HiFiMan HM-601 Portable Player Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Intro:
I have bought many products from Head-Direct so I knew that I wasn't going to be taking any chances buying the HM-601 Digital Audio Player. I already have the HM-801 Player, which is the best sounding player I have ever heard, with features including an on-board DAC that allows you to use the DAC and/or amp with other musical sources such as home computers and laptops with USB outputs. The HM-801 is slightly larger and heavier for me to take on business trips, so I was looking for a similar unit that had most of the same attributes.
Attributes:
The sound quality out of the HM-601 is stupendous. It has 2GB of internal flash memory and allows the use of 32GD SDHC Class 4 cards which are small enough and allow you to you to carry around as many as you'd like, which in essence, gives you far more musical storage possibilities as any other player on the market. Also, like it's more expensive siblings that cost more, it plays 24/96 hi-rez .flac files. It plays almost every musical file known to man except for Apple Lossless which is proprietary to Apple products. Flac files are lossless music files which give you the same musical output as playing the CD itself but it takes up only about 75% of a .wav file which gives you the opportunity to hold more music for the player and yet, have the best sound files available for us audiophiles looking for the best sound possible in the portable realm.
The HM-601 has a user interface that is easy to use, and allows you to manipulate the home Main Menu screen by turning on and off which features that you want on the first page. The 601 uses a file folder system that has access via SD Card, Internal Memory, Artists, and Albums. The structure is the same as a computer, as it uses The name of the Artist, then Album name, and then the songs in order of track, as long as you have your file tagged properly, which is he same as any player which allow ID tagging to control the naming convention of an album and it's songs. At the top of the song screen, while it is playing it tells you, what the bit rate is, and where the song is located on the player (SD Card, Internal Flash, etc.). The player comes with a USB cable, which plugs into a "Data Exchange" port on the player on one side, and your computer on the other side. Your PC creates drive assignment letters, and your MAC creates "Devices" for both the internal memory and the SD Card which allows you to "drag and drop" the music from the computer directly onto either the Internal or SD card without the need for additional software. As soon as you plug in the device via the USB cable, the computer recognizes the device.
The player is attractive, with a shiny black gloss finish to it, and silver trim on all of the buttons. On the front, you have three buttons that allow you to turn on/off the player, a hold button which locks the keyboard functions, and a mute button. Also on the front is a "D-Ring" controller that allows you to advance and go back, move up and down through the various menus, a hold button (for the music), and when your are on the song screen, allows you to advance to the next song or go back to previous ones.
The Sound:
The head-Direct HM-601 uses a TDA1543 D/A Chip, which gives a warm, almost analog sound output. Going through all of my reference recordings, there is no hint of sibilance and the bass is exactly what I'm looking for in a portable player. The detail and clarity are sublime. On the road or sitting in a park, with a good pair of headphones, I can create an environment that is close to listening to my equipment at home, which contains some pretty good stuff. The sound is similar to it's older brother, which is $200 more and allows you to use the onboard DAC for other musical sources that have a USB out. If you want that feature then the HM-602 might be better for you. If you don't need to use a Digital Audio Player (DAP), then you can save some money, get the 601 and have nearly the same sound output.
Other features:
The 601 has a 1/8" line out port that allows you to bypass the amp inside the unit and use another amp if you want to use the 601 as a player, with it's DAP, and a different amp to cater to your tastes. I feel the amp on the 601 is excellent and don't feel a need to use the amp bypass.
The charger is a 5 volt small, light charger, and I have been averaging 10 hours battery life, unless I am constantly messing with the User functions. The unit also has a gain switch which allows you to use multiple types of headphones, from in-ear monitors, earbuds, or full size headphones when not walking the streets. I have had good luck using headphones that range from 32 ohms to 300 ohms.
I use the gain on low when using my low impedance headphones and on high when using my bigger headphones. This gives me adjustability using the volume control to get the volume just right to where I want it.
Customer Service:
You can have the best products in the world, but if you do not have a great customer service department, then there can be opportunities for unhappiness. I have had nothing go wrong with the Head-Direct products that I have purchased (I have also bought products from them on their website at www.head-direct.com), but I have contacted them each time to thank them for their good products, fast shipping and good service.
Highly recommended A++++

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