Hi. this is my first post in head-fi.
This is my review of M8 V2. I apologize that's too long.
TL;DR
For me,
HiFi-M8 V2 is the end game. The ASR(audio science review)'s review differs from mine and others', however I tried to illustrate why.
My Impressions for Hifi-M8 V2
My one reached me on Wednesday. And I love this from that time.
Is this a
"swiss army knife"? I guess it's not a good expression since it sounds like "an assortment of halfway tools". In my humble opinion, this is a kind of
"bayonet". Both the knife and the gun are effective while bayonet itself is a bit bulky as a weapon.
Here is my impressions. I use M8 V2 with my favorite cans; Ultrasone Signature Pro, Noble Audio Kaiser 10 and so on. I mainly use the cold side.
PROS:
- Overall, the sound is superb. That's all for me.
- When it comes to low-gain mode, it perfectly matches IEMs.
- The noise floor is astoundingly black. Absolutely no hiss.
- Fully detailed and seriously smooth, just like velvet.
- When it comes to high-gain mode, it greatly drives full-sized headphones.
- The sound signature is perfectly well balanced.
- The bass is very sharp, agile and impressive, not muddy.
- The mids are so rich that it deeply addict me.
- The treble is bright enough but does never hurt.
- The sound stage is vast perhaps thanks to its powerfulness.
CONS:
- The user interface and information is confusing.
- The instruction card in the box says "If windows, download the driver", while the Centrance support said "Use Windows 10's native driver in WASAPI."
- Centrance official site now describe V2 just as "Hifi-M8". However it is very confusing which model they indicate, just like ALO's "Rx" amp.
- You need to change the toggle switches kinda frequently. Especially gain mode.
- On high-gain mode with IEMs, there's a little audible hiss.
- NOTE: With Headphones, there's no audible hiss on high-gain mode. I confirmed it on several occasions, turning on/off, connected/not-connected and with high/low impedance cans.
- On low-gain mode with headphones, the sound goes less punchy.
- You need a little "routine" every time you use it.
- You have to confirm the gain mode matching your IEMs/headphones.
- It's absurd that Hifi-M8 V2 always starts from Bluetooth mode which is less admired than USB's. You of course need to switch.
- I personally didn't like Goodman's attitudes in the ASR forum.
- About that affair, I think Amir was not a good man, either. I'm gonna explain below.
ASR and Hifi-M8 V2
You know the ASR criticized the product last November. Honestly speaking, I got mad about Centrance at first. That's because I had written in the questionnaire that Centrance had to take care about him in advance. I think ASR has a too-much power to agitate people, even if it's nothing to do with his own will.
Anyway, I'm afraid there's a subtle negative impression towards the M8 V2 among customers. Let me explain my thoughts about that affair.
1. My respect for ASR
First of all, I respect ASR, however,
in my own way.
I like it since it illustrates how well the company achieved the product design. In other words, I regard it as a benchmarking site for audio brands' competences. In respect of that point, I think Centrance has already proved excellent and reliable enough without ASR's review. Hence I don't fully stand for Amir's "judgement".
2. "A science review"
When it came to the M8 V2, he firstly got mad about the ASIO driver and he criticized its philosophy throwing away tests on the way.
The former, it's mere just his own issue. He could stop the review then. The latter, I have no interest in a person's thoughts like "Audio devices must be something like blah blah blah". That's simply a matter of "I agree or I disagree" and I personally disagree with him at that point.
So, it was rather an essay than a scientific review, just like
when he beated the Monoprice dac.
3. "Audio science"
According to subjective reviews I've ever seen, Hifi-M8 V2 is obviously one of the most applauded products so far. I'm not sure why ASR concluded in that way and in the half way. (From his emotion?) No, honestly speaking, after that affair and his recent reviews that repeats "I recommend this headphones if you equalize them", the "audio science" itself of ASR got doubtful to me.
Maybe his audio science is just like
"audio engineering" and just for
"audio quality itself".
These years, in contrast to ASR, Final Audio, a leading audio company in Japan, insists that
"Acoustics" should be discussed using a new methodology like wines'. You cannot review wines only in engineering measurements, and cannot score the quality itself. For, they have sensual features and certain preferences that someone has and others don't have. However, the science of wines actually does exist. Like that, audio science has to deal with sensual features and preferences, I assume.
I'm happy if you also rethink what audio science is.
4. What about Goodman?
On the other hand, to be honest, I was disappointed at Goodman's posts there.
Please don't speak ill, and please don't promise a thing you cannot schedule firmly. Please be proud of yourself.
