After a few weeks of use, my hip-dac 2 developed a hiss. Both outs, balanced and unbalanced, transmit a hiss, and the hiss is louder when you hit the āpower matchā button. It is present regardless of volume, regardless of headphone, and the same source is hiss-free using other DACs and the same headphones. I may need to swap this out or get something else.
EDIT: I contacted the vendor(crutchfield) and they will replace my hip-dac2. It sounds like a defective unit and not a widespread production problem, so that is positive. I had them check their returns for this unit going back to december 2021 and they say they havenāt had any come back because of hiss.
I managed to get a replacement hip-dac2, and it showed up today. Same issueā¦
Let me clarify and explain what Iāve learned - I think I made a mistake with the hip-dac2.
When I first bought the hip-dac2, I had a pair of Klipsch x10i earbuds and a pair of Beyerdynamic DT1990 headphones to use it with. Both of these headphones transmit zero āhissā to my ears.
Then I bought the MiM Dark Magician, as I mentioned above, which is 1) a balanced IEM, and 2) a much more sensitive listening device, apparently, than both the other headphones.
According to this review on head-fi, quote āOverall transparency and resolution was good for the price point, though again I could hear some roll-off in the upper-treble frequencies and separation was nothing exceptional. Moreover, the background hiss is noticeable with sensitive IEMs, so if you want a very dark background the Hip-DAC2 will disappoint.ā
This is not even close to a ādarkā or very dark background, and it honestly sounds defective. The hiss/noise floor is so prominent that it can clearly be heard during quiet moments in numerous songs, and the hiss gets louder with power match turned on.
I think I may get a full refund on this and try something else. Anyone have any recommendations for a PORTABLE DAC that:
DOES NOT transmit annoying hiss over sensitive IEMs
has balanced and unbalanced outs
has some sort of bass boost or EQ functionality so I can play with bass
of course, sounds good
I think my price point is a little higher, now that Iāve gone through this problem. I need a good DAC. : /
With all of that I can really only think of the gryphon from ifi (not heard, canāt comment, but has built in iematch which will likely take care of noise), or like a centrance hifi-m8 v2 (checks all boxes and sounds great, would be a solid step above the ifi, but might be on the large side of things)
There are also some dongle dacs that might be worth looking into like a luxury and precision w2 (has eq, but not bass boost, sorta) or lotoo paw s2 (same thing, also this one is more a sidegrade to the ifi rather than an upgrade)
If you took off the eq/bass boost or balanced requirement your options would open up more. Or you could look for a DAP instead but thatās not a dac/amp
Another thing to potentially consider is that a lot of the balanced portable dac/amps will sound worse through single ended, so given the 1990 are single ended, if you want to prioritize that you will want something that can do solid single ended (and if you do go for something only single ended, you can just recable your mim to se, but if your main priority is the mim then it doesnāt matter as much)
lmao I was actually just looking at that. I read that iFi has dongles designed toā¦ ācut the hissā on sensitive IEMs and headphones, and I was searching for more info on that when I found the Gryphon, which allegedly has āhiss reduction circuitry built-in.ā Yeah - āiematchā tech. I mean, I wish that tech was not necessary because hiss was not generated in the first place, but if it does not also cut out any desired frequencies of sound or spl, Im good. I may look closer at the Gryphon after I can find some solid critical feedback.
THANK YOU for the recommendations!! I will chew through this now and see if something jumps out at me. I am honestly much, much more concerned about sound quality than I am worried about size, convenience, etc. I am willing to sacrifice in almost any area BUT sound.
I hear what you are saying about single ended vs balanced, and indeed my main priority is the mim dm IEM. I put the dt1990s on the hip-dac2 as a test, and was pleasantly surprised to hear that they sounded fairly good and loud, but all I really care about is my IEM.
With the standalone iematch, my experience has been generally positive, on ultra mode thereās not really that noticeable of a sq hit with most midrange to entry higher end gear, but once you get up there it can become noticeable enough to want to remove it (although if you have that nice of transducers you should be running them on sources that donāt need an iematch in the first place). It will likely do itās job without much deterioration of sound. Iād assume itās implemented similarly in the gryphon but no clue since I donāt have personal experience with it, but I bet background hiss would be a non issue on that unit
I feel you there lol. For my portable setups I typically run a luxury and precision p6 pro ā mass kobo 424 or woo wa8 (in the past a bakoon hpa-21, wish I didnāt sell that lol) and itās pretty great for being āportableā but itās absolutely not convenient nor small, but hey the sound is what matters
Speaking of, you could look into portable amp only units and hook them up to a portable dac for a portable stack (as an example a vorzuge vorzamp duo ii is a standalone portable amp with a great bass boost), but thatās going to be more size and likely more expensive than an aio solution all in
You technically could just grab a DAP with a built in eq and use it as a usb dac/amp, but if you are buying a dap and arenāt going to use the player aspect of it, itās not the best value to do (a dap with real solid eq and a very black background around/under 1k is the lotoo paw 6000 or hiby rs6, under 500 Iād look for an ibasso dx160 if they still sell them)
Gotcha, then you shouldnāt have many problems then.
I will do some deeper research on the Gryphon, which I (apparently) failed to do with the hip-dac2 pre-sale. I may go with that, but not until Ive done some serious thinking.
Wow that Vorzuge / Vorzamp combo is nice, and still under $1k. It definitely looks large and bulky but if the sound is pristine, Im good. Ill wear a fanny pack if I have to. =P
I have also been looking at DAPs, but was going to try to use my android devices + a presumably lower cost (than a DAP) DAC, but since Im sending the hip-dac2 back for a refund, I can apply that money toward something better. ; )
If you paired the amp with a nicer dongle dac or something you would be right at or a bit under a grand, but if you used a dap you would be over most likely. Since keep in mind thatās just an amp, so you still need some sort of dac to feed it (and you donāt really want to skimp on the dac either). Itās also single ended so you might want to recable your mim if you go that route. Iād personally suggest to try the centrance before looking at a separate dac + amp portable setup
I personally thought it was good but not my personal taste, it was fast, neutral, and clean, with good control overall and nice macrodynamics, also solid impact and punch, but lacked microdynamics leading it to be a bit more of a dryer and duller sound, and spatially it felt pretty flat lacking good depth and some width. Timbre was ok, as was resolution. Overall good but I think the lack of space and micro performance was too off-putting for me (and I personally think that aforementioned hifi-m8 v2 does what the diablo sets out to do better most of the time, but the diablo can push harder to drive cans better). Just seemed like a decent well rounded portable powerhouse, but wouldnāt be my first pick in that range unless you would actually take advantage of that power (which the mass majority of the time, you really donāt)
I also didnāt like that you couldnāt line into the unit, since I have a sneaking suspicion the internal dac was holding it back. And no bass boost is also somewhat disappointing, since imo ifi does those really well. Both 2 things the older micro black label had (along with iematch)
It sounds like the Diablo can easily damage hearing, and that a few people have trouble pairing it. Customer comments suggest this, and the thing is $999, so maybe Iāll fall back to the model under it. Considering Im never going to walk down the street wearing my DT1990s, lol, I dont think I need that kind of power on the go.
I think it will come down to the iFi micro iDSD Signature or just the Gryphon. Or the W2.
Ill probably obsess over this for a few hours.
I can confirm the iematch works great on the gryphon without degrading the sound. Volume will go down but that happens in a system that adds resistance.
Another possibility is the xCAN if you line in or use Bluetooth. Mine has a pretty black background without having iematch built in.
I actually just spent like 2 hours reading and researching a few of these and really came to the conclusion the Luxury & Precision W2 is it. All the iFi devices above the hip-dac2 sound VERY appealing from a raw power and quality perspective, but the need to remove hiss is bothersome to me. One reviewer said āwell, the iDSD Signature ($749) reduced the hiss by about 30%ā, and that still bothers me because I want to start with a clean signal, not apply filtration to a dirty one.
The W2 is reviewed to have a āblack backgroundā, on top of sonic excellence and low end oomf, so this speaks to me. I dont need to be able to drive the larger phones with this, so I think this is good. Grabbed it. I will tell the tale when it arrives. ; )
Nice, will be curious on what you think of it. Also mess around with the filters and tune settings, I personally like using NOS with tune 02, but slow roll off is also nice
Looking forward to it!! I had to do some serious research to find a seller for the W2, and I managed to find some company called āmusicteckā that has domestic shipping. Its on its way already and should show up next week. I alllllmost pulled the trigger on the iFi iDSD Signature, but the hissā¦
What I dont really understand is how there are many reviews for the iFi products that generate hiss (everything below the Diablo) where those reviewers only make a minor issue about the hiss. Some of those reviews are 4 out of 5 stars, and the reviewer only mentions the hiss once. Are some people just comfortable with the hiss??
I tried to ignore the hiss and just roll with my hip-dac2, as the sound signature overall is really good! The bass boost is good and non-distorting, its portable and small, it uses no phone battery, etc. But once I heard that hiss, I couldnt un-hear it lol.
There is definitely a hiss to Ifi products and I can audibly hear it even with my planar IEMs. xCAN it wasnāt really noticable but the gryphon it is definitely there. I tried the iematch and bam gone.
I thought I read somewhere that Ifi uses a class A like topology to their amplification and I have a theory that all the tech/topology in a small form at the price point they offer there is going to be some sort of noise that will come through. Thatās just a theory though and Iām not going to take gear apart till I need to just to find out lol.
I was on the fence about that (iematch). I read the comments and heard what some people said, but one of the reviewers said āiematch reduced the hiss about 30%ā and that just wasnt enough for me. Reviewers for the W2 claim āblack background - totally silentā, and I will definitely give feedback on that claim when I get his. If the W2 has anything BUT dead silence where it should be dead silent, you shall hear about it. =P
Awesome, looking forward to your thoughts. The W2 looks really interesting and I could see a use case in the future for me but really enjoying the flexibility the gryphon affords me.
I donāt use super sensitive IEMs so that maybe why iematch worked so well for me.
My unbalanced DT1990s and my older Klipsch x10i earbuds transmit zero hiss or distortion of any kind when I use my hip-dac2. Total black background. The balanced out + my Dark Magician IEM transmit a surprising amount of hiss. Its shocking, really, how much hiss comes through on the bal. I would say, on a scale of 1 to 10, the hiss is a 3 or 4 at all times, and sometimes comes through the music itself.
The little x10i earbuds honestly sound better than they have ever sounded with the hip-dac2. They came alive in a way that my ddHifi tc44b could never achieve, and I actually successfully distorted them by using the āpower matchā feature on these tiny little low impedance buds. Bassed them out and made them fart in my ears but I discovered their upper limits on power.
The DT1990s also sound very good on the hip-dac2 - surprisingly good for something so big, 250ohm - and all frequencies are crisp, tight, and wide with the bassX thing warming them up suitably. Had to turn the volume up to about 80% to get adequate vol, but it did the trick. I will miss my hip-dac2 for a few reasons, but I wont miss the hiss on the bal.
