[Lightspeed12]

Hi Lightspeed, I just tried that and it's a lot better. Thanks very much!

I set the Ef600 at NOS/High Gain with ZMF CAldera and it sounds really, really good. Very musical and laid back, but still detailed with good separation and soundstage. Listening to Azam Ali, Portals of Grace. What settings do you set on the Ef600?

Thanks again!

By the way I always have my daps,phone etc on full volume even when hooked up using cables & then control volume using the ef400, a90 descrete & ifi idsd micro signature or fostex hpv1 amps/dac-amp.

 

[Musikfan]

Hi, I've been listening to the Ef600 today and I'm impressed by its SQ. A good mix of warmth, resolution and detail. Great bottom end, smooth, clear and rich mids and pleasant, non-fatiguing treble. The Ef600 also has excellent instrument separation. Highly listenable and well balanced.

 

[npatrix]

I'm considering the EF600 (I can get a good deal from my dealer), to use with my focal Stellia and HEKv2Stealth (v3), the think is that I already have a WA7 fireflies and mojo2. Can I expect the EF600 to add a significant upgrade?

Another option is the topping D90pro + A90pro instead of the EF600, all views are wellcome

really appreciate some help here

 

[Lightspeed12]

I'm considering the EF600 (I can get a good deal from my dealer), to use with my focal Stellia and HEKv2Stealth (v3), the think is that I already have a WA7 fireflies and mojo2. Can I expect the EF600 to add a significant upgrade?

Another option is the topping D90pro + A90pro instead of the EF600, all views are wellcome

really appreciate some help here

I own the focal radiance & the he1000v2 which I use with the ef400 & the a90 discrete.
They sound good on both so you wouldn't go wrong with the ef600 or topping combination.
I should imagine the w7 fireflies would be similar to the ef600.

 

[npatrix]

I own the focal radiance & the he1000v2 which I use with the ef400 & the a90 discrete.
They sound good on both so you wouldn't go wrong with the ef600 or topping combination.
I should imagine the w7 fireflies would be similar to the ef600.

Thanks for the advice, good to know, regarding you EF400 vs A90 discrete what are the Sound signature similar or you find differences?

The WA7 is a tube amp/ DAC I wouldn’t expect it to be similar to the EF600, if it is, better save some money or going with the topping if again there is material differences in SQ.

The problem is that my local dealer doesn’t have neither one.

 

[Lightspeed12]

Thanks for the advice, good to know, regarding you EF400 vs A90 discrete what are the Sound signature similar or you find differences?

The WA7 is a tube amp/ DAC I wouldn’t expect it to be similar to the EF600, if it is, better save some money or going with the topping if again there is material differences in SQ.

The problem is that my local dealer doesn’t have neither one.

The ef400 & ef600 are an R2R Which sounds a cross between tube & solid state (a90 descrete).the d90le dac & the ef600 are both on my next to get list. Lol

 

[npatrix]

The ef400 & ef600 are an R2R Which sounds a cross between tube & solid state (a90 descrete).the d90le dac & the ef600 are both on my next to get list. Lol

Got it, thanks! But I think topping D70pro + A70pro are good options too around 1k€

 

[svmusa]

Can it be used a pure dac without using the built in volume control to feed other headphone and or pre amps?

 

[tinkererGCH]

I have purchased the Hifiman EF600 by
... accident? nah that is not the correct term. I bought it, but was not my initial plan.

WHAT HAPPENED
I went to a hifi store with a great variety of headphones and DAC / AMPs you can test right there.
I wanted the Meze 109 Pro and tested them against some Focal Utopia, which did not excited me at all. I brought in my own DAC / AMPs.
I did some researched of the Hifiman EF400 and EF600 but was not fully convinced. Luckily (?) the Hifi Store had the Hifiman EF600 and I tested that DAC AMP with my Beyerdynamics DT 990 Pro(250 Ohm) and the Denon AH-D7200. I was very impressed how both sounded, the Denon seems to finally come alive even it does not need much power to drive, but it is holding back and being more "gentleman like" (Would you like to listen to some music sir?).

MY IMPRESSIONS:
- The Beyerdynamics DT 990 Pro sounded "complete" in all areas with the provided Power as like German Presicions meets powerful warms (from the Hifiman EF600).
- The Denon AH-D7200 became much more punchier and gripping in sound.
With that I bought the Hifiman EF600 and never regretted it.

TO IMPROVE:
- the white LEDs in the GAIN selection are far too bright, the blue LEDs are OK.
- having a 4.4 balanced output next to the 4 pin XLR. I never use the 6.35 mm (who does used it and why? I am curious)
- in the back maybe an optical.

THE STRANGE THING:
I am using the Hifiman with my laptop (linux archbased distro with pipewire) via Bluetooth, because
- the USB connection sounds very weak (compared to bluetooth).
Has anyone an idea or also the same situation? in the store the test unit did not wanted to work with USB at all and I had another arch based Laptop with me.

CONCLUSION:
The Hifiman EF600 is now my defaut DAC / AMP even for the IEM, but ...

THE BUT:
because it is very powerful 5.1W per channel in balanced mode you can drive pretty much any headphone (I say naivly). but it can be too powerful for headphones with lower Ohms (less than 32) and IEMs.

P.S.: and yes I bought the Meze 109 Pro and I hate that cable.

 

[Lightspeed12]

I have purchased the Hifiman EF600 by
... accident? nah that is not the correct term. I bought it, but was not my initial plan.

WHAT HAPPENED
I went to a hifi store with a great variety of headphones and DAC / AMPs you can test right there.
I wanted the Meze 109 Pro and tested them against some Focal Utopia, which did not excited me at all. I brought in my own DAC / AMPs.
I did some researched of the Hifiman EF400 and EF600 but was not fully convinced. Luckily (?) the Hifi Store had the Hifiman EF600 and I tested that DAC AMP with my Beyerdynamics DT 990 Pro(250 Ohm) and the Denon AH-D7200. I was very impressed how both sounded, the Denon seems to finally come alive even it does not need much power to drive, but it is holding back and being more "gentleman like" (Would you like to listen to some music sir?).

MY IMPRESSIONS:
- The Beyerdynamics DT 990 Pro sounded "complete" in all areas with the provided Power as like German Presicions meets powerful warms (from the Hifiman EF600).
- The Denon AH-D7200 became much more punchier and gripping in sound.
With that I bought the Hifiman EF600 and never regretted it.

TO IMPROVE:
- the white LEDs in the GAIN selection are far too bright, the blue LEDs are OK.
- having a 4.4 balanced output next to the 4 pin XLR. I never use the 6.35 mm (who does used it and why? I am curious)
- in the back maybe an optical.

THE STRANGE THING:
I am using the Hifiman with my laptop (linux archbased distro with pipewire) via Bluetooth, because
- the USB connection sounds very weak (compared to bluetooth).
Has anyone an idea or also the same situation? in the store the test unit did not wanted to work with USB at all and I had another arch based Laptop with me.

CONCLUSION:
The Hifiman EF600 is now my defaut DAC / AMP even for the IEM, but ...

THE BUT:
because it is very powerful 5.1W per channel in balanced mode you can drive pretty much any headphone (I say naivly). but it can be too powerful for headphones with lower Ohms (less than 32) and IEMs.

P.S.: and yes I bought the Meze 109 Pro and I hate that cable.

I think the ef400 is better suited to iems & has no trouble with headphones either. All my iems are great with ef400.

 

[svmusa]

Can it be used a pure dac without using the built in volume control to feed other headphone and or pre amps?

I did reach out to Hifiman store and they did confirm that Balance/RCA outputs are always fixed line out and the volume control is pretty much for Headphones. This will enable to be used by other amps and their volume control.

I am curious if there is any difference in sound signature between line out and headphones?

 

[svmusa]

I have purchased the Hifiman EF600 by
... accident? nah that is not the correct term. I bought it, but was not my initial plan.

WHAT HAPPENED
I went to a hifi store with a great variety of headphones and DAC / AMPs you can test right there.
I wanted the Meze 109 Pro and tested them against some Focal Utopia, which did not excited me at all. I brought in my own DAC / AMPs.
I did some researched of the Hifiman EF400 and EF600 but was not fully convinced. Luckily (?) the Hifi Store had the Hifiman EF600 and I tested that DAC AMP with my Beyerdynamics DT 990 Pro(250 Ohm) and the Denon AH-D7200. I was very impressed how both sounded, the Denon seems to finally come alive even it does not need much power to drive, but it is holding back and being more "gentleman like" (Would you like to listen to some music sir?).

MY IMPRESSIONS:
- The Beyerdynamics DT 990 Pro sounded "complete" in all areas with the provided Power as like German Presicions meets powerful warms (from the Hifiman EF600).
- The Denon AH-D7200 became much more punchier and gripping in sound.
With that I bought the Hifiman EF600 and never regretted it.

TO IMPROVE:
- the white LEDs in the GAIN selection are far too bright, the blue LEDs are OK.
- having a 4.4 balanced output next to the 4 pin XLR. I never use the 6.35 mm (who does used it and why? I am curious)
- in the back maybe an optical.

THE STRANGE THING:
I am using the Hifiman with my laptop (linux archbased distro with pipewire) via Bluetooth, because
- the USB connection sounds very weak (compared to bluetooth).
Has anyone an idea or also the same situation? in the store the test unit did not wanted to work with USB at all and I had another arch based Laptop with me.

CONCLUSION:
The Hifiman EF600 is now my defaut DAC / AMP even for the IEM, but ...

THE BUT:
because it is very powerful 5.1W per channel in balanced mode you can drive pretty much any headphone (I say naivly). but it can be too powerful for headphones with lower Ohms (less than 32) and IEMs.

P.S.: and yes I bought the Meze 109 Pro and I hate that cable.

I have Meze 99 Neo 24 ohms and Sony Z1R 64 ohms, curious on your experience in using the non balanced mode. I gather this amp has good Bass extension and smoother sound signature which is what I am after...

 

[tinkererGCH]

I have Meze 99 Neo 24 ohms and Sony Z1R 64 ohms, curious on your experience in using the non balanced mode. I gather this amp has good Bass extension and smoother sound signature which is what I am after...

Hello smusa,
I digged out the "default" cable and used the non balanced mode in any of my desktop amps (I will write in more details about in the Meze 109 Pro review) and with the Hifiman EF600 it does not make much difference, because even in unbalanced that puts out 1800 mW ("... Output power: up to 5120mW per channel (balanced) / up to 1800mW per channel (unbalanced) ..." . That is a really great with the Meze you can drive them with pretty much anything (DAC AMP, DAP, Dongle). Bass is strong but has warmth to it (which should be with R2R DACs, also when using the Cayin RU6).
I would have to compare FLAC vs. streaming, because I actually modified already several FLAC files by using the effect loudness normalization to bring the peak to more than -3 db (up to -6b = less loud = less harsh) and the RMS close to -18db (should be between -18db to -23 db).

 

[tinkererGCH]

I think the ef400 is better suited to iems & has no trouble with headphones either. All my iems are great with ef400.

Hello Lightspeed12,
I just looked up the specs on the EF400 and yes are right that would be enough for IEMs and for the Headphones (I have currently). Also the formfactor is much smaller compared to the EF600; even the integrated headphone stand is a "nice to have" feature.

 

[Simon Patten]

Has anyone upgraded from the EF400 to the EF600? Is it a worthwhile upgrade sonically? I am considering it as I am looking for a headphone amp with line-in input to use with my main Hi-Fi system and replacing the EF400 with it seems like the best way to go as I love the EF400 and the EF600 would serve two purposes (main Hi-Fi and computer). The main problem for me is the look of the EF600 and its odd shape fitting in. Thanks.