Hi Tangent-
It's a mixed bag with Halo, so far as I can tell. First things first, I do like the sound, very much. And the pricing was competetive, especially on the amp.
Parasound's HCA-1000-A is 650 retail, and was offered to me at 550. The Halo A23 is 899 retail, and I got it at 699. So, although the same output power, the Halo was only 150 more. It's specs sonically are about the same as the HCA-1000-A, but more conservative. Bigger transformer and more capacitance in the PSU (which by now you know I like), THX-2 vs THX-1 certified-which doesn't really mean **** to me, other than it must be rated somewhat better. The logo looks queer on the front of an amp like this, however. And best of all, balanced inputs. That was key for me.
The bad news: The amp is not truly balanced throughout. Just balanced connections. Ahhh... so I got what I paid for. Bummer. The HCA-1000-A offered 12v remote turn on, not uncommon. But the Halo offered that as well as auto sensing turn-on based on signal presence. I liked that Idea, as I could have it turn on with any preamp, even if there was no 12v trigger (eg, one of my own construction). This feature I could not get to work, even with frequent adjustment of the sensitivity control on the back. Another letdown, though not sonically.
Lastly, this thing looks awesome on a shelf. It's beautiful, even though the plastic endcaps do not exactly match the faceplate, which is aluminum. The power switch has faint blue glow around it (halo
), that when depressed, turnes red during on-cycle, then to brighter blue when ready. At this point, all the buttons have a nice blue glow (preamp is the same way) emanating from the perimeter. Well, while this eye candy looks pissah, so to speak, the switches themselves feel to me like they won't last a year or two before breaking. I don't know if they (the actuators themselves) are metal or plastic, but even if metal, they feel really wiggly and breakable. It does not inspire a sense of quality about the unit, which may leak into the listening experience!
The preamplifier is another story. While I might be able to live with paying an extra 150 for the Halo amp, the P3 preamp was also sold at 699, (retail was 900), where the PHP-850 preamp is 250 retail. I picked the much more expensive (though not really unreasonable) P23 for it's balanced in and outputs. Additionally, it utilizes Analog Devices OPAs, which I feel might be more appropriate in a preamplifier than the Burr-Brown OPAs used in the PHP-850. Although I prefer B-B OPAs in my headphone amps, so far. Same issues as the amp, the controls feel really junky. Although the unit has a 5/10 year warranty, who wants to be without their equipment for 6 weeks while it's being repaired? Also, it uses a rotary encoder for the digital volume control. The simpler and more industrial PHP-850 uses an alps volume pot and bourns for other controls. Maybe not as technically elegant as the encoder, but I don't exactly have any long-term faith in the cheap feel of the P23's controls at all, and also don't feel I could replace them myself down the road.
I like things that not only perform well, but also look well. Don't get me wrong, form must always follow function in my book. But, if you have an attempt at form, it ought to be solid, not a cheesy makeover, which is how this feels. I think that the classic line, while industrial in appearance, is going to be a far better value. And should perform about the same. To reiterate, I do indeed like the sound very very much. But I can't get over the disappointing feel of the user interface. It just feels cheap.
I have a month to audition it, it's been two and a half weeks. I plan on returning it at this point, unfortuantely. I may try the HCA-1000/PHP850 setup, which has nearly identical specs, save the balanced input/outputs (again, I/O only, not true balanced operation), and the whole nut is only 900, vs 1400.
But I also may look around some more. I'm curious about the Roksan line, and might also look into a few others. I was sorely disappointed with the Halo, though. I may very well end up with the classic line, however.
...FWIW!
