Isabellina HPA - Owner's Thread and Impressions - Page 12

Thanks Vinnie, the rust repair will not be as extensive. It was surface rust which is being cleaned, treated with acid, and finished with POR-15 a wonderful product which I have used before in other car projects. The electrical is a different story ... lets just say it even took the wiper motor. Wiper motors are a beast since they are year specific, for example in my case it only fits the 70 or 71 standard Beetle and even w/ a core change it will be close to $140 just for the motor. Oh well that is the way the world turns.

I've been listening to the Isabellina HPA for a few hours so far and, to be honest, I'm not amazed by its sound. Maybe I expected too much, or maybe I should listen to it for more time, or maybe I don't listen to the music that best reveals its features. I don't know, I'm not an audiophile (and I usually don't listen to classic music).

I suppose it is already broken in, isn't it NewMexiCat? Or it could still improve? How many hours did you use it?

I've been using the HD650 and listened to some albums including "Pearl Jam - VS", "Pink Floyd - Wish you were here", "Antony & Johnsons - Crying light", "Katy Perry - One of the boys". I tried different styles, to see how it behaves.

ranma172, the Isabellina HPA sounds best when fed via USB from your computer. If you are feeding it from a cd/dvd player I would use an optical cable instead of a coaxial. This so the electrical grid noise which you are not using w/ the Isabellina HPA is not fed back using a coaxial from the cd/dvd source. Cheers.

You might also prefer it with the HD600 more - I know my Amphora with the same headphone circuit is better with HD600/800 than it is with HD650, which sound dark and lifeless in comparison.

While I liked the way my Amphora sounded out of the box, I am now way past 500 hours and it keeps getting better. Yes only slightly, but better. I would give it time, with the investment you made.

I don't know if the HPA needs as much burn-in as the Amphora which has those Vcaps to deal with.

The Isabellina HPA has V-Caps.

Yes, I'm using USB connected to my computer.

And you notice those small changes?

Absolutely. The first 20, and even 200 hours the sound ripens a lot. But even after that there are changes that if you know how to, or what to listen for, you can hear. I do my best, (and most eargasmic) listening in a dark room alone. When your mind is allowed-free enough to really let the music flow, the changes in the musicality that the amp portrays is stunning. And thats with my iPod as a source, you've got the awesome DAC. Enjoy and don't try to force yourself to "look" for the good sound. Its there.

I concur with kboe, I believe it took a good 400+ hours for my Isabelina HPA to settle.

Ranma172, I think that you should move away from those Senn HD 650's...I have a recabled set that I initially enjoyed until I moved to other headphones...they really are a dark headphone. They were my first big "audiophile" can and I defended them until I started to expand my collection a bit. I love my ALO modded Grado 225's compared to them as well as pretty much any other headphone I own. The 225's would probably be considered an inferior can to the 650's(and my pair is not really anything close to stock) but for what you mentioned for what you are listening to we have some music interests in common.

On that note though, I'll plug my 650's into the Isabellina HPA tonight, I have been wanting to see how they sounded with the Isabellina HPA but I had just have been really busy over the last couple weeks and have been enjoying the Isabellina with other cans up to now.

I haven't really found a set up for the 650's that I really enjoyed in a long time. I disliked the Senns enough that I ended up going for the PS1000s versus the HD800s. I am sitting over in Afghanistan so not a lot of opportunity for me to listen to stuff that I don't buy first but the 650's pretty much put me off Sennheiser in general. I know that that is a bit short sighted on my part, the HD800s seem to be getting stellar reviews. So, I am a bit biased.

I mainly listen to classic rock, blues, melodic metal (doom, progressive, etc), alternative, electronic, etc, etc...I have close to 1TB of music in apple loseless. As I told my buddy over here, I like music...not necesarrily "good music"...I like what I like.

I have alot of non audiophiles (but music guys) check out my system here as it is an anomaly in my world (even more than it would be back in the States) and they all move away from the 650's once they hear the other cans in my inventory here. The 650's have never really grabbed me. I am not saying that you need to grab a set of 1000 dollar headphones but you may find that you would be happier with a lower price point Grado can for the music that you mentioned you were listening too.

We all have our own ears and preferences but there are alot of great cans out there that might bring the joy of this fine amp to you ears! Just my two cents. I have found that the Isabellina does great with great recordings but at the same time has smoothed out some recordings that I thought were a bit simblant before...some of this could be that with the Wadia iTransport I am getting a better access to the source files.

I'll give them a listen this evening and see what I think.

I hate all the you are doing this wrong posts when you mention you don't like something that everyone else does but from personal experience I think there are probably alot of similar price point cans that might bring the music magic to you a bit more than the Senns you currently use. Again, not trying to flame you, just giving you a bit of a perspective from a guy that puts his music enjoyment before his "audiophileness"....thought from what you wrote you might be in a similar state of mind.

I have some Denon's on the way and am looking at a pair of the Edition 9's and will try and get some impressions if I go that route.

I have nothing but good to write so far with the Isabellina. I personnally do enjoy the sound signature that Vinnie puts out with his products...been a fan for many years with the Imod prior to the Isabellina HPA.

Happy listening gents, the Isabellina was enough of a step up for me to spend many hours going through my music picking out the little details that I had been missing in my previous set ups. I really do love it when you get a new piece of equipment that is enough of a step up to make all your old favorites sound like a first listen again.

You still have some breaking in to do. I had probably 150 hours on it. I usually listen during the break-in process and don't let things play unattended, so I'm a slow burner-inner!

I agree with previous posters about the HD650. It was my go-to headphone for a long time and I thought it sounded good with the Isabellina HPA, but I quickly preferred others once I gave them a listen (first, the JVC HP-DX1000, and now the HD800). I know those are expensive alternatives. As others have said, you might want to try HD600's or give something in the Grado line an audition.

Although 150 hours is a good start it needs a tad over 400 hours. I thought I was through at 310 hours but after further use it got better. Now it has a bit over 500 hours and it is sweet sounding!

I have been REALLY close to pulling the order-tricker on the Isabellina HPA + a set of HD800. But I am wondering if I should go all the way for a STAX 007 combo. I wish I could do some A/B listening sessions...

I can't speak to the Stax combo, but I can speak to the Isabellina HPA and HD800. I auditioned at home on an extended basis top headphones from Senn (HD800), Grado (GS1000/PS1000), Denon/Lawton (LA7000), Beyerdynamic, and a couple other brands. Hands down HD800. Be prepared for several hundred hours of required break in before sibiliance is gone. I also strongly recommend a re-cable from ALO Audio (copper) although the Lawton audio re-cable looks nice too (I have the Jena+Furutech on my LA7000's).

All broken in, the combo is so sweet, balanced yet musical, incredible resolution but no "digititis". I've truly never enjoyed listening to headphones before this match.

I will admit I upgraded to the full Isabella (+DAC+HPA) as I love the tweaking one can do with tubes and it added even more soundstage/layering and a bit of warmth which I like.

Also since I live in a dense urban city, going off the grid is huge! when I play from my Mac notebook on battery (which runs itunes+Amarra) it's smokin' good! Couldn't give it a stronger recommendation (either HPA or Isabella fully loaded).