[Frankie D]

I am also a Bliss user and have recently purchased the HM1.

However, I've observed a situation similar to Bliss, where the HM1 also requires a burn-in period.

Based on my experience with Bliss, after enough burning time, there will be better musicality and performance (also including midrange).

ConvincemeAudio's HM1 is new and has not had enough burn-in time, so I take his comments with a pinch of salt.

CMA seems to like a bit more colored sound. He should be used only as one input. I will learn more about him after he reviews the Lina stack.

 

[HONEYBOY]

So what’s your findings

Sorry man, tried listening on the weekend, and my brain wasn't having any of it. Today seems better.

This is a set up I've been wanting to try using either WA23 or HM1 as a pre-amplifier. This goes without saying, but this is by no means a scientific test. If anything, I want to redo under better conditions. Additionally the differences are all more subtle than what the descriptions might make one think.

The Tambaqui DAC only has XLR outputs and I only have a pair of Audience frontRow XLR cables so I've had to also use some Atlas RCA cables I had lying around as well. The extra set of XLR cables I needed have not arrived as yet.

I first tried the HM1 as pre to WA23, and felt that this was not the way to go. It took away some of the warmth of the WA23, and in my view some of the magic in refinement was lost. The richness of the sound was reduced. I felt separation seemed to have improved, but there was an overall loss in transparency and clarity. Suddenly the background was not as clear. These are very subtle differences, but I thought perhaps I just like the WA23 sound as is more.

I tried WA23 as pre to HM1 and the first time I tried this I thought perhaps this is also not the way to go lol. I think it depends here though. With WA23 as pre you can tell that it has a bit of the WA23 imbued signature. The vocals are more intimate, a bit more body, and a smidgeon more forwardly placed in the soundstage. I hear a bit more depth in the soundstage, but again, I am left thinking that there is indeed some loss of transparency. The raw amazing energy, impact and clarity is reduced. With so many variables am unsure as to where the drop in transparency lies. I prefer the sound without the preamplifier. If one wants to warm up the sound just a bit then this works, but in each of the configurations I cannot see a very meaningful improvement relative to the price one would have to pay for another device addition.

Some of the best advice I ever got was that "if you gonna be bad, be good at it" I like both amps just as they are and they are pretty badass at what they bring to the table. I think adding a pre-amplifier to either might make it sound slightly different, but not necessarily better. It seemed like wanting to have someone be what they’re not. We'll see.

The quick test though was worthwhile because I had always listened to the HM1 in balanced configuration. It sounds different in a good way unbalanced. I need to explore whether this is just the system being super transparent to any changes or an inherent sound difference in the amp. With balanced it is more clean and resolved whereas listening unbalanced it was a more natural, fluid, and less dry.

 

[adrianm]

hot off the press

 

[TDinCali]

Sorry man, tried listening on the weekend, and my brain wasn't having any of it. Today seems better.

This is a set up I've been wanting to try using either WA23 or HM1 as a pre-amplifier. This goes without saying, but this is by no means a scientific test. If anything, I want to redo under better conditions. Additionally the differences are all more subtle than what the descriptions might make one think.

The Tambaqui DAC only has XLR outputs and I only have a pair of Audience frontRow XLR cables so I've had to also use some Atlas RCA cables I had lying around as well. The extra set of XLR cables I needed have not arrived as yet.

I first tried the HM1 as pre to WA23, and felt that this was not the way to go. It took away some of the warmth of the WA23, and in my view some of the magic in refinement was lost. The richness of the sound was reduced. I felt separation seemed to have improved, but there was an overall loss in transparency and clarity. Suddenly the background was not as clear. These are very subtle differences, but I thought perhaps I just like the WA23 sound as is more.

I tried WA23 as pre to HM1 and the first time I tried this I thought perhaps this is also not the way to go lol. I think it depends here though. With WA23 as pre you can tell that it has a bit of the WA23 imbued signature. The vocals are more intimate, a bit more body, and a smidgeon more forwardly placed in the soundstage. I hear a bit more depth in the soundstage, but again, I am left thinking that there is indeed some loss of transparency. The raw amazing energy, impact and clarity is reduced. With so many variables am unsure as to where the drop in transparency lies. I prefer the sound without the preamplifier. If one wants to warm up the sound just a bit then this works, but in each of the configurations I cannot see a very meaningful improvement relative to the price one would have to pay for another device addition.

Some of the best advice I ever got was that "if you gonna be bad, be good at it" I like both amps just as they are and they are pretty badass at what they bring to the table. I think adding a pre-amplifier to either might make it sound slightly different, but not necessarily better. It seemed like wanting to have someone be what they’re not. We'll see.

The quick test though was worthwhile because I had always listened to the HM1 in balanced configuration. It sounds different in a good way unbalanced. I need to explore whether this is just the system being super transparent to any changes or an inherent sound difference in the amp. With balanced it is more clean and resolved whereas listening unbalanced it was a more natural, fluid, and less dry.

I tried mine as a pre with my WA33 and didn’t like it. I also didn’t like my Woo as a pre for the HM1. In both cases I lost the thing that I most enjoyed about each one. I listen to each separately and enjoy it more.

 

[ra990]

Is there anything I need to look out for in terms of issues with early batches?

I have put a digital piano in my office, next to my desk. I would love to actually use the A/B source mixing of the HM1 and be able to listen to music out of my Holo DAC while also playing the keys on top of it. Most mixers I have tried take a big hit in SQ, so I've avoided them.

 

[TDinCali]

Check to see if you have the larger fuse. Zahl sent out larger size fuses to prevent the issues some us had in the beginning.

 

[plumpudding2]

Does anyone know if there's any specs available for the HM1 below 10 ohm? The manual states it can do 18W peak at 10 ohms , but no data below that. Torq over at the headphones.com forums posted this chart:

But he didn't state how he calculated it and I have no clue how reliable it is.
I was thinking of whether it would be feasible to use the HM1 to drive monitors or speakers with higher sensitivity, but then power output at 3 ohms becomes important.

EDIT: Just checked out the Riviera AIC-10 it has 10 Wpc into 8 ohms so that's comparable and it has speaker taps. The Enleum 23-R states 45 Watts into 4 Ohms and 25 into 8. 3-ohm speaker compatibility will have to wait for the email response but at least HM1 should be able to drive whatever speakers people are using with their AIC-10.

 

[GoldenSound]

Does anyone know if there's any specs available for the HM1 below 10 ohm? The manual states it can do 18W peak at 10 ohms , but no data below that. Torq over at the headphones.com forums posted this chart:

But he didn't state how he calculated it and I have no clue how reliable it is.
I was thinking of whether it would be feasible to use the HM1 to drive monitors or speakers with higher sensitivity, but then power output at 3 ohms becomes important.

If its 8 ohm speakers you're probably fine. But 3 ohm is getting pretty low. You probably should contact Zahl and ask if the amp is safe/stable with loads that low.

 

[Torq]

But he didn't state how he calculated it and I have no clue how reliable it is.

It's just using Ohm's law against the closest (next highest) manufacturer-provided rating (which is why sometimes you'll see two different impedances showing the same value - they're straddling multiple manufacturer rating points).

If the impedances quoted by the manufacturer actually match up with one of the loads in the table, that line will show green numbers. Otherwise they're calculated (again it's just Ohm's law). And in this particular case Zähl quote power as 4W @ 30Ω and 7W @ 15Ω (both RMS), and at 12W @ 10Ω (PEAK). So for loads of 10Ω or lower, it's using a PEAK value.

I should probably remove that rating from the source data and let it do all the calculations under the RMS values.

Note none of these numbers (manufacturer provided ratings aside) take into account any limitations that would "break" the simple application of Ohm's law - such as current, thermal and voltage swing limits.

 

[plumpudding2]

It's just using Ohm's law against the closest (next highest) manufacturer-provided rating (which is why sometimes you'll see two different impedances showing the same value - they're straddling multiple manufacturer rating points).

If the impedances quoted by the manufacturer actually match up with one of the loads in the table, that line will show green numbers. Otherwise they're calculated (again it's just Ohm's law). And in this particular case Zähl quote power as 4W @ 30Ω and 7W @ 15Ω (both RMS), and at 12W @ 10Ω (PEAK). So for loads of 10Ω or lower, it's using a PEAK value.

I should probably remove that rating from the source data and let it do all the calculations under the RMS values.

Note none of these numbers (manufacturer provided ratings aside) take into account any limitations that would "break" the simple application of Ohm's law - such as current, thermal and voltage swing limits.

ah, I should've known you also kept tabs on this thread, thanks for the explanation!

 

[Frankie D]

It's just using Ohm's law against the closest (next highest) manufacturer-provided rating (which is why sometimes you'll see two different impedances showing the same value - they're straddling multiple manufacturer rating points).

If the impedances quoted by the manufacturer actually match up with one of the loads in the table, that line will show green numbers. Otherwise they're calculated (again it's just Ohm's law). And in this particular case Zähl quote power as 4W @ 30Ω and 7W @ 15Ω (both RMS), and at 12W @ 10Ω (PEAK). So for loads of 10Ω or lower, it's using a PEAK value.

I should probably remove that rating from the source data and let it do all the calculations under the RMS values.

Note none of these numbers (manufacturer provided ratings aside) take into account any limitations that would "break" the simple application of Ohm's law - such as current, thermal and voltage swing limits.

I would think doing all based off of RMS values would be more valuable vs using RMS and Peak. Appreciate it. Thank you.

 

[unfitstew]

I think I need to start lowering the HM1s volume through my dac. Maybe 10Db or so. Because the HM1 is gets loud really quick for easier to drive headphones. Like the LCD-5 goes from off to almost too loud at 8 to 9pm already. Hard to get the just right volume because of that. Maybe I will switch to using single ended to help with volume too.

 

[Nighthawk7397]

I think I need to start lowering the HM1s volume through my dac. Maybe 10Db or so. Because the HM1 is gets loud really quick for easier to drive headphones. Like the LCD-5 goes from off to almost too loud at 8 to 9pm already. Hard to get the just right volume because of that. Maybe I will switch to using single ended to help with volume too.

do you have the input gain switch on perhaps? i dont have volume issues when using iems on it

 

[unfitstew]

do you have the input gain switch on perhaps? i dont have volume issues when using iems on it

I don't think so but I will check when I get home. That would make sense for it being so loud at low input.

 

[Utah dude]

I think I need to start lowering the HM1s volume through my dac. Maybe 10Db or so. Because the HM1 is gets loud really quick for easier to drive headphones. Like the LCD-5 goes from off to almost too loud at 8 to 9pm already. Hard to get the just right volume because of that. Maybe I will switch to using single ended to help with volume too.

May also depend on the output voltage of your DAC. I don’t have LCD-5s, but even with my more sensitive headphones like the Elite, I am between 9-10 o’clock using balanced out. I am using a Holo Audio Spring DAC. For IEMs, it is a Little to much with my setup, however, I am impressed how fine adjustments the volume control on the HM1 allows.