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Hifiman releases EF400 AiO DAC-Amp

Bow_Wazoo

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You mean what my "DIY Bruel & Kjaer"
displays when I turn it up full?

20220528_143416.jpg
 

JayBrodnax

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I just received me EF400 today. Only tried R2R mode so far with my Meze Empyrean. First impressions are very positive. I think I prefer the sound over the highly regarded $3700 Naim Atom Uniti headphone amp, over the ifi Pro iCAN (both of which I returned), and over my Topping DX7 Pro.

Y'all should read about the purported advantages of R2R... I've only had great experiences with this tech.

 
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cheapmessiah

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You mean what my "DIY Bruel & Kjaer"
displays when I turn it up full?

View attachment 212374
I guess that if you can produce a measurement with A90 at volume you feel is loud and try to get as close on EF400 we could consider that a comparative since the same measurement device is used XD.
 
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cheapmessiah

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Jimbob54

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JayBrodnax

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WOW I have been playing my Focal Clears on the wrong amp. They sound AMAZING on the EF400! I thought I didn't like these lol
 

Bow_Wazoo

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I guess that if you can produce a measurement with A90 at volume you feel is loud and try to get as close on EF400 we could consider that a comparative since the same measurement device is used XD.
As I said, the DC protection of the A90 started at about 86 dB on the track "take air - Amberland".
I can turn up the EF 400 to full volume.
My meter then shows about 92 - 94 dB.

The A90 has power, we agree on that.
Only I for my type, could not really use it.
As soon as the DC protection became active, I turned down.
A crazy story.
I'm glad that I'm rid of the A90.

I'm very happy with the EF400.
 

Bow_Wazoo

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I wonder how this phase shift is a problem for our brain?!

BAL4VDashboard.jpg


In any case, it should not be a problem to correct this with the Neutron Player

Screenshot_20220613-115521_Neutron Player.jpg
 
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Snoopy

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How does the DAC handle different sample rates?
No problems when switching from 44.1khz to 192khz?

But I'm going to upsample everything in roon to 24 bit 384khz anyway. (The DAC supports up to 768khz).
By doing this the results in NOS should be pretty good correct?

My unit has been shipped today. If I'm lucky it will arrive till Wednesday.
 

Bow_Wazoo

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Hifiman customer support:

"Some specification of EF400:
-Theoretically, the output serial resistance is labeled 5 ohms
-The maximum sample rate input supported: 192Khz-32bit (non-oversampling and oversampling). The input sample rate for non-oversampling is whatever it is (for example, 96KHz-24bit is input and 96Khz-24bit is input to DAC). In the case of oversampling, no matter what the input sample rate is, the frequency is uniformly raised to 384 Khz-32bit and then sent to DAC to decode and output."
 

Snoopy

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Hifiman customer support:

"Some specification of EF400:
-Theoretically, the output serial resistance is labeled 5 ohms
-The maximum sample rate input supported: 192Khz-32bit (non-oversampling and oversampling). The input sample rate for non-oversampling is whatever it is (for example, 96KHz-24bit is input and 96Khz-24bit is input to DAC). In the case of oversampling, no matter what the input sample rate is, the frequency is uniformly raised to 384 Khz-32bit and then sent to DAC to decode and output."

Ok sounds alright too.
But if I upsample the files already in software to 192khz 32bit than it will be 192khz 32 bit in NOS. And 384khz 32bit in OS.
 

Bow_Wazoo

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If I understood correctly, the EF400, in NOS, brings the signal to 96khz/24bit in any case.
 

Bow_Wazoo

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Now I got it.
"The input sample rate for non-oversampling is whatever it is (for example, 96KHz-24bit is input and 96Khz-24bit is input to DAC)"
Thanks
 

Snoopy

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Now I got it.
"The input sample rate for non-oversampling is whatever it is (for example, 96KHz-24bit is input and 96Khz-24bit is input to DAC)"
Thanks

Yeah and that means you can go crazy with upsampling in software as long as you not exceed the maximum input sample rate of the DAC.

Or you use the OS mode and let the DAC do all the upsampling. But in that case you could still do some upsampling in software and let the DAC do the last step like doubling the sample rate from 192khz to 384khz.


Basically the same as I'm doing here with my Cambridge Cxn v2

Screenshot_2022-06-13-12-03-19-391_com.roon.mobile.jpg
 
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Bow_Wazoo

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According to Neutron Player, the EF400 accepts max. 176khz / 32bit, no matter if OS / NOS.
 
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