Looking for new DAP, I am thinking of HiBy R3 Pro Saber. On AliExpress is weird, I see now is on sale by different shops at... 272, 232, 210, 196, 138 or 78 €. I would avoid the last two... anyway confusing such price difference, coupons yes or no, some shops warns that additional import taxes has to be paid later while others say nothing about it. Better to get it at HiBy online store, whose price paid include import taxes already.
HiBye to F.Audio whose DAPs sound good but troublesome (except S1) and no support, no firmware updates that could fix a big issue on the Fa3s.
I upload the "big" deal for the HiBy dap. I wonder what (and IF!!!) would be received in exchange...!!
I picked up Hifiman HM-603 Slim on Aliexpress a few months ago. You might think I'm nuts for spending $100 on a ten year old dap, however you would be hard pressed to find another dap available at reasonable price using a multibit dac chip. TDA1543 used in HM-603 sounds very different than delta sigma chips of today's daps.
Naturally there are kinks involved in using a ten year old dap (radio style volume wheel, 40-50% battery left on my unit, etc), but the sound it produces is unmistakably different. Vocal rendition is very natural; different pace and depth of field to sound.
I like it so much that I ordered $50 leather case from Valentium.
Seller seems to still have a few HM-603 available in stock.
C$ 120.19 50%OFF | Second-hand HiFiMAN HM-603 music player https://a.aliexpress.com/_mNycC8G
Could I ask where and when u got the 4499 DSD? I don't know if such price/value exists on the market anymore, cus I can't find the 4499 version anywhere (and as far as I know it's waaay better than all the other versions)
Could I ask where and when u got the 4499 DSD? I don't know if such price/value exists on the market anymore, cus I can't find the 4499 version anywhere (and as far as I know it's waaay better than all the other versions)
Could I ask where and when u got the 4499 DSD? I don't know if such price/value exists on the market anymore, cus I can't find the 4499 version anywhere (and as far as I know it's waaay better than all the other versions)
I don't have the 4499 version, but I have had the 4495,4490,4497 and the dual 4497 and I can tell you right now, they get worst every year.
The 2 best sounding versions are the 4495 and 4490, the reason is that the 4490 and 4495 versions had low output impedance and used buf chips on the output, none of the newer ones had this, so all the newer zishans have very high output impedance and work terribly with multi driver iems, they make low impedance dynamic drivers sound boomy, and only really sound good with high impedance dynamic or planar drivers.
I haven't listened to the hm603, but I have heard a few ibasso, fiio, shanling and cayin players and the all sounded better then the zishans, the zishans are not really worth it unless your max budget is around 100 bucks and you don't mind spending another 200 and countless hours modding them.
At that point any used player at around 250-300 bucks will completely put the zishans to shame.
I would think the hm 603 would be miles ahead of the zishan dsds ak4499
I don't have the 4499 version, but I have had the 4495,4490,4497 and the dual 4497 and I can tell you right now, they get worst every year.
The 2 best sounding versions are the 4495 and 4490, the reason is that the 4490 and 4495 versions had low output impedance and used buf chips on the output, none of the newer ones had this, so all the newer zishans have very high output impedance and work terribly with multi driver iems, they make low impedance dynamic drivers sound boomy, and only really sound good with high impedance dynamic or planar drivers.
I haven't listened to the hm603, but I have heard a few ibasso, fiio, shanling and cayin players and the all sounded better then the zishans, the zishans are not really worth it unless your max budget is around 100 bucks and you don't mind spending another 200 and countless hours modding them.
At that point any used player at around 250-300 bucks will completely put the zishans to shame.
I would think the hm 603 would be miles ahead of the zishan dsds ak4499
I've heard only the AK4499 DSDs. Quirks and mods aside, I think it sounds very good with planar and with high impedance dynamic, due to high output impedance like you said. High impedance output is not necessarily a bad thing, but definitely not good for sensitive dynamics and BAs. For example, ZMF suggests high impedance output amp for their headphones. Anyway, I dont think HM603 sounds better or worse than ZiShan, they're different. HM603 is using a traditional multibit chip from the 90s; it has supressed dynamics and doesn't produce nearly as much details as DSDs AK4499. On the flipside, HM603 is melodical with more emotionally involving vocals.
I don't have the 4499 version, but I have had the 4495,4490,4497 and the dual 4497 and I can tell you right now, they get worst every year.
The 2 best sounding versions are the 4495 and 4490, the reason is that the 4490 and 4495 versions had low output impedance and used buf chips on the output, none of the newer ones had this, so all the newer zishans have very high output impedance and work terribly with multi driver iems, they make low impedance dynamic drivers sound boomy, and only really sound good with high impedance dynamic or planar drivers.
I haven't listened to the hm603, but I have heard a few ibasso, fiio, shanling and cayin players and the all sounded better then the zishans, the zishans are not really worth it unless your max budget is around 100 bucks and you don't mind spending another 200 and countless hours modding them.
At that point any used player at around 250-300 bucks will completely put the zishans to shame.
I would think the hm 603 would be miles ahead of the zishan dsds ak4499
You're not supposed to listen to Zishans in stock variation. If you're not ready to mod them, then, ofc, don't take them. I have a Z3 and it sounded like crap out of the box, after spending a few months modding it, now it sounds no worse than a Fiio X5 III. And fyi, you don't have to spend hundreds on the mod. I got my player for $35 and spent around $15 on the mod. And I have it from trusted sources that a modded DSD on AK4499 can sound better than a Fiio M11 Pro, which is.. pretty dem amazing for the price. If you know how to hold a soldering iron, then you can't beat any Zishan for the price (as far as I know), since they sound well over 2-3 times their price when compared to brand players
You're not supposed to listen to Zishans in stock variation. If you're not ready to mod them, then, ofc, don't take them. I have a Z3 and it sounded like crap out of the box, after spending a few months modding it, now it sounds no worse than a Fiio X5 III. And fyi, you don't have to spend hundreds on the mod. I got my player for $35 and spent around $15 on the mod. And I have it from trusted sources that a modded DSD on AK4499 can sound better than a Fiio M11 Pro, which is.. pretty dem amazing for the price. If you know how to hold a soldering iron, then you can't beat any Zishan for the price (as far as I know), since they sound well over 2-3 times their price when compared to brand players
I'm not a modder or very analytical in my listening but my unmodded Rockboxed Zishan T1 is my favourite of my players.It's very usable and, when I'm listening to it, it just makes me smile.
I'm not a modder or very analytical in my listening but my unmodded Rockboxed Zishan T1 is my favourite of my players.It's very usable and, when I'm listening to it, it just makes me smile.
That's nice. But I can guarantee that just a few quick tweaks like fixing the output impedance and installing original op-amps would make the sound a lot better. You don't need to go deep into modding and change everything to get a significant improvement, and it's really quite simple. I'm not very knowledgeable in electronics either. I just spent.. a lot of time (too much) on studying Russian modding forums (Russians have a lot more info on modding Zishans cus their currency is bad, so they need more value for price than the average rich person). Bought a $1 soldering iron from AliExpress, spent around half a year collecting SMD elements and getting my hands on original stuff needed for my heavy mod, and then just did it. It looks sloppy on the inside, and I'm sure any solderer worth squat would say I butchered the device, but it sounds amazing for how little a spent. And I got a lot of stuff you'll see in super expensive DAPs, such as the good old OP275, the powerful OPA1622 and the generally considered superior audiophile electrolytic capacitors - Elna Silmic II (which are btw used in the new ±$3.3k Hiby RS8 R2R DAP). All I'm saying is - u can't beat the sound quality of a modded Zishan for the price (as far as I know, if there's anything that comes close - please let me know). Idk about stock Zishans, if some are better, some are worse. My Z3 was worse than my phone before I fixed the output impedance
Funny... my F.Audio Fa3s suddenly dead. First, the left channel start make awful noise, then stop working, soon after the player got bricked. Ouch! Maybe it got angry after knowing it was going to be replaced by an HiBy F.Audio a disaster. Xs-01 and Xs-03 full of issues, only the smaller S1 still doing the job well.
Funny... my F.Audio Fa3s suddenly dead. First, the left channel start make awful noise, then stop working, soon after the player got bricked. Ouch! Maybe it got angry after knowing it was going to be replaced by an HiBy F.Audio a disaster. Xs-01 and Xs-03 full of issues, only the smaller S1 still doing the job well.
Tempted to nab one for my MP3's. Since the seller specifies there's just a Rockchip in there to handle everything. Like my old Sony... from rockchip ye came, to rockchip ye shall return.
Tempted to nab one for my MP3's. Since the seller specifies there's just a Rockchip in there to handle everything. Like my old Sony... from rockchip ye came, to rockchip ye shall return.
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