Isabellina HPA - Owner's Thread and Impressions

[mrarroyo]

Burn in is over at 310 hours. What a blast it has been, not so much up and down as a gradual and progressive improvement. This is a keeper and one which should provide many hours of enjoyment.

Black background, very musical, excellent soundstage, very nice micro detail and clarity are among its best qualities. Add to its ability to pull in the listener and you have a winner.

Did I mention it is very musical?

[Vinnie R.]

Hi Miguel,

Thanks for your post and all your feedback throughout the burn-in process!


Here is another Isabellina HPA review that was just posted (on the headphone amp forum, thanks to decur):
red wine audio isabellina hpa

over the past few years i have bought and sold many pieces of headphone gear here on head-fi,like many other people,trying to find that perfect balance that attempts to bring us as close to our favorite recordings as possible!
enter the red wine audio isabellina hpa(headphone amp/dac combo).
my testing was used with my mac mini(alac files) >locus design polestar usb cable> "the hpa dac/amp"> alo occ copper hd-800 cable & sxc cable>sennheiser hd-800. please note,that i will be reviewing the alo cables in the "cables & interconnects" forum soon,so stay tuned,for that review!
the "hpa" is unique and different than my past and present a/c powered combos.
the heart and soul of the hpa is a 12 volt sla battery! a system design that has way less in the signal path than any a/c powered design.(like transformers,filters,dirty wall power and the list goes on and on!
by talking with vinnie,he mentions that the 12 volt sla battery is the best battery to use for home audio,having the lowest resistance and highest current!
so how does the hpa differ in sound,compared to many of the a/c combos that i have heard?
the background noise is thee blackest of any amp!
-richer tonality
more seductive
more natural sounding(realistic & believable)
now for the most important trait! THE HPA SETS A NEW STANDARD FOR THE TERM "NON FATIGUE" you can listen to this amp/dac for hours and hours and
hours at a time.
another thing that really amazes me,is that "ALL" of my headphones in my collection sound great with this unit! i really honestly cant say this about past or current a/c combos that have stayed,came and went!
i wish vinnie lots of luck with the hpa,and all his products.
in closing ,one last comment!
12v sla power + discrete amp & discrete dac stages = audio bliss
yes! vinnie gets it right!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks again for all your interest, support, and feedback.

Happy listening, always!

Vinnie

[mrarroyo]

Vinnie, it is very easy to support great sounding gear! As the Isabellina HPA is.

[Bredin]

Recived mine today. First reaction was: Wow, can my headphones really produce this kind of bass? The rest sound good too. Not going to comment on anything else until it got at least 100h, and til I got the rest of my cables.

Running: Foobar > ASIO > ESI MAYA44 > COAX > cheap coax > RWA Isabellina HPA > Moon-Audio Black-Dragon > Alessandro MS PRO.

How much power does the Isabellina put out @ 32Ohm? Feels like I never will pass 12'o clock.

[jallis]

As i sit here typing this post i am continuing to listen to my Sennheiser HD800's throughly enjoy my Red Wine Audio Isabellina HPA amp and i just can not imagine wanting to ever own any other DAC/Amp. Nadda! My HPA has over five hundred hours on it now and the soundstage just as it did when I first pulled it out of the box, puts the biggest smile on my face. Literally from ear to ear..pun intended.
I have been rediscovering a lot of my music over these past two months now and i find myself eagerly awaiting(when i decided that I've listened to the current one enough) the next album that i am going to hear. My music has ranged from Tangerine Dream to Ashra(Manuel Gottsching) to Led Zeppelin to the Rippingtons to the Scorpions to the Allman Brothers...well you get the picture. I have all but pretty much forgotten my main system(home theater/2 channel) and listen to the HPA and HD800 almost all the time. I can listen to both all day long without any fatigue whatsoever.
Vinnie has been an absolute great guy to talk to and work with. The very high level of workmanship that goes into making the HPA I think is second to none. I can hardly wait to see what Vinnie will come up with in the future. I'm thinking multi channel battery powered amp.....Vinnie?
I do wish that i had better writing skills to properly describe my emotions when i listen to the HPA and of how it sounds other than saying it sounds fantastic. I'll leave to the big time posters(skylab...are you out there? You really need to hear the HPA becuase i think you'll fall in love with it) that have a much better ability than I do to put those thoughts and feelings on the computer screen. needless to say again, but i am really big fan of this HPA and of anything that Vinnie makes......!

[kboe]

Jallis,
I only have the Amphora, but I agree with your findings 110%. True magic if you ask me.

Kevin

[Alwayswantmore]

...fantastic to see such positive feedback! Based on my experience with a fully-loaded Isabella, I though HPA might be a big hit. And it's no secret I'm a big fan of Vinnie's gear, trading out some pricey balanced stuff to go RWA. Kent

[mrarroyo]

Originally Posted by Alwayswantmore

...fantastic to see such positive feedback! Based on my experience with a fully-loaded Isabella, I though HPA might be a big hit. And it's no secret I'm a big fan of Vinnie's gear, trading out some pricey balanced stuff to go RWA. Kent

Sadly for my wallet I may be following you w/ a Signature 30.2.

[krmathis]

Originally Posted by Alwayswantmore

...fantastic to see such positive feedback! Based on my experience with a fully-loaded Isabella, I though HPA might be a big hit. And it's no secret I'm a big fan of Vinnie's gear, trading out some pricey balanced stuff to go RWA. Kent

Ditto!
Another RWA fan here, who live very happily with his Isabellina and Signature 30.2.

[mrarroyo]

I thought my Isabellina HPA was fully burnt in, well I was wrong. Now at a bit over 400 hours of use the unit is not only smoother but also has more detail. I am not complaining, perhaps I am bragging!

[jallis]

I know I am getting to be a hard core headphone listener when I took my Red Wine Audio Isabellina HPA and Sennheiser HD800s on my recent four day weekend trip to see family. I found myself listening whenever I had time to myself and before falling alseep at night.
I am so hard core that I called ahead to see if there was a laptop or netbook that i could use to transfer music off my usb thumb drive onto it so all I had to do was plug my HPA in and make a couple of quick adjustments in the sound applet and I was happily listening away.
I had enough juice in the battery to last me the whole weekend. I do believe that i am going to have to buy myself a pelican case to hold both the HPA, the charger, and my HD800s so I don't have to be without them when I hit the road.
The combo is a little bulky, but in my opinion, it is worth the hassle so i can hear music on the road exactly like I do at home.

[mrarroyo]

Originally Posted by jallis

I know I am getting to be a hard core headphone listener when I took my Red Wine Audio Isabellina HPA and Sennheiser HD800s on my recent four day weekend trip to see family. I found myself listening whenever I had time to myself and before falling alseep at night.
I am so hard core that I called ahead to see if there was a laptop or netbook that i could use to transfer music off my usb thumb drive onto it so all I had to do was plug my HPA in and make a couple of quick adjustments in the sound applet and I was happily listening away.
I had enough juice in the battery to last me the whole weekend. I do believe that i am going to have to buy myself a pelican case to hold both the HPA, the charger, and my HD800s so I don't have to be without them when I hit the road.
The combo is a little bulky, but in my opinion, it is worth the hassle so i can hear music on the road exactly like I do at home.

Just to make the pelican case heavier ... you may wish to buy a Wadia i170. Then send you Isabellina HPA to Vinnie to mod it by adding a 12 volt dc out so you could power the Wadia and be of the power grid. I am sending my Isabellina HPA Friday to have it modded, also I am looking for an used black Wadia i170.

[KingStyles]

Im with you Jallis, Im probably going to lug my setup down to Oregon with me next week. I was listening last night, I dont know what it was, But everything I threw at my hd800s was sounding so good. I didnt want to go to bed i was enjoying it so much.

[Vinnie R.]

I want to thank everyone for continuing to post your Isabellina HPA feedback here! I really appreciate it and all your interest, enthusiasm and support!

Just to make the pelican case heavier ... you may wish to buy a Wadia i170. Then send you Isabellina HPA to Vinnie to mod it by adding a 12 volt dc out so you could power the Wadia and be of the power grid. I am sending my Isabellina HPA Friday to have it modded, also I am looking for an used black Wadia i170.

Hi Miguel,

I just posted about this here:

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/5996806-post1.html

Ken already let me borrow his Wadia iTransport and running it from the Isabellina HPA and feeding it via the coax input (using a 160GB, 6G iPod) sounded AWESOME!

The whole little rig is totally transportable and you can play it for hours between charges! Why not?


Thanks again, everyone!

Vinnie

[jallis]

Miguel
Vinnie and I talked about the Wadia i170 and upgrading the back panel of the HPA last week before we left on our trip and i am thinking of doing just that. what i really like about doing it is the added flexibility the HPA gains in doing this.
You're right about having to upsize the pelican case to hold the wadia as well. Have you given this any thoughts as to what size you will use if you do the pelican case to transport everything in? I already use several pelicans for transporting other gear around and they haven't let me down whatsoever.