[Chris13]

Hello all, I'm going to Jaben store, Singapore, in a few days to buy a hifiman player : don't know again if it will be HM-601 or HM-801. Given your experiences, would it be a good idea (in term of SQ improvement) to add a good portable amp to the players? Are the default HIFIMAN amps already good enough compared to Meier or RSA amps? Thanks

 

[GeorgeGoodman]

From what I have read, the big amp in the HM-801 (not the GAME amp) is very good for big cans, but the HM-601 falls a little short of the power needed to really push phones. Even the big amp in the 801 uis not as good as a top portable amp, as it is just a card and has space limitations. It really depends on what headphones you want to drive. If you have IEMs or portable phones, the built in amps are fine, but if you want to drive some big hard to drive cans, you should get a good separate amps.

 

[Andrew Jones]

I'm happy with the way the 601 drives both a pair of HD650 and a pair of AH-D2000. I haven't yet compared with a portable amp (I have a Predator) because I'm happy with the way it sounds without one,

 

[gimbertt]

My 601 sounds good without an amp but when you use an amp the sound seems to have more of everything.

 

[mrarroyo]

It is all up to the individual user, I find that I do not need to use an external amp when driving my on the go cans (iems, buds, and small units like the ATH-ESW9).