Making a CEntrance thread because I just received my HiFi-M8 V2 in the mail and I want to write some first-day impressions, lol
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It’s funny, the HiFi-M8 V2 looks like it has a ton of little dials and switches and stuff, but it’s a pretty simple device: it takes USB/Bluetooth in, and then outputs simultaneously to four outputs. My girlfriend Evelyn and I are going on a short trip in early June for our anniversary and part of the reason I picked this up was to have something portable where we could listen to music together. <3
It’s only been a day of listening, but so far, I’m impressed! The DAC part of this sounds as good I’ve heard any portable chip-DAC sound, and power-wise, it can handle Diana V2 just fine over the XLR output in high-gain. (Even the MYSPHERE 3.1 actually sounds pretty darn okay. Yes, it loses some of it’s magic on the HiFi-M8, but it doesn’t totally shit the bed in the way that I expected it would.)
The USB sounds better than the Bluetooth, but it doesn’t sound that much better, which is nice. Also, the Bluetooth latency is better than I’m used to: I can Bluetooth to my TV and watch shows or play games and I’m not eating the hundreds of milliseconds of delay that I’m used to with Bluetooth devices.
(EDIT: Just a note: The Bluetooth latency seems to change a lot depending on what device it’s connected to. In addition, I can sometimes kill the Bluetooth signal by covering different parts of the device. It’s not actually a problem, but yeah, important to know that the wireless connection will likely suffer if, for example, you place it on the table upside down.)
So far, my biggest complaint is that the “cold” side has a 2.5mm output instead of a 4.4mm output, and I don’t really have anything that adapts to 2.5mm.
Other odds and ends:
It has two USB ports, one that’s charging-only and one that can switch between data-only or both data and charging, which is really convenient.
The device only has one volume dial, so if you’re like me and planning on taking advantage of multiple outputs at the same time, you’ll have to play around a little regarding which inputs you use for what, since all four outputs have different amounts of power (intentionally so). It even has a power-saver switch that turns off the XLR and 1/4" outputs to extend battery life.
It’s certainly not a small device, but it’s actually not as big or as heavy as I expected. Height-wise, it’s noticeably shorter than my iPhone even.
A lot of switches are recessed into the device, and while it comes with a SIM-style-tool to get in there to flick those switches, I wish it had a little compartment or something to carry the tool around with the device.
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Yoooo nice, probably my favorite aio portable for driving headphones, it’s pretty sweet and versatile all around
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Random update: I’ve off-handedly mentioned in the past that I kinda hated the oBravo Cupid, but it’s been a long time since I’ve listened to them, so I’m giving these another try on the HiFi-M8 V2 and… yeah, these IEMs actually sound pretty alright, lol. They’re definitely still weird/unnatural in spots, but having a better source seems to make a pretty massive difference here.
EDIT: Bass has a nice rumble, highs have a nice bite, stage is just barely out-of-head, but still not awful and imaging is good, though coherency is not great.
Just thought I’d mention it since I was talking shit about the Cupid earlier. (Though I still don’t know who I would recommend them to, since if you have the money for a better source, you could probably also buy a better IEM.)
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How have I never heard of this? It looks really interesting. Would be curious to know how it compares to the ifi Micro iDSD Black Label that I currently own.
Congrats on the purchase @rgdelato !
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Thanks! Yeah, I’m liking it a lot so far! Unfortunately, I haven’t heard the Black Label (or anything else in that category), so I can’t give you any comparisons.
I think the m8 beats the micro bl pretty handily tbh. Less of an agressivly warm/smooth tuning maybe makes it a little pickier but better leading edge transients (more incisive), seperation, snd stage spacemrnt were the 3 imediate atand outs to me over micro BL
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I think I may have accidentally told someone here that the DACport HD was discontinued, but it looks like CEntrance still has a few available on their site (on sale, even):
So far, this has been my favorite source device to give to non-audiophiles, since it sounds good, it’s 3.5mm-only (which matches most non-audiophile headphones), and it’s very small and convenient.
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