Hiface DAC
Posted by: analogmusic on 26 April 2015
One of the forum members here said he couldn't tell any difference between this and a Chord Hugo.
That got me interested and apparently Andrew Everard said during his review that he thought it compared very favourably with very expensive digital hardware.
On the Audiostream website, the review also said the same, that it was not shamed by comparison against DCS kit that cost 100 times the price of the Hiface DAC
What is going on in the digital world nowadays? it is that all of a sudden the new USB asynchronous playback method is giving results we could not obtain before or are the DAC chips just getting better?
Anyone here used this DAC?
I feel in 2015 it is becoming very interesting for music fans, with so many interesting choices in DACS available.
I haven't used the Hiface, but I use the Dragonfly v1.2. Now genereal concensus in reviews suggests the Hiface is more open and extended than the Dragonfly.. With the Dragonfly having possibly a slightly warmer or more shut in presentation..
Anyway the DragonFly is ok for headphones ... It really improves on the MacBook Pro internal DAC by a huge margin.
But compared to something like the NDAC, and not to mention the Hugo, it's performance is way short in terms of naturalness and organic 'rightness'. I think noise from the USB can't help here as well. Perhaps this illustrates how my expectations from DACs have significantly increased since the Hugo. Now the Hiface is a step up on the Dragonfly apparently.. But it still has that noisy USB to contend with.
Simon
All the M2Tech products have galvanic isolationt does the Hugo? When I compared the two dacs I found the Chord website surprisingly short on technicalspecification, then I read that the Chord's designer was 'surprised' at how the dac performed, doesn't really inspire confidence does it.
H
DHT - no as far as I am aware the Hugo relies on source transport galvanic isolation (excluding Toslink). This work great with quality transports such as from Naim (and as you may be aware a single galvanic isolation is often preferable to twin galvanic isolation due to digital signal quality degradation) - but can lead to issues with electrical transports with no isolation causing earth loops and ground noise. Yep I find the open honesty and frank debate from the Hugo designer really does foster trust and confidence. I suspect Chord would prefer it if the designer wasn't always as open as he is so that messages can be more 'managed' as with many other brands....
Simon
....the Chord's designer was 'surprised' at how the dac performed, doesn't really inspire confidence does it.
H
Of course it does, no Hifi-design has known results upfront. All are 'discoveries' and adjustments. He jst one of the few that give others insight into his design proces.
You have an extremely negative bias / prejudice, IMHO.
....the Chord's designer was 'surprised' at how the dac performed, doesn't really inspire confidence does it.
H
Of course it does, no Hifi-design has known results upfront. All are 'discoveries' and adjustments. He jst one of the few that give others insight into his design proces.
You have an extremely negative bias / prejudice, IMHO.
Please, this is a dac a converter, everything is in the measurements, it converts ,that is what it is.
You have swallowed whole too much dealers/ manufacturers BS IMHO.
H
I have used the M2Tech hiFace DAC for about one year, first as a stationary DAC then as a headphone DAC.
It is a very capable device but in a direct comparison I found the Naim nDAC better. I am using an M2Tech hiFace Evo USB -> SPDIF converter between my music server and the nDAC.
A few months ago I have replaced the hiFace DAC with a Meridian Explorer because I wanted a portable DAC with optical SPDIF output. The Explorer is also a nice portable DAC, maybe not as sharp as the hiFace DAC but very enjoyable. It comes with a short USB cable which is a bit more practical than the hiFace DAC.
....the Chord's designer was 'surprised' at how the dac performed, doesn't really inspire confidence does it.
H
Of course it does, no Hifi-design has known results upfront. All are 'discoveries' and adjustments. He jst one of the few that give others insight into his design proces.
You have an extremely negative bias / prejudice, IMHO.
Please, this is a dac a converter, everything is in the measurements, it converts ,that is what it is.
You have swallowed whole too much dealers/ manufacturers BS IMHO.
H
Sorry to disappoint you again, but I only listen to the rsult and don't read manufacturer writings.
My digital gear is all hand produced specialist stuff, not ordinary over-the-counter thingies.
That's the problem with you bits-are-bits adepts, you don't listen, you only measure and reason. But you don't know the proper things to measure, and don't understand/know what to reason about.
+1, what so many laymen fail to understand is the digital to analogue (and vica versa) conversion process is ultimately an approximation and a lossy process in the real world..
One of the aims (and I say is the main one) of DAC development is to reduce these conversion losses and increase precision
Simon
Unusually for me, I'm with Aleg and Simon on this one.