Just received: M2Tech Hiface USB interface

[Lizard_King]

I was made aware of this device by the guru. My DAC sounds very good yet I know the USB input board uses a PCM2704 chip which converts to SPDIF and probably adds jitter. In theory, I could bypass that board and feed th digital coax into the RCA input of the DAC. Have any of you done this and what are you thoughts?

 

 

 

 

 

[pcfixer]

I've had my HiFace about 4 days now. I'm still breaking it and a new BNC to RCA cable in. For this reason, I haven't posted any real thoughts on the sound. I would like to say that it's an improvement over my TOSLINK connection from my Mini to my Bel Canto Dac2 but I think that sounded pretty good to start with. I can say that I've been really impressed by the sound of cymbals and the overall clarity of almost all kinds of music I've played through the system so far. In a week or two, I plan to grab an assistant and do some "blind" tests to really verify the improvement over my old connection.

 

I haven't experienced the clicking sounds using both the 1.0.3 and 1.0.3.2 Mac drivers. One thing I have found odd is that the interface only shows as 32bit in the Audio/MIDI panel while giving me the option to set the sampling rate from 44.1 to 192KHz. I'm wondering if any of the other Mac users have noticed this as well.

 

Lastly, I do want to thank Keith at puriteaudio for sending me one from the UK! Thanks again Keith!

 

-Patrick

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

" One thing I have found odd is that the interface only shows as 32bit in the Audio/MIDI panel while giving me the option to set the sampling rate from 44.1 to 192KHz. I'm wondering if any of the other Mac users have noticed this as well."

 

This just came up in another thread a few hours ago :~)

 

 

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/Mac-midi-settings

 

[katywu]

A slight tangent but I have experienced the same clicking problem when starting/skipping tracks etc with my W7 set up (MediaMonkey - ASIO) with direct digital out from my laptop (no HiFace). Sounds like maybe a driver issue with different hardware devices? Still not resolved, may have to try a HiFace

 

Mike

 

[housteau]

Has anyone compared the M2Tech and the built in USB of the Benchmark DACs? I know that the DAC1 USB only goes to 24/96 and the M2Tech to 24/192, but I was interested more in the sound quality difference between the two up to 24/96.

 

[bj10au]

After readings comments on M2Tech hiFace on another forum, I purchased one and received it about 3 weeks ago.

 

The Mac driver wasn't available then, and I set up on my Mac using Windows 7 under a Boot Camp partition on my MacBook Pro and using FooBar as the server software. I was initially very impressed with the sound quality.

 

Then the Mac OS driver Version 1.03 became available and I started using it with iTunes. I'm very impressed with the sound quality and I can control all my music through my iPhone using the Apple Remote application.

 

My DAC is the one built into the NaimUniti which I purchased earlier this year. Using this DAC, I've compared both CD quality and HD music on the hiFace with music directly into the NaimUniti network connection, music played through AppleTV, and have also compared CD quality with the Naim CD player. The hiFace is far better than the AppleTV connect to the NaimUniti with toslink and as good as or better than the other two methods.

 

The sort of differences I notice are the space around the instruments, the wide soundstage and the particularly the timing and low level detail ... and this applies to HD and CD quality music. Those who know Naim equipment will know it is great at conveying the timing of rhythms and this is not diminished at all by the hiFace, which seems to substantiate the claims made about the reduction of jitter.

 

I've been an analogue lover for years. I've had a Linn LP12 turntable since the 1980s. The hiFace is one the few pieces of equipment which has really allowed me to really warm to digital recordings and just enjoy the music without any feeling that I need to adjust the volume. It just sounds "right".

 

What I always liked about good vinyl was I would get so engrossed in the music I would not feel a need to make any adjustments. The hiFace has gone a long way to doing that for me with digital recordings and I have all the added convenience that I can control my music using my iPhone as a remote.

 

I've never heard my iTunes music sounding so good.

 

I save all my music in iTunes as WAV files for the greatest compatibility and sound quality and store them on an Iomega Home Media Network Storage drive.

 

Postscript:

 

I've just noticed that the Australian Distributor for this device has included a link to my comment here on their website. Perhaps it's only a coincidence, but they have also increased the price of the M2Tech hiFace from the A$179 that I paid for it, to A$199. It's still great value, and maybe I'm just a little cynical, but the way the Aussie dollar is going against the Euro, I don't think they hiFace would be costing them any more, just more in demand.

 

[shum3s]

I am new to this site, my first post. I received my M-2 HiFace three weeks ago and it works great. I have had no issues whats so ever. I am using it with a Sony Vio lap top, running Vista 64 bit. Using ASIO out to A PS audio Dac III. This is a great product and it sounds wonderful with CD red book, especially 24/96 downloads.

 

[xenophilic]

Dear shum3s,

 

I'm sure you know this, but Redbook CD is 16/44.1 so 24/96 downloads are not Redbook. I probably read your sentence other than you intended, but it sounded like you were equating the two.

 

I have a HiFace on the way for use with my PS Audio DL III, so I'm glad to hear it's working well for you. I don't think the USB receiver chip on the DL III is especially good (doesn't do much to control jitter), so I'm looking forward to the improvement and the ability to run the Hi-Rez over USB.

 

Merry Christmas!

 

[shum3s]

Yes I Am aware of the difference between redbook and Hi-

rez. thanks for clarifying. Let me know what you think about the HiFace after you put it in your system.

 

Merry Christmas to you

 

[hanzorama]

I saw an earlier post by Scot mentioning that the hiface would work only on his macbook pro and not with his G5. I recently got a hiface and installed the most recent drivers on my macbook pro. Though the installs are "successful", the hiface is never listed in coreaudio preferences. The device is listed in the USB Device Tree as USB-SPDIF but also says "Unknown (Device has not been configured)". If somebody has a work around to get this to show up in the coreaudio that would be much appreciated!

 

Hans

 

edit: it works flawlessly on my new imac, and does not work with my G5 or macbook pro. The main differences are that the new imac has 64-bit processing, core2 duo processor, and 10.6 installed. Why would the hiface not work on the older macs?

 

[Part-Time Audiophile]

My G5 has the same thing -- shows up in the device tree under USB, but doesn't show up in System Preferences >> Sound >> Output. Very odd. But there is a new driver that came out this week -- haven't tried it yet though.

 

[Purite Audio]

Ask your dealer or contact Marco directly for some drivers for older Macs ,

Keith.

 

[hanzorama]

I tried the old drivers published on the m2tech website for powerPC computers with no luck. The company has still yet to reply (I understand it is the holidays though). In the meantime I installed 10.6 on my macbook and the hiface works perfectly now. Unfortunately, I cannot do the same for a non-intel mac and if I can't get it to work on that I will have to send it back. Hopefully some solution will come up soon...

 

[Part-Time Audiophile]

Still no love on my old G5.

 

[kamil]

It's one of Paul Candy's favorites for 2009...

 

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/bo09/paul.html

 

[shum3s]

I commented a few posts earlier how well my HiFace is working on my laptop/Vista using ASIO4all. I was wondering if anybody knows if using ASIO is my only option. The reason why I am asking because I want to make sure I am getting the best possible sound through Vista. I have read mix reviews regarding ASIO, and whether you even need ASIO with Vista, of course HiFace will not work with out it. I notice on HiFace download page that their most recent driver is able to allow Windows 7 to use Direct Sound. I try this driver with Vista with no luck. So would I be better off keeping what I have or should I look into using Windows 7 with Direct Sound output. Or are there any other configuration that I am not aware of. Any feed back would be appreciated. Thanks, Sam

 

[Purite Audio]

You can use it with Foobar, Media Monkey or Winamp with their associated 'kernel streaming' apps.

Keith.

 

[Edu Carvalho]

Keith,

 

Have you ever been contacted by M2tech to exchange any Hi-face that might have been in the early production units because of what they call "bug of the internal microcode". Accoding to the troubleshooting page of the Hi-face, this should be the reason of hiss and clicks.

 

I wonder if the units available for sale are "good to go" or might still be one of the bugged interfaces.

 

Cheers,

Edu

 

 

 

[Edu Carvalho]

I just received the feedback from M2tech

 

"The defective units were the first 90 ever produced. We are now starting the second thousand lot, so the problems with those forst 90 units are since long time solved. All units were sold in Italy and recalled in factory for servicing."

 

 

[hifitubes]

Doesn't the Bryston only do 16-24Bit PCM, 16Bit 32K-48K USB? Maybe that's why?

 

[hifitubes]

I'll take ASIO over DirectSound. I was afraid I'd be stuck using KS; I prefer to use J. River and will with ASIO4ALL on Vista (at work). Good to hear that works.

 

[digger945]

Does/has anyone used the HiFace to listen to streaming music online, like Rhapsody/Last.fm/Grooveshark?

I'm not interested in the SQ, just if it's possible to listen to streaming music* without a software music player like MM, JR or FB, etc. and/or ASIO, etc.

 

 

* convert to spdif

 

EDIT: actually I don't care if you gotta use ASIO(obviously you may still need the proprietary drivers and that's ok), as long as it will let me listen to Grooveshark with my NOS spdif-input-only dacs.

 

[rooob]

After some extensive listening last night I can detect the clicking problem described by others. It is quite strange as there is no pattern to it, the clicks are random sometimes a couple then nothing for five minutes and so on.They do sound like the clicks on a vinyl record very low in volume but they do not distract from enjoying the music.

On the sq front I would say the HiFace is a definite improvement over the MacBooks std outputs, more detail coming through and the Bass seems to go deeper than without it.

 

[rooob]

I emailed M2 today and they replied that they are working on a solution.

 

[xenophilic]

Yeah, the clicking and popping is there, and to me it's highly distracting. I can't listen to the thing.

 

What sort of burn-in time are people finding necessary?

 

Out of the box, aside from the bad clicking and popping, it's not sounding that good compared to my former USB connection from MacBook to DAC (PS Audio DL III with Cullen mods; Virtue USB cable). It's a bit more smooth sounding, but it's congested. The soundstage is compressed front to back, the space/separation between instruments is less black (or distinct), the resolution is lower (on bass, on texture of strings, etc.), and tonal nuances are less well portrayed. So, nothing good to report so far, but I'm assuming that folks find that it improves with break in?