[archeryc]

I had a Neko Audio D100Mk2 and the HPA21 + TH900 combo. Way too much bass. The bass was nice but I didn't have enough treble or midrange. Changed DAC to Audio GD NFB-2. Much better. Still a bit too bassy. I ended up giving up. Sold TH900 and HPA21. Apparently the Eximus DP1 would have been a great DAC to try with it. 

Considering trying again. I now have Audio GD Reference 7 coming and might try recabling a TH900 with Hybrid OCC Copper and Silver Litz. Will try it with HPA01. 

If so, the Luxman P1u will definitely fits you better as it controls the bass of TH900 extremely well and with transparent mid and treble and glorious sound signature.

Wish someone can compare the HDA-5210MK3 with the HPA-21. If the 5210 are not that bass heavy I will go with the 5210 instead of P1u. (As TH900 is my only at-home-headphone)

 

[MattTCG]

subbed...

 

[Sound Eq]

how does it compare with alo mk3+ in regards to sound sig and bass 

 

[AppleheadMay]

My short impressions on the Japanese Mk3 here.

 

[cspirou]

You mentioned that there is no difference between the HE6 and LCD-3 like there is for the HD800. The main reason for that is because of the flat impedance curve on planar magnetics which generally lead to the same response in either setting. However for dynamic drivers this changes because power is calculated with P=I²R instead of P=V²/R. In voltage mode the power drops with an increase in impedance whereas in current mode the power actually increases with impedance. A lot of this is covered in this article by Nelson Pass.
 
http://www.firstwatt.com/pdf/art_cs_amps.pdf
 
He argues that for single driver full range speakers a current mode amp makes a lot of sense. While there aren't too many speakers made like this, headphones are basically universally made this way.

 

[Justin_Time]

Can anyone compare the HDA-5210MK3 and the HPA-21? I have heard the HPA-21 and tempting to buy the HDA-5210MK3 with UL board upgrade (standard version). How's these 2 amps drive TH900? As I heard people said that the Bakoon are the best amp for TH900 in this price range. (Currently my only headphone is the Th900...)

My apology if someone has done this before, but I can really hard to find informations like this. Thx~

 


I do not know if the Bakoon is the best amp for the TH-900--there are many top amps like the Apex Pinnacle/Teton, the EC 2A3, the Vioelectric V281 and the Schiit Ragnarok that I have not heard--but it is a great combo indeed.

My Korean Bakoon is the HPA-21. My Japanese Mk3 is exactly the same as AppleheadMay's unit with the upgrade on the circuit and the volume--I actually duplicated his order. They are sonically very similar. The differences are subtle. The Korean HPA-21 is ever so slightly warmer in the midrange--the difference is small enough that it could be just my imagination--and the Japanese Mk3 has a little more weight in the bass. This latter difference is real and may have something to do with the different power supplies.

The volume controls work differently between the Bakoon HPA-21 (no choice) and the Mk3 with upgraded volume I selected. The volume with the Bakoon HPA-21 still has the leak-off problem discussed in the 6-Moon review. Unless you lower the output from your DAC, there is still a sound leak at zero volume setting. There is no such problem with the volume option I have for the Mk3: dead silence at 0 volume with any levels of DAC input I tried.

The Korean HPA-21 is built and looks a bout ten times better than the Japanese Mk3 though I was not impressed with the cosmetics of either chassis. At nearly $3,000, I expected a lot more substantial built and considerably better look. The Oppo at about one-third of the price put either Bakoon to shame (though it certainly sounds like it costs three times less compared to the Bakoons). At least the Korean Bakoon HPA-1 felt very solid and came in a nice package. The Japanese Mk3 came is a plain cardboard box with bubble wraps (no kidding!). Very unprofessional. To call the presentation underwhelming would be the understatement of the year.

Sonically, either version is well worth the relatively high cost with only small differences in the bass and warmth--the latter could be, once again, just my imagination. Both units are sonically in the same league as HeadAmp GS-X Mk2, the Woo WA5 and the EAR-HP4.

 

[vert]

Still charmed by the HPA-21 magic.
 
It has responded to every upgrade I've made in my system.

 

[montanari]

Sorry, here's what ends all doubt for me:

Not even 1 Watt into the LCD-3s. Case closed. Far, far from ideal. Here's what my documentation from my LCD-3s says: "At least 2 W". So that's on the very bottom end when the verbiage is "at least". Audeze also did this with the RWA amp before. Business ventures are that...to help sell both headphones and amps.

Can it sound "nice"? Sure, my GS-1 sounded very good with the LCD-3s and it too offerred about the same power levels (1W into 32 ohms). But the GS-X MKII smokes it (and it puts like 5-6W into 60 ohms, not 0.75W 

) and for $3k for this T-like battery amp....sorry, but no thanks!

Reading old stuff to get an idea
Just sold my conductor fallen in love with the hugo to replace the Burson dac
I liked very much the combination hugo+ soloist+lcd3F (so 110ohm even more, I think the soloist delivered to them around 1W..)
I'm in the process of researching for an amplifier able to deliver about 2W, so a bit better than the soloist, and smaller: Was looking for something small
Does it exist?

 

[Soned]

  Still charmed by the HPA-21 magic.
 
It has responded to every upgrade I've made in my system.

I just picked up an HD800 today.The hype is valid, this match is sublime

 

[Hi-Head]

I have the same combination. It is simply amazing and from my experience there is no better amp on the market to fit the HD 800.
No sibilance, still the best mids more than enough, tight bass and the big soundstage in both depth and width plus wonderful air around instruments and voices - of course very much dependant on the quality of the recording.

Best Regards,
Hi-Head

 

[Justin_Time]

I have the same combination. It is simply amazing and from my experience there is no better amp on the market to fit the HD 800.
No sibilance, still the best mids more than enough, tight bass and the big soundstage in both depth and width plus wonderful air around instruments and voices - of course very much dependant on the quality of the recording.

Best Regards,
Hi-Head

Do you have another amps to compare to the Bakoon HPA-21?
 
I would love to hear what you think.
 
I love every sonic aspect of the Bakoon except one:  the bass seems to lack the ultimate impact, not just with the HD800--I don't want folks to just focus on the HD800 bass--but with the LCD3 and HE-6 as well. 

 

[Hi-Head]

When comparing the HPA-21 to the integrated amp in my T+A DAC 8 or the Lehman Linear SE or the Chord Hugo or the smaller Bakoon HPA-01 I cannot complain about too less bass impact, really. In fact the sound appears to be much darker compared to those amps.
If you for example listen to 'Cousin John' from Marcus Miller's 'M2' album, a really bass heavy recording, you cannot believe how realistic and correctly 'displayed' the sound of the bass guitar and synthy bass comes through to your ears.
No, I don't think there's anything wrong with the bass sound in this headphone/amp combination. It is as right for my ears at least as the mids and the treble thanks to an overall neutral freqency response targeted by the developers of both products.

Best Regards,
Hi-Head

 

[Lebowsi]

Hoping someone can help with pin-outs for the Bakoon SATRI inputs. I would like to connect an Audio GD DAC19 to my Bakoon AMP 12R using ACSS to SATRI.

Any assistance is appreciated.

M

 

[Soned]

Are there any impressions of a match of the HPA-21 and the HE-600?

 

[bmichels]

So, is there a consensus that the HPA-21 is really better than the HUGO ? 
 
If yes, then the HPA-21 + DAC-21 combo may replace my HUGO for "transportable" use.
 
by the way:has anyone been able to carefully listen to the DAC-21 ?    
 
--> Is "HPA-21 + DAC-21" better than HUGO TT as a "transportable" DAC/AMP ?