HiFiMan products do not need special ideas, I wrote a lot about the company's products, and I will write more in the future. At the moment, high-quality players for HiFiMan have not developed the most successful situation, despite the rather interesting HiFiMan 901 in the top segment, there is nothing to offer in the initial segments of the company. Built on the HiFiMan codec, the HM-700 was not able to compete with the budgetary solutions Fiio and iHiFi, so HiFiMan decided to throw its old budget models on this segment of the market, optimizing them a little. This is how HiFiMan 603 Slim 4Gb appeared.
The HiFiMan 60x line appeared a long time ago and gained popularity due to the fact that its competitors at that time were absent. It was HiFiMan that popularized the modern version of the "audiophile" player, in which there is a separate DAC and a high-quality amplifier. Extremely expensive at the time of the appearance HiFiMan 801 made a real sensation: PCM1704 in the role of DAC (the same chips used in the more modern MA9 from ET), plug-in amplifier boards - all this was then a novelty, as well as a price tag that exceeded $ 800. But the 801st opened its eyes to the fact that a portable device can still produce a quality sound, so it was bought, despite the price, ergonomics, a short work time and other shortcomings. To consolidate the success of HiFiMan released a line of budget players with a general index of 60x, built on chips TDA from Philips. Actually, these chips have a multi-bit sound in the portable and is limited, except for OCUB with its AD1866, but it's not a player.
Periodically changing the characteristics of the junior players of the line, HiFiMan spawned many of their modifications, such as 601 Limited Edition, but at the moment 603 Slim is the most advanced in the budget line. It features an optimized power scheme, as well as a reworked amplifier, made in the similitude of the 801 model. This allowed the 603 to develop a very good power of the portable player, and also leveled the main shortcomings of the younger 601 model.
Unfortunately, in the process of optimizing costs, the player lost the function of USB-DAC, which was a very good tool for users who wanted to listen to high-quality sound from the computer. For some reason HiFiMan with enviable stubbornness does not add to its products this extremely popular and implemented option from competitors. For older players, a docking station has been released that allows them to be used in this role, but its price is $ 500, which is strange when the price of players, often exceeding $ 1000, is.
Nevertheless, even in a truncated version, the 603 HiFiMan is a very interesting purchase, as it is practically the most inexpensive and the most compact player using a multi-bit DAC.
Such digital-to-analog conversion chips appeared before the modern delta-sigma DACs, but because of the complexities in production and configuration, they are not made now, and they are an endangered species. Nevertheless, many music connoisseurs believe that multi-bit DACs sound better than one-bit ones, note their wide dynamic range and better dynamics.
In total, on multi-bit chips, you can now buy two expensive players (801 and MA9), both at $ 800 and inexpensive 60x, so 603 HiFiMan is first of all an opportunity for little money ( at the time of publication of the article, it is possible for approximately $ 260, which is noticeably less than the "world prices") to get acquainted with the multi-bit sound.
Specifications
- DAC chip: Philips TDA1543
- OC LPF: OP275, OPA2604
- OU headphone output: LT1057
- Frequency range: 20 Hz - 20 KHz
- Distortion: <0.09%
- Signal to noise ratio: 92 dB
- Channel separation (line output): 4 dB
- Output level: 2.7V @ 32Ω, 3.3V @ 300Ω
- Maximum output power: 190 mW
- Built-in Memory: 4 GB
- Memory cards: SD up to 32 GB
- Operating time on one charge: 10-13 hours
- Dimensions: 62 mm × 103 mm × 21.5 mm
- Weight: ~ 200 gr
Packing and delivery kit
The box of the player retains traces of its former greatness. Corrugated black cardboard with golden stamping, lid on the magnet - everything looks pretty good. In the box, besides the player itself, carefully packed in an antistatic bag, you will find a charger, an adapter for our outlets, a USB-cord, a bag of velvet to carry the player and various instructions / warranty cards.
In general, for a budget player, which 603 should already be considered, it is quite good.
Design and management
The appearance of the 60x-series HiFiMan has long been canonical and is worthy of placing in the chamber of measures and scales as a sample of a typical audiophile player. A large enough brick made of glossy plastic is designed in a frank retro style. The golden controls on the front panel and the gain switch send us to the golden time of the HiFi technology of the 70s. The following control elements are located on the front side of the player: a four-position navigation square with a confirmation button inscribed in it, a medium-sized color screen and three switches responsible for turning on, locking the buttons and temporarily turning off the sound. The funny thing is that the power button is not a switch, it just needs to be shifted to the stop for turning on / off.
In the left panel there is a slot for full-size SD cards and a gain switch, on the right panel there are connectors for charging and connecting the player to the computer for uploading files.
The top panel contains the outputs: linear and for headphones, as well as a volume control. At 603 it is completely analog, made in the form of a wheel, as in old radios.
The player menu is a masterpiece of minimalism: no advanced features, only the most basic minimum. On the other hand, it's not difficult to deal with this. The player as a whole is well managed with one hand.
A separate plus of this player - it can be installed on it RockBox firmware, significantly increasing its capabilities, possibly sacrificing slightly the sound quality. I did not compare two devices with different firmware to my forehead, but many argue that the RockBox sounds worse than the standard firmware.
Thanks to the optimization of the power scheme, the operating time of the player has improved noticeably, during my testing it worked on one charge for 10 hours and 40 minutes, which is very nice against the background of the short-lived 601.
Sound
To listen to the player, the following headphones were used:
- HiFiMan Re600
- HiFiMan HE560
- Philips Fidelio X1
- Dunu DN-2000
- Lear LUF-4F
- Rhapsodio RTi1
- Ambient Acoustics AM10
To the survey of 603 I approached with mixed feelings. The fact is that HiFiMan 601 disappointed me in due time, and so much that I did not even write a review on it. The dynamics of his sound so much left much to be desired, that with almost any headphones he played very dark, closed, in general - it's not my option at all. Fortunately, it turned out that the 603 did not have much in common with the younger model and the upgrade of the amplifier went to its advantage.
In general, the sound of the 603 is closer to neutral, with a slight bias in the dark sound, thanks to the use of a multi-bit DAC, the pitch has turned out to be very musical and cohesive. 603 - this player, which does not want to catch the individual parts of the sound (although in detail it is not bad), it brings down to the listener a melody entirely, in its entirety.
The bass of the 603 is very deep and musical, it just does not have enough resolution, but it fits into the general style of the player's delivery, and it's only heard on high-resolution reinforcement earphones, so it should be considered not a defect, but an idea of the creators. Due to the slightly reduced resolution of LF, the base of the melody seems more cohesive and on living genres it is very pleasant.
The midrange frequencies are very good. The level of emotion transmission is simply incredible for a given price category, the instruments are transmitted very well, their character is preserved to the fullest. The imaginary scene that the player is building is not the largest in width, but still quite clearly perceived, plus thanks to the multibit DAC it is perfectly built in depth.
The high frequencies are a step forward compared to 601, they are more detailed, good enough quantitatively and do not tire. I'm used to more detailed HF, typical for delta-sigma DACs, but if you are like a fire afraid of sibilants and bright sound - 603 will be for you a rescue from these "terrible misfortunes".
Compatibility
I do not know what is the 603 output impedance, I did not find the figure, but with multi-turnaround headphones, to my ear, he is not very friendly. If something like Gr01 or Nails 2 × 2 on dual drivers it still reveals well, then more complex configurations with a multiband crossover sound somehow very unbalanced, the RFs become sharply sharp, in general - not for this player the sound.
Enchantingly good with 603 headphones HiFiMan, released at the same time with him. If you are lucky enough to grab the Re272 in good condition - I recommend doing it, they are by themselves successful, and with 603 especially. However, the modern Re600 is also excellent with it, as well as other quality "dynamos" (Ostry, individual Fischer Audio models).
Of the rebar headphones, I especially want to mention the Nails from Myst, they are really great with the 603, their details are combined with the musical impact on the bass, so you get a good combination with the player.
In general, the main advantage of 603 is the vigor and integrity of the feed, so the headphones should not try to decompose the sound into components and give it in the form of separate parts. The genre player gravitates toward live music, heavy and not very, and with good concert recordings, his manner of writing generally works wonders.
conclusions
HiFiMan 603 causes mixed impressions. On the one hand, in terms of design and functions, it is firmly stuck in 2011, according to materials and convenience, modern competitors bypass it. On the other hand, there are simply no other inexpensive players on multi-bit DACs and with good sound, and the sound of the 603 HiFiMan is well worth it to make certain sacrifices for convenience. This, of course, is not quite the sound of top-end multi-bit devices, but if you love vigorous genres and musical presentation of material - there will be very few in 603 in your price niche.
The article is based on materials .
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