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Message: [QUOTE="Shamiso, post: 92446, member: 160"] Baggs prices the HiFi DNA at $299, exactly $100 above the original HiFi’s $199 list price. Both are active bridge-plate pickup systems with two sensors, soundhole volume and tone controls, a 9V battery, peel-and-stick mounting, and a professional-install requirement. The expensive part is not a pile of extra controls. DNA changes what happens between the two sensors and the output jack, while keeping the basic user experience almost boringly familiar. You still plug in, set volume and tone, and play. The original HiFi already had an all-discrete Class A endpin preamp and separate sensors sitting on the bass and treble sides of the bridge plate. DNA keeps the two-sensor idea but gives each sensor its own preamp and EQ contour before the signals are combined. It is a signal-path redesign more than a feature-panel redesign. [HEADING=2]The original HiFi already got the basics right[/HEADING] Calling DNA the “good” version and the old HiFi the “basic” one would be pretty misleading. The original HiFi already uses active electronics, a high-grade FET input, Class A processing, two bridge-plate transducers, and the same simple volume-and-tone control layout. It also supports steel-string and 12-string acoustics while remaining unsuitable for nylon-string guitars. Installation is similarly close. Both systems use adhesive-mounted sensors and a positioning jig rather than requiring a pickup element under the saddle. Baggs’ [B][URL='https://patents.google.com/patent/US20240347029A1/']bridge-plate sensor design[/URL][/B] describes a two-pickup arrangement attached to the underside of the soundboard, which helps explain why sensor construction and placement matter even when the installation looks simple from the outside. The original HiFi is also much easier on batteries. Baggs rates it for more than 700 hours from a 9V battery, while HiFi DNA is rated for more than 260 hours. Published minimum figures leave a 440-hour gap, which is not tiny if you gig often and tend to forget batteries until soundcheck. [HEADING=2]HiFi DNA spends power on separate signal paths[/HEADING] DNA’s main change happens before the two pickup signals meet. Each bass-side and treble-side sensor gets a dedicated preamp and its own EQ contour, then the two paths are blended into one output. Baggs says this lets it tune each half of the bridge-plate signal more precisely instead of asking one shared input stage to handle both at once. The sensors changed too. Baggs describes the DNA elements as lighter and more flexible than the original HiFi sensors, with greater sensitivity to movement from the guitar top. Gibson also describes them as larger and omnidirectional, although those physical changes should not be treated as proof that every guitar will automatically sound better. A pickup lives inside a whole system. Guitar construction, bridge-plate condition, placement, PA voicing, stage volume, monitors, playing style, and the person doing the installation still matter. Most early coverage of [B][URL='https://goldmidi.com/community/threads/gibson-and-baggs-have-built-a-hifi-dna-acoustic-pickup.77763/']the new HiFi DNA pickup system[/URL][/B] repeats the cleaner, warmer, more detailed pitch, but there is not yet a large body of controlled independent A/B testing showing how consistent that difference is across guitars. [HEADING=2]The upgrade makes sense for a narrower reason[/HEADING] If you already own the original HiFi and like it, DNA does not suddenly make your pickup obsolete. You keep the same basic bridge-plate approach, the same two visible soundhole controls, similar instrument compatibility, and far longer published battery life. Spending another $299 plus installation purely because a newer version exists would be a pretty thin reason. DNA makes more sense when the split processing itself is what you want. Its whole pitch is finer control before the bass-side and treble-side signals are merged, paired with more flexible sensors designed to pick up more movement. Players chasing a more open, responsive direct sound may care about that more than someone who mainly wants a reliable acoustic signal into a busy band mix. Feedback is another place where the marketing needs reading carefully. Baggs says DNA reaches gain-before-feedback performance comparable with its Element under-saddle pickup, but it does not publish a simple number proving DNA has more feedback headroom than the original HiFi. Better tonal detail and better feedback resistance are not automatically the same upgrade. Current availability muddies the choice a little further. Baggs lists the original HiFi at $199 but currently marks it sold out on its own store, while DNA is listed at $299 and available now. If both are sitting in front of you at a dealer, the real decision is simple enough. The original buys much longer battery life for less money, while DNA charges $100 more for the redesigned sensors and the separate preamp-and-EQ treatment before blending. [/QUOTE]

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