OPPO HA-2 Portable Headphone Amplifier/DAC Discussion Thread
Feb 2, 2016 at 9:39 PM Post #2,926 of 4,883
I ran one more experiment: this morning I turned on HA-2 but disconnected it from everything. It was fully charged at a time. Obviously no audio was being processed/amplified. Later the same day I checked the battery level and it was down to two green dots.
 
Why doing nothing consumed half of its battery in a matter of hours?! Half of the battery pack (3000 mAh) was spent for what exactly?
 
Feb 2, 2016 at 10:01 PM Post #2,927 of 4,883
  I ran one more experiment: this morning I turned on HA-2 but disconnected it from everything. It was fully charged at a time. Obviously no audio was being processed/amplified. Later the same day I checked the battery level and it was down to two green dots.
 
Why doing nothing consumed half of its battery in a matter of hours?! Half of the battery pack (3000 mAh) was spent for what exactly?

 
That sounds like a malfunctioning unit, to me.
 
Feb 2, 2016 at 10:14 PM Post #2,929 of 4,883
  I ran one more experiment: this morning I turned on HA-2 but disconnected it from everything. It was fully charged at a time. Obviously no audio was being processed/amplified. Later the same day I checked the battery level and it was down to two green dots.
 
Why doing nothing consumed half of its battery in a matter of hours?! Half of the battery pack (3000 mAh) was spent for what exactly?


Ask Oppo if it is normal. It doesn't sound like it. After around 2 weeks, I plug mine in and the top light flashes... it takes about 30 to 45 minutes to charge from a 2.4 amp (not fast charge compatible) port.
 
A couple of things. It may not be close to half discharged. The top light may flash when it is 5% discharged and the second light when it is 75% discharged. Still, from my experience after only 2 hours , I would consider this unusual. l would talk to Oppo, they have far more experience with the HA-2 than even the Headfi collective. I have always found them to be very helpful and honest in dealing with any questions or problems that I have presented to them.
 
Feb 2, 2016 at 10:30 PM Post #2,932 of 4,883
Yes, I did. Oppo response was quite useless:


This doesn't explain why battery discharges while playing no sound or while it's turned off (!). They also ignored the part that I don't turn off my computer. I've also tried plugging HA-2 into their VOOC power charger directly, but battery is still being recharged every 2 hours. After I pointed this out to them, this was their response:


Let's tag @hasturtheyellow. He works for Oppo, and is active in this thread.

He's a good dude; maybe he can help.
 
Feb 3, 2016 at 9:16 AM Post #2,933 of 4,883
  Could someone else in this thread please confirm if they see this battery recharge issue? Please plug HA-2 into a computer, turn HA-2 on, don't play any audio, and leave it fully charged for a few hours. Does it start recharging the battery after some time?

 
 
 
It sounds normal to me. The battery will self discharge even with the unit turned of and sitting in a drawer. The charger brings it to full and stops charging. The charge drops and it starts charging again.
Even if the HA-2 is drawing zero power from the battery, I would expect it to go into charge mode periodically. I see the same with mine, but have never worried about it. Why is it concerning to you?

 
^ I agree.
 
The greatest rate of self-discharge (steepest portion of the curve) happens immediately after reaching a full charge.  So, it doesn't take long for a charging circuit to detect that the battery it is monitoring has lost some voltage.
 
The HA-2 most likely uses a Li-Po battery - see the orange curve in this chart:
 
39e4a632_Self-DischargeRates.gif

 http://nordicgroup.us/battery/
 
When a charger automatically senses a voltage drop and reacts by topping off the battery AND you leave the charger plugged in for long periods when the battery is not in use, the battery is repeatedly shallow-cycled between 100% and something like 99% of capacity, depending on how the charger is designed.  This happens over and over and over again if you leave such a charger connected while the device is not in use.
 
This can literally wear out the battery, slowly but surely. It's not as bad as deep-cycling a battery, as when taking it all the way down to the voltage at which the device shuts off, and only then putting it back on the charger. That regimen will force you to replace the battery far sooner than if you pampered the battery by routinely taking it down to 75% of capacity between charges.
 
The more shallow each depth of discharge, the longer the battery will last before it must be replaced - and it's not a linear relationship, meaning you will not get twice as many charge cycles out of a battery by taking it down 25% each time instead of taking it down 50% each time. The relationship is exponential. You might enjoy something like 10 times as many charge cycles by routinely going only half as deep as you would otherwise.
 
So, shallow discharges are better than deep for getting a lot of use out of a battery, but topping off to 100% every time the battery loses only 1% because of self-discharge is also bad for the longevity of the battery - because it can happen thousands of times across a year of leaving the unused device plugged into its charger.
 
This is best evidenced by considering the familiar and, to some, peculiar death of laptop batteries when the laptop is left plugged into its charger all the time. A year of countless automatic recharges to repeatedly top off the battery as it self-discharges is abusive. Even though the depth of each self-discharge between each recharge is very shallow (perhaps only 1%), keeping the laptop on the charger slowly destroys the battery by using up its ability to be cycled - like shaving away thousands of tiny slices from a bar of soap while it's not in use.
 
Many an infrequent business traveler has discovered this when he takes his relatively new laptop on the road for the first time in several months and the battery just refuses to hold a charge. It's not memory effect (as was the case with NiCd chemistry). It's due to abusive, repeated, shallow self-discharge and recharge cycles.  Thousands of these minimum depth, shallow discharge cycles can be just as destructive as a few dozen maximum depth, deep discharge cycles.
 
So, the best thing you can do with a laptop or an Oppo HA-2 or any other rechargeable device that is equipped with a charger that tops off the battery automatically as it reacts to self-discharge is...
 
Unplug the charger after the battery has been topped off.  Allow the battery to self-discharge without suffering repeated recharging. 
 
Feb 3, 2016 at 12:24 PM Post #2,934 of 4,883
I appreciate all the info here. Lots of good knowledge.

I wanted to add some thoughts of my own:

1) Regarding the self-discharge and cyclic recharging issue we are seeing and hoping to avoid by keeping it plugged in... As others have stated, it's basically impossible for the battery to Not discharge, even when connected. Add to that the possibility of the DAC drawing more than 500ma of power, and we are going to see the battery have to recharge... That's fine and all, but doesn't give us warm fuzzies. I realize this. But we can rest assured that all battery powered devices will suffer from this, especially if the load on the device exceeds that which the power supply (in our case, usb) can provide.
2) The rate of discharge does seem a little concerning. The thought popped into my mind- are we making sure that the device, even when turned off, isn't in "power pack" mode? Or whatever we want to call it? I think we can be sure of that as long as the blue light is off. I think we can all agree that if the blue light is off, and the volume is clicked off, the device Should be off, and the rate of discharge should be close to that which the graph showed us.
3) from my understanding, and correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that anything above or below nominal voltage is actually stress on the battery. For example, a lipo may have a nominal voltage of 3.7v. This is its most comfortable, least stressful state. Ideally, we would keep the battery here as much as possible. The depth of charge or discharge from this point is actually degrading to the cell. That being said, we would do our best to stay as close to nominal voltage, or half way charged, if we wanted to get the most life out of the battery. Since keeping the voltage/charge at this level is difficult, and inconvenient, I would say, depending on your level of OCD, you can set some boundaries. For instance, it is comfortable for me to charge my batteries to 80% and to not drain them below 20%. If I wanted to get a little more lifetime longevity out of the battery, I would narrow that margin to 70/30 or 60/40, or in a perfect world, always keep it at 40/50% or 3.7/3.8v. I would add to this that a battery gauge is only an estimate of the actual battery life and can be, for the most part, disregarded. You might notice that if you kept a battery at 50% for a very long time, and then decide to drain it, the gauge may go down to 1% and stay there for a prolonged period of time.

I hope this helps. I'm at work, but I will be on later to further discuss!

Take care for now HeadFi
 
Feb 3, 2016 at 7:19 PM Post #2,935 of 4,883
Just received the HA-2. Sooooo much better then the Sony PHA-1A. The PHA-1A was too bright for me, the HA-2 is just right. Will post pictures of my my portable rig once it's completed. Thanks everyone.
 
Feb 3, 2016 at 9:12 PM Post #2,936 of 4,883
Short update:

HA-2 vs. JDS Labs C5

The C5 was my pride and joy until now. I like the amp in the HA-2 better than my JDS Labs C5. It's bass is more smoother, controlled, tight and just right. There is more bass in the C5 and even though it offers 3 bass boost options I prefer HA-3 bass and bass option more.

HA-2 and iPod Classic 7G

It pairs well with the 7G. I noticed a huge improvement in sound. Details and bass sounded excellence.

HA-2 and iPhone 6

Using the 6 with Spotify non premium I noticed a huge improvement over using the HO of the 6.

HA-2 and MacBook Pro

HA-2 really shines best when connected to a laptop and desktop. To my ears this was beyond a huge improvement in sound.

HA-2 Dac and LO to JDS Labs C5

I bypassed the amp in the HA-2 and connected the C5, details where there, still I prefer the bass in the HA-2 more.

The only thing that I'm hoping more for is the HA-2 soundstage to open up after I burn it in. Fingers crossed.

Headphones used
Beyerdynamic DT 1350

Cables used
ALO Audio Silver 30 Pin iPod USB Cable
Oppo Lightning Cable
Oppo USB Cable

Im upgrading my 7G to a iPod Touch 6G 128GB and will use it with a Silver Dragon Lighting Cable. I'm also waiting on the RHA T20. I will post updates and pictures when I receive those items.

Hopefully this will be my final portable rig setup and next I can move on to building my desktop rig.
 
Feb 4, 2016 at 1:35 AM Post #2,940 of 4,883
I just wanted to give some props to Oppo.
 
I dropped my HA-2 the 2nd day I had it due to an icy sidewalk. I was sad for a moment.... Most of the impact was on the volume pot.  Nice little ding there... 
 
The sound is unaffected... the pot moves perfectly smooth, no audio distortion or sound when moving the knob, still feels solid as ever.  Gave me great confidence in the build quality of this thing.
 
Best part? Oppo told me that while they are not yet refurbishing these units, they would be happy to send me a new volume knob.
 
Double win.  Unaffected Pot, replacement knob on the way.

HA-2 will be with me forever!
 

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