Introducing the HIFIMAN EF400 Balanced Desktop DAC/Amplifier!

[dsrk]

lol I just spend a lot of money on house stuff so I have some time to kind of cool off and re-think about my gear before I drop money on more gear again. So I'm sort of doing research in the mean time (while letting money accumulate).

I tried my friend's BF2/Jot2 I do think it has the right balance that I like, it's punchy and aggressive and forward vocal, but just a little bit lean/cold in overall tone (tiny bit). My current setup V200/1541 is the opposite where it's warmer and more natural sounding but a little bit more relaxed for aggressive genre like rock and vocal is a little bit laid back.

I am not that technical. I wish I could be more specific but never heard v200/1541 to tell you how laid back EF400 is in comparison. It's really difficult say where something stands without comparing to other IMO. I too don't like leaner and colder/brighter sounding gear or source. I tried and sold a few TOTL headphones and stuck with my good old HD6XX and LCD2C because I preferred them most. Ever since I decided that I won't buy anymore headphones, I started exploring the sources AND want to try IEMs.

But EF400 is not as laid back as Hiby RS6 which is my portable R2R solution.

Was hoping EF400 would be a nice middle ground. But unfortunately there is nowhere that I can demo EF400 so I'm trying to gather as much info as I can, but I guess nothing beats listen to the real thing. So I might have to just jump in blind and buy one eventually....... maybe......... LOL.

Oh I tried mix and match for fun, like Jot2 + 1541 which is just terrible, and V200 + BF2 which is decent but I think I like BF2+Jot2 synergy better.

Yes nothing beats trying and deciding for yourself, because you never know exactly for whatever the reasons someone else will like it or not. A few little things will make or break your decision.

Please check with Passion for sound on YouTube, he may be able help you with more specific details. He did a comparison of EF400 with Bifrost.

Audio is an expensive and hard hobby...........

Yes it's expensive and sometime painful hobby to let some of them go to buy new things.

 

[dsrk]

Yes, it is an expensive Addiction Hobby that audiophile cannot stop !!!!!! Buying more, New, Used items....

If you want to STOP then stay away, delete this head-fi.org for good...... and just enjoy listening to music for what you currently have.

I promised myself not to buy anything else this year and forever then I got 4 things already:

Liric, Advar, 109 Pro, and LCD5

We just can't, can we?

 

[meomap]

We just can't, can we?

Tried so hard for number of years.
If it's not hp. Hp amp, DAPs, IEM then 2 channel PA, DAC. Speakers, AMP stuffs.
It's always excuse to treat for yourself before actual retirement because st that time, your ears are getting bad....

 

[2ManyDACs]

Yes, it is an expensive Addiction Hobby that audiophile cannot stop !!!!!! Buying more, New, Used items....

If you want to STOP then stay away, delete this head-fi.org for good...... and just enjoy listening to music for what you currently have.

I promised myself not to buy anything else this year and forever then I got 4 things already:

Liric, Advar, 109 Pro, and LCD5

Off topic, but what do you think drives this addiction / obsession /craving / need for MORE audio toys? I ask, as the owner of more headphones (+ aftermarket cables), DACs, amps, disc spinners and turntables than is at all reasonable for one person. I even had to draw up a map of what source is attached to which DACs is attached to which amps, and which of the five USB cables hanging from a central post go to which DAC. It's nuts.

 

[meomap]

Off topic, but what do you think drives this addiction / obsession /craving / need for MORE audio toys? I ask, as the owner of more headphones (+ aftermarket cables), DACs, amps, disc spinners and turntables than is at all reasonable for one person. I even had to draw up a map of what source is attached to which DACs is attached to which amps, and which of the five USB cables hanging from a central post go to which DAC. It's nuts.

So, the question is Can you stay away for at least 5 years without buying anything?

Addiction maybe Cure.......

 

[2ManyDACs]

So, the question is Can you stay away for at least 5 years without buying anything?

Addiction maybe Cure.......

Well, I am in 11 years recovery from buying chess sets, four years from buying mechanical watches, three years from buying acoustic guitars, and I haven't bought any new audio toys in... at least a couple of weeks.

 

[metalmilitia16]

Hi @TeamHiFiMAN, I want to buy ef 400, the only place I can buy is amazon but it is not available, can you help me with this, thank you.

 

[TeamHiFiMAN]

Hi @TeamHiFiMAN, I want to buy ef 400, the only place I can buy is amazon but it is not available, can you help me with this, thank you.

Hi there, could you please email us at customerservice@hifiman.com so that our support team can do our best to help you?

 

[rlanger]

Off topic, but what do you think drives this addiction / obsession /craving / need for MORE audio toys? I ask, as the owner of more headphones (+ aftermarket cables), DACs, amps, disc spinners and turntables than is at all reasonable for one person. I even had to draw up a map of what source is attached to which DACs is attached to which amps, and which of the five USB cables hanging from a central post go to which DAC. It's nuts.

It's the inability to truly appreciate what one has, as well as recognize that there's a constant voice in our heads telling us that will be happier if we just get that one more/newer/better/shinier etc. thing.

Meditation has helped me stifle this voice somewhat, but it's a constant struggle.

 

[kRed]

Off topic, but what do you think drives this addiction / obsession /craving / need for MORE audio toys?

The same thing applies with any hobby, on every human being. We all miss something emotionally (mainly from our childhood), and we use things to distract ourselves from the pain. My GF just does the same with horse stuff, my sister with purses and shoes. My father used to do this with radio-transmitter and early cellphones in the 90s.
We just endlessly wander on the quest for something to fill the void.

Audio can be a bit worse in that regards, to me is a bit like photography: as there are actual logical reason to buy expensive gear and try new stuff, so it's easier to tell yourself that it's not wrong to fuel the addiction, as you are learning stuff and getting a better experience. Watches and stuff like that, collecting-like hobbies, are just 100% addiction.

I guess it's all good a long as you understand the mechanism behind your behavior, embrace it and drive it (as you can't remove this kind of behavior, you will just jump from a thing to another).

 

[Hyde00]

Off topic, but what do you think drives this addiction / obsession /craving / need for MORE audio toys? I ask, as the owner of more headphones (+ aftermarket cables), DACs, amps, disc spinners and turntables than is at all reasonable for one person. I even had to draw up a map of what source is attached to which DACs is attached to which amps, and which of the five USB cables hanging from a central post go to which DAC. It's nuts.

It's the inability to truly appreciate what one has, as well as recognize that there's a constant voice in our heads telling us that will be happier if we just get that one more/newer/better/shinier etc. thing.

Meditation has helped me stifle this voice somewhat, but it's a constant struggle.

The same thing applies with any hobby, on every human being. We all miss something emotionally (mainly from our childhood), and we use things to distract ourselves from the pain. My GF just does the same with horse stuff, my sister with purses and shoes. My father used to do this with radio-transmitter and early cellphones in the 90s.
We just endlessly wander on the quest for something to fill the void.

Audio can be a bit worse in that regards, to me is a bit like photography: as there are actual logical reason to buy expensive gear and try new stuff, so it's easier to tell yourself that it's not wrong to fuel the addiction, as you are learning stuff and getting a better experience. Watches and stuff like that, collecting-like hobbies, are just 100% addiction.

I guess it's all good a long as you understand the mechanism behind your behavior, embrace it and drive it (as you can't remove this kind of behavior, you will just jump from a thing to another).

Yeah I realize this is human nature, when we reach END GAME. That means it's done, there's no more thing you need to do. Which is BORING.

Humans like to see things changing and evolving. That's when videogame is fun while you work your way towards the final boss, but once you beat the game then it's boring, then it's time to look for the next new game and repeat.

So I don't think we're looking for end game, we're just looking for that "change" that keeps us interested and excited. We like to have progression into the next best thing.

As kRed says sometimes to run away from life's problem where we have our own happy sanctuary per say.

But I think as long our wallet permits and it doesn't interfere with our other daily activities (aka run out of money for food, or rent) and keeps us happy I think it's nice to have different hobbies.

That being said, I was planning to buy EF400 but I end up getting a headphone instead LOL (Lawton Modded TH900 MK2). Will circle back to this later.

 

[casimirobukayo]

Has anyone tried this amplifier with the focal clear mg? Thoughts? Thanks

 

[Ichos]

Has anyone tried this amplifier with the focal clear mg? Thoughts? Thanks

The review was mostly done with the Focal Clear Mg so everything that you are reading applies to them.
https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/hifiman-ef400.25881/review/29050/

 

[casimirobukayo]

The review was mostly done with the Focal Clear Mg so everything that you are reading applies to them.
https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/hifiman-ef400.25881/review/29050/

Thank you. A lot. Buying it now.

 

[godlikegamer]

Hifiman CS told me that EF400 supports native DSD but going thru this forum seem only support DSD to PCM... is there something I missed or?