[mgoodman]

I'm back from the show. A bit tired after a busy weekend, but learned a lot!

We found and tested with pretty much all headphones we were looking for. Susvara, Abyss 1266, HE-6, HEDD, Either Flow C, Stealth, all appeared to have sufficient loudness. When I listened to people's headphones I never had the volume knob over 2pm. Some customers had to turn it all the way up. I'm not arguing, but man, those ears are not replaceable... So it seems there is enough voltage to make everyone happy.

We did see that the power supply was straining when driving the 13 Ohm Aeon 2 Noir. Too much current. Loudness was adequate, so the amp held up, but power supply was on the verge of giving out. We are working now to beef up the power supply to make sure it is happy with 13 Ohm cans. Frankly, this one took me by surprise. We weren't expecting to drive anything that low in impedance. My bad. I went to see Dan Clark at the show to get the specs for the Noir. He said: "Focus on current". Yes, we are doing that now. Making sure the power supply can deliver the current. Seems like a manageable change. We know the battery can deliver, so therefore it's the switch-mode power supplies and we have a way to beef them up. We are going to prototype the changes in the lab this week.

Overall, with this power supply change in place I think the product will meet (and likely exceed) expectations. It's definitely louder than M8. For most headphones, M8 is plenty loud. But for a small number of planars, you will find the Ampersand will be the answer. I'm focused on this now and will let you know once we have made the mods.

ssriram2791 - would you like to beta test what we have?

 

[ssriram2791]

I'm back from the show. A bit tired after a busy weekend, but learned a lot!

We found and tested with pretty much all headphones we were looking for. Susvara, Abyss 1266, HE-6, HEDD, Either Flow C, Stealth, all appeared to have sufficient loudness. When I listened to people's headphones I never had the volume knob over 2pm. Some customers had to turn it all the way up. I'm not arguing, but man, those ears are not replaceable... So it seems there is enough voltage to make everyone happy.

We did see that the power supply was straining when driving the 13 Ohm Aeon 2 Noir. Too much current. Loudness was adequate, so the amp held up, but power supply was on the verge of giving out. We are working now to beef up the power supply to make sure it is happy with 13 Ohm cans. Frankly, this one took me by surprise. We weren't expecting to drive anything that low in impedance. My bad. I went to see Dan Clark at the show to get the specs for the Noir. He said: "Focus on current". Yes, we are doing that now. Making sure the power supply can deliver the current. Seems like a manageable change. We know the battery can deliver, so therefore it's the switch-mode power supplies and we have a way to beef them up. We are going to prototype the changes in the lab this week.

Overall, with this power supply change in place I think the product will meet (and likely exceed) expectations. It's definitely louder than M8. For most headphones, M8 is plenty loud. But for a small number of planars, you will find the Ampersand will be the answer. I'm focused on this now and will let you know once we have made the mods.

ssriram2791 - would you like to beta test what we have?

First up, thank you so much for all the feedback. Hope you get well deserved rest after a busy weekend for sure.

Happy to hear that HEDDphone was part of the demos and I will take your word on them being sufficiently driven with AMPERSAND. Most of the headphones mentioned in your comment have low sensitivity and impedance is not at that high. And yes, people might be hearing at 100 dB because they probably are looking to extract good amount of bass from those cans for reasons mentioned in threads previously.

I would love to test with AudioTechnica ATH-R70x (470 ohm, 99 dB/W) given how the impedance on those cans are across the frequency range with updated AMPERSAND (your last comment talks about the mods).

I also believe there have been few other experts like @HeadphoneAddict and @ExpatinJapan who could be looped in for feedback if you plan on beta test. This is just a suggestion if they are interested. Their views on the Hifi-M8 V2 convinced me to purchase the product.

I am excited to check out the final version and place a order for that. Thank you once again for taking time to put together your thoughts on Canjam experience.

 

[Slim1970]

I'm back from the show. A bit tired after a busy weekend, but learned a lot!

We found and tested with pretty much all headphones we were looking for. Susvara, Abyss 1266, HE-6, HEDD, Either Flow C, Stealth, all appeared to have sufficient loudness. When I listened to people's headphones I never had the volume knob over 2pm. Some customers had to turn it all the way up. I'm not arguing, but man, those ears are not replaceable... So it seems there is enough voltage to make everyone happy.

We did see that the power supply was straining when driving the 13 Ohm Aeon 2 Noir. Too much current. Loudness was adequate, so the amp held up, but power supply was on the verge of giving out. We are working now to beef up the power supply to make sure it is happy with 13 Ohm cans. Frankly, this one took me by surprise. We weren't expecting to drive anything that low in impedance. My bad. I went to see Dan Clark at the show to get the specs for the Noir. He said: "Focus on current". Yes, we are doing that now. Making sure the power supply can deliver the current. Seems like a manageable change. We know the battery can deliver, so therefore it's the switch-mode power supplies and we have a way to beef them up. We are going to prototype the changes in the lab this week.

Overall, with this power supply change in place I think the product will meet (and likely exceed) expectations. It's definitely louder than M8. For most headphones, M8 is plenty loud. But for a small number of planars, you will find the Ampersand will be the answer. I'm focused on this now and will let you know once we have made the mods.

ssriram2791 - would you like to beta test what we have?

If the power supply is beefed up, will there be way for current owners to get their Hifi M8-V2’s power supplies upgraded?

 

[ChrisLN]

I'm back from the show. A bit tired after a busy weekend, but learned a lot!

We found and tested with pretty much all headphones we were looking for. Susvara, Abyss 1266, HE-6, HEDD, Either Flow C, Stealth, all appeared to have sufficient loudness. When I listened to people's headphones I never had the volume knob over 2pm. Some customers had to turn it all the way up. I'm not arguing, but man, those ears are not replaceable... So it seems there is enough voltage to make everyone happy.

We did see that the power supply was straining when driving the 13 Ohm Aeon 2 Noir. Too much current. Loudness was adequate, so the amp held up, but power supply was on the verge of giving out. We are working now to beef up the power supply to make sure it is happy with 13 Ohm cans. Frankly, this one took me by surprise. We weren't expecting to drive anything that low in impedance. My bad. I went to see Dan Clark at the show to get the specs for the Noir. He said: "Focus on current". Yes, we are doing that now. Making sure the power supply can deliver the current. Seems like a manageable change. We know the battery can deliver, so therefore it's the switch-mode power supplies and we have a way to beef them up. We are going to prototype the changes in the lab this week.

Overall, with this power supply change in place I think the product will meet (and likely exceed) expectations. It's definitely louder than M8. For most headphones, M8 is plenty loud. But for a small number of planars, you will find the Ampersand will be the answer. I'm focused on this now and will let you know once we have made the mods.

ssriram2791 - would you like to beta test what we have?

Good to hear that you have tried Susvara. Susvara is exactly the reason I had preordered the Ampersand when I saw the initial target for this amp. I 'd like to have something portable to drive the Susvara comfortably, even if it is not the optimal setup for Susvara. For that, I have the Bakoon 13R, which I can not use when I am moving around. Thank you for all the efforts you have put into this little amp!

 

[mgoodman]

If the power supply is beefed up, will there be way for current owners to get their Hifi M8-V2’s power supplies upgraded?

Hi -- Sorry, this statement referred to the new product Ampersand -- I don't know if there is a thread for it yet, so I posted here.

Meantime HiFi-M8 is an industry darling - everybody likes it! we don't plan any changes.

 

[mgoodman]

Good to hear that you have tried Susvara. Susvara is exactly the reason I had preordered the Ampersand when I saw the initial target for this amp. I 'd like to have something portable to drive the Susvara comfortably, even if it is not the optimal setup for Susvara. For that, I have the Bakoon 13R, which I can not use when I am moving around. Thank you for all the efforts you have put into this little amp!

We are burning the midnight oil to get it to you ASAP!

 

[newworld666]

Hi -- Sorry, this statement referred to the new product Ampersand -- I don't know if there is a thread for it yet, so I posted here.

Meantime HiFi-M8 is an industry darling - everybody likes it! we don't plan any changes.

Using a simple Aptx BT module, is still a real limitation of the M8V2, as it's not background noise free when using the M8V2 compared to the USB-C input (we can clearly hear this background hiss between tracks in a playlist with some headphones or IEM).
Some other of my portable DAC/amp with LDAC BT DAC input are totally noise free between tracks.
USB-C DAC drops the battery life significantly when using it, instead of BT DAC.

 

[ExpatinJapan]

Looking forward to hearing the final verdict on how much juice this will pump out compared to Hifi-m8v2.

 

[ExpatinJapan]

DDhifihave this adapter

has anyone tried it with the hifi-m8v2

it takes a 4.4mm balanced cable

 

[SDBiotek]

DDhifihave this adapter

has anyone tried it with the hifi-m8v2

it takes a 4.4mm balanced cable

I have that one, it works fine and feels very solid. I've used it with several different headphones with my Hifi M8v2.

 

[newworld666]

I am a bit disappointed with the available power of my M8 v2 at 22ohms, as I just bought a Dan Clark Stealth which needs a minimum of 2x 400mw at 22ohms, unfortunately the M8 v2 is really falling short for low and ultra low frequencies. I get some really clipped and distorded sound on some tracks.
Let´s hope the Ampersand will manage to give 1W at 22ohms.

 

[elira]

I am a bit disappointed with the available power of my M8 v2 at 22ohms, as I just bought a Dan Clark Stealth which needs a minimum of 2x 400mw at 22ohms, unfortunately the M8 v2 is really falling short for low and ultra low frequencies. I get some really clipped and distorded sound on some tracks.
Let´s hope the Ampersand will manage to give 1W at 22ohms.

I sold my M8 V2 because performance was not what I expected, plus the lag on Bluetooth mode. It seems like a great idea of a device but it fell short.

Ampersand also looks nice, but I won’t bet my money to it.

 

[mgoodman]

I am a bit disappointed with the available power of my M8 v2 at 22ohms, as I just bought a Dan Clark Stealth which needs a minimum of 2x 400mw at 22ohms, unfortunately the M8 v2 is really falling short for low and ultra low frequencies. I get some really clipped and distorded sound on some tracks.
Let´s hope the Ampersand will manage to give 1W at 22ohms.

Most recently, we are getting 6W out of Ampersand. Were able to optimize it further following CANJAM learnings.

Since there is no digital and no BT inside the Ampersand, the power supply isn't working so hard compared to M8. This means that more power is available for the amp. So for DC Stealth, Noir and others like that we will have more available power. Sending out some beta units this week and hopefully freezing the design shortly.

 

[ssriram2791]

Most recently, we are getting 6W out of Ampersand. Were able to optimize it further following CANJAM learnings.

Since there is no digital and no BT inside the Ampersand, the power supply isn't working so hard compared to M8. This means that more power is available for the amp. So for DC Stealth, Noir and others like that we will have more available power. Sending out some beta units this week and hopefully freezing the design shortly.

Eagerly looking forward for the full specifications (3W per Channel @ ?? ohms) release hopefully by end of this month. Thanks @mgoodman for considering all possible scenarios (high/low impedance, voltage mode, current mode) when designing the AMP and taking learnings out of Canjam.

 

[mgoodman]

An update on Ampersand:

I wanted to let you know that we are making a couple of improvements compared to the CANJAM proto.

- Beta-testers requested that the output jack became 1/4" as opposed to 3.5 mm. Large planars often come with the big plug and while removing the need for bulky cable adapters, this change also communicates higher power. We want to steer people away from using IEMs with this beast in order to save their ears.

- We have redesigned the power supply yet one more time to provide more robust power delivery, which results in even lower THD and better bass.

Just keeping you guys in the loop. I'm on version 17 of the PCB right now, had to rip-up and overhaul the design several times, in order to fit the new features and improve power delivery infrastructure. Version 17 is the highest one we've ever had. This represents a lot of learning about high-power battery systems and subsequent optimizations.

Small packages make this challenging, yet I'm determined to make this an amazing product for planars. Planning to complete the redesign early next week, hold an internal review and then it's off to the factory.