Hifiman DEVA Wired Review

Hifiman Deva

Soundstage & PRaT

 

Hifiman’s DEVA does not have the best depth but it offers a spacious, rectangular stage. As I mentioned before, the instrument separation is excellent and feels breathy. Slight lack of depth does not affect overall imaging in my opinion and this is the conclusion I reached after listening to a bunch of well mastered tracks.

As I mentioned before, PRaT impressed me quite a lot as well, DEVA’s congestion-handling is quite good and it can handle fast, crowded passages without major problems. Of course, good PRaT means good dynamics and harmonics as well. Let me say this again, DEVA is a very well tuned headphone.

Pairings & Synergy

JDS Atom DAC & AMP Stack

JDS Atom Stack won a HFN Recommended award from us. This is an excellent neutral dac-amp stack. Plugging DEVA into this combo results in a very reference presentation. Everything is in place. Imaging is excellent, airy, wide. Bass is reference, midrange is slightly forward (especially vocals) and has excellent clarity. Treble is extensive and definitive, very energetic.

Hifiman Deva

The stack goes for around $200 USD and it is one of the best pairings that is available for the budget audiophile. For $419 USD in total with DEVA, you get perhaps twice the performance. Excellent bang for your buck.

SMSL M300mkII + Geshelli Archel 2.5 Pro

Another Headfonia recommended combination here. The competition is tough today, guys. This combo retails for $430 USD. The DEVA bumps the total price to $649 USD.

The SMSL M300mkII is an awesome, natural sounding DAC. It sounds slightly warmer than the reference sounding ATOM DAC. Geshelli is very natural as well, it also sounds warmer than ATOM AMP. So overall, this two fella over here has a warmer presentation. This has a positive effect on the low region of DEVA, resulting in a slightly more authoritative bass response and greater impact. It also helps mellowing the slight hump around 5k but you lose some of the energy with this change.

This is audio, you don’t get to keep it all unless you get a Hugo TT2. Jokes aside, clarity, resolution and overall technical performance is a step and a half better than the JDS Stack with this combo, however, it is not easy to disregard the price difference compared to the performance gain. Of course I am judging purely on sound quality basis. The M300 is much more advanced with many more ports and features like Bluetooth 5.0, filters and more.

Hifiman Deva

To sum things up, both of the stacks punch above their price tag and offer excellent bang for your buck. You can’t go wrong with either of them and that’s final. Geshelli’s review will go online soon so be sure to follow us. Little spoiler for you, it is one of the greatest amps of its price range!

Wired vs. Wireless Sound

I’ve tried the headphone in both configurations and of course there are some differences between these two models. The wired performance of the Deva is usually better but to hear the difference you need to pair it up with a quality source. Unsurprisingly, the biggest difference for me was with the Hugo 2. The stereo imaging, bass quality and texture has improved. There’s more space between the instruments, and there’s more air in the sound. The Dethonray DTR1 also improved the sound quality with its excellent resolution and imaging. It’s one of the best DAPs that I’ve tried and it shows you why.

However, when I tried the headphone with the HiBy R3 Pro, the difference between the wired & wireless sound is not significant. This exactly shows you the importance of the source device. So if you’re considering the Hifiman DEVA, and if you’re not going to invest in a high level source, then to me this is a very nice DAC/Amp for the Deva. There’s no need to make an investment for more, unless you want to get a great high level DAP. But then again, you may want to consider the Ananda model for that kind of a setup.

Hifiman Deva

But of course, you might have very good DAC/Amps or dedicated DAC + Amp setups already in your possession. Hifiman included a 6.35mm converter just for that purpose. You then will be able to utilize your existing setup the boost the sound quality. But the wireless Deva already has a very good sound quality so don’t be shy to try out its Bluetooth sound with your phone.

Last Words

Hifiman did a very good job designing DEVA. It looks marvelous, it sounds wonderful. If that’s not enough let me continue by saying that it may be the most comfortable headphone I’ve tried this year. It is lightweight, it has thick earpads, it does not bother me and my glasses even after long sessions of wine & jazz.

It is very well tuned, has excellent technical performance along with a reference curve. Finding a good synergy is a must in my opinion with all planar-magnetics and when you nail that, you will have exquisite time with them, I promise you that. DEVA offers real value, try it folks.

4.4/5 - (188 votes)
Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedin

Long time Tech Enthusiast, an ambitious petrol-head, Yagiz likes his gadgets and always finds new ways into the tinkerer's world. He tries to improve anything and everything he gets his hands onto. Loves an occasional shine on the rocks.

2 Comments

  • Reply October 25, 2020

    Jan

    Hi. Im using Deva for last 3 months and this review is really spot on. I totally underestimated the bluemini module and then I was surprised how good it sounds. I don’t hear any significant difference when switch to Chord Mojo. Very nice mellow sound that is non fatiguing for long listening.

    • Reply June 28, 2021

      Yagiz

      Thanks man, glad you think so.

      I hope you’re still enjoying the Deva!

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.