that much of the time, it sounded better with my gear than than my beloved C3/BH combo lol. So after re-reading your impressions, I am suddenly rather lusting over the 770. Same awesome SQ, smaller size, more power. Lusting indeed!
 
 

 

[unbalanced]

Well, of course the ihifi sounds better than the C3 + any headphone amp you care to mention. Whilst the C3 is quite good it can in no way compare to any of the Xuelin players. The C3s all-in-one DAC and headphone amp was designed to go in low cost mobile devices and this is very apparent in the compromised sound quality.

 

[waynes world]

Well, of course the ihifi sounds better than the C3 + any headphone amp you care to mention. Whilst the C3 is quite good it can in no way compare to any of the Xuelin players. The C3s all-in-one DAC and headphone amp was designed to go in low cost mobile devices and this is very apparent in the compromised sound quality.

Well alrighty then.

 

[waynes world]

Btw, i see mention of the 812 being rock-boxable. Same for the 770? Im not sure I'd need/want it (after all, the 770 will have a resume feature I'm sure!), but it kight be handy (ie in case the 770 doesn't handle playlists etc).

 

[Taveren]

Btw, i see mention of the 812 being rock-boxable. Same for the 770? Im not sure I'd need/want it (after all, the 770 will have a resume feature I'm sure!), but it kight be handy (ie in case the 770 doesn't handle playlists etc).

from what I have read so far, the Hifiman 601, 602, 603 and 801 are ported in Rockbox but are under Unstable Ports
 
http://www.rockbox.org/

 

[nick n]

post #109, 110 and 111 for links to the 760 stuff, and 112 shows some of the interface.
 
It looks to be usable through the 812v2, 960 and 760 ( I think between all of them ). I would expect the 760 to work with the 770 don't hold me to that though.
 
Please correct me if I am mistaken. There's stuff scattered in the 960 thread also about this in addition to it's use on the 760 within this thread.

 

[Miyaichi]

Can someone compare the 770 with the DX50? I'm especially keen on this comparison because they both use the same DAC as you probably know.

 

[Rollk2]

Hi guys, I just have received the 770 and want to give you a short feedback

The sound quality is here, the bass are tight, mids clear and highs extend. It's dumb to say that ^^ my clip zip do the same if I don't compare. Ok, it's in the dx50/x3/ck4 range, no trouble.

The touchpad is just horrible but you can do with it. Life is possible, I believe. The way folders are sorted is just... horrible too... but life is possible, I believe. There is no touchpad lock, that's horrible too, life...

But that sounds good enough and as the Studio V did at his time, the ihifi770 is a great value that has real advantages : battery life, sound, size and price.

 

[waynes world]

The touchpad is just horrible but you can do with it. Life is possible, I believe. The way folders are sorted is just... horrible too... but life is possible, I believe. There is no touchpad lock, that's horrible too, life

Would you mind expanding on this? How is the touchpad horrible? And how are the way folders sorted horrible?

Thanks

 

[nick n]

Can't be any different than the C3 really. Wayne do us a favour and just do it. It'll become your main go-to I bet. You deserve it.

 

[Rollk2]

The touchpad is as reactive as the Sansa Fuze+'s touchpad, it is easy to go up and down but if you're hurry it can be annoying. There is no pause button, just play, if you want to stop your music you have to use the power button : weird.
 
The folder are disordered even you haver sorted them in the alphabetical order, it's like on the Colorfly C4. To my mind, if Rokbox is developed for the 770 it could be one of the best value on the high-end DAP market.

 

[jdog]

RollK2,
 
The 770 has a pause button, just use a short push on the "on/off" button on the top edge.  To turn the player on or off, use the same button with longer push.  Also, the key-pad self-locks each time the background light goes off.  Until you unlock the keypad, you cannot accidentally change the track or volume, but you can still use the pause button to start/stop a song.  The keypad is easily unlocked by pressing the + key, then the - key.  + and - keys are also used to control the volume.  I have set my background light to 10 seconds to reduce the chance of key pad lock when I am making selections.  I'll admit the keypad does require some getting used to, but the touch pad is quite responsive.  The sound quality of the 770 is very good; you have 2 choices for headphone out, but no true line-out.  With the earphones I use (Ostry KC06 and Zero Audio Tenores), I have not needed an external amp.  The volume level ranges from 0 to 60, and with the majority of tracks on my player, I get more than enough volume in the 25-35 range.  The background of the 770 is very quiet. 
 
In the "native state", folders in the 770 are stored in order of time they were entered into the player, just like the iHiFi 960. While others have come up with different ways to sort their files, I have just been using the Drivesort app.   This is a simple program that will arrange your files alphabetically; you just open the "disk" (either internal memory or external microsd card) in your 770 that you want to sort, click on the sort key, then click on save key, and your files are now arranged alphabetically by artist.  Once you have sorted files by artist, you can then open files under each artist and sort albums alphabetically (but I rarely do this).  Drivesort is very easy to use and takes only a few minutes to sort out your files. 

 

[Rollk2]

Thank you

EM32 and SM64 are well sounding with the 770

 

[lilrok]

Btw, i see mention of the 812 being rock-boxable. Same for the 770? Im not sure I'd need/want it (after all, the 770 will have a resume feature I'm sure!), but it kight be handy (ie in case the 770 doesn't handle playlists etc).

 
Hi all,
 
Does the iHifi 770 support playlists? I am try to decide between a iHifi 770 (130chf + import costs) an iBasso DX50 (256chf) or get an old beat up Ipod 30gb and try to upgrade it to at least a 256Gb mSATA SSD and rockbox - (cost unknown)
 
I have to say I love the way that the iBasso looks but I like the price point and your reviews of the iHifi 770. Currently I am using a Samsung Galaxy Note 2 and Reloop RH-3500 headphones as my mobile system. I really want to get a decent dedicated DAP to use mainly in the car via the AUX port.
 
The spec says it supports 128Gb has anyone tried this?