[songmic]

Further sonic impressions, now that the amp has been burned in for at least 100 hours...
 
Again, I have to say that this tube amp is not a warm amp at all, in fact it sounds very clear and neutral that it almost sounds analytic. Yet it possesses the positive traits of a tube amp, the most notable of which is a spacious, airy soundstage.
 
I was surprised by its performance in driving the HD800 on its high impedance output. Simply put, this is the best amp I've heard with the HD800 to date, better than my previous Bakoon HPA-21, maxed-out ZDSE, or even its bigger and more expensive brother HPA-5000. I have yet to audition GS-X mk2 or ecp L-2, which are supposedly the best amps for HD800. I asked Mr. Park why the less expensive model is better sounding; he explained that the HPA-5000 is optimized for low impedance headphones, while the HPA-3000 is more versatile as it has two outputs (for low and high impedance headphones, respectively). In addition, he stated that the high impedance output (which is supposedly intended for 200 ohms and up) is actually optimized for 300 ohm, and he has used the HD800 to design this particular output. On the other hand, the HE-500 was used to tune the low impedance output, making it ideal at around 30-40 ohms. The HD800 driven on high impedance output sounded more full-bodied, airy, and overall superior sounding to the LCD-X on low impedance output.
 
I have an HE-560, an updated model over HE-500, inbound home. I'm looking forward to trying this headphone on the low impedance output, and compare it with LCD-X and HD800 using this amp.

 

[kensonic]

Congrats to this fantastic amp.

I met Mr. Park at the High End show in Munich some weeks ago. It was really a pleasure talking to him. I can absolutely support what you are saying about the HPA-5000. It is a great pairing with low imp. headphones. I enjoy the HPA-5000 very much with the HE6. It sounds fantastic with every stile of music. No comparison to my LF ...! However, I would not recommend it for the HD-800 (I use 2 extra transformer provided by Mr. Park for the HD800).
To me, the HPA-5000 was the right choice because I like the HE6 much much more than the HD-800.

In contrary to what you are saying about the HPA-3000 (wire with gain) the HPA-5000 gives the HE6 just the warmth it needs for strings and voices (which I miss if using the LF). Also my LCD 2.2 sounds great. Would be interesting to hear both amps side by side ...
Have fun !

 

[Dubstep Girl]

I really want t buy one of these amps, as soon as I get the money I will. Its one of the very few amps i am interested in owning, along with the stratus..

 

[Kraz]

Further sonic impressions, now that the amp has been burned in for at least 100 hours...

Again, I have to say that this tube amp is not a warm amp at all, in fact it sounds very clear and neutral that it almost sounds analytic. Yet it possesses the positive traits of a tube amp, the most notable of which is a spacious, airy soundstage.

I was surprised by its performance in driving the HD800 on its high impedance output. Simply put, this is the best amp I've heard with the HD800 to date, better than my previous Bakoon HPA-21, maxed-out ZDSE, or even its bigger and more expensive brother HPA-5000. I have yet to audition GS-X mk2 or ecp L-2, which are supposedly the best amps for HD800. I asked Mr. Park why the less expensive model is better sounding; he explained that the HPA-5000 is optimized for low impedance headphones, while the HPA-3000 is more versatile as it has two outputs (for low and high impedance headphones, respectively). In addition, he stated that the high impedance output (which is supposedly intended for 200 ohms and up) is actually optimized for 300 ohm, and he has used the HD800 to design this particular output. On the other hand, the HE-500 was used to tune the low impedance output, making it ideal at around 30-40 ohms. The HD800 driven on high impedance output sounded more full-bodied, airy, and overall superior sounding to the LCD-X on low impedance output.

I have an HE-560, an updated model over HE-500, inbound home. I'm looking forward to trying this headphone on the low impedance output, and compare it with LCD-X and HD800 using this amp.

Songmic, did you ever get your HE560? How does it sound with the allnic? I am very interested in this combo.

 

[songmic]

 

Further sonic impressions, now that the amp has been burned in for at least 100 hours...

Again, I have to say that this tube amp is not a warm amp at all, in fact it sounds very clear and neutral that it almost sounds analytic. Yet it possesses the positive traits of a tube amp, the most notable of which is a spacious, airy soundstage.

I was surprised by its performance in driving the HD800 on its high impedance output. Simply put, this is the best amp I've heard with the HD800 to date, better than my previous Bakoon HPA-21, maxed-out ZDSE, or even its bigger and more expensive brother HPA-5000. I have yet to audition GS-X mk2 or ecp L-2, which are supposedly the best amps for HD800. I asked Mr. Park why the less expensive model is better sounding; he explained that the HPA-5000 is optimized for low impedance headphones, while the HPA-3000 is more versatile as it has two outputs (for low and high impedance headphones, respectively). In addition, he stated that the high impedance output (which is supposedly intended for 200 ohms and up) is actually optimized for 300 ohm, and he has used the HD800 to design this particular output. On the other hand, the HE-500 was used to tune the low impedance output, making it ideal at around 30-40 ohms. The HD800 driven on high impedance output sounded more full-bodied, airy, and overall superior sounding to the LCD-X on low impedance output.

I have an HE-560, an updated model over HE-500, inbound home. I'm looking forward to trying this headphone on the low impedance output, and compare it with LCD-X and HD800 using this amp.

Songmic, did you ever get your HE560? How does it sound with the allnic? I am very interested in this combo.

 
The HE-560 still hasn't arrived yet. Apparently HiFiMAN is shipping to USA customers first, followed by Europe and Asia. I think it's a bit unfair, considering HiFiMAN is based in Hong Kong and is closer to Asian countries including Korea...

 

[Ishcabible]

I have one on loan for a month. I downright love it for my W10VTG and ZMF x Vibro, but so far, I'm not loving it with the HE500.

 

[bmichels]

  wow interested in this amp....
 
i wonder how it compares to HPA-5000 which was really impressive. looks smaller too

 
Also interested to know if the bigger brother HPA-5000 still sound better than the HPA-3000 despite being older.  
 
Anyway, I dream of a HPA3000 or 5000 associated with their new D5000 tube dac.   
 
A lot of glowing tubes ! With a total of 12 tubes, there is No need for additional lights in the listening room

 

 

[Ishcabible]

I briefly tried the 5000 at ChiUniFi. I preferred the more neutral sound of the 3000, but it paired fantastically with the LCD-2.

 

[songmic]

 
Also interested to know if the bigger brother HPA-5000 still sound better than the HPA-3000 despite being older. 

 
The HPA-5000 still sounds better than the HPA-3000, but with a caveat: for low impedance headphones. If you're driving high impedance cans like HD800, the HPA-3000 does the job better.

 

[bmichels]

   
The HPA-5000 still sounds better than the HPA-3000, but with a caveat: for low impedance headphones. If you're driving high impedance cans like HD800, the HPA-3000 does the job better.

 
thanks.  
 
So it look HPA-5000 is the best solution for  LCD, HE-6, TH-900... isn't it ?   With which headphone did you hear it ? 

 

[songmic]

 

   
The HPA-5000 still sounds better than the HPA-3000, but with a caveat: for low impedance headphones. If you're driving high impedance cans like HD800, the HPA-3000 does the job better.

 
thanks.  
 
So it look HPA-5000 is the best solution for  LCD, HE-6, TH-900... isn't it ?   With which headphone did you hear it ? 

 
Pre-Fazor LCD-3, TH900, and HD800 as far as I could recall. I only got to audition it for a while, so I couldn't try it out with my later purchases. Definitely the finest OTL amp I've heard (outperformed my max'd-out ZDSE by a couple notches), and surprisingly works better with lower impedance headphones despite being OTL. I still thought it sounded very good with the HD800 until I heard the HPA-3000.
 
For HD800, the HPA-3000 is the best amp I've heard to date, period. For the record, I haven't auditioned other TOTL amps that are said to boast the finest pairings with HD800, such as HeadAmp GS-X mk2, ecp L-2, Eddie Current 445, Apex Teton, etc. But then again, the HPA-3000 is not that well known compared to the afore-mentioned others since Allnic only recently made its foray into headphone-dom. What I can say is that the HD800 has never sounded cleaner, more accurate, and grain-free. HPA-3000 is not a warm sounding headphone by any means so the HD800 still sounds a tad brighter than neutral, but that harsh treble etch is removed. Not even the second best amp I've heard with the HD800, the ZDSE, was able to do this.
 
Because of the HD800's ability to scale indefinitely, I'm sure the HPA-3000/HD800 combo will give HPA-5000 paired with most TOTL low impedance (ideally 30-40 ohms) headphones (that don't scale as high) a serious run for its money. One of the few amps that make you truly appreciate what the HD800 is capable of.

 

[songmic]

The HE-560 has finally arrived, fully broken in after a week, and ready to go head-on against the HD800 with the HPA-3000 feeding them both. For the record, I used the pre-production pads (a.k.a. FocusPad-A) with the HE-560 as I preferred them to the production pads. Neither headphone was modded in any other way. The HE-560 (35 ohms) was driven via the low-impedance output, the HD800 (300 ohms) via high-impedance. Mr. Park has said that the low and high impedance outputs were optimized for 30-40 ohms and 300 ohms, respectively.
 
The HE-560 driven by HPA-3000 turned out to be the best planar magnetic headphone setup I've ever heard, beating my previously owned HE-6 by a close margin. I know the HE-6 scales and scales, and I may not have heard its full potential yet... but who has? The amp I had used to drive the HE-6 was Pathos Classic One MKIII which, at $3,000, was IMO the best amp I've heard with the HE-6 after auditioning countless high-end headphone amps (including HFM's own EF-6 and RSA Dark Star) and several high-end speaker amps (including McIntosh MC275). It took the HE-6 to unprecedented heights and made me re-appreciate what this headphone is truly capable of. But the HPA-3000/HE-560, which may not be as transparent and detailed as Pathos/HE-6--or HPA-3000/HD800, for that matter--had a more natural tonal balance. I would go as far as to say that the HE-560, with pre-production pads, is the most natural and balanced sounding planar magnetic headphone I've heard. I haven't heard JPS Abyss or Fazor-equipped LCD-2/3 yet, but the pre-Fazor LCD-2/3 were too dark-sounding for my tastes, while the LCD-X was too emphasized in treble and bass that the mids sounded recessed in comparison. The HE-6 came close to neutral but was still rather bright-sounding, even on the Pathos amp. I consider the HE-500 a balanced sounding headphone too, but it sounded somewhat muffled. While I would give the nod to Pathos/HE-6 for the ultimate edge in technicalities when it comes to planar magnetic headphones, I simply prefer the HPA-3000/HE-560 more because it comes very close to the HE-6 in many aspects while delivering a more natural sound overall. On a side note, although it is still more sensitive than its older brother HE-6, I still regard the HE-560 as being very inefficient; I had to crank the volume of my 3W per channel HPA-3000 amp's volume knob past 2 o'clock to achieve satisfactory SPL. I haven't heard the HE-560 on other amps so I'm not sure if it is a picky headphone when it comes to amp matching (other than the fact that it's damn power hungry).
 
That being said, the HE-560 could not dethrone the HD800 as what I believe to be the ultimate dynamic driver headphone. Maybe I prefer the HE-560 to the HD800 in certain contemporary genres of music, but the HPA-3000/HD800 is as sonically perfect as I could wish for. Airy treble without sibilance, full-sounding but not aggressive mids, very tight bass, incredible frequency extension, unrivaled in imaging and detail extraction, massive soundstage... it's all there. The HD800 simply scales higher, even more so than the HE-6. Even so, I won't be letting go of the HE-560, as it is more forgiving with recordings of sub-par quality than the HD800.

 

[bmichels]

The HE-560 has finally arrived, fully broken in after a week, and ready to go head-on against the HD800 with the HPA-3000 feeding them both. For the record, I used the pre-production pads (a.k.a. FocusPad-A) with the HE-560 as I preferred them to the production pads. Neither headphone was modded in any other way. The HE-560 (35 ohms) was driven via the low-impedance output, the HD800 (300 ohms) via high-impedance. Mr. Park has said that the low and high impedance outputs were optimized for 30-40 ohms and 300 ohms, respectively.

The HE-560 driven by HPA-3000 turned out to be the best planar magnetic headphone setup I've ever heard, beating my previously owned HE-6 by a close margin. I know the HE-6 scales and scales, and I may not have heard its full potential yet... but who has? The amp I had used to drive the HE-6 was Pathos Classic One MKIII which, at $3,000, was IMO the best amp I've heard with the HE-6 after auditioning countless high-end headphone amps (including HFM's own EF-6 and RSA Dark Star) and several high-end speaker amps (including McIntosh MC275). It took the HE-6 to unprecedented heights and made me re-appreciate what this headphone is truly capable of. But the HPA-3000/HE-560, which may not be as transparent and detailed as Pathos/HE-6--or HPA-3000/HD800, for that matter--had a more natural tonal balance. I would go as far as to say that the HE-560, with pre-production pads, is the most natural and balanced sounding planar magnetic headphone I've heard. I haven't heard JPS Abyss or Fazor-equipped LCD-2/3 yet, but the pre-Fazor LCD-2/3 were too dark-sounding for my tastes, while the LCD-X was too emphasized in treble and bass that the mids sounded recessed in comparison. The HE-6 came close to neutral but was still rather bright-sounding, even on the Pathos amp. I consider the HE-500 a balanced sounding headphone too, but it sounded somewhat muffled. While I would give the nod to Pathos/HE-6 for the ultimate edge in technicalities when it comes to planar magnetic headphones, I simply prefer the HPA-3000/HE-560 more because it comes very close to the HE-6 in many aspects while delivering a more natural sound overall. On a side note, although it is still more sensitive than its older brother HE-6, I still regard the HE-560 as being very inefficient; I had to crank the volume of my 3W per channel HPA-3000 amp's volume knob past 2 o'clock to achieve satisfactory SPL. I haven't heard the HE-560 on other amps so I'm not sure if it is a picky headphone when it comes to amp matching (other than the fact that it's damn power hungry).

That being said, the HE-560 could not dethrone the HD800 as what I believe to be the ultimate dynamic driver headphone. Maybe I prefer the HE-560 to the HD800 in certain contemporary genres of music, but the HPA-3000/HD800 is as sonically perfect as I could wish for. Airy treble without sibilance, full-sounding but not aggressive mids, very tight bass, incredible frequency extension, unrivaled in imaging and detail extraction, massive soundstage... it's all there. The HD800 simply scales higher, even more so than the HE-6. Even so, I won't be letting go of the HE-560, as it is more forgiving with recordings of sub-par quality than the HD800.

Very very interesting Review. Thanks a lot.

Question: can we have the 2 Headphones ( He-560 & HD800 ) plugged at the same Time in the HPA-3000 ? Can we them use this setup to have 2 people listening to the same music ? or is the volume Level between thé 2 headphone much too différent to allow simultaneous listening with He-560 & HD800 ?

 

[songmic]

 
Question: can we have the 2 Headphones ( He-560 & HD800 ) plugged at the same Time in the HPA-3000 ? Can we them use this setup to have 2 people listening to the same music ? or is the volume Level between thé 2 headphone much too différent to allow simultaneous listening with He-560 & HD800 ?

 
There is definitely a noticeable difference in SPL between the two headphones at the same volume knob position, due to the former's low sensitivity. I'd say the difference is about 2 hours on the knob. It is possible to allow simultaneous listening, but you would want to give the HD800 to the guy who prefers to listen at louder levels.
 
The good news is that there was no noticeable degradation in SPL or sound quality for either headphone when both headphones were driven at the same time. This was rather surprising, considering both headphones are known to be difficult to drive.

 

[kensonic]

The HE-560 has finally arrived, fully broken in after a week, and ready to go head-on against the HD800 with the HPA-3000 feeding them both. For the record, I used the pre-production pads (a.k.a. FocusPad-A) with the HE-560 as I preferred them to the production pads. Neither headphone was modded in any other way. The HE-560 (35 ohms) was driven via the low-impedance output, the HD800 (300 ohms) via high-impedance. Mr. Park has said that the low and high impedance outputs were optimized for 30-40 ohms and 300 ohms, respectively.

The HE-560 driven by HPA-3000 turned out to be the best planar magnetic headphone setup I've ever heard, beating my previously owned HE-6 by a close margin. I know the HE-6 scales and scales, and I may not have heard its full potential yet... but who has? The amp I had used to drive the HE-6 was Pathos Classic One MKIII which, at $3,000, was IMO the best amp I've heard with the HE-6 after auditioning countless high-end headphone amps (including HFM's own EF-6 and RSA Dark Star) and several high-end speaker amps (including McIntosh MC275). It took the HE-6 to unprecedented heights and made me re-appreciate what this headphone is truly capable of. But the HPA-3000/HE-560, which may not be as transparent and detailed as Pathos/HE-6--or HPA-3000/HD800, for that matter--had a more natural tonal balance. I would go as far as to say that the HE-560, with pre-production pads, is the most natural and balanced sounding planar magnetic headphone I've heard. I haven't heard JPS Abyss or Fazor-equipped LCD-2/3 yet, but the pre-Fazor LCD-2/3 were too dark-sounding for my tastes, while the LCD-X was too emphasized in treble and bass that the mids sounded recessed in comparison. The HE-6 came close to neutral but was still rather bright-sounding, even on the Pathos amp. I consider the HE-500 a balanced sounding headphone too, but it sounded somewhat muffled. While I would give the nod to Pathos/HE-6 for the ultimate edge in technicalities when it comes to planar magnetic headphones, I simply prefer the HPA-3000/HE-560 more because it comes very close to the HE-6 in many aspects while delivering a more natural sound overall.

I would assume that the HE6 blows the HE560 out of the water (on HPA5000)