Wow, I didn't know the HiFi-M8 has a second geranation. I have the original, different looking HiFi-M8 paired with my iPod Classic when I was slowly getting into this hobby. I remembered choosing this dac/amp because it was one of the most powerful portable amps at that time (1.4W without load or something like that). The HiFi-M8 not only could drive full-size headphones but also came with bass/treble controls that made a real impact on the sound. It was also a handy desktop combo unit that could charge my phone. Yes, it was expensive, but it was certainly a better option than whatever DAP that Astell&Kern and HiFiMan introduced at that time.
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CEntrance Hifi-M8 V2 Review (DAC and headphone amplifier)
- Thread starter amirm
- Start date
restorer-john
Grand Contributor
Relying on the three solder pins for a 1/4" headphone jack is a sure path to dry joints.
Omg wat a complicated design to flash some LED’s. They could just have used some very budget friendly programmable RGB LED’s. They are bright, require no additional steering and are just 7 cents a pop. And you could do fancy color schemes. All by using just one or two gpio’s.
phoenixsong
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It is disappointing performance especially considering the price and wait times (I was constantly reminded by the emails I received from them fufu~)
I also dislike the potentially misleading "pro audio" design which might make some listeners go "Oh, music should actually sound like this, just as the producers intended" or something like that XP
Edit: On second thought, I wouldn't have any qualms with the design if it were functional with good performance hmm
I also dislike the potentially misleading "pro audio" design which might make some listeners go "Oh, music should actually sound like this, just as the producers intended" or something like that XP
Edit: On second thought, I wouldn't have any qualms with the design if it were functional with good performance hmm
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restorer-john
Grand Contributor
@amirm Did you run some test tones at the various indicated levels on the VU meter to see how accurate it is?
They call it a "calibrated" DAC, the internal shots show no cal adjustments for the bargraph display drivers if it's an analogue driver IC. And if the levels are digitally derived, that makes it a rather sophisticated product...
They call it a "calibrated" DAC, the internal shots show no cal adjustments for the bargraph display drivers if it's an analogue driver IC. And if the levels are digitally derived, that makes it a rather sophisticated product...
OP
- Thread Starter
- #26
I did not. If I get a chance I will look.
carlosmante
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Seriously, though, thanks for these great reviews. It's great to have this site to checked on a product review before making a purchase - in the event the item performs poorly and is not priced accordingly.
magicscreen
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You are crazy to believe some $100 Topping has a better sound or the at least the same sound.
This is $750 so has better sound quality seven times minimum.
This is the law of capitalism.
boselover61
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I have the Topping L30 and I put a $1000 price tag with a sticker onto the top of the unit and this improves the sound tremendously.
highpurityusbcable
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After seeing photos of the device I remembered that there's a short version of this review exists already.
magicscreen
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Unfortunately that is no simple. Nobody would buy it for $1000.
I was duped with the original version. I was an early adopter. The beta version debuted at a canjam event and received raved reviews. I waited a over a year to get mine, though promised 3 to 4 months. Then he was outed with lying about specs most notable balanced headphone output which was proven to be a lie after someone did a teardown. Also promised was 1 watt of power which of course was another lie. And as bad as this piece of junk was, the customer service was even worse. I had two to fail on me. They replace the first one with one that was defective out of the box, but didn't honor the warranty on the second. The worse thing was, the version that was finally released was a serverly dumbed down version of the beta one that debuted at canjam. I'm surprised this guy is still in business.
CEntrance here. Just saw this -- Rest assured the team will review this carefully on Monday. So far, some quick reactions:
- Thank you for commending the product's usability. We are glad operation was easy to figure out for the reviewer. HiFi-M8 is rather complex for a portable device. This small product features 4 headphone outputs, including 2 balanced and 2 unbalanced outputs. It's designed to drive a variety of headphones from either USB or BT input. We are not aware of any other portable, battery-powered device which has four headphone outputs, on different jacks.
- It's important to point out what this product is and what it's not. The main goal with the product was to deliver a large amount of flexibility in the small package, to the mobile user, who may find themselves comparing headphones at meets, listening to music with a friend, switching from USB to Bluetooth, listening at home or on the train, etc. This product will fit a number of scenarios and will do it well. We designed it for those customers, who prefer much flexibility in one device.
- We also worked to accommodate any headphones, from very sensitive IEMs to huge, hard-to drive overhead cans, to give people a tool to compare cans at meets, at the store, etc. But that creates a very large and challenging range of levels. HiFi-M8 can support IEMs with pitch black background AND overhead cans that are hard to drive. We know of no other product that offers that range. As it is, HiFi-M8 will deliver the goods with hundreds of popular cans.
- We noticed the esteemed reviewer didn't get to try listening to the "cool side" (the low power side). We believe that doesn't offer fair treatment and wholeheartedly invite them to do so -- HiFi-M8 is dead quiet with IEMs AND has the power to drive big overhead cans. No other product out there offers this. Again, this is not required for everyone, but we happen to know plenty of people with 30+ headphones in their collections.
- You can think of HiFi-M8 as a Swiss Army Knife, which can help you in a variety of situations. This needs to be kept in mind as you are evaluating this product against the others. Comparing it to a desktop DAC that's got more power, or a pocket DAC that's smaller and more slick in appearance is not completely fair. Again, HiFi-M8 is neither of those devices and it's important to point out that utility and flexibility are huge factors with this product. You don't take your SUV on the race track, but it can certainly take on the rough terrain. If HiFi-M8 was a car, it would be a very sensible and capable SUV. Sort of a Land Rover, if you can go with our metaphor.
- The comment about distortion at the last 20% seems odd indeed. We have requested the review unit back to investigate.
- Sorry to hear the ASIO driver didn't work out for you. In our experience it's quite stable. Which OS did you use? Happy to help, if you are willing to work with us of course. We are in Chicago, just a phone call/email away, and we always provide great support for customers and reviewers.
- Regarding the bargraphs, we find that a lot of people actually like them. Note you can turn down the brightness all the way down to nothing and then they consume almost no power, which saves your battery. We chose analog bargraphs because compared to CPU-driven digital ones they consume less power and produce less noise. So that's a better user experience.
- Bargraph levels are calibrated using 1% resistors. We find that quite precise in practice. The reason HiFi-M8 has bargraphs is simple -- while it's sitting on your desk, it's nice to see the meters bounce. If you have it in your pocket or backpack, turn down the brightness to "off" to save the battery. Your call.
Please feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions or require clarifications on the above. We know that this site relies on the opinions of the reviewer and we respect their opinions. We are happy to clarify any questions that the reviewer or any user may have.
Michael Goodman
CEntrance
- Thank you for commending the product's usability. We are glad operation was easy to figure out for the reviewer. HiFi-M8 is rather complex for a portable device. This small product features 4 headphone outputs, including 2 balanced and 2 unbalanced outputs. It's designed to drive a variety of headphones from either USB or BT input. We are not aware of any other portable, battery-powered device which has four headphone outputs, on different jacks.
- It's important to point out what this product is and what it's not. The main goal with the product was to deliver a large amount of flexibility in the small package, to the mobile user, who may find themselves comparing headphones at meets, listening to music with a friend, switching from USB to Bluetooth, listening at home or on the train, etc. This product will fit a number of scenarios and will do it well. We designed it for those customers, who prefer much flexibility in one device.
- We also worked to accommodate any headphones, from very sensitive IEMs to huge, hard-to drive overhead cans, to give people a tool to compare cans at meets, at the store, etc. But that creates a very large and challenging range of levels. HiFi-M8 can support IEMs with pitch black background AND overhead cans that are hard to drive. We know of no other product that offers that range. As it is, HiFi-M8 will deliver the goods with hundreds of popular cans.
- We noticed the esteemed reviewer didn't get to try listening to the "cool side" (the low power side). We believe that doesn't offer fair treatment and wholeheartedly invite them to do so -- HiFi-M8 is dead quiet with IEMs AND has the power to drive big overhead cans. No other product out there offers this. Again, this is not required for everyone, but we happen to know plenty of people with 30+ headphones in their collections.
- You can think of HiFi-M8 as a Swiss Army Knife, which can help you in a variety of situations. This needs to be kept in mind as you are evaluating this product against the others. Comparing it to a desktop DAC that's got more power, or a pocket DAC that's smaller and more slick in appearance is not completely fair. Again, HiFi-M8 is neither of those devices and it's important to point out that utility and flexibility are huge factors with this product. You don't take your SUV on the race track, but it can certainly take on the rough terrain. If HiFi-M8 was a car, it would be a very sensible and capable SUV. Sort of a Land Rover, if you can go with our metaphor.
- The comment about distortion at the last 20% seems odd indeed. We have requested the review unit back to investigate.
- Sorry to hear the ASIO driver didn't work out for you. In our experience it's quite stable. Which OS did you use? Happy to help, if you are willing to work with us of course. We are in Chicago, just a phone call/email away, and we always provide great support for customers and reviewers.
- Regarding the bargraphs, we find that a lot of people actually like them. Note you can turn down the brightness all the way down to nothing and then they consume almost no power, which saves your battery. We chose analog bargraphs because compared to CPU-driven digital ones they consume less power and produce less noise. So that's a better user experience.
- Bargraph levels are calibrated using 1% resistors. We find that quite precise in practice. The reason HiFi-M8 has bargraphs is simple -- while it's sitting on your desk, it's nice to see the meters bounce. If you have it in your pocket or backpack, turn down the brightness to "off" to save the battery. Your call.
Please feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions or require clarifications on the above. We know that this site relies on the opinions of the reviewer and we respect their opinions. We are happy to clarify any questions that the reviewer or any user may have.
Michael Goodman
CEntrance
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Wow, sounds like you have been treated badly. I apologize. It's not what usually happens. Definitely thanks for your feedback and do reach out -- we will help if we can.
You didn't mention price here, but there's Chord's Hugo2.. which also features bluetooth input. Much more headamp power too.
Chord Hugo 2 is $2500, while HiFi-M8 is $750. The price difference is quite significant.
Yes that's why I wrote "you didn't mention price".
It performs much better though as a portable. More power, lower noise & distortion.
We believe HiFi-M8 is a great product at a great price, and if the busy reviewer took the time to listen to all outputs, they would have definitely appreciated the full value of the product. We are happy to offer another unit for review.
newworld666
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I am always interested in your measurements, as I was not disappointed with what I bought issued from your "recommendations" monolith THX887 and SMSL M500.
I ordered many months ago this M8V2 and still waiting for it as it was probably the only "portable" DAC/AMP" which can probably move in balanced mode the hard to drive headphones like my Heddphone by Hedd (which sounds amazing with my THX887 and M500). But, as I need to be free at home and I want to be able to move where I want inside my home or in the garden, I am looking for a viable portable option.
By reading these measurements, it's already quite sure to be a bad option for me to use this DAC./AMP with my IER-Z1R or Beyerdynamic Xelento.. but, as I didn't order the M8V2 for these IEMs, I am still in expectation for a high gain balanced mode measurements.
Unfortunately, with this short review, I can't exactly imagine what are the results in a far more interesting balanced mode for such big product (For sure Topping L30 is just a ridiculous option as portable amp). I really expect from the M8 2x1.4W available with XLR4 output and a totally black background .. and ... of course a very limited distortion at any power level.
So far, from some former reviewers of the M8V2, I was also expecting a high peak voltage available till 20V which can guaranty somewhere amazing low frequencies with deep, detailed, fast "impacts" like THX887 can provide with the heddphone by hedd.
I still own a xduoo XD-05 Plus, it can give a lot of sound volume but often not really "singing" as the THX887 can do. I would say it's falling short quite often in the low frequencies with not as fast and clear impacts as the THX887 offers (I am just imagining the peak voltage available is too low or maybe capacitors insufficient for demanding headphones ?).
So I wonder if somewhere you have some other measurements in 32ohms but in balanced and high gain mode.
Then, if some in this forum have good portable alternative with more than1.5W/32 Ohms.. I am still looking for some and ready to go another way then M8 !!!
I ordered many months ago this M8V2 and still waiting for it as it was probably the only "portable" DAC/AMP" which can probably move in balanced mode the hard to drive headphones like my Heddphone by Hedd (which sounds amazing with my THX887 and M500). But, as I need to be free at home and I want to be able to move where I want inside my home or in the garden, I am looking for a viable portable option.
By reading these measurements, it's already quite sure to be a bad option for me to use this DAC./AMP with my IER-Z1R or Beyerdynamic Xelento.. but, as I didn't order the M8V2 for these IEMs, I am still in expectation for a high gain balanced mode measurements.
Unfortunately, with this short review, I can't exactly imagine what are the results in a far more interesting balanced mode for such big product (For sure Topping L30 is just a ridiculous option as portable amp). I really expect from the M8 2x1.4W available with XLR4 output and a totally black background .. and ... of course a very limited distortion at any power level.
So far, from some former reviewers of the M8V2, I was also expecting a high peak voltage available till 20V which can guaranty somewhere amazing low frequencies with deep, detailed, fast "impacts" like THX887 can provide with the heddphone by hedd.
I still own a xduoo XD-05 Plus, it can give a lot of sound volume but often not really "singing" as the THX887 can do. I would say it's falling short quite often in the low frequencies with not as fast and clear impacts as the THX887 offers (I am just imagining the peak voltage available is too low or maybe capacitors insufficient for demanding headphones ?).
So I wonder if somewhere you have some other measurements in 32ohms but in balanced and high gain mode.
Then, if some in this forum have good portable alternative with more than1.5W/32 Ohms.. I am still looking for some and ready to go another way then M8 !!!
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