Isabellina HPA - Owner's Thread and Impressions

[silverlight]

Originally Posted by KingStyles

Welcome to the club silverlight. Im glad you like it with your Hd800. I am also enjoying the hd800 on mine and just like you, I should be receiving my la7000 probably next week hopefully. Enjoy.
P.S. Youll have to let me know how the la7000 sound if you get then before I get mine. I know my d7000 were awesome with the isabellina and so I have high hopes for the la7000.

Thank you! I will definitely let you know when I get them, although will let them burn in for a little while also.

You know, forgot to mention earlier, the one thing worth noting also about the HPA is the ability to enjoy lower quality recordings (we all know there's plenty of those out there!!). The HD800's were menacing/merciless on anything but pristinely recorded and mixed music before the HPA for me, and while it retains its strengths, the combination is so much more forgiving and I'm finding myself really enjoying music I know I otherwise would be having a difficult time with using these headphones (at least with the other equipment I have and others I was trying them on). The HPA kinda turns the HD800's into an all purpose can from what I was guessing earlier was a more targeted use (no flames pls! just one bozo's viewpoint).

[Bredin]

I've ran the HPA via spdif on my maya44 sound card and wired it with a 700$(swedish kronor to dollar) coax cable. The last 2 days have been spent comparing the stock USB-cable against the maya44+coax setup. I find the stock USB-cable to sound just as good, and if not even better.

[Vinnie R.]

Originally Posted by Bredin

I've ran the HPA via spdif on my maya44 sound card and wired it with a 700$(swedish kronor to dollar) coax cable. The last 2 days have been spent comparing the stock USB-cable against the maya44+coax setup. I find the stock USB-cable to sound just as good, and if not even better.

Hi Bredin,

Thank you for your post.

Using using the USB input of the Isabellina, we convert the USB directly to I2S to feed the NOS DAC.

When using a USB-to-SPDIF converter and then feeding the Isabellina with SPDIF, there is more processing going on.

I cannot tell everyone that USB will *always* be better (in some ways, using spdif vs. usb sounds a little different, but it is up to the listener to determine which actually sounds better) - but in general, the USB input in the Isabellina is AWESOME. SO if you are using a computer, give it a try

Thanks again,

Vinnie

[NewMexiCat]

Originally Posted by silverlight

So I will throw in my 2 cents. I've been burning in my HPA for about 200 hours now, and in short, really love it!! I'm using with Mac with playback via iTunes + Amarra. Revelation Audio Cryo USB cable. HD800's and will receive a pair of MarkL LA7000's any day now and look forward to that pairing as well. The sound is really great with the HD800's, and that's with the stock cable. I was about to send the HD800's back for giving me migranes, but after using the HPA I am now able to listen for a long time without getting a headache (here I thought it was the weight of the headphone and in hindsight it was more likely the fatigue from the sibilance the prior setup was generating, which includes a couple big name DAC's). Big evolution in the HPA over the 200 hours, and really love the sound. Great detail, extension, imaging, musicality, silent background, analog sound, absolutely LOVE female vocals on this unit. My wife wonders now why I've been building up a hifi system in our living room after listening (!!). Have been listening to 16/44 WAV files (ripped with EAC and stored on SSD), but have a bunch of high res files I'm planning to give it a run on (recognizing it will play 16 bit, but lock into 88/96/176/192) - will do this via my Weiss DAC2 (firewire from Mac; SPDIF to HPA). Another interesting USB option to take it to 96k, and to a new level of USB performance may be the upcoming Async USB adapter that Wavelength audio will be launching at RMAF next month. I don't know how much it will cost, but if reasonable could be a fantastic add-on.

Congrats Vinnie on a great product.... you've got me very tempted to upgrade to the full meal deal.... ) love being off the grid!

Hey Silverlight, thanks for the impressions. I am likewise enjoying the heck out of my Isabellina. It's the first USB DAC experience that I have been truly satisfied with.

On another note, I noticed your use of Amarra with iTunes. I have been very curious about the sonic benefits of Amarra in general, and its compatibility and/or synergy with the Isabellina in particular. Can you comment on your experience with the combination and how much of an improvement Amarra provides when coupled with the Isabellina?

Thanks!

[NewMexiCat]

Originally Posted by Vinnie R.

USB input in the Isabellina is AWESOME.

My ears whole-heartedly agree with this statement!!

[silverlight]

Originally Posted by NewMexiCat

Hey Silverlight, thanks for the impressions. I am likewise enjoying the heck out of my Isabellina. It's the first USB DAC experience that I have been truly satisfied with.

On another note, I noticed your use of Amarra with iTunes. I have been very curious about the sonic benefits of Amarra in general, and its compatibility and/or synergy with the Isabellina in particular. Can you comment on your experience with the combination and how much of an improvement Amarra provides when coupled with the Isabellina?

Thanks!

Hi - I've found the Amarra addition to iTunes using the HPA to be a great pairing. The impact on sound quality is very, very meanginful. The most significant gains I find with redbook material are making the music sound more analog / smooth and improvement of soundstaging / depth. I would definitely encourage you to try the free trial and A/B. the "mini" version if you're using redbook and upto 96khz is a great and more economical proposition. The other thing I really like doing is using an SSD, which while not as significant an improvement as Amarra, is still a very positive improvement (you can get pretty close to this with an experiment by running Amarra and iTunes and a few song tracks via a RAM Disk on the Mac - just drag the applications over and a few songs on the drive and give it a whirl). I now always launch my itunes and Amarra applications (slimmed down by XSlimmer) via a RAM Disk and play the music library from an SSD. It's a really great combination.

I've nudged Jon at Sonic Studio a couple times to add a crossfade feature to Amarra to make it more interesting for headphone users (i.e., one of the settings in the Phonitor amp). Of course digital is probably not as good an implementation, but could be fun to play with on some tracks if you like to position the soundstage a little more in front like speakers or a live venue.

Happy listening!

[Bredin]

Vinnie! Will we bee seeing a RWA USB-cable in the future?
Would be nice with a 200-300$ 3ft cable with the same looks as the other cables. I would surely buy one.


Or just put these in a red dress, black shrink-tube without the ALO text, and put some RWA logos on it would make me buy it. If the price would still be under 500$ that is.


I really think that you should have at least one USB, one coax and maybe a toslik cable. I don't think I'm the only one.

[KingStyles]

Send it to me, I have some really pretty red spray paint.

[Vinnie R.]

All,

First, I forgot to say 'thank you' to silverlight for posting his Isabellina HPA impressions here (and for also posting them on this thread: red wine audio isabellina hpa ). Posting your impressions in that thread is also greatly appreciated because it brings some love to the Isabellina HPA outside of the ALO forum (and I don't know why others would not come to the ALO forum - but some don't because I guess they don't yet know about Ken's great products and service!). So to you and everyone who has posted - I really appreciate all the feedback, and am happy that you and many others are really loving your HPA!

Yes - it sounds superb with the HD800s, and let me say that the whole combo sounds even better with Ken's new HD800 cables... More bass weight, sweeter top-end (less aggressive, but still with awesome detail).
But keep us posted about the la7000s, too!

Vinnie! Will we bee seeing a RWA USB-cable in the future?
Would be nice with a 200-300$ 3ft cable with the same looks as the other cables. I would surely buy one.

I was not planning on it, but I'm sure Ken can make a sweet sounding USB cable that uses the same jacket he uses for my RWA interconnects. I tried this one and found it to be the best one I"ve heard so far:
ALO Audio

Ken's ALO SXC wiring sounds great with everything (iMod docks, HD800 cables, USB - and I'm sure whatever else he makes with it!)

Send it to me, I have some really pretty red spray paint.

That'll work!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Vinnie

[DC5Zilla]

Can't wait to own this piece!!

[Bredin]

Originally Posted by DC5Zilla

Can't wait to own this piece!!

YOU HAVE TO WAIT!

[mrarroyo]

Just a pic to show the lates set of mods done by Vinnie. Thanks.

[krmathis]

With this new power-out mod the Isabellina HPA have taken another nice step forward, imo.
Well done Vinnie!

[GreenLeo]

I wish that the extra power outlet option and the extra RCA output option were available when I did the pre--order. Now I'm drooling.

[Combat Audio]

Gents, my order is in with Vinnie for the Isabellina HPA (variable and dc output for wadia) and Ken at ALO as well to add the various interconnects. I had taken a break over the last year to sit back and just enjoy my gear, focus on adding music to my collection but I am back on the warpath! I want to thank everyone for their great reviews so far. I am looking at possibly adding the PS1000 to the package so any thoughts on the combo will be greatly appreciated.

So, just have to wait for everything to make the trip over here to me now.

Thanks to Vinnie and Ken for their hard work, great customer service and dedication to bringing great products to the (audiophile) masses! I can't wait to settle into some great listening sessions!