Just upgraded: Hiface EVO!

[nvhoang2000]

How ist that in compare with Hiface? What is better ? give me little more details...thanks

 

[Purite Audio]

The EVO is a big ( in hifi terms ) step up from the Hiface, and indeed from the halide Bridge which I had an opportunity to compare it with recently.

Keith.

 

[Audio_ELF]

Keith, don't you think any comment on the Halide Bridge is a little close to the limit of comments allowable from a commercial entity? And that's without commenting thy half of the last 6 or so posts have been you "promoting" how good the Evo is.

 

Eloise

 

[nvhoang2000]

ach come on, i know that it sounds better than Hiface but how ???????? ....where are the better points?

 

 

[Purite Audio]

NV Hi, the very best thing is always to listen to every component in your own system, disregard comments by dealers, site owners, schills etc, form your own opinion!

Keith.

 

[Purite Audio]

Hans Nv, if you PM me I will tell you with complete candour how the Weiss INT ,M2Tech Hface and EVO and the Halide bridge compare .

But it is always best to hear everything in your own system., and form your own opinion.

Keith.

 

[mikechai]

@playback

 

Did you get the AES/EBU to work on the EVO?

 

[playback]

"Did you get the AES/EBU to work on the EVO?"

 

no, not yet.

I've been in contact with Marco but so far I couldn't make it work.

Tried with two different DACs and two AES EBU cables.

 

With SPDIF, no problems.

 

I wonder if others have been experiencing the same problem.

 

 

[mikechai]

I thought it's because of consumer vs professional mode. But since you have tried that, it must be something else.

 

What do you feed the EVO to?

 

[playback]

I tried with an Apogee Mini DAC and a Playback Designs MPS 5.

 

[xsajohn]

As I stated previously -my AES/EBU connection works perfectly (excuse the pun) with my PerfectWave DAC.

 

[MartinC700]

Hi Hans,

 

I have been using the Evo for a few weeks. I initially had it powered by a defective plug in wall supply, and it was even then better than the Hiface. After I fixed the power supply 3 days ago, I have been up listening to music till 1:00AM each mornong as the improvement is so good. I am feeding a Lavry DA11 via AES/EBU. (for me the AES/EBU works fine).

 

Regards

 

Martin

 

 

 

[mikechai]

...I initially had it powered by a defective plug in wall supply, and it was even then better than the Hiface. After I fixed the power supply 3 days ago,...

 

Hi Martin, you are now using the "fixed" defective power supply or a new power supply?

 

[MartinC700]

Hi Mike,

 

I fixed the original one, it was an inexpensive linear supply and the output capacitor had blown its casing off. There was so much ripple that the Evo was humming!

 

Today I put together a Twisted Pear Placid power supply and will be trying that out this evening. A lot of people are using LiPo batteries, but that is too much trouble in my mind.

 

Regards

 

 

[rodelius]

I received two EVO interfaces yesterday.

 

Both of them fail at driving my Benchmark DACs. Also tried with a digital EQ and other pro gear with AES/EBU inputs with no luck either. I am using industry-standard 110ohm Canare cablesand a lab quality 9v linear regulated PSU.

 

Serial Numbers are HE00043 and HE00044

 

The internal jumper seems to be set to "pro" in both units. Anyway I shortened it with a jumper and nothing changed.

 

I dropped a line to MTech, as the AES/EBU output was the only reason I had to buy the EVOs but would like to know if anyone found a solution or got his/her unit replaced.

 

TIA

Rod

 

 

[playback]

Hi Rodelius,

 

I'm in a similar situation.

My Evo doesn't work work through AES EBU.

I've tried two different DACs, cables and pro/consumer mode with no success.

 

It seems some DACs accept the AES EBU signal form the EVO and some don't.

Maybe the AES EBU signal is "borderline" within specs and some DACs are more "signal tolerant" than others.

 

[rodelius]

I just would like to know if the guys that have their EVOs AES/EBU output working have done any modifications to the inner jumper or have had any problems with cables or with different DACs.

 

The internal jumper looks as if it comes shorted from the factory. But I am not certain that it is really shorted or if the tiny piece of plastic at the jumper's base is a part of it. That is because I did not try to remove it, just put another jumper to be sure that it was shorted for AES/EBU "pro".

 

By the way, I have never heard of a consumer AES/EBU standard through XLR and thought that the consumer version of AES was SPDIF. :-)

 

Anyway, it would be useful to know what the jumper does. It could affect input sensitivity, impedance...

 

I just sent an email to Marco. I find it very strange that it works with some DACs but refuses to work with some others.

 

Should I try to power it with a battery?

 

 

[barrows]

It is a little disturbing that folks are having difficulties with the AES output of the Evo, hopefully Marco can shed some light on this problem-usually AES works fine whenever I have used it between DACs and transports...

Has anyone tried the I2S feed from the Evo? I know of one person who has tried to get the Evo's I2S working to a Twisted Pear DIY Buffalo II DAC, and has had nothing but problems... I hate to say this, but it seems like M2 Tech has some difficulties getting proper (in spec) output from their products, considering the way out of spec SPDIF output of the hiFace, and now these difficulties with the Evo. It kind of makes one wonder if they are just bringing products to market without getting the details right first?

 

Batteries: I would definately try this if I was running an Evo. Batteryspace.com has what you need, one of their 9.6 volt LiFePO4 battery packs and the matching charger should work great, and includes built in battery management to protect the cells.

 

[MartinC700]

Hi Rodelius

 

Mine Evo worked fine out of the box driving my DA11 via AES/EBU. I haven't opened the unit up, so it was set to whatever the factory default was.

 

For what its worth, I am using a cheap 3' XLR cable and have used a 9v battery, inexpensive 9v wall wart supply and a 7v linear shunt supply. All seem to work fine.

 

 

Regards

 

[gcorley]

Not sure if I remember this right, but I seem to recall that Lavry DACs will automatically accept AES or SPDIF when using the XLR input. Might be why the EVO seems to work with the Lavry.

 

BTW - I also know a couple of people who couldn't get AES working on the EVO.

 

 

 

[Part-Time Audiophile]

Any update for AES users? Did you get it working? What did Marco have to say?

 

[Shibboleth]

Looking to snag one of these next week, but has anyone tested it with different PSUs? Obviously 9V rechargeable batteries are cheap, or there's the Paul Hynes route, or (cheaper) the KingRex 9V PSU II: if I'm going to splash out on something expensive, what's the best bet?

 

[Purite Audio]

Best power supply we have heard so far is a rechargeable lithium ion battery, Paul is making a linear p/s for us, cheap linear we tried wasn't so fantastic, the lithium is extremely quiet, sounds great.

Keith.

 

 

[MartinC700]

I tried a shunt regulator from Twisted Pear Audio with good results. Tried a normal alkaline battery and it was not as good. Curently putting the shunt reg into a nice box and adding a little more pre regulator filtering.

 

Regards

 

[rodelius]

I tried several linear-regulated PSUs (one of them of very good quality) and IMHO none of them can touch the quality that a LiFePo or even an alkaline battery provides.

 

Powered by the PSUs I tried, the EVO is clearly surpassed by the HiFace in my system. Really. All the finesse and solidity is gone :-(

But powered-up by batteries the EVO is really a big step-up over the HiFace. Some recordings seem to come from a different master!

 

Any suggestions for a good PSU for the EVO? Twisted Pear stuff seem to be always OOS. :-(