Xuelin is far from new to the personal audio market; their iHiFi players were among the first sound solutions available on the market. The progress that the company has gone from 812 models to 770, which has become the hero of this review - is incredible. stands out from the competition not only with sound, but also with its appearance, I’m not afraid to say that this model is the most beautiful of all HiFi-players made in China.
Before the advent of the 770, Xuelin did everything according to the principle of “sound quality and maximum reliability.” They got powerful and impenetrable players, I think if the domestic military industry decided to make a music player, they would have made something like iHiFi 960 (at least outwardly). Then in Xuelin they decided to fight for a more mass consumer, and presented iHiFi 760. It was smaller in size than its older brother, but larger than its competitors. He was not particularly impressed with me, and I did not review him, although there were quite a few 760 fans. And now 770 fell into my hands, and I can say that he conquered me, despite the disadvantages of usability. The player belongs to the budget line and is available on eBay at prices ranging from 150 to 200 dollars. In Ukraine, they can , in Russia - to use .
Specifications
- DAC: Wolfson WM8740
- Amplifier: Analog Devices AD8656
- Output power: 2 x 120 mW @ 32Ω
- Output level: 3.6 V
- Signal to noise ratio: ≥105 dB
- Channel unbalance : ≤0.5 dB @ 1 kHz
- Channel separation: ≥93 dB @ 1 kHz
- Total harmonic distortion + noise: ≤0.004% @ 1 kHz
- Frequency range: 20 Hz - 20 KHz
- Built-in memory: 8 GB
- Memory Card Support: Micro SD up to 128 GB
- Audio format support: WAV (up to 192 kHz), APE (up to 48 kHz), FLAC (up to 48 kHz), AAC, OGG, MP3, WMA
- Output: 2 x 3.5 mm TRS
- Operating time on one charge: about 13 hours
- Dimensions: 117 mm x 64 mm x 8.8 mm
- Weight: 103 gr
Package and Delivery
This point was taken very seriously. A thin glossy box in the best traditions of modern packaging immediately after opening will show you only a player lying on a white cradle, and already under it you will find all the additional accessories.
In addition to the player, you will receive a microUSB cable, instructions in several languages, a VIP-card and (most useful) - an excellent leather case, made in the form of a book. The player is literally glued to it and the resulting bundle will clearly serve you faithfully for a very long time.
Design and management
The appearance of the player immediately adjusts to a serious mood. The design of the rest of the Chinese players looks like a breath of fresh air: a thin bar of silver aluminum with a black inset of tempered glass on the front panel. In the portfolio of the manufacturer there is another version of black anodized aluminum, which also looks great. In the first versions of the player there were complaints that this glass is peeled off, but my copy is no longer subject to this problem. I think this defect was corrected at the production stage. I can say that not all phones / smartphones can boast such an elegant appearance.
On top of the left side there is a microSD card slot and a reset hole, on top there are two headphone jacks, a MicroUSB connector and a power button, the back side bears the manufacturer's logo and technical information.
The front panel has a screen and six touch buttons for control. The screen is not amazing, in the sun it is not read very much, but for the budget player it is more than enough. The buttons are beautiful, after pressing, they are briefly highlighted in bright white, but they need to adapt to them. The player periodically “falls asleep”, and in this case, the first press is needed to “wake up” the device. Because of this, the habit seems to be that the player does not always respond to the buttons. To "life raspberries did not seem," the developers also greatly complicated the appointment of keys. The button, which is usually responsible for playback, serves in the menu to enter sub-items, and on the playback screen for some reason does not pause the music, but opens the menu for adjusting the equalizer and the repeat mode. To pause, you have to briefly press the power button on top, and if the player has already extinguished the screen, you need to press twice, with a long press - completely turn off the player. In general, the confusion with the management of the iHiFi 770 is pre-rank, although you can get used to it.
The menu is strictly ascetic, it has three items: the first allows you to view your library in one list (as I understand it, only music from the internal memory of the device is supported), the second shows music from the device and a memory card by folders, the third allows you to change player settings. There are very few of the latter - backlight time, auto off timer, language selection, reset, and system information.
Various playback options are configured on the screen itself with music, for this you need to press the button with the sign "Play". Of the options available here: repeat mode, equalizer settings (there are very interesting options such as 3D and leveling), as well as the background of the playback screen.
In general, the player gets 5 for design with a huge plus, a three for management, so as a result, this item can be rated as a good four, which, given its price, is quite good.
Sound
The following headphones were used to listen to the player:
The player is equipped with two headphone outputs, which, according to the manufacturer, provide a different sound. Judging by the results of measurements, the frequency response of these outputs is completely identical, with the only difference being that the output closer to the edge has an impedance of 10Ω, and the second has about 0Ω. This affects the way the headphones play, especially the reinforcement, providing two options for sound: neutral and gustatory. I chose a “zero” output for myself, as it has a more even sound, while the “ten-ohm” emphasizes the mid frequencies (which is very pleasant on some headphones, but not universally). So the whole further review is built precisely on the "zero" output.
Frequency response iHiFi 770 in the audio range
IHiFi 770 output impedance
The player supports files with a sampling frequency of up to 192 kHz, but for some reason only in WAV format, judging by the frequency response graph - native support, without downsampling.
AFC iHiFi 770 - full range
As usual, it should be understood that when evaluating the sound of the player, you must take into account its price. In absolute terms - in the iHiFi 770 sound you can find a lot of flaws that the noticeably more expensive models do not have, with respect to the same price, to my hearing the 770th is the best of all players of a similar price range (not counting the Aune M1, due to its limited firmware) .
The 770's woofers collected, served neatly, without the laxity inherent in the Fiio X3 in stock, without disadvantage, like the DX50, without the dark color HiFiMan 601. Bass lovers may be unhappy with the number of woofers in the 770th, but then I would have picked up better earbud headphones because the hero of our review bass well controls (for its price) and delivers with the right nuances. Even capricious hybrids, which are far from being revealed with every top player, do not cause rejection since 770.
Mids are traditionally good. Usually midrange work out almost any player, is no exception, and 770 minutes. The middle frequencies of the Xuelin creation are detailed, the emotions are not bad, the instruments have character and are well separated. Conventional stereo - medium in width and depth, expected for the price tag.
The high frequencies are enough to create the effect of pleasant airiness, but they do not cut the ear, there are practically no sibilants. On complex tracks, however, you can see the simplicity of the RF, but, again, this is normal for this price range.
Since the player is not a benchmark for power, you should not use it with the tightest headphones, but it reveals most of the available headphones. He has no clearly expressed genre preferences, but it is worth picking up better entries.
findings
Despite a number of shortcomings, the player at Xuelin was very interesting. He looks great on the outside and plays well for his price. Thus, it turns out a solution for those who want to make a qualitative leap in portable sound, but at the same time is not ready to drag a typical Chinese brick and pierce a huge hole in its budget.
The article is based on materials .
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