Hifidelio-User.de

Yes, Vincent , you are right! (And this is also the answer to gigi ) the hiend audio IS my hobby, and "bit is bit" is NOT our audiophilers motto. Simple listen to a "serious" DAC and you will hear the difference.
I have (again) connected (all is perfectly in 100% function!) to the same DAC the CD transport (2500 eur) and the HF : you can easly hear the difference: the HF was fine, but the CDT has more bass, larger scene...

To add a good DAC it is not the best thing we want: the "bottle" of the poor HF chip (it is a very poor device that is a slave chip DSP+DAC) is must be bypassed...so you can get also the 24/96 files.

I know very well the Linn, I hope to upgrade the performance of the HF because I think it is possible...
Anyway the Olive (that I haven't it) that acclaims "audio" I hope has bypassed the poor chip because if they put "only" a new DAC inside (after the chip) it is not the best we can hear from HF...and I think again it is possible...


L.

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Ein Gruß aus Italien...

You might have a look here: http://hear.nl/news/3321-Hifidelio-160- ... RO-vM.html

It is about a company in Holland (Van Medevoort) modding the HF including a new output stage with a better clock.
This mod is no longer on their website but you might contact them and ask for details: http://www.audiomart.nl/contact.htm

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Well, that's not a question of a motto, but of the simple fact how things are working. But let's stop discussion here, it will lead to nothing in my experience.


No objection here. The analog part (and the DAC *has* an analog part) is always sensitive to sound quality.


Then you MUST HAVE some problem in either your hifidelio or your external DAC, but i doubt i can convince you here, so I leave you in your believe that "all is in 100% function".


No, that will not be possible. AC97 is not capable of doing HD-Audio.
There are 2 components involved in doing sound: The AC97 Controller (this is done within the VIA VT686B Southbridge within the hifidelio) and the AC97 Codec, this is the AD1981B I already mentioned.
While Olive could replace/bypass the AD1981B in theory, they can't bypass the Southbridge as the controller. Very little chance of doing more than 48/16 with that one, as I never saw any driver supporting more than that.

Thank you all for the links and the discussion...I hope one day to add something here: but believe me gigi that all is in perfect condition, the digital out of HF is not so "musical" than one of a hiend transport, you can simple hear the difference in a hiend system that can show you all the details.
A HT system is not capable, it does "other" things.
Ciao.


L.

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Ein Gruß aus Italien...

Hi Znorter!

I have found your post via a link provided by Vincent. I posted a similar thread here:
http://www.hifidelio-user.de/viewtopic. ... 4356#34356

As you can see I share your opinion that my Marantz SA8400 sounds better as a transport when connected to my Marantz CDA-94 DAC than the HF. Of course that the first reply I got back was the classic 1s and 0s theory. Once again, I do not want to start a discussion about this because we all agree it would not lead anywhere.

In my tests I have noticed that the optical output of the HF produces a better result than the coax - midrange is more present and voices sound far more natural. This was a bit surprising to me because the optical cable is much cheaper than the coax.

So at this stage I have a few extra things I want to try:

- get a better optical cable and test the result with this new cable
- change the power chord on the HF with a decent one (I like Supra LoRad cables which provide a great value for the money)
- try a set of Brightstaraudio Isonodes on the HF (same principles with the ones used by the HF anti-vibration kit for the harddiisk) and attempt to improve vibration control which should help reduce jitter and lower the noise floor.

With these changes I am hoping to get close with the HF to the result produced when using the CD player as transport...

Hi amatala.
My HF is already "tweaked" with a good power cord from audio gear (Kimber); inside I have paste the acoustic revive and blue tak isolators.

I am happy to read the words of J. Atkinsons (stereophile) that are very similar to my post above here and note that "LF" is Low Frequencies: (here the link: http://www.stereophile.com/mediaservers ... ndex1.html)



...but you have to consider that vincent and gigi too, have some reason: HF is not an hiend product, it is a very good device but not to compare vs hiend products for 2 channel stereo audio.
I think (I am sure) that "the problem" is the slave chip that is DAC and DSP: the Olive modifications also are NOT in the right Hiend direction because they connect the new DAC after this chip and into the coaxial.
Anyway I hope one day to bypass it and use HF like a real transport also for HIRES file...But for now...hoping that Olive will continue to upgrade the firmware it must be a good think during these times...

L.

(Merry Christmas)

P.S. For the optical cable...I don't think that there are many upgrade to replace the optical than the coaxial...but you have to test...don'y spend a lot for an optical...(IF you don't use the wifi, disconnect the antenna from inside...this is an improvement

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Ein Gruß aus Italien...

Isn't it a bit strange that you'll going to try to spend possibly several 100€ for cables and tuning while the internal "soundchip" of the hifidelio is worth less than 3€? Better to sell your hifidelio and buy a real high-end device.

Well, of course you are right, but the problem with high-end devices is that they cost several thousand euro and a large part of the price is paid on their internal high-end DACs. I am very picky about the DAC - I have chosen my current vintage DAC after extensive studies and listening sessions and for me the best decoding chip ever made is the Philips TDA1541 which has been out of production for a very long time now. So I absolutely do not want to change my DAC - unless I can find a better one based on the same chipset, which is highly unlikely. So I would end up paying lots of money on something I do not need and maybe never use.
For me the HF seemed like the perfect choice for a digital source, and I do not want to give up on it yet... The way I figure this out is: I paid 600 euro for the HF, 100 extra euro to have it repaired (bad luck...), if I pay a couple of extra hundred euros on accessories I am still well under 1000 euro as total price and it is still way cheaper than a high-end device.
The result I am aiming for is something similar to the Stereophile review: I do not mind if the HF does not produce exactly the same result as the CD player as long as the differences are still subtle and can only be heard by performing A/B comparisons - I can live with this. However, if the differences stay big, I will be probably be looking for another solution.

Wow, now I'm kind of speechless. Hifidelio meets the stone age in digital/analog processing.
I'm sure you like your DAC and is has a distinctive sound, but it is certainly far away from what I would call "best possible reproduction".

I never said "best possible reproduction", I said that this is the DAC that sounds best to me. If a DAC has "perfect" characteristics on paper it does not necessarily mean it will sound great.
Like I said before, I choose all my audio equipment by performing extensive audio tests - I always get the ones that sound best to me, not the ones that look best on paper.

coac/optical outputs do not seem to support Hires-FLAC. Has anyone gathered some experience using the Hifidelio as a UPnP?

adca1

BTW: I transferred some Hires FLAC files to "Import" from where I could replayed them correctly via the optical-output (using the DAC of my NaimUniti).