HIFIMAN EF499 Review: A Real R2R DAC/Amp Under $300

A balanced R2R DAC/headphone amp with built-in network streaming for under $300 - warm, musical, and a serious one-box answer to the separates-or-not question.

Verdict: Recommended - 8.1/10. Price: $299.

What's good

All-metal chassis, no QC issues - HIFIMAN's build has matured

Smooth, precise volume pot with virtually no wobble

Doubles as a vertical headphone stand

Built-in network streamer - Tidal, Qobuz, NAS

Philips R2R chip with NOS/OS selector

Balanced output: 4.35W per channel into 32Ω

Fully balanced DAC and headphone amp

Lush, natural midrange with deep, controlled bass

Worth knowing

No analog input - can't use as a standalone amp

Soundstage is well-defined but not the widest

Layering could be slightly more refined

Primarily designed for vertical placement

Not the typical HIFIMAN Himalaya R2R architecture

THD+N of 0.008% isn't a measurement chart-topper

Read the full HIFIMAN EF499 review on The Audio Stuff