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EAR-Yoshino The EAR HP4 - how is it?! never seen a review

post #1 of 13
9/4/08 at 9:51am
Thread Starter 
Hi
I have never seen a review of this amp
Can someone "enlighten" me about it please?
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post #2 of 13
9/4/08 at 9:58am
you should look more.

There is at least 1 review in the amp review section, an HP-4 VS a few melos's.
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post #3 of 13
9/4/08 at 12:24pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by nikongod View Post
you should look more.

There is at least 1 review in the amp review section, an HP-4 VS a few melos's.
The full-reviews subforum isn't up, but I got inside by doing a search and I didn't find that review, in fact I didn't find any full review about the HP4. Would you please provide a link Nikongod? Thxs.
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post #4 of 13
9/4/08 at 1:23pm
Ask and yee shall recieve.

It was harder to find than I thought it would be.

carlo speaks
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post #5 of 13
9/4/08 at 2:25pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by nikongod View Post
Ask and yee shall recieve.

It was harder to find than I thought it would be.

carlo speaks
Thanks for the link mate. The search utility here sucks big time Though maybe I was focused on finding "reviews" and I skipped that thread.

Rgrds
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post #6 of 13
9/4/08 at 2:50pm
I never add review word in search. It brings up too much ballast- For the sake of curiosity I entered HP4 in search and added search for titles only. I found the review that nikongod referred to. Searching this way yields usually the best results here.
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post #7 of 13
9/4/08 at 3:12pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by argentum View Post
I never add review word in search. It brings up too much ballast- For the sake of curiosity I entered HP4 in search and added search for titles only. I found the review that nikongod referred to. Searching this way yields usually the best results here.
Oh, I don't do either, but looking at the threads titles, I was focused on finding the review, so I could check all the found threads faster.
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post #8 of 13
9/5/08 at 5:00am
Thanks nikongod, cos I was looking for some to, but finding some up here is like looking for a black cat in the dark room...


I can understand what he were saying, but he used stock (SOVTEK's) tubes only, which aren't bad, but they are kind of airy and not that rich/full as well.
So far I am not ready yet to write some thoughts, need more time for some experimenting with different phones, sources, IC and maybe tubes, at least other sources. To do so, we have to arrange some mini meet, which is possible, but when, is the big question...
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post #9 of 13
9/5/08 at 5:53am
so when are you gonna get a better source?
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post #10 of 13
9/5/08 at 7:07am
Well, only when I get free EUR 1000 to only look at some used CDP's, but the most probably need EUR 1500 at least...Need to cool down from buying EAR first, if you know what I mean...

If we can get together, me and KEES, for another mini meet, I can try the new source, his beautiful Marantz CD12/DA12. Plus he have some headphones & IC's around, which is also great.

Quote:
Originally Posted by panda View Post
so when are you gonna get a better source?
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post #11 of 13
9/5/08 at 1:36pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by HeadLover View Post
Hi
I have never seen a review of this amp
Can someone "enlighten" me about it please?
Carlo's review covered the sonics. It's one of the best-sounding tube amps around. The amp itself has a switch for high and low impedance headphones. It's transformer-coupled at both the inputs and the outputs. Its got a low case design, which discourages tube-rolling. I wound up getting a custom case built, so that I could use some of the taller-bottle 6SL7's.

My beef was with the transformer-coupling, I think. The HP4 has a very distinctive sound, regardless of tubes used, that I attributed to the transformers. Not unpleasant, but always there Once I switched to a top OTL design, the absence of the transformer sound was like a breath of fresh air. After that, the HP4 sat on my shelf until I eventually sold it.

However, I think think it still belongs on the short list of anyone looking for a high-performance tube amp.
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post #12 of 13
9/5/08 at 5:47pm
But if you were talking about GS1000 only, what then...?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Hirsch View Post
Carlo's review covered the sonics. It's one of the best-sounding tube amps around. Not unpleasant, but always there Once I switched to a top OTL design, the absence of the transformer sound was like a breath of fresh air. After that, the HP4 sat on my shelf until I eventually sold it.

However, I think think it still belongs on the short list of anyone looking for a high-performance tube amp.
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post #13 of 13
9/5/08 at 6:58pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Blackmore View Post
But if you were talking about GS1000 only, what then...?
I try not to talk about the GS-1000. That headphone had enormous potential that I think was never achieved in the production version.
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