[kneelthepetal]

This looks fantastic. Direct ifi hip competitor. Wonder how it sounds compared to the burr brown chips. If similar it's a buy for me

Wondering this too. I have a hip dac 3, but was thinking of upgrading to something with more juice lately. The ability to work as a DAP is a cool bonus.

 

[eternalEquilibrium]

Wondering this too. I have a hip dac 3, but was thinking of upgrading to something with more juice lately. The ability to work as a DAP is a cool bonus.

Yeah that's the win for me

 

[Leairve]

Wondering this too. I have a hip dac 3, but was thinking of upgrading to something with more juice lately. The ability to work as a DAP is a cool bonus.

Had Hip Dac 2. I wouldn't say it sounds similar. For me H5 is better, as burrbrown chips are simply mediocre IMO. I had iFi Zen One as a stationary DAC, and replaced it with Aune Yuki dongle with no regrets. Just better. Have no idea how H5 compares to some higher end offerings from iFi, though.

Regardless of sound differences, Hip Dac is just uncomfortable to use due to it's inherent need of USB connection. Would choose H5 with playback from SD card or LDAC anytime.

 

[kneelthepetal]

Had Hip Dac 2. I wouldn't say it sounds similar. For me H5 is better, as burrbrown chips are simply mediocre IMO. I had iFi Zen One as a stationary DAC, and replaced it with Aune Yuki dongle with no regrets. Just better. Have no idea how H5 compares to some higher end offerings from iFi, though.

Regardless of sound differences, Hip Dac is just uncomfortable to use due to it's inherent need of USB connection. Would choose H5 with playback from SD card or LDAC anytime.

Curious, what about Burr Brown chips do you not like? I've read some that love it some that hate it, I guess it's a personal preference? I heard the BB are very warm sounding, figured it would balance my arya stealths a bit, but tbf I don't have much to compare it to other than a Fiio KA5.

I'm desperate for a knock-out reason to pull the trigger and buy them or just stick with my hip dac 3 lol.

 

[Leairve]

Curious, what about Burr Brown chips do you not like? I've read some that love it some that hate it, I guess it's a personal preference? I heard the BB are very warm sounding, figured it would balance my arya stealths a bit, but tbf I don't have much to compare it to other than a Fiio KA5.

I'm desperate for a knock-out reason to pull the trigger and buy them or just stick with my hip dac 3 lol.

I replaced Zen One because I felt that Arya are being held back. If you think that a bit dull sounding DAC will make your $800 headphones sound better, well, think twice. The difference wasn't night and day - as much as DAC to DAC difference can be, so rather miniscule. But while still kinda on the warmer (or: more analogue) side, Aune Yuki delivered something more, and lost something less over Zen One. Yuki retrieved more, and still presented it in palatable way. Rather difficult to explain other than just saying that Zen One for sure limited Arya's potential.

BB "very warm sounding"? Noo. If you want warm sound, look at headphones first, then amplifiers. DACs don't change sound that much, and a tinge of warmth is all you can count on TBH. And from my experience with Zen Dac v2, Zen Can and Hip Dac 2, they put rather neutral amps in their dac/amps, so the "effect" isn't particularly deepened on amplifier's side. As a DAC + AMP package, I wouldn't call H5 specifically "warm sounding", but iFi Hip Dac 2, I would for sure call a bit blunt sounding and limiting, at least when you want to pair iFi's entry lvl stuff with some nice headphones with good sound signature, that Aryas for sure are. After all, it's still iFi's variation on standard offering, Zen Dac, dating back as far as 2020.

Even though I can't go back and compare Zen One / Hip Dac 2 / Yuki / H5 against each other, as I now only own the latter two, let me tell you this: when I bought H5, I kinda liked it more than Zen One + Topping A90 (neutral AMP). And while now Yuki for me has a better DAC than H5, slightly more natural and full sounding while maintaining all the detail, I still think H5 is much closer to it than Zen One. You can blind yourself thinking iFi offers you a "analogue" and "warm" sound, but in the end it's just a waste of headphones potential, while other things can offer just that what iFi promises and more. And that really slight "dullness" isn't enough to save bad recordings from sounding bad, anyway.

Shanling H5 being a complete package of functions make it so much more worth it, too. I rarely ever used Hip Dac 2 due to it's form, and now I use H5 with playback from SD card almost everyday. Choose album, leave phone on the desk, go somewhere else.

However, maybe Hip Dac 3 is better than it's predecessors. It's newer, with new functions and maybe it even presents sound differently. You would need to check on your own, as I lack experience on the newest iFi stuff.

PS. If you want to make your Aryas sound significantly warmer, just buy Chord Mojo 2 and look no further. You can pretty much EQ it to your liking using these colorful orbs.

 

[kneelthepetal]

I replaced Zen One because I felt that Arya are being held back. If you think that a bit dull sounding DAC will make your $800 headphones sound better, well, think twice. The difference wasn't night and day - as much as DAC to DAC difference can be, so rather miniscule. But while still kinda on the warmer (or: more analogue) side, Aune Yuki delivered something more, and lost something less over Zen One. Yuki retrieved more, and still presented it in palatable way. Rather difficult to explain other than just saying that Zen One for sure limited Arya's potential.

BB "very warm sounding"? Noo. If you want warm sound, look at headphones first, then amplifiers. DACs don't change sound that much, and a tinge of warmth is all you can count on TBH. And from my experience with Zen Dac v2, Zen Can and Hip Dac 2, they put rather neutral amps in their dac/amps, so the "effect" isn't particularly deepened on amplifier's side. As a DAC + AMP package, I wouldn't call H5 specifically "warm sounding", but iFi Hip Dac 2, I would for sure call a bit blunt sounding and limiting, at least when you want to pair iFi's entry lvl stuff with some nice headphones with good sound signature, that Aryas for sure are. After all, it's still iFi's variation on standard offering, Zen Dac, dating back as far as 2020.

Even though I can't go back and compare Zen One / Hip Dac 2 / Yuki / H5 against each other, as I now only own the latter two, let me tell you this: when I bought H5, I kinda liked it more than Zen One + Topping A90 (neutral AMP). And while now Yuki for me has a better DAC than H5, slightly more natural and full sounding while maintaining all the detail, I still think H5 is much closer to it than Zen One. You can blind yourself thinking iFi offers you a "analogue" and "warm" sound, but in the end it's just a waste of headphones potential, while other things can offer just that what iFi promises and more. And that really slight "dullness" isn't enough to save bad recordings from sounding bad, anyway.

Shanling H5 being a complete package of functions make it so much more worth it, too. I rarely ever used Hip Dac 2 due to it's form, and now I use H5 with playback from SD card almost everyday. Choose album, leave phone on the desk, go somewhere else.

However, maybe Hip Dac 3 is better than it's predecessors. It's newer, with new functions and maybe it even presents sound differently. You would need to check on your own, as I lack experience on the newest iFi stuff.

PS. If you want to make your Aryas sound significantly warmer, just buy Chord Mojo 2 and look no further. You can pretty much EQ it to your liking using these colorful orbs.

Thanks for the response. I guess at the end of the day I should just do some A/B testing. I'll order the H5 sometime and compare it to the hip 3.
I've been eyeing the Chord, but I didn't want to spend so much out the gate when I know so little about about this stuff.

 

[artkillen]

Thanks for the response. I guess at the end of the day I should just do some A/B testing. I'll order the H5 sometime and compare it to the hip 3.
I've been eyeing the Chord, but I didn't want to spend so much out the gate when I know so little about about this stuff.

I had a Mojo 2. Even with the EQ, it never sounded warm with my Ananda nor HE1000se. Technicalities were good, but the note weight never came, regardless of source, file format, etc. It was a bit sterile/robotic to me.

 

[kneelthepetal]

I had a Mojo 2. Even with the EQ, it never sounded warm with my Ananda nor HE1000se. Technicalities were good, but the note weight never came, regardless of source, file format, etc. It was a bit sterile/robotic to me.

You might be the first person I've seen who has a negative opinion about the Mojo 2. There really is no such thing as a universal consensus in the world of hifi.
In other news My H5 just came in. Gonna do some testing this weekend.

 

[Pretardo]

Nice! Enjoy your new H5 and happy listening. I’m interested to know what your initial impressions are to the Hip DAC 3.