[Malcolm Riverside]

I owned both the HPA-4 and THX789 amp and I can only say that i never listened to the Drop amp while both were in house. The Benchmark reaches deeper into the music, has more grip and fluidity across the board, far superior volume control/implementation, higher highs, lower lows, etc, etc... It seems pointless to insist on objective sound differences between amps when so many other factors come into play across different users, from obvious stuff like dacs and interconnects to the fact that people hear things differently!
I think ASR is the place for folks who like to interpret sound from graphs and numbers. Here on head-fi people overwhelmingly respect others’ subjective opinions about the sound and qualities of their components because we like to share and be informed by actual personal experiences of listening to music, and not pretend that there’s an objective truth of how something sounds that we should all conform to. If an individual’s experience doesn’t conform to the numbers you can’t tell them their wrong! Just gotta be informed by that and look for your own way to constructively contribute to the conversation.

 

[yyzSB]

Why go for HPA-4 when you have something cheaper than THX 789 ? Or even A90 which beats the HPA-4 in terms of distortion and noise floor!

ASR only talks about measurements. And their graph and everything only refers to THD and noise floor. Thats it. Measurement does not determine sound quality, period !

I am trying to follow these new posts, but these 2 comments leave me confused.

 

[koven]

Best to just ignore these Jehovah's Witnesses from ASR, don't take the bait..

 

[NickT23]

Best to just ignore these Jehovah's Witnesses from ASR, don't take the bait..

What do you mean by that ? What Jehovah's Witnesses?

 

[NickT23]

I am trying to follow these new posts, but these 2 comments leave me confused.

What are you confused about ? Tell me then maybe I can rephrase !

 

[yyzSB]

Best to just ignore these Jehovah's Witnesses from ASR, don't take the bait..

Hey, I resemble that remark.

To switch gears for a second. I got some new Benchmark StarQuad XLRs to connect my DAC3B and HPA4 and also to connect line out to my amp (a Peachtree NOVA 150). The old XLR's I used were Audience Au24 and Audience 24e (or Au24se). For people that own the StarQuad, I was wondering how long they took before they sounded their best.

In the past when I owned a DAC3 HGC and the AHB2 amp I could not tell a difference with Bryston XLR interconnects and the same Audience Au24 XLR's. However, with very limited time on the StarQuad's I have to give the edge to the Audience.

 

[yyzSB]

What are you confused about ? Tell me then maybe I can rephrase !

I gather that distortion and noise floor are not considered a measurement by you from the 2 above comments.

 

[NickT23]

I gather that distortion and noise floor are not considered a measurement by you from the 2 above comments.

That means you misunderstood me. Read properly. Am stating that ASR only based on noise floor and distortion and just measurement based. Measurement does not determine sound quality. That is just one small metric in considering as sound quality as such.

 

[NickT23]

Yes exactly. Measurement does not determine sound quality to begin with also anyway. Also, I wonder whether people in ASR actually conduct direct A/B test. That Amir guy unwilling to be direct and state the truth on his subjective view as it harms the forum reputation as an objectivist measurement based.

 

[TheMiddleSky]

I also had the thx789 and ended up selling it. It had tonnes of power, but I just couldn't find myself enjoying the music. Perhaps boring/lifeless is a valid descriptor..

Also, build quality is nowhere near the hpa4 (but of course it costs way way less).

I still have my hpa4 but it's main duty is still as line amp to my 2.1 channel setup. I find myself listening to it with headphones less and less now, preferring tube amp and the gsx mini for headphone listening.

Hi Roasty,

based on pairing with Empyrean and Utopia, may I know why you prefer GSX Mini instead of HPA4? Due to more warmness or more impactful feel?

 

[fastfwd]

I got some new Benchmark StarQuad XLRs to connect my DAC3B and HPA4 and also to connect line out to my amp (a Peachtree NOVA 150). The old XLR's I used were Audience Au24 and Audience 24e (or Au24se). .... With very limited time on the StarQuad's I have to give the edge to the Audience.

By far the largest measurable electrical difference between the cables is that the 4-conductor Benchmark cables have probably 1.5 to 2 times the capacitance per meter of the 2-conductor Audience interconnects. But I assume your cable lengths are very short -- you don't have 100-meter runs of that $800/meter Audience cable, do you? -- so the capacitance difference is not what's affecting your perception of the sound.

Run the Benchmarks for a couple days and see if your perception changes. But if it doesn't, and you still prefer the sound of the Audience cables, put those back into your system. Your earlier post on the difference in signal-carrying capacity between "consumer grade" and "professional grade" interconnects didn't make sense to me; consumer- and pro-audio levels are only a couple volts apart, so any cable that can carry one can carry the other.

 

[yyzSB]

By far the largest measurable electrical difference between the cables is that the 4-conductor Benchmark cables have probably 1.5 to 2 times the capacitance per meter of the 2-conductor Audience interconnects. But I assume your cable lengths are very short -- you don't have 100-meter runs of that $800/meter Audience cable, do you? -- so the capacitance difference is not what's affecting your perception of the sound.

Run the Benchmarks for a couple days and see if your perception changes. But if it doesn't, and you still prefer the sound of the Audience cables, put those back into your system. Your earlier post on the difference in signal-carrying capacity between "consumer grade" and "professional grade" interconnects didn't make sense to me; consumer- and pro-audio levels are only a couple volts apart, so any cable that can carry one can carry the other.

My Audience cables are 1/2 foot and 9 feet. The StarQuad is 1/2 foot and 15 feet. The consumer grade vs professional grade XLR statement I made was quoted from the Benchmarks HPA4 user manual.

" Tip:We recommend using professional-grade balanced XLR interconnects that provide +24 dBu at 0 dBFS. Consumer-grade balanced XLR interconnects operate at levels that are about 10 dB lower (4 Vrms or +14.2 dBu at 0 dBFS). Consumer RCA interconnects operate at levels that are about 16 dB lower (2 Vrms or 8.2dBu at 0 dBFS). High signal levels and differential signaling are essential in high-resolution audio systems.RCA interconnects will limit system performance."

So I see this quote and spent the $200 to give it a shot. I think I spent about $1300 for the Audience Au24 more than a decade ago when I was single and had money. I do plan on buying the Audience SX or Frontline speaker cable in the future. I will see about getting SpeakOn connections from Audience on the amp end for the AHB2 that I will get.

 

[stemiki]

Hi guys

I received my new Abyss a few days ago. I can only say that I am fully satisfied with the result. The amount of micro details, full beautiful bass and soundstage is impressive.

They pair very well with the Benchmark HPA4 amplifier and Metrum dac. I had to increase the thrust to the maximum and with some tracks I go to - 15db and it doesn't distort

anything. I did not imagine such a result!

I am very very satisfied!

 

[NickT23]

Hi guys

I received my new Abyss a few days ago. I can only say that I am fully satisfied with the result. The amount of micro details, full beautiful bass and soundstage is impressive.

They pair very well with the Benchmark HPA4 amplifier and Metrum dac. I had to increase the thrust to the maximum and with some tracks I go to - 15db and it doesn't distort

anything. I did not imagine such a result!

I am very very satisfied!

wow, I have to say what a beautiful setup ! On the left is it okto research dac8 ? What dac is on the right and how much is it ?

 

[stemiki]

Hi, on the left there is the streamer Lumin U1 mini while the dac is Metrum Menuet level 2 (dac two upgrade).