After listening last night for a couple of hours, I can honestly say that the MiFi M8 V2 is now my favorite headphone amp for my balanced JH Audio Roxanne custom IEM.
I have always said that the Roxanne sound best with an amplifier, while they sound a little more bland when played though an iPhone headphone jack (or lightning adapter). So, when using an amplifier with the Roxanne I've found that they can also be a little picky about things like the output impedance and other characteristics of the amp being used.
The Roxanne were perfect with the M8 V1 at the 1ohm or 2ohm output impedance setting, sounding almost identical to using the Roxanne on the Chord Mojo DAC/amp. This caused Dale Lott of Aurisonics (and then Fender and Spear Audio Labs) to head over to the CEntrance booth at RMAF a few years back, to see about securing a HiFiM8 for themselves. When using the OG M8 V1 in 10 ohm output mode, the Roxanne would become a bit warmer and the bass would bleed into the low midrange. The HiFi M8 V2 output impedance is 0ohm (zero) on the cold side and 1ohm on the hot side, which is perfect for all of my IEM.
As stated before, I have the Moon-Audio Black Dragon V2 balanced 2.5mm cable, with a black dragon 3.5mm single-ended pigtail, so that I can use it on both the 2.5mm and the 3.5mm outputs. The problem with comparing the 2.5mm balanced output to the 3.5mm output is that switching from balanced output to single ended sounds much quieter, which is not very helpful with making direct AB comparisons.
The M8 V2 balanced amp section with the Roxanne simply blew me away the first time I tried it! There are almost no words. It's beauty - sonic balance and transparency, refinement and space, micro and macro-detail, black background and dynamics - was so sublime that anything I'd listen to shortly afterwards lost it's shine.
I did have to turn up the volume noticeably after switching to the 3.5mm output, so it's hard to know if it is equally as good in real life. If I started listening to the 3.5mm output after a short break I thought it was fantastic as well, until I would switch to the balanced output again. I have to say, because the Roxanne live on the balanced black dragon cable, I will spend 100% of my listening time through the 2.5mm output.
I then listened to the M8 V2 with my Westone ES60 via the 3.5mm output, which can be easily driven by almost anything, and it was also extremely good with maybe a slight emphasis on warmth and lower midrange body. I didn't get quite as blown away with them because the Westone optional Hi-Res 3.5mm cable they not nearly as good as on the Moon-Audio Silver Dragon cable. I'll have to dig out my balanced Silver Dragon cable tonight to compare with the 2.5mm output today (I'd recently had a short in the 2.5mm jack strain relief repaired and didn't put it back in the case with the ES60).
In low gain mode with the Roxanne or ES60 the volume knob always stays balanced, without favoring one channel orver another at extremely quiet volumes before the sound cuts out when going too low - even on the louder 2.5mm balanced output. Audio cut-out happens at volumes much lower than I have ever tried to listen to music before, so that is great.
In high gain with my custom IEM, the volume control is still very useable via both the 3.5mm and even the louder 2.5mm jack, where I get to not quite as low volumes before audio cuts out. That higher volume at cut-out would still be several dB below my normal quiet listening levels, so I can leave it in high gain to use IEM with the M8 V2 if I want to quickly switch to full-size headphones soon after. I did NOT notice any change in audio quality between low gain and high gain settings, like I do with my Schitt Audio Magni 3 that sounds better in high gain than low gain.
I'd almost say that my job is done here with IEM, but I still need to listen to my ES60 with my balanced cable, as well as try some more universal fit IEM like my Westone W80 and HiFiMan RE-2000, etc.
Yay, I love my job
(I'm actually retired, but this is what I would want to do). [I also hate autocorrect typos that make me edit posts]
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