HiFiMAN launches HM-901 'high resolution' audio player, we go ears and hands on

The humble personal music player has seen many iterations over the last few decades. That doesn't mean that people aren't still giving the area some love, and HiFiMAN is definitely flying the flag with its HM-901 Reference Music Player. The unit incorporates dual Saber ES9018 32-bit DAC chips, with upsampling 20 24-bit / 96kHz. It claims to be able to play most lossless audio formats, including Apple lossless. Of course, it'll still play your regular MP3s too, should you so desire. One neat trick is a removable amplifier card which means -- at a future date -- you could be able to swap them out for other amp cards that bestow a different sound, much like different guitar amps etc. Other forthcoming features include gapless playback, and the ability to use it as a WiFi music server. If you want some hard numbers, then HiFiMAN states that the distortion is less than 0.003 percent, with a signal to noise ratio of 107dB. Want to know the stereo cross talk? That'd be 86 db (line) and 76 db (headphone). Head past the break for our impressions.
The HM-901 is the follow-up to the firm's 801 model we saw a few years ago. While the 801 took a minimalist modern design, the 901 goes takes a straight-up retro vibe. The finish is a mix of textured black plastic that you might find on a classic camera and silver accents. The controls are a mix of simple click buttons and a physical jog-wheel (rather than a touch surface). As you can see, there is a small screen, but this beast is definitely audio only, so if you thought you might be able to sneak an episode or two of your favorite show on there, we're sorry to say, that won't be happening. Memory-wise, it's all about the SD card, so pick your capacity all the way up to 128GB we believe. There is also a companion dock, that carries the same vintage look and feel. One thing's for sure, this definitely has a distinctive look. And while it's not exactly slimline or light in the hand, this only really serves to remind you that you are holding something more serious than just any old me-too media player. Of course, looks and finish are one thing, but with a device that is selling itself on audio quality, the proof is in the listening. We tried it out with a variety of sound sources on some of the firm's own headphones, and we were extremely impressed with the quality. Classic, Opera and Jazz sounded incredibly clear, but, sadly, we didn't get chance to check it out with anything electronic. We're confident it would do the business though. If this sounds like something you can get behind, or have a large collection of FLACs you want to give an appropriate home, you can bag yourself one for the uncompressed price of $999, add another $399 if you want the dock. Both shipping in March.
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