Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

*** Updates 02/09/2017 *** I have experienced once where my bluetooth connection was choppy while I was holding it while taking a nap. I found it weird because the player is closed to me. So after some thinkering and research on the internet, I suspected my holding position might have blocked the bluetooth antenna. Because of the size of the player, I was gripping it tightly on my right hand, like how we will when we hold a baseball bat. I then reached out to HIFI Walker and clarified the issue. I was told that because of the bluetooth antenna was built at the back of the player, thus if I hold it like a grenade or cover the back with super thick materials, it will affect the transmission. So my suspicion was right, so i tried again, however this time when I gripped it tight, the connection did not get choppy. You might want to take note of this before your purchase, however it is not a deal breaker to me. As of all bluetooth devices, blocking their antenna will naturally result in a choppy connection. So friends if you are encountering such issue, fear not, you might have just blocked the antenna =)) *** For verdict, scroll to the end to skip the details! *** Review Score: 9/10 Pros 1. Scroll wheel control 2. Quality material used – Zinc Alloy 3. Micro SD card up to 128gb 4. USB-OTG (Something I don’t see in other players) 5. Easy drag and drop file transfer 6. Ideal size, easy to carry 7. Strong battery life 8. 16gb micro SD card included 9. Bluetooth connection for headphones and IEMs 10. DSD support Cons 1. No inbuilt storage HIFI Walker, a brand not known to me before. I was using Fiio, Cowon, Sony, Apple and Creative before this. I was shopping for a new music player as I wanted to separate music playing function from my smart phone to reduce the battery drain and improve the audio quality of it. I went back to look at Sony and Fiio initially and found that for the same price, there are a lot more alternatives. I am looking for the following qualities in a music player 1. Price below $150 2. Battery life above 25 hours 3. Able to support Bluetooth transmission 4. Lossless file support including WAV, FLAC 5. Easy and intuitive to use 6. Good Design The reason why I decided to give HFI Walker H2 a go is because of the design, promised playback support, battery life and Bluetooth connection. The essentials are all here and its within my budget with one additional USB-OTG which I quite like as it will give me added convenience. Looking at the specs and description of the item on Amazon, it completely captured my heart, thus I give the HIFI Walker H2 a go. First Impression – [Excellent] It came in a black box, very minimal packaging. I like things this way. From the photos taken, you will be able to see the beautiful player surrounded by sponge to make sure that it had enough cushion against impact. It is a very thoughtful addition. The player sits nicely in the box and it is a little hard to take it out from the cushion as it is tight, I fell in love with the player at first sight, it looked gorgeous, the cut and design is so ideal. Take away the HIFI Walker H2, and it will reveal a finger hole, you can reach in and take out the base cover, inside you will find 1x instruction manual 1x IEM with ear tips 1x micro usb cable Weight (10/10) I like the weight of the HIFI Walker H2, the weight can be felt and it’s not too light. I felt a slight reduction of the weight will feel optimal here. It is easy to carry, in my pockets or in my bag. There is no issue at all. Comfort / Size (9/10) The size is good, it felt natural on my hands. I like the size. Fortunately it fits nicely in my hands, the size is one of the reason why I purchase the HFI Walker H2. One thing, I find that the thickness a little too thick, just maybe 10% thinner will be good I feel. It is comfortable holding on to the HIFI Walker H2. Built Quality (10/10) I am not too sure if there are better materials available out there to construct music player, but it gives a very assuring impression. Looking at it, there is nothing to suggest the built was of low quality. The whole player was sealed nicely. There is a tempered glass finish at the back, I was surprised to see that, I was expecting a full alloy construction. The tempered glass is a nice addition, the HIFI Walker H2 felt premium with that. If I take care of it, it will definitely still look as good in the many years to come. Like all alloy, it cannot escape the fate of scratches and dents if we are careless. There is also a very thoughtful addition, the cut out on the bottom right of the player, it is for you to tie any strap or strings you want that can help you to carry it around. Design (9.5/10) I love the wheel scroll featured here, even though it is not new and we can see that the old ipod actually influenced the use of clicker wheel till date. The wheel scroll, unlike those we seen on ipod, it cannot be pressed. The wheel scroll is only for us to navigate through the menu and to adjust volume and brightness etc.. Power button on the top right corner, volume rocker on the right top corner, aux output with micro usb and audio jack input on the bottom and left side has got nothing on it. The micro SD card insert is also on the right side below the volume rocker. The screen is 2 inch with no fancy screen technology, it is good enough to display all the information and lyrics. It cannot play video and I doubt we will enjoy video playback even if it possible given all our screen technology on our smart gadgets. There is also two dedicated button below the screen, one for forward track, one for backward track, they are not placed side by side, but rather top and below, this makes it easier to press, and you will not second guess the function of the button. On the front, below the screen, bottom left corner will be a Menu button, and bottom right will be a back button. It is self-explanatory and it is useful as this is a dedicated music player so it make sense for buttons with specific functions. I did not give a full 10 mark here because there can be an improvement on the screen and maybe the wheel scroll can be clicked (if it does not infringe any copy right =)). However these are really minor thing. Bluetooth Quality (10/10) Surprise here! The HIFI Walker H2 actually allow user to have a high/low Bluetooth quality, it can connect smoothly to my Bluetooth headphone, nothing special here, since video cannot be watched, low latency will not be much of an issue here. One thing I realised is thats a discerning audio quality between my Samsung S7 Edge and the HIFI Walker H2. With the same Mixcder Premium MS301, the Mixcder Premium MS301 sounded so much better when paired to the HIFI Walker H2. (Read my review on Mixcder Premium MS301 to know more about the headphone) The little flaw that I thought the Mixcder Premium H2 can improve on disappeared when paired with the HIFI Walker H2. The audio quality is really amazing. That’s just for the Bluetooth quality, I have not even touch on the connected earphone and headphone. Audio Quality (9.5/10) The Bluetooth quality of the HIFI Walker H2 is good and boosted the audio quality of my Bluetooth headphone, but the question now will be if the HIFI Walker H2 can do the same in wired mode? Let’s find out! I am using Mixcder Premium MS301, with the same audio jack provided by Mixcder with the headphone. For my devices, it will be the HIFI Walker H2 (Of course) and a smartphone, Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge. I chose a smartphone because majority of us actually uses them to listen to music, so at least it can set more common benchmarking. The low produced by the HIFI Walker H2 has big difference under comparison here. When tested on the Track – Groovy Samba by Nicola Conte Jazz Combo, it is clear that the bass packs punch here even though the bass drum during the intro of the sound is not the focus and is slightly softer. The HIFI Walker H2 brings out the flavour of the bass, giving it punchy and a fuller bodied sound. The Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge on the other hand cannot bring out the taste of the bass resulting it sounded thinner and not able to bring out the feel of the bass drum. The mid here in HIFI Walker H2 sounds flat and balanced with the other two main frequencies, I felt that the reproduction is very much uncoloured and mid is clear, uncompressed. It’s good. It helps the sound stage of the headphone I am using, give it more space. On the other hand, the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge sort of bring out the mid more, giving it a more lively presence. HIFI Walker H2 The high has a subtle differences when I put it under comparison with my Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge. The HIFI Walker H2 gives a cleaner and crisper high, it also sounded thinner and have a better decay. I am not too sure if the thinner effect is caused by it being cleaner, but I like it better on the HIFI Walker H2, because it sounded more uncompressed. The difference in the audio delivered is obvious here, you are not paying for any other normal quality music player, but something which can deliver a superior listening experience. From my experience, for bigger brands to have the music sound better, you need to cross the $300 mark to really get that audible difference. Battery Life (9/10) The solid battery life in the HIFI Walker H2 can give you enough mileage for your weekly usage. It stands about 30 hours. I believe you will be able to get more with lower screen brightness, since screens are always the top battery drainer. I have no EQ on, but I set the output gain to “High”, so I can leave my volume at about 20 to 30 usually. Screen brightness at 50% I am giving a 9 because I am leaving room for the battery life to improve! It should be noted that the longest battery life Bluetooth IEM I ever came across only lasted 9 hours, and for Bluetooth headphone, it is 40 hours on single charge. So the HIFI Walker H2 is more than sufficient in this case. User Experience (9.5/10) I have been using for my daily commuting. It has replaced my Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge as my daily audio driver. I find the controls very intuitive, it boost the audio quality from my headphones and IEMs, it’s like putting them on steroid and having them perform to their limits. The audio improvement is clearly discernable, self-explanatory users’ navigation, you do not need the manual at all. There is no fanciful option like dual OS or internet access, and I thought it is good this way because all the components and space inside the player can be used to deliver a superior listening experience. The weight is good and size is almost perfect with all the easy to access buttons; none of the buttons are too close to each other. One thing I hope that it was included is the “lock button” button, so I will not press on to it and have my tracks skipped by accident. I will also think that unique button that shows their function is better than generic ones. On the HIFI Walker H2, the button for forward track and backward track have the same shape, perhaps the forward track button can be one with a pointed right edge and the backward track button can be one with pointed left edge etc. However these two are very minor adjustments are not enough to be a deal breaker or affect the listening pleasure of the HIFI Walker H2. Micro SD – Yes Micro SD card input available, up to 128gb with a limit of 14,999 audio files Audio Jack Input – Yes It can be used with your wired headphone via the audio jack input. Water Resistance – Not that I know of This is for you if you are looking for the following qualities 1. One device to deliver superior audio pleasure to your headphones, IEMs, or external speaker 2. A comfortable and optimal size and weight music player 3. A music player that supports both wired and wireless connection 4. A better than average battery life 5. A device to replace the audio experience from your smart devices *** Verdict *** The HIFI Walker H2 deserve more attention than its current status, non-audiophile will benefit from its superior audio performance with an obvious improvement in IEMs and Headphones. Audiophiles might find the device having one issue which is the storage space limit of 128 gb. A storage limit can be overcome if we carry multiple SD card with us, but it hasn’t been an issue for me because I usually update my music list. The HIFI Walker H2 address the four top concerns of a portable music player 1. Battery Life 2. Design 3. Audio Performance 4. Price For my audiophile folks who are looking for gold plated internal circuits so there will be minimal noise, I am afraid the HIFI Walker H2 is not at that level currently. HIFI Walker H2 got a score of 9 in the end as I find that there can be improvement on the following 1. Maximum storage space / audio files limit That is the only reason why it gets a 9.5 score. The remaining 0.5 is to encourage future improvements like inclusion of lock button, a more define button shape etc.. For their inclusion of being able to support both wireless and wired connection, DSD files, USB-OTG, strong battery life and their audio performance, they deserve a minimum of 9. In conclusion, the HIFI Walker H2 is a very powerful device, the quality you get from here far exceed what other big brands with similar products and pricing can deliver. With its optimal size and weight, it is easy to carry around and store. I am a regular Amazon Prime Shopper and Reviewer, if my review helped you in making a decision, please mark the “Helpful” button. It tells Amazon that folks are in fact reading reviews like this! Thanks!