[buonassi]

More to come, but I thought I'd give a quick update on the noise floor of this amplifier with a couple monitors:

• Moondrop Starfield is pretty much silent until you turn the volume past the halfway point. Even then it's a very faint waterfall hiss and a non-issue when music is playing.
• Custom Art Fibae 7 CIEM - there is a faint waterfall hiss even at lowest volumes, but it is completely acceptable to me (and I despise hiss). Once music starts playing it is a non-issue. Turning the volume pot doesn't seem to bring on much more noise, perhaps a tiny bit more.

This is an incredibly powerful amp - and I'm surprised there isn't more hiss. I wish it had 1/3rd the power, or that Anson Tse made a class A amp specifically for sensitive in ears. Even in low gain, I can't get much travel on the volume pot before it's too loud. So I have to lower the voltage coming from my DAP's line out.

Aside from too much power for my use case, the sonic performance excellent. Nice injection of overall class A warmth and refinement/airiness (as if someone put an indiscernible amount of 'hall reverb' on as an effect - clearly there is no additional reverb, but it just gives that 'sense' and I'm not sure how else to describe it). Compared to DX220 amp1ii 3.5mm PO, there is a richness to it that emotionally envelops the listener. The bass becomes a good bit more weighty and lingers a tad longer (just a touch, but not slow at all). Midrange instrument separation seems to go up a notch. Treble sounds more 'wet' and 'sweet', not quite as dry as a reference amp (with reverb tails being extended a touch). By no means is any detail given up. I seem to be able to listen slightly louder than I normally do because of how 'clean' the sound is. It's not 'crunchy' like ibasso amp7 is, for example.

I noticed the sound improvements with both DD and BA monitors and would argue that each of them benefitted as much as the other. I just like the sound of this amp!

I've only spent one night with it and two IEMs. I'll have more to test with it: Blon BL03 and Oriveti OH500 are on the way. I can at least test the noise levels for them and will report back soon.

 

[F700]

More to come, but I thought I'd give a quick update on the noise floor of this amplifier with a couple monitors:

• Moondrop Starfield is pretty much silent until you turn the volume past the halfway point. Even then it's a very faint waterfall hiss and a non-issue when music is playing.
• Custom Art Fibae 7 CIEM - there is a faint waterfall hiss even at lowest volumes, but it is completely acceptable to me (and I despise hiss). Once music starts playing it is a non-issue. Turning the volume pot doesn't seem to bring on much more noise, perhaps a tiny bit more.

This is an incredibly powerful amp - and I'm surprised there isn't more hiss. I wish it had 1/3rd the power, or that Anson Tse made a class A amp specifically for sensitive in ears. Even in low gain, I can't get much travel on the volume pot before it's too loud. So I have to lower the voltage coming from my DAP's line out.

Aside from too much power for my use case, the sonic performance excellent. Nice injection of overall class A warmth and refinement/airiness (as if someone put an indiscernible amount of 'hall reverb' on as an effect - clearly there is no additional reverb, but it just gives that 'sense' and I'm not sure how else to describe it). Compared to DX220 amp1ii 3.5mm PO, there is a richness to it that emotionally envelops the listener. The bass becomes a good bit more weighty and lingers a tad longer (just a touch, but not slow at all). Midrange instrument separation seems to go up a notch. Treble sounds more 'wet' and 'sweet', not quite as dry as a reference amp (with reverb tails being extended a touch). By no means is any detail given up. I seem to be able to listen slightly louder than I normally do because of how 'clean' the sound is. It's not 'crunchy' like ibasso amp7 is, for example.

I noticed the sound improvements with both DD and BA monitors and would argue that each of them benefitted as much as the other. I just like the sound of this amp!

I've only spent one night with it and two IEMs. I'll have more to test with it: Blon BL03 and Oriveti OH500 are on the way. I can at least test the noise levels for them and will report back soon.

Another happy HA-2 owner! Thanks for your impression. I also have BL-03 and Oriveti OH500. With the Blon, there is absolute zéro noise floor, even if you crank the volume. With the OH500, you very faintly hear it without music and with the volume at approx. 40%. When music is playing, nothing of note.

 

[buonassi]

Anyone looking for a high end interconnect for your HA2 and stacked DAP, check this out. Pretty deep discounts currently (changes every day):
https://aloaudio.deals/cables/

I ended up grabbing a ref 8 mini to mini and should have that in a week or so. Note that ALO is on restricted shipping schedule - so it may take you a while longer to receive this. But you can't go wrong with these prices!

 

[chaotic_angel]

hello, anyone experiencing power LED (front panel) has intermittent blinking? when connecting to DAP using M2M, tho batt is full..

edited to add details.

 

[F700]

hello, anyone experiencing power LED (front panel) has intermittent blinking? when connecting to DAP using M2M, tho batt is full..

edited to add details.

I am not sure I understand... Could you please post a picture ? What do you mean by M2M?

 

[chaotic_angel]

I am not sure I understand... Could you please post a picture ? What do you mean by M2M?

Sorry..M2M= mini to mini cable. Nevermind I RMA mine to my local seller. Short circuit happened.

 

[Supremevegbeef]

Highly considering these for my modded KZ ZSX's.

Has anyone , by chance, got a iDSD Black Edition to compare to? (Nano if it matters)

I understand taht's a DAC and this is an Amp, but hopefully someone can speak to overall power to IEM, volume control, background clarity, etc

iDSD Nano BL has exceptional usability of the volume knob with sensitive IEMs and the IEMatch port, so i was worried the huge output of this amp would be too strong to be useful for a lot of IEM and the top post of this page kind of reaffirmed this worry.

 

[buonassi]

update: Oriveti OH500 is similar to the starfield in background noise. It's silent until the amp is past 12 noon. But because I never really get past 11 on the amp, I have zero hiss (or darn near zero)!

I'm feeding HA2 with DX220, and that's got a 3 volt L/O, which further complicates an already powerful amp setup. So I set the volume to 10:30-11 on the HA2 and control the volume from the DAP with variable voltage on the L/O.

I really like the warmth of this amp. It's got a bit of 'tube' flavor to it overall (a really clean and linear tube amp at that). The bass is prominent and weighty compared to the reference amp1mk2 by ibasso. Mids have smooth and 'wet' clarity without any crunch or too much upper mid focus like amp7 displays at times. And treble is very refined - natural and delicate - and there is some even order harmonic going on (I'd guess) because of how 'pleasing' and non-digital it sounds. Macro dynamics are great with more variation between soft and loud passages. This leads to an emotional connection I can't get on the ibasso DX160 single ended output for example. As good as the 160 sounds, and it really does sound incredible, the dynamics can't match the HA-2.

I'm pretty happy with it. I understand now why the DTR-1 prelude got such high marks despite having a common and older 4490 DAC chip in it. Anson knows how to build analog circuits no doubt!

 

[F700]

update: Oriveti OH500 is similar to the starfield in background noise. It's silent until the amp is past 12 noon. But because I never really get past 11 on the amp, I have zero hiss (or darn near zero)!

I'm feeding HA2 with DX220, and that's got a 3 volt L/O, which further complicates an already powerful amp setup. So I set the volume to 10:30-11 on the HA2 and control the volume from the DAP with variable voltage on the L/O.

I really like the warmth of this amp. It's got a bit of 'tube' flavor to it overall (a really clean and linear tube amp at that). The bass is prominent and weighty compared to the reference amp1mk2 by ibasso. Mids have smooth and 'wet' clarity without any crunch or too much upper mid focus like amp7 displays at times. And treble is very refined - natural and delicate - and there is some even order harmonic going on (I'd guess) because of how 'pleasing' and non-digital it sounds. Macro dynamics are great with more variation between soft and loud passages. This leads to an emotional connection I can't get on the ibasso DX160 single ended output for example. As good as the 160 sounds, and it really does sound incredible, the dynamics can't match the HA-2.

I'm pretty happy with it. I understand now why the DTR-1 prelude got such high marks despite having a common and older 4490 DAC chip in it. Anson knows how to build analog circuits no doubt!

I am glad you like it. It is a very good amp. The DTR1 is an amazing sounding device proving again that a DAC-chip alone won't influence the sound much. The same happens with a certain Calyx M. Who might think that an ES9018S chip sounds analog und warm ?

Anyway, it's another topic, but if you don't need streaming, BT and a fancy screen, the DTR1 will impress you even more than the HA-2

 

[Badge]

Hi, I'm a newbie on here. I have just purchased the heir audio 10. I will be using my phone as a source for now, Samsung galaxy s10 5g. The sound is bright from my phone and was wondering would this amp change the sound signature?

 

[F700]

Hi, I'm a newbie on here. I have just purchased the heir audio 10. I will be using my phone as a source for now, Samsung galaxy s10 5g. The sound is bright from my phone and was wondering would this amp change the sound signature?

Hi, this amp most likely will amplify the bright caracter of your phone. You better might invest in a dac/amp module, something à la FiiO Q5s or in the same league

 

[Badge]

Hi, this amp most likely will amplify the bright caracter of your phone. You better might invest in a dac/amp module, something à la FiiO Q5s or in the same league

Hi thanks for the advice. I'll have a look at that.

 

[Hnd1710]

Has anyone tried changing the opa for Ha2?
As far as I know, Ha2 uses 2 single opa

 

[F700]

Has anyone tried changing the opa for Ha2?
As far as I know, Ha2 uses 2 single opa

Afaik, the soldering of the opamps is so tight that switching them is a high risk operation, even for skilled people. Or maybe is the whole amp structure that makes the manipulation complicated. I might be wrong, though, but I remember having read something about that earlier in the thread

 

[chaotic_angel]

I saw some where abt opamp swapping, was it in few pages back? or at FB?