HAKAI Burn-In

A DIY digital music streamer with exceptional performance

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Lego
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HAKAI Burn-In

Post by Lego »

As the Hakis are slowly streaming in I thought it would be good to give initial tasting notes as far as burn-in goes.

I've only had mine up and running for 2 days and listening has been quite sporadic and although extremely musical its sounding thinner than I had expected except when real bass shows up, does this change with burn-in at all?
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David Neel
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Re: HAKAI Burn-In

Post by David Neel »

One of my initial observations was a "thinness" or "delicacy" to the sound. At one point this could also be heard as a slight pitch instability or poor timing. For whatever reason (there have been other changes in my system) this has now disappeared and after a month or so of intermittent use it sounds pretty good.
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Azazello
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Re: HAKAI Burn-In

Post by Azazello »

This might be the most frustrating aspect of HAKAI in my opinion. The fantastic deep bass it's able to create when it sounds good might be the most important reason that I think it rivals my LP12. But sometimes it just disappears ... and I don't know why. Now when I have used it for over four months, it's still doing it, so I'm not at all convinced it's a "burn in" phenomena.

Another thing is that I have noted that since some records actually contain much deeper bass of better quality than I knew about. Some other records just don't do that. So even though they didn't sound "thin" to me before HAKAI, that tend to do that now.
Lego
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Re: HAKAI Burn-In

Post by Lego »

As Fredrik has said in the past it can be difficult to get good sound and good musicality at the same time .This would concur with David's observations on the j vs GA ,where j is warmer with a fuller and more impressive sound but less engaging .
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Azazello
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Re: HAKAI Burn-In

Post by Azazello »

My experience with HAKAI is that it sounds fantastic in every way when it’s good and just plain worse when it’s bad. There is no compromise between music and sound in the variations.
Lego
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Re: HAKAI Burn-In

Post by Lego »

Azazello wrote:My experience with HAKAI is that it sounds fantastic in every way when it’s good and just plain worse when it’s bad. There is no compromise between music and sound in the variations.
I'm wondering if you're maybe not suffering from mains variation. How does Hakai sound in the mornings
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Azazello
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Re: HAKAI Burn-In

Post by Azazello »

Lego wrote:
Azazello wrote: I'm wondering if you're maybe not suffering from mains variation. How does Hakai sound in the mornings
No its not that. It can sound quite bad in the middle of the night as well. I’m also under the impression that the badness stays for days, it’s not tied to just a listening session. Since I got the new cables it has been stunning.
Lego
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Re: HAKAI Burn-In

Post by Lego »

Azazello wrote:
Lego wrote:
Azazello wrote: I'm wondering if you're maybe not suffering from mains variation. How does Hakai sound in the mornings
No its not that. It can sound quite bad in the middle of the night as well. I’m also under the impression that the badness stays for days, it’s not tied to just a listening session. Since I got the new cables it has been stunning.
That's good to know,are you saying the good performance days are better and the underperforming days not as bad.
What improvements do we have to look forward to ?
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FairPlayMotty
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Re: HAKAI Burn-In

Post by FairPlayMotty »

My experience of the Hakai has been entirely consistent, session to session. It's not yet failed to stun me in one listening session. The only issue I've had is with its ability to identify a badly recorded flac, like the original version of Rickie Lee Jones, hardly the fault of the Hakai and some redemption for my Rega Planar 9 for an LP or two.

Some recordings really show its ability. The remaster of Sam Cooke, Night Beat is a revelation as is Inger Marie Gundersen, Make This Moment.
Everything is a remix: Copy, Transform, Combine.
Lego
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Re: HAKAI Burn-In

Post by Lego »

Azazello wrote:
Lego wrote:
Azazello wrote: I'm wondering if you're maybe not suffering from mains variation. How does Hakai sound in the mornings
No its not that. It can sound quite bad in the middle of the night as well. I’m also under the impression that the badness stays for days, it’s not tied to just a listening session. Since I got the new cables it has been stunning.
Is this consistent with the same CDs played, I am hearing discrepancies in performance but can't say if its the flaky files or the Hakai
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Azazello
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Re: HAKAI Burn-In

Post by Azazello »

Yes absolutely. It’s been really good for quite some time now though :)
Sopper
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Re: HAKAI Burn-In

Post by Sopper »

Azazello wrote:Yes absolutely. It’s been really good for quite some time now though :)
Which new cables?
KÄLLA > Sagatun Mono 1.7 > Tundra Mono 3.0 > Graham LS8/1F
Cables: Trivium Audio Cables
Azazello
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Re: HAKAI Burn-In

Post by Azazello »

Sopper wrote:
Azazello wrote:Yes absolutely. It’s been really good for quite some time now though :)
Which new cables?
The Blue Jeans network cables.
tokenbrit
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Re: HAKAI Burn-In

Post by tokenbrit »

Azazello wrote:
Sopper wrote:
Azazello wrote:Yes absolutely. It’s been really good for quite some time now though :)
Which new cables?
The Blue Jeans network cables.
Blue Jeans measure in feet in half foot increments - did you order 8 foot cables, or 8.5? (2.5m is about 8' 2½")
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