Oh my stars and garters, a flac player!

[aardvark baguette]

HifiMAN HM-801 PMP

Doubt I'll own one, but I still think its an interesting development.

Note: "HiFiMAN" is the new name of "Head-Direct".

Features

Modular Design: Modular Amplifier Bay (Named GanQi Bay) and 14.8 volt Lithium Polymer Battery Bay

Memory: SDHC Card

Volume control: ALPS Analog Attenuator

DAC function: Coaxial (44.1kHz only) , USB DAC (up to 96kHz)

DAC Chip: Burr-Brown PCM1704; Op-Amp: OPA627

Size: 114 mm *78mm * 25.5 mm or 4.49 * 3.07 * 1.00 Inch

Output: Headphone out; Line out

Exchangeable Module Battery Life : 6 to 8 hours (Depending on What Modular Amplifier board is inside)

Charger and External Power supply: E-core Transformer (still can get Hi-Fi grade sound quality while charging)

Accessory: Lithium polymer battery, External Power Supply, USB cable, mini-coaxial adapter

Music Format Support

APE Fast、Normal、High Mode

AAC 16K-320Kbps

FLAC、WMAlossless VBR 44.1kHz (will support 24bit 96KHz via softerware upgrade in the future)

WMA 8-355kbps

OGG Quality 0-Quality 10

WAV PCM,MS-ADPCM,IMA-ADPCM

MP3(VBR) 8-320Kbps

>>Review

>>Preorder

[luvdunhill]

meh. My Teclast T50 plays FLAC and is 1/1000th the size

[tyrion]

I probably have no use for this but I look forward to checking it out at CanJam '09.

[jinp6301]

The PCM 1704 is supposed to be a good dac chip right?

[deepak]

Hehe HifiMan is a much better company name than Head-Direct

[boomana]

I like the SDHC card bit, but I have no need for one.

[n_maher]

meh. My Teclast T50 plays FLAC and is 1/1000th the size

Is that the Ipod Touch knockoff-type DAP you have?

[Dusty Chalk]

WANT. cant have.

[manaox2]

Hehe HifiMan is a much better company name than Head-Direct

I bet a person could make some money selling that domain.

Even though it has a digital in, SDHC only support, and amplifier module selection, I don't have any urge to run after this. Kind of reminds me of a funky original gameboy too. I would much rather spring for the Pacemaker at $600, that has all kinds of goodies (also native FLAC support) and a digital out which is more important for a portable device then a digital in IMO.

[cclragnarok]

It also decodes APE, which is nice even though it's pretty easy to convert APE files to FLAC. I have no use for a HiFi portable though.

[Smeggy]

I want but probably won't get because it cost five trillion dollars.

[catscratch]

Holy fuck, PCM1704, analog volume control, FLAC, OGG, and APE? Want. Want badly.

However no digital output = fail.

[deepak]

Woah I thought Monkey's Audio was a dead format. But it looks like it was updated March 19, 2009.

[atothex]

It looks very breakable, and I haven't owned a portable thing that I haven't dropped plenty of times.

[NoValidTitle]

I'm highly interested to see how this comes out. The thing about devices that get me are you're limited to the modules and the people who make them. But there is almost always a versatility sacrifice for convenience. No digital out is a bummer too.

[Tachikoma]

A digital out is always nice, but truth be told, do you really want to use that as your transport when listening at home? And would it make sense to lug an external portable DAC around when its already using one of the best DAC chips out there inside it? (assuming the implementation isn't horribly crippled, which is actually easy to do considering the PCM1704's specs)

[manaox2]

A digital out is always nice, but truth be told, do you really want to use that as your transport when listening at home? And would it make sense to lug an external portable DAC around when its already using one of the best DAC chips out there inside it? (assuming the implementation isn't horribly crippled, which is actually easy to do considering the PCM1704's specs)

I would at least want to use something small and portable as my source between home and work and then transport while at work if I had a small work rig.

[Tachikoma]

Fair enough, but about the player, I have my doubts whether its actually going to sound good. The PCM1704 is supposed to be a difficult DAC to work with, even for something that isn't going to be miniaturized.

[jinp6301]

I think the whole idea of this is that this would replace your work rig

[Smeggy]

x2, that does seem to be the intent

[manaox2]

I think the whole idea of this is that this would replace your work rig

I get it now. In that case, it would be nice to have more power on tap when it gets plugged in for different amplifier modules would be nice to better drive some of the not so portable headphones.

At that price I feel I could get something rather nice that was only slightly larger in size at work and a very decent portable rig on the side.

[Dreadhead]

I bet a person could make some money selling that domain.

Even though it has a digital in, SDHC only support, and amplifier module selection, I don't have any urge to run after this. Kind of reminds me of a funky original gameboy too. I would much rather spring for the Pacemaker at $600, that has all kinds of goodies (also native FLAC support) and a digital out which is more important for a portable device then a digital in IMO.

I was looking at the Pacemaker but I can't find anything about digital out in the manual. Where do you have info about this?

[manaox2]

I was looking at the Pacemaker but I can't find anything about digital out in the manual. Where do you have info about this?

This was asked about several times on head-fi and promised to come, but it seems it hasn't been implemented yet....

This is found in the pacemaker FAQ:

3.4 Input and Output

3.4.1 Q: Does Pacemaker have digital out?

A: Pacemaker is prepared to support S/PDIF out via coaxial. This functionality will be available in an early software upgrade.

LET'S MIX!

So, looks as if they haven't prepared it yet possibly.

[Wyaeengee]

I don't like the looks

and...

"Estimated Retail price will be more than 700usd"

Ewwwww

[atothex]

I don't like the looks

and...

"Estimated Retail price will be more than 700usd"

Ewwwww

It's good.