Hifiman EF500

HIFIMAN's diminutive powerhouse is a statement of technological ambition from China's leading headphone manufacturers, changing the game by equipping all levels of Head-Fi with an extremely capable source.

That's double the feat because the precision demanded in exact resistor values – for the buttery, natural and resolving ability that R2R DAC topology is known for – goes up.

For an entirely different sound otherwise, EF500's grants users the ability to switch from NOS to oversampling mode, for the cleanest possible result. That scrubs any last distortion and artifacts beyond the audible human hearing range, claiming over 115dB of signal-to-noise ratio.

That's signal that sees EF500 output in fixed voltage via line XLRs and RCAs, in the sense of a conventional DAC. But HIFIMAN – famous for its immensely challenging Susvara and HE6 – challenge you to bring its balanced headphone outputs to bear.

A balanced, differential Class A/B amplifier swings plenty of signal voltage and backs that signal up with a power stage bristling with current, to claim a mighty 4.5 watts of power. All so you can enjoy the benefits of EF500's network capability with nigh any flagship transducer.

That's power beyond measure but HIFIMAN says it's always better to have more than you need. So EF500 can go about driving the likes of their headphones, plus any HEDDphone 2, Sennheiser or ZMF Headphones, with tons of headroom, and no worry at all.

Throw any headphone at EF500: you won't regret it. Also, view our other offerings from HIFIMAN here, or our other amplifiers here.