HiFiMan DAC/Amp Roundup 2: EF400, EF499, EF500, EF600, Serenade. Which is Right for You?

[@zoobi27]

Got the EF400 and I love it. Just purchased the EF500 and I can't wait to see how it goes compared to the 400. We will see :) Pairing with Edition XS, amazing stuff ! Will update this comment as soon as I got some experience with the new amp/dac ! *EDIT : I just got the EF500, running at the same frequency, sampling mode, with the same headphones, at the same knob angle to give similar output volume with the gain, and oh boy, I really can't tell the difference. I thought initially the EF400 had wider stage, but it seems it does not. Now my last realization is, maybe the EF500 had more depth to the sound, like clarity, but it may just be psychological difference. However I read that the EF500 is more organic, I can't feel that be honest. As well as the difference between NOS/OS mode, no difference to me !* However the EF500 gives more power, slightly. With the price difference, just get the EF500 around 500$ IMO

[@explorinlearnindoing5462]

Did you burn it in? It needs 100 to 200 hours to burn in jow it should sound.

[@Maj0rTac0]

Got the EF500 and streaming is a must for this unit

[@harrycat90210]

Could you please elaborate? I assume you mean from a sound quality point of view?

[@zakyfadhlurrohman2825]

​@@harrycat90210 I have gustard r26 and it has similar behavior which I kinda hate. Not that the usb input sounds bad but with LAN the sound is just different (superior), better clarity and layering, much more natural and easier to ear despite more details. Now that I use this setup for watching TV also, and streaming just the audio is not possible. Switching between usb and lan is pain with this dac because of software bug.

[@gerhardschmidt6634]

Thanks for the detailed comparison!

[@humanitech]

Am curious does the EF500 ladder dac compare well with other standalone ladder dacs like musician or denafrips etc? Thx

[@explorinlearnindoing5462]

Have you found out? I like ladder dacs. I am curious if the EF500 sounds audiophile and analogue enough...

[@EleaticStranger]

This helped me decide. Thank you

[@delta9k]

Great round up - making me rethink and consider somethings for my WFH office where space is limited and to be honest, I am not that picky about features and sound to a degree. I mean it has to sound good but doesn't have to be critical sound good.

[@aj8ky]

Great video! Thank you! I really feel Hifiman have severely restricted the cheaper models by removing analogue inputs, and therefore have severely limited their versatility, value and upgrade paths. If only the EF499 or EF500 had RCA input, they’d be so worth the price. No analogue inputs at $300-500 is nuts. No optical isn’t great either. You can’t add a different Dac or upgrade them in the future unless you spend over $650 on the Ef600. Also, it seems the Ef600 and several other models have some interference issues etc. Shame really, I was strongly considering these!

[@andreasschultze6644]

Very nice !!! Thank you

[@ReverendDr.Thomas]

Professor, thank you for another wonderful review! 👌 Reverend Dr. Thomas, ✝️ The Vegan Vicar 🌱

[@ReverendDr.Thomas]

@@One-Two_swift-kickbox, good and bad are RELATIVE. 😉

[@JTB--]

What does HIFIMAN have against an Optical connection?

[@manuel_the_q]

If I remember correctly, optical connections are not as popular in Asia and manufacturers prefer digital coaxial. Hifiman is a company based in China, so they will use the most popular connections that their customers use. I use optical from my computer to my dac here in California, so I prefer optical.

[@lukasweiss4506]

Can someone recomend a good budget 4-pin XLR Balanced Male to dual 3.5mm wire?

[@llysender]

I cant say say for EF499 since I havent herd it but EF500 and EF600 have no staging depth and everything is pushed to the front and is very wide which is nice for music and some movies but I wont keep it as your only unit and the annoying part is that you cant feed in analog signal so you cant get a DS DAC that can stage properly for games which wants that imaging but a full saperate chain. That being said if you want a thinner more precise sound feeding the EF500 into THX amps is very nice.

[@danielsamson9505]

👌👍

[@васявасильев-ф2в9э]

Where is red serenade???

[@MrStachox]

has anyone tested this dac amp under linux? I have very little power under linux. Sundara headphones on high gain can be listened to at max volume. I tested on different distributions: Manjaro with pipewire and Ubuntu with pulseaudio and on both the same. Under windows and android the volume is ok - on low gain I can't exceed 50% volume.

[@hoggmann7217]

yo, i have an ef499 and running debian 13. i had the same issue (max volume on ef499 and linux, could barely hear it. 50% was as loud as i dared on osx/windows) until i changed the driver to analog output, then i about blew out my eardrums.

[@MrStachox]

@hoggmann7217 I used alsamixer in the terminal and there I found an additional volume bar

[@rossheard9446]

Comically that's usually how most reviewers work, expensive equals best. Blind testing would change that.

[@mikeg2491]

I don’t believe most expensive equals best but cheaping out has never worked out for me either.

[@Michael_mki233]

@@rossheard9446 Only in the world of audio does the concept 'you get what you pay for' not exist.

[@williekenk]

Why don’t you just get all these units and film a blind test for us then

[@KryssN1]

EF600 or EF500 for HE6SE v2 and dynamic hesdphones like HD660S2. I cannot deal with grainy treble. I already got Modi+ Asgard 3 stack, so was leaning into EF500 for more neutral presentation to keep both and was thinking EF400 would be more of the same with lesser sonic performance than of Asgard 3. Also I just really like looks of EF500. I also have FiiO K9 Pro OG AKM4499, which sound I really really like. It’s neutral, with warmish bass and rolled off treble. With THX dynamics and seperation. Was hoping EF500 would be more of the same. The k9 Pro just too bulky and it doesn’t look as elegant or clean as either Shiit Stack or EF500. So was actually hoping to switch it up for EF500. Not to mention it lack umph, cannot drive the demanding headphones, only about 1.5W into 50 ohm.

[@stevendavis1135]

Its safe to say the ef400 is trash now , reviewbywave theory has spoken 😂 my ef400 died 3 months ago. Was going to replace it but now im glad i didnt

[@Michael_mki233]

Did I miss something? Did the people over on Head-Fi suddenly start saying that you weren't a Hifiman shill anymore? Do I need to go have words with someone? 🤨🤣

[@ReverendDr.Thomas]

MOST HiFiMan products are excellent! I own three of their headphones, not including the one I REALLY want (Susvara).