Introduction

HiFiMAN is well known for their mid- and high-end planar magnetic headphones, but today, we will take a look at a brand-new HifiMAN product, the EF100 DAC/amp that packs quite a few tricks. For one, it is not just a headphone amplifier as it also features an amplifier for speakers, 4 W strong, all integrated into its very small foot print. The topology harkens back to the EF1 and EF5 amplifiers with a tube-powered input stage and a solid-state I/V conversion stage, which brings a lot of benefits over a fully tube-based design to the table and has proven to work very well with low-to-medium impedance headphones. The on-board DAC is the CM102S, and it is alright, but the interesting bit about the EF100 is that it has two analogue inputs as well, one mini-jack on its side and RCA inputs on the back.

The new EF100 is priced at $499, which is about as much as the headphone amplifiers it replaces in HiFiMAN's line-up.

Specifications

• Headphone Output: 7.8v, 2000 mw @ 30 Ohm
• Frequency response: 20-20khz +/- 0.2db
• Power amplifier output: 4.5 w (4 ohm load)
• D/N(A): 95db
• Tube: 6N3J