Review: HiFiMan MegaMini DAP (Engaging, Energetic and Fun)

Firstly I would like to thank HiFiMan for sending me this sample to review, as always I try and write honest reviews. This unit received over 50hrs of burn-in, no differences were noted.

Gear Used: Megamini > Inearz P350 / HiFiMan RE2000 + RE800 / German Maestro GMP 8.35d and more

Tech Specs:

Dimensions：1.69”x 3.93” x 0.31” (43.0x100.0x9.0mm)

Weight：2.43oz (69g)

Frequency Response：20Hz - 20kHz

THD: 0.08%

Max. Output：54mW (1.4V @36 Ohm)

Battery Life：15 hours

TF Card Capacity : 256GB 

MSRP : $249

Packaging, Build Quality and Accessories:

The Megamini comes in a simple white box, with HiFiMan printed in orange on the front, slide the top off the box and you will find a small card leaflet showing you where you can download the user manual and info about the warranty. Underneath this you will find the DAP in a foam insert, held tightly in place. Once you lift out the foam insert, you will find another compartment with the USB cable. The packaging is sleek, slim and perfectly fine for a player at this price point.

The Megamini feels well built, it is mainly plastic with a metal back plate. The buttons are plastic but feel sturdy and the jack socket is nice and tight. I don’t have any problems with the build quality, and I’m sure it will last well with some care.

The Megamini only comes with a micro USB cable, nothing else, I personally would have liked HiFiMan to include some screen protectors for the player.

UI, Features and Hiss:

The Megamini is a pure player, no frills, load up music onto a microSD card, pop it in and you are ready to go. On the right hand side of the player is the on/off button, on the left hand side there are up and down volume buttons and on the front you have the play/pause/select button, scroll up/down buttons that are also used to skip tracks, and a back button. On the bottom you will find the 3.5mm headphone output, microSD card slot and micro USB port.

The menus are very simple to navigate; you get a file explorer along with the music separated by artist, albums and genres. You can also set favourites and browse all songs. In the settings you can set shuffle / repeat playback, back light time, library update, auto shutdown and all the normal settings.

The now playing screen shows the artist, song, bit rate and at the top you can see whether it is in repeat/shuffle mode along with the battery meter.

Again this is a pure player that is easy to use and playback whilst in your pocket is possible due to the buttons. I have no issues with the UI or features, volume steps are good but maybe a little too steep for some sensitive IEM’s, the volume goes from 0-32.

Just to note there is no EQ, no gapless playback, the audio does not pause when headphones are removed, and no playlist support. Also battery life is not great, I would say around 8-10 hours at the most depending on how loud and how much the screen is on.

Unfortunately I did find the Megamini to have some audible hiss with the Oriveti New Primacy, so it is not the best for hiss prone IEM’s. But it has loads of power to drive most IEM’s, portable headphones and medium hard to drive full size headphones.

Sound:

 I would say the Megamini leans towards a slightly tighter, more aggressive sound with perhaps a small amount of emphasis in the upper registers. It is ever so slightly bright and very energetic presenting the music in an upfront and fun manner. This works wonders with more laid back headphones but could possibly lead to some fatigue if you have brighter headphones.

I like the fact that the Megamini is no slouch for its size, it may be small but it packs some punch and handles all genres well bringing out plenty of detail. It is not strident, and has no roll off at either end of the spectrum.

Stating this player is slightly bright is not to say it lacks any body down low, as the lows are punchy and full, it just has a slightly colder tonality than my Opus #2. The soundstage is also not quite as wide as the Opus #2.

For the size and price of this player I am actually very impressed by the sound quality, it is very clean, crisp and clear. The Megamini with my woodied Grado SR60e is a wonderful pairing, an extremely energetic and engaging listening experience.

Conclusion: The Megamini is very impressive for its size; it is powerful, crisp and clear. It may not have the layering, refinement and overall natural tonality of high end players, but it is a very fun player to listen to. For a throw around player, that can be used on a daily commute or at the gym the Megamini is worth looking at. 

It does not play well with sensitive IEM’s but works well with most headphones out there. They have put more into making a great sounding player than to pack it full of features, and in my opinion it has worked and it sounds excellent for a pure no frills DAP at this price. But there is stiff competition from players for the same price or less with more features and great sound, so this may not be the best value for money player in the price range.

Sound Perfection Rating: 7.5/10 (Really engaging and fun but there is hiss with sensitive IEM’s)