hiliDAC Audirect Beam 2S Portable DAC/Amp Discussions | Drop

hiliDAC Audirect Beam 2S Portable DAC/Amp

Showing 1 of 14 conversations about:

TheRequiem

249

Sep 5, 2020

Why on earth would they only support 4.4mm?

rhurlebaus

Sep 5, 2020

TheRequiemAnd not at least an adapter?

Sep 5, 2020

TheRequiemBecause they already have a 2.5 and 3.5mm model using the same chipset? https://drop.com/buy/hilidac-audirect-beam-2

(Edited)

TheRequiem

249

Sep 5, 2020

FayneI couldn't find a 2.5mm or 3.5mm variant of this unit. There is an older unit that does, but not this one with upgraded features.

Sep 5, 2020

TheRequiem"upgraded". Dollars to dougnuts they're damn near 1:1 internally.

Vote

Victorfabius

105

Sep 5, 2020

TheRequiemIf you look at the specs on this right now, it’s got both a 3.5mm and 2.5mm output. Oddly enough, no 4.4mm output. I wonder if there is a version with those coming, if it was aborted, or if this is just reusing the specs of the Beam 2 and the update to the 2S specs failed in some way.

Victorfabius

105

Sep 5, 2020

FayneNo bet.

Vote

TheRequiem

249

Sep 5, 2020

Victorfabiusinitially, I thought these were much more powerful, but upon a second look, they do look the same. The only other difference I can see now is the newer model has 3 gain modes.

Victorfabius

105

Sep 5, 2020

TheRequiemHonestly, if the specs listed are for the Beam 2, it can do 246mW into 32 ohms, while the 2S only states 208mW into the same load. Assuming I’m reading it correctly, the 2S has less power than the 2. Truth be told, I’m fine with this; those are deafening levels for my gear. I could easily live with half of what the 2S outputs.

Sep 6, 2020

VictorfabiusIf all you’re using are IEM or ultra-sensitive dynamic cans, the output on this should be way more than enough. At least judging by how my Beam 2 handles. It drives the Meze 99 Noir extremely well, HE35x, EMU Teak, and Elex too. It does a good enough job with the HD58x at 150Ohm, but as I got further up impedance wise I really started having to ramp the volume out. Something like the HD6xx at 300Ohm or Fostex TR-70-250 at 250Ohm are about as far as you’re going to get while still keeping some headroom for jacking the volume for eardrum melting. With my Beyerdynamic T1.2 at 600Ohm, I was pretty much at max volume to get any worthwhile impact. At least at this point in their development with this particular DAC there shouldn’t be major firmware bugs like with the Beam2 at launch.

(Edited)

Elsid

697

Sep 11, 2020

TheRequiemThat’s what I said about ifi zen. You can’t hardly find 4.4.

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Stupid_questions

Oct 15, 2020

FayneWhere did you get a 4.4 cable for the 99s?

Oct 15, 2020

Stupid_questionsI didn't. I've the Beam 2, not the 2S. It has more or less the same internal hardware (exact same chipset, features, drivers, etc), just a slightly different form-factor and sockets. Meze does sell a balanced to 2.5mm TRRS which I have, and am rather pleased with. You can get a 2.5mm TRRS to 4.4mm TRRRS adapter and make it work with the Beam 2S (or anything using the strange Pentaconn), or a 2.5mm TRRS to XLR4 adapter and make it work with any balanced amp sporting XLR4.

Stupid_questions

Oct 15, 2020

FayneVery comprehensive answer. Thank you! I have the Meze 99s, but the whole "balanced" thing confuses me a bit. This really helps.

Oct 15, 2020

Stupid_questionsThe main benefits of using balanced drive are usually higher output power to the cans, and less cross-talk between the left and right channels as there is no shared ground. Power output isn't terribly important with the 99s as they can be driven to ear blasting and brain wrecking levels of loudness from even the most anemic source. I've currently got 8 balanced amps (P20, LCX, 789, TA-20, DX7s, ES100, Beam 2, Ragnarok 2) so I made the investment purely because I could, and I rather like using my gear to its fullest. Going balanced on the cans definitely didn't make things worse, if only because the cable is higher quality than the stock.

(Edited)

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wofse

122

Oct 31, 2020

FayneCrappy cables. My USB C to USB C is already broken where the cable meets the connector. Cables lack strain relief.

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