Hello everyone,
i received my EF400 and my EF500 3 Weeks ago.
Did a proper burn in and did an extended A/B test, yesterday. I wrote a lot of notes and today I like to share that with you.
I only tested balanced XLR headphone connection.
And only NOS in low gain.
I used only my Hifiman R10P
Build quality: I would say it's the same. On ef500 my volume control has a slightly bit more play.
Volume control: Both are equally loud. Using USB-C bit perfect it's totally fine with sensitive headphones like R10D or R10P.
With upnp it's louder (quite too loud) but it's still bit perfect.
Starting from 8 o'clock channel balance is good. Before it's heavy on the right side.
Streaming is not really convenient: EF500 has no wifi (2024, no WIFI? Really??) And there is no specific app, I could only manage to use it with uapp and upnp.
Yes you don't need a usb-c cable but beside that, it has no advantage.
Did I mention that there was no manual in the box..
If you know what I can do with the steamer inside, please let me know.
How does it sound?
Well they don't sound the same.
Without A/B I could not tell any differences. I had a lot of fun.
In direct A/B testing there are quite audible differences.
1.) using it's amplification:
EF400: More subbass, greater soundstage or let's say the stereo image is wider and a bit more rolled of trebles.
EF500: Less subbass, stereo image is smaller and more coherent, trebles more energetic, maybe in some situation a bit too much.
The stereo image:
When I listen to rock, it's really great to have a wide stereo image. It sounds more energetic, bigger.
But in some songs of pop genre it falls a bit apart or sounds not that much as I would expect.
I guess that's what people try to fix with crossfeed.
E.g. sometimes it feels like a hihat is a bit moving and is not a 100% fix in positioning.
Hard to describe.
EF500 does not have that "issue" with the pop song. And the hihat is fixed and you can litterly see it standing and the stick dancing on it.
But for rock I miss that better "channel" separation (?). It really shines with the guitar doubling on left and right channel.
Sorry I am new in this hifi thingy, I can only describe what my hears are telling me.
With classical music, violin solo, both sound the same.
For rock I would clearly prefer the ef400.
For modern pop music, I prefer the ef500 for the more coherent, "smaller" presentation.
My guess is that the mastering is not prefered for that amount of channel separation in a headphone.
Or at least does not like to consider that when mixing.
Anyway, the differences that I mention above are small.
2.) Using Ef400 and EF500 as a DAC into my Cayin HA-3A via XLR
For both devices the Cayin headphone amp is an upgrade.
Bass is more dynamic, it's a bit smoother (only really noticeable in songs that I know very well and has a superior female voice).
Overall sound is more vivid. It sounds more energetic, more precise.
And I can't tell any difference between EF400 and EF500.
Caution: Never ever use the RCA connection. It is simply bad compared to the XLR when used as dac.
It's such a difference that I would recommend to not buy it if the amp has no balanced XLR input.
Conclusion:
I like both Hifiman DACs. And I'll keep both.
With my combo I listen to more music as I ever did. When I start listening it's hard to stop at all, mostly I listen for 3hours straight.
I'll use the EF500 with my cayin, simply to have better amplification of ef400 available in another room.
But I have no comparison to a high end dac lik denafrips venus2 or anything similar.
My takeaway of the last 12 months is:
Every penny should be invested in the headphone itself.
Even an Cayin RU7 make that sound beyond belief.
And from that all improvements are very minor.
And in my case the gear impacts the genre.
With my RU7 (DSD64) I can listen to Norah Jones and violin solos for hours. Magical.
With EF400 and EF500 I listen a lot more to rock, pop (dense music). So much fun!
Hifiman has a very specific sound from my point of view. They are very bright and energetic in the trebles (not the R10D).
I bought the R10P over the Susvara for that reason. For me the R10P is the most underrated headphone on earth
And I changed the dac (ess9038q2m) to RU7 and Himalaya for smoother trebles and better timbre.
The cayin ha-3a can't change a combo that does not fit together. Like my ess9038q2m and hifiman he1000V2, that I sold.
My R10P does not sound as enjoyable with my (super expensive) ess9038q2m dac/amp with my Cayin Ha-3A.
The EF400 /EF500 sounds better even without using the cayin HA-3A.
But adding the cayin to a working combo really gives it a boost.
And I think my old AKG 701 is more neutral than my Audeze LCD2 cb, R10P and R10D, but who cares.
I hope that helps somebody.
