[Shogster]

Excuse me. May someone confirm whether the rear RCA outputs are fixed or variable? Can HP-A4BL be used also as a volume controller for active speakers?
Thanks in advance.

Yes, it will control the volume of your speakers. There is a switch on the front for rca's or headphones.

 

[chowyeung]

Yes, it will control the volume of your speakers. There is a switch on the front for rca's or headphones.

 
Thanks for your reply!
 
That's great! I now have no reason not buying it!
Cheers 

 

 

[Emcdade]

HPA4BL for $399

HPA8 refurb for $599

Which one would you guys recommend to drive a Denon D7000?

 

[leepc]

received my Fostex A4BL from Proaudiostar (ordered over 4 months ago.. almost forgot it). 
The built quality is nice. made in Japan. Thought m9xx and Teac UD-301 feel sturdier. 
 
Pairing with HD650 and T90, the first impression is mellow, warm sound but a little less high, less dynamics, less details, less separation than both m9xx and Teac.
 
But after couple hours listening, I start enjoying its sound signature. A4BL delivers bigger warmer meatier thicker vocal which makes me "feel" the singers closer.Even with less details and less dynamics at the instruments, somehow I feel less cold digital but a little more warm analog sound.... Just my two cents

 

[Jethrosang]

  received my Fostex A4BL from Proaudiostar (ordered over 4 months ago.. almost forgot it). 
The built quality is nice. made in Japan. Thought m9xx and Teac UD-301 feel sturdier. 
 
Pairing with HD650 and T90, the first impression is mellow, warm sound but a little less high, less dynamics, less details, less separation than both m9xx and Teac.
 
But after couple hours listening, I start enjoying its sound signature. A4BL delivers bigger warmer meatier thicker vocal which makes me "feel" the singers closer.Even with less details and less dynamics at the instruments, somehow I feel less cold digital but a little more warm analog sound.... Just my two cents

So, something akin to tube (lite version, I suppose)? By the way, thanks for that impression. Do you use it through the balanced output? Have you tried single ended as well?

 

[davidmthekidd]

Would this dac/amp drive the HD650? Wonder if these would be better than my current Apogee Groove. Thanks

 

[ptolemy2k6]

Would this dac/amp drive the HD650? Wonder if these would be better than my current Apogee Groove. Thanks

it drives lcd-3 just fine, so it should drive hd650 easily.  it's a very good amp, IMO. very good sound, little warmish but I like warm.
 
it's also very small compare to other desktop ones.

 

[davidmthekidd]

it drives lcd-3 just fine, so it should drive hd650 easily.  it's a very good amp, IMO. very good sound, little warmish but I like warm.

it's also very small compare to other desktop ones.

Good. The Apogee Groove handle the HD650 with no problem.i would like to connect powered speakers as well which is why I am considering the fostex.

 

[ptolemy2k6]

Good. The Apogee Groove handle the HD650 with no problem.i would like to connect powered speakers as well which is why I am considering the fostex.

it would be a good choice IMO. i also have fostex powering powered speakers and taking input from a tablet

 

[Vigrith]

Would this dac/amp drive the HD650? Wonder if these would be better than my current Apogee Groove. Thanks

 
For this price I recommend the Jotunheim over the A4-BL. I have both and in my eyes there's really no contest, though if at all relevant I'm quite fond of the DAC in the A4, it's very musical sounding, I just think the amplification side of things is lacking hard compared to the Schiit.
 
Definitely not a bad unit though, especially if you want an even more compact footprint, but the Jotun's synergy with the 650 is (in my opinion, as well as many others') off the charts, with the Fostex they are just what you'd expect them to be.

 

[davidmthekidd]

For this price I recommend the Jotunheim over the A4-BL. I have both and in my eyes there's really no contest, though if at all relevant I'm quite fond of the DAC in the A4, it's very musical sounding, I just think the amplification side of things is lacking hard compared to the Schiit.

Definitely not a bad unit though, especially if you want an even more compact footprint, but the Jotun's synergy with the 650 is (in my opinion, as well as many others') off the charts, with the Fostex they are just what you'd expect them to be.

The Schiit seems huge. I have a tiny desk. Thanks for your opinion tho.

 

[davidmthekidd]

very stupid question here, but what is the real application of the following? how would this impact my sound?
 
(Digital Filter selecting Roll-Off characteristics and Cut-off frequencies)

 

[Naim.F.C]

Read some impressions from someone who tested both this and the Jotunheim on some other forum, and he mentioned that with the Ether C's he actually preferred the HP-A4BL. Now it's got me wondering. I will be using whatever Amp/Dac I next buy (as a secondary system) with mostly the Sony MDR-Z1R (which is a fairly warm, bass heavy can), but also with the Beyerdynamic T1's and Sennheiser HD800's (the complete opposite), so I'm in a bit of a dilemma as to which would be better suited to me. I guess a proper Jotunheim vs HP-A4BL comparison, with a range of cans is needed lol.

 

[Naim.F.C]

This thing rocks.
 
So I ended up purchasing this little baby out of sheer curiosity. I needed a bedside Amp/Dac set up, and as touched upon above, was contemplating between another O2+ODAC, a JDS The Element, Schiit Jotunheim, and this Fostex HP-A4BL. The Fostex was the cheapest to include a balanced XLR output on top of an optical out (for connecting to the PS4 Pro/PS4 or Xbox One), so I thought why not. You can find it from between £360 and £375, which makes it fairly solid value. It's only $350 in the US, which is even better value for money.

The Schiit Jotunheim was the next cheapest attractive alternative to include balanced out, but doesn't have an optical in, and is also £90 more expensive at todays exchange rate (including shipping), but not including taxes (a possible 20% VAT on top). Granted specs wise it's a lot more powerful.

Initial impressions.

After some brief testing with the HP-A4BL yesterday, I cannot believe this Dac/Amp combo is not more popular. Why this thread is only on page 5, whilst the Jotunheim's is on page 177, I'm not quite sure.
 
In terms of sound quality, it is every bit as competent as the Violectric V200+Rein Audio X-DAC, the X-DAC+O2 and the O2+ODAC. There are miniscule differences between some of them, depending on the connection type and combination set up used, but it's generally a case of very minor, oft insignificant, other times nonexistent one's that don't massively sway things either way.
 
Importance of volume matched A/B'ing, including blind.

Essentially the HP-A4BL on it's own (internal DAC and amp) via USB, sounds exactly the same as the Rein Audio X-DAC + Objective 2 combo via Optical, which is one of my fave combinations that I own or have tested (including versus other much more expensive gear I either own, or no longer own). And for the record, I A/B blind tested multiple times (with the help of my wife), and volume matched via mic readings before hand. Before I did that, placebo was well and truly kicking in (including when comparing the two different digital filter modes).
 
The mind is a powerful thing. Trust me, until you've persistently A/B tested with extreme analytical concentration, with as close to perfectly volume matched set up's as possible, do not think you can accurately gauge sonic differences. Simply put, you can't. Even a 5-10% difference in volume between set ups can make all the difference.
 
USB vs Optical?

Another good thing about the HP-A4BL is that out of my Macbook Pro Retina, just as with my X-DAC, there does seem to be a very slight difference in signature between Optical and USB (based on rudimentary preliminary testing), which is good because it allows me to switch between neutral and ever so slightly warm. 

Power.

One slight negative however is that the HP-A4BL doesn't quite have the same amount of power as my O2, nor my Violectric V200. That said, it still has more than enough for my use, and is sufficient enough to power the MDR-Z1R's, HD800's and T1's. With the Z1R's I don't go need to beyond half volume on low gain, and with the other two, I don't even get to half way on the volume knob in high gain, In other words, there's more than enough juice for real world use.

For now.

I'll go in to more detail in my subsequent review, including comparisons with all the different combos I've compared, but for now I'd like to do more tests, including more blind A/B one's. I haven't even gotten around to testing the balanced out yet, which I'm looking forward to.

In conclusion ahead of my review though, just go buy this amp/dac. For the money you simply cannot go wrong. 

Pic.

Here's a cheeky mobile snap. Apologies for the ugly white cardboard box, just waiting for my new Oak bedside draw to be delivered!

 

[Aleo]

Power.

One slight negative however is that the HP-A4BL doesn't quite have the same amount of power as my O2 (which I believe JDS tweaked specifically for use with my T1's) nor my Violectric V200, though the gain does seem to make more of a difference than it does with the O2. That said, it still has more than enough for my use, and is sufficient enough to power the MDR-Z1R's, HD800's and T1's. With the Z1R's I don't go need to beyond half volume on low gain, and with the other two, I don't even get to half way on the volume knob in high gain, In other words, there's more than enough juice for real world use.

 
 

Wait, so this thing has less power than the O2? Have you tried this thing with XLR output yet to see if there's more power there?