Hifiman releases EF400 AiO DAC-Amp

[cheapmessiah]

Long time lurker here but this is my first post!

I am releasing a video review of the EF400 soon. I'm fortunate enough to compare it against the Denafrips Ares II + Monoprice THX887, as well as against a Topping A30/D30 Pro stack.

The EF400 sounds best on my Arya Stealth and HE1000SE headphones. It adds a subtle warmth to the low end while also smoothing over the treble region ever so slightly. This helped a lot with reducing some of the treble "grain" sound I noticed with the Arya Stealth on certain tracks. As a result, the EF400 paired with my Arya Stealth and the HE1000se are the best I've ever heard those headphones sound. Very agreeable sound that seems more versatile and better mimicking of a higher quality dynamic driver.

I noticed slightly better sound stage and imaging performance on the Topping stack though when paired with open back headphones from Sennheiser. I also felt the topping stack sounded better on the Meze cans, as those are already warm/smooth out of the box. The ARES II R2R DAC with the THX 887 pairing is perhaps the best setup of the three, but that's to be expected considering it's about double the price.

It really comes down to what kind of sound you like. Just as I often enjoy listening to records, I really love the way the EF400 sounds on my Hifiman planars. It's a great pairing!

Have you ever listened to Placebo? Something tells me you are going to love that band!

 

[GadgetryTech]

Have you ever listened to Placebo? Something tells me you are going to love that band!

Yeah it's the best!

In all seriousness, there is a warmth that the EF400 has while also reducing the treble range slightly. This is not a flat sounding amp and I think that's been accepted at this point. Not sure what you're getting at here.

 

[Snoopy]

Yeah it's the best!

In all seriousness, there is a warmth that the EF400 has while also reducing the treble range slightly. This is not a flat sounding amp and I think that's been accepted at this point. Not sure what you're getting at here.

Probably the R2R distortion is adding a bloated bass.. makes u think it's warmer and fuller sounding.

 

[GadgetryTech]

Probably the R2R distortion is adding a bloated bass.. makes u think it's warmer and fuller sounding.

Yes I would believe that to be the case. I’m not claiming this Dac to be incredibly clean and accurate. I only mentioned it sounds warmer than my delta sigma dacs. There is a slight reduction in treble performance as well in NOS mode, which again helps dull down the Arya’s treble a bit.

 

[Snoopy]

Yes I would believe that to be the case. I’m not claiming this Dac to be incredibly clean and accurate. I only mentioned it sounds warmer than my delta sigma dacs. There is a slight reduction in treble performance as well in NOS mode, which again helps dull down the Arya’s treble a bit.

You could just use a Equilizer to get the frequency response you want

I've had the EF400 myself and returned it because of static noise and transformer humm.

Just to many shortcomings for a 550-600 euro device. It was plenty powerful and the DAC as alright too but I'm currently using a SMSL D300 and a SMSL SP400 with my Aeon 2 noire and Meze Liric.

with upsampling and equilizer in Roon it's just better overall. There is no transformer humm because of the SMPS, the THX amps don't mess up the frequency response in a unpredictable way.

The EF400 did only accept 192khz input..(maximum I could upsample in Roon and send to the EF400).
While the SMSL D300 supports 768khz pcm and DSD512. Zero issues when switching between pcm, DSD and sample rates.

The EF400 looks fine , I liked the design but they used Chinese capacitors and there was the transformer humm. (Powerfilter didn't help).

R2R in this price range is just a gimmick in my opinion.

 

[slsmaster]

I also wanted to add a little impression here in owning the EF400.

I have had the EF400 for almost a month and decided to return it, as I was able to get an D30Pro + A30Pro Stack slightly used with quality XLR cables for just 540€ instead of 570€ what I paid for the EF400 on Amazon.
Once I got the Topping stack it was clearly noticeable to me, that the Topping stack just is way more precise in its sound reproduction.
For instance, details in music are much easier to notice with the Topping stack than with the EF400.
Maybe that's due the EF400's R2R DAC, which in fact is just a software implementation using an FPGA (software that programs the FPGA to reproduce the behavior of real hardware). However I think this should be close if not identical to real R2R units if done properly.
The Topping stack also has more control over the heaphone driver, leading to tighter but less bloomy/warm sound, which I prefer as this makes more EQ presets usable and allows for more versatility.

The headphone I use is a Hifiman Arya Stealth Magnet.

In genereal I would recommend people to choose the Topping stack over the EF400, even paying retail prices, especially when using multiple EQ presets.

 

[Knobstler]

Something weird just happened when I turned the unit on today listening to Arya stealth on 4.4 mm balanced I have to run it on high gain about 1 o clock just to get a good listening level. Up until today I had to run It on low gain about 9-10 o'clock with volume leveling -10 in Roon.
what happened?

 

[Jimbob54]

Something weird just happened when I turned the unit on today listening to Arya stealth I have to run it on high gain about 1 o clock just to get a good listening level. Up until today I had to run It on low gain about 9-10 o'clock with volume leveling -10 in Roon.
what happened?

I would guess you turned something down on the source side (PC?) so either master volume, roon volume or some setting in Roon- preamp or similar

 

[Knobstler]

I would guess you turned something down on the source side (PC?) so either master volume, roon volume or some setting in Roon- preamp or similar

nope I have to run it without -db headroom now. and the volume is set to fixed in Roon

 

[Jimbob54]

nope I have to run it without -db headroom now. and the volume is set to fixed in Roon

See what impact turning volume levelling off has. If everything is louder,something wasnt right in how that was operating

 

[Jimbob54]

nope I have to run it without -db headroom now. and the volume is set to fixed in Roon

I dont think it would matter for Roon playback but has Windows volume been adjusted ?

 

[Knobstler]

I dont think it would matter for Roon playback but has Windows volume been adjusted ?

it does matter in exclusive mode the signal is sent to the device. im using mac
but thank you anyway. I wrote hifiman hope they get back to me

 

[Knobstler]

update seems it was Roon. was switching from fixed to device and back to fixed. now back to normal.

 

[Hal Rockwell]

Did anyone tried to connect the EF400 line out to any OTL amp such as Little Dot MKII or any STAX energizers? How was your experience?

 

[SYJ]

Hifiman EF400

… DAC/Amp especially for Hifiman Headphones …

Hifiman Himalaya R2R FPGA DAC Chips …

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly …

No Native DSD Support and Just 24/1292 PCM, Max (32/192). Only USB Input, no SPDIF (Coax or Optical). But very powerful Amplifier. Fully Balanced from DAC to Amp.

R2R is just a “Buzz” word, for those who played basically PCM (no native DSD). Is it better or more “Analog” than the best or even second best chip based Delta-Sigma DACs? No… No… and No… Not even close compared to great implemented SOTA ESS Sabre 9038Pro DACs.

Is it better than Topping DX5/DX7Pro+ in Amp mode? I would say ”Yes”, because the Dx5/DX7 use ”digital” volume control inside DAC chip. But in pure DAC Mode both DX5/DX7Pro+ will eat EF400 for breakfast.

What about the Amp section? Compared to A90 using the XLR output of EF400, I would say that A90 is better, much better.

What about using EF400 as DAC for home Hi-Fi System?
(Topping Pre90 to NAD C298 and KEF R7). It is very clear that in no chance EF400 is able to compete with Sabre 9038Pro/9039Pro DAC. Its response in mid range is very good but still far from that of the SOTA Sabre, but the sub bass and the high range are not quite as good. Dynamic range of EF400 is more compressed. PRAT is also a little inferior.

However considering that price point of EF400 is in the same range as Topping DX5, EF400 is very very attractive and a better buy if you have Hifiman headphones and mostly play PCM files via PC/NB/Tablet. It would be much sweeter if EF400 has SPDIF input(s) for those who still play their CDs, because EF400 would sound better than most mid-priced CD Players.

I still firmly believe what the late Ken Ishiwata (of Marantz) said … “DSD is the best and the most “Analogue” “ , and by this it means SOTA Delta-Sigma DAC is the best.

 

[slsmaster]

Hifiman EF400

… DAC/Amp especially for Hifiman Headphones …

Hifiman Himalaya R2R FPGA DAC Chips …

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly …

No Native DSD Support and Just 24/1292 PCM, Max (32/192). Only USB Input, no SPDIF (Coax or Optical). But very powerful Amplifier. Fully Balanced from DAC to Amp.

R2R is just a “Buzz” word, for those who played basically PCM (no native DSD). Is it better or more “Analog” than the best or even second best chip based Delta-Sigma DACs? No… No… and No… Not even close compared to great implemented SOTA ESS Sabre 9038Pro DACs.

Is it better than Topping DX5/DX7Pro+ in Amp mode? I would say ”Yes”, because the Dx5/DX7 use ”digital” volume control inside DAC chip. But in pure DAC Mode both DX5/DX7Pro+ will eat EF400 for breakfast.

What about the Amp section? Compared to A90 using the XLR output of EF400, I would say that A90 is better, much better.

What about using EF400 as DAC for home Hi-Fi System?
(Topping Pre90 to NAD C298 and KEF R7). It is very clear that in no chance EF400 is able to compete with Sabre 9038Pro/9039Pro DAC. Its response in mid range is very good but still far from that of the SOTA Sabre, but the sub bass and the high range are not quite as good. Dynamic range of EF400 is more compressed. PRAT is also a little inferior.

However considering that price point of EF400 is in the same range as Topping DX5, EF400 is very very attractive and a better buy if you have Hifiman headphones and mostly play PCM files via PC/NB/Tablet. It would be much sweeter if EF400 has SPDIF input(s) for those who still play their CDs, because EF400 would sound better than most mid-priced CD Players.

I still firmly believe what the late Ken Ishiwata (of Marantz) said … “DSD is the best and the most “Analogue” “ , and by this it means SOTA Delta-Sigma DAC is the best.





















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I can absolutely confirm that the EF400 is a very hyped up piece of gear that doesn’t deliver on its promises. I myself have paired an EF400 with an Arya Stealth and wasn’t really convinced by its performance. Finally compared it to an D30 Pro + A30 Pro stack volume matched and found it to be superior in every way (more power, less background noise, more features). The only thing I miss about the EF400 is it’s bigger and smoother volume wheel, as I find the A30 Pros volume wheel not that good feeling in comparison and a little to small.

 

[Peterinvan]

Just received my EF400. On low gain, with LCD-XC, at 08:00 on the volume knob it’s already too loud.

Is there a mod I could do to either reduce the gain, or add a resistor in series with the volume pot?

 

[Elitzur–Vaidman]

Just received my EF400. On low gain, with LCD-XC, at 08:00 on the volume knob it’s already too loud.

Is there a mod I could do to either reduce the gain, or add a resistor in series with the volume pot?

I think the most straightforward/nondestructive way would be to get something like the ifi iEMatch.

 

[NDRQ]

Just received my EF400. On low gain, with LCD-XC, at 08:00 on the volume knob it’s already too loud.

Is there a mod I could do to either reduce the gain, or add a resistor in series with the volume pot?

Send back the EF400 and get a Topping E30+L30 stack.
That amp even has negative gain settings, much easier to use with sensitive headphones.

 

[Peterinvan]

Just received my EF400. On low gain, with LCD-XC, at 08:00 on the volume knob it’s already too loud.

Is there a mod I could do to either reduce the gain, or add a resistor in series with the volume pot?

Simple solution... turn down the volume on my PC to 50%. Now the EF400 pot has better range.

Am I losing anything by not feeding the EF400 with max volume (USB out)?