[dsnedeco]

Because if its really made in Japan it will be some decent scratch resistance that can take a microfiber cloth to clean the figer prints. Would hate for it to be like a cheap dvd player front plastic that scratches with dry tissue.

My unit actually was shipped from Japan

 

[Ghaunty22]

Does anyone know if the USB drivers will work on windows vista? Looks like no as the driver documentation simply mentions windows 7 and up. But hoping yes.

 

[ShamuellJackson]

It's not Vista but I have used it with a Windows 7 tablet for a weekend and it seemed to work. Outside of the experience of using Windows 7 on a tablet that is.

Also I have cleaned the face of my unit many times without any visible scratches I can really see. My kid gets his greasy hands on it a lot so i'm wiping it down about every other week and I bought this around a year ago I think.

 

[Makiah S]

Hmm had some issues finding this via basic search on Head Fi. Non the less!!

Spoiler: Full Res Pics

That said my first impression of the HP-A4BL with another Modded Fostex is that it's a little noisy and a lacking some power.

With music that was mastered at what I'd consider an average level I could get to a max of 87 dBs with music and 64 dBs with pink noise from the balanced output. The Single Ended output was about 3 dBs quieter.

Now with music that is mastered at what I'd consider a below average level, such as some classical, I could get to a max of about 77 dBs... and at max output there was a bit more noise than I care'd for to be 100% honest.

That said I feel it's certainly not the most capable amplifier especially driving something like a modded Fostex Planar. As I frankly expect any amplifier to be capable of outputting any music at max of at least 88 dBs. Granted many of you don't listen that loudly, and for a lot of genres I don't. But I do like listening to heavy metal at around an average of like 87 dBs and some of those tracks are mastered at average levels, some above average and others below average. An I'm talking about an average here, so that includes peaks of 93ish dBs and dips as low as 78 or so. An some of my favorite albums/tracks really do have a dynamic range of 15+ dBs and unfortunately this won't be the amp to enjoy them with!!!

So not being able to enjoy all of the music in my library at a slightly above "reasonable" level is a little disappointing.

However on a positive note when switching into my Vintage AKG K240 1980's M Series I found the output to be more than sufficient! Which is fairly impressive as that's a dynamic with around 700 Ohms Impedance!!! I also enjoyed the difference the "filter" switch made with both the Blue and my K240 M

That said, I'll have some more specifics for the unit later this week!

 

[HungryPanda]

Did you use high gain? Also was your source at full volume.

 

[Makiah S]

Did you use high gain? Also was your source at full volume.

Really..., *sigh* yes my source was at fully volume. An yes I did use High Gain

Simply put it's an under powered amplifier... I've got a dozen products to compare it too and quality aside, the balanced HP A4BL just lacks power.

But I'll have a full review of it here shortly and I'll be sure to include some details on my review process since it's needed apparently

 

[HungryPanda]

A simple question as I use it and it can drive my Fostex T60rp no problem, also my Audeze LCD X

 

[Makiah S]

A simple question as I use it and it can drive my Fostex T60rp no problem, also my Audeze LCD X

very true, but yea the LCD X isn't to hard to drive compred to the T50 RPs. Even my preFazor LCD 2 get's "louder" than the T50RPs from this unit. And with "average" mastered stuff it does fine.

Still with some of my quite'r mastered material struggles on the HP A4BL

 

[HungryPanda]

I understand the 24 and 32 bit files I have are all much quieter than regular 16 bit flac files

 

[Makiah S]

I understand the 24 and 32 bit files I have are all much quieter than regular 16 bit flac files

File format isn't as important

Dynamic range is where you'll run into issues. My quietest tracks have a dynamic range of like 16 dBs, it's with those songs that the HP A4BL struggles, which is a shame as that music is what I really enjoy the most when I'm in the mood for a very intensive and focused listen!

 

[GU1DO]

Hmm had some issues finding this via basic search on Head Fi. Non the less!!

Spoiler: Full Res Pics

That said my first impression of the HP-A4BL with another Modded Fostex is that it's a little noisy and a lacking some power.

With music that was mastered at what I'd consider an average level I could get to a max of 87 dBs with music and 64 dBs with pink noise from the balanced output. The Single Ended output was about 3 dBs quieter.

Now with music that is mastered at what I'd consider a below average level, such as some classical, I could get to a max of about 77 dBs... and at max output there was a bit more noise than I care'd for to be 100% honest.

That said I feel it's certainly not the most capable amplifier especially driving something like a modded Fostex Planar. As I frankly expect any amplifier to be capable of outputting any music at max of at least 88 dBs. Granted many of you don't listen that loudly, and for a lot of genres I don't. But I do like listening to heavy metal at around an average of like 87 dBs and some of those tracks are mastered at average levels, some above average and others below average. An I'm talking about an average here, so that includes peaks of 93ish dBs and dips as low as 78 or so. An some of my favorite albums/tracks really do have a dynamic range of 15+ dBs and unfortunately this won't be the amp to enjoy them with!!!

So not being able to enjoy all of the music in my library at a slightly above "reasonable" level is a little disappointing.

However on a positive note when switching into my Vintage AKG K240 1980's M Series I found the output to be more than sufficient! Which is fairly impressive as that's a dynamic with around 700 Ohms Impedance!!! I also enjoyed the difference the "filter" switch made with both the Blue and my K240 M

That said, I'll have some more specifics for the unit later this week!

Do you use balanced cable ?
i dont have this amp but from what i understand , its a balanced amp which give its best with balanced cable .
but anyway for such headphone i don't think this amp is the best choice , i have argon mk3 and it is very heavy headphone.

 

[Makiah S]

Do you use balanced cable ?
i dont have this amp but from what i understand , its a balanced amp which give its best with balanced cable .
but anyway for such headphone i don't think this amp is the best choice , i have argon mk3 and it is very heavy headphone.

Yup, I listed the output for both the balanced output an single ended. An yes I had a balanced cable for balanced output

Additionally at the price point I expect a fully balanced design to handle planars like the T50RP, given how wide spread and popular they are. That an while it is a difficult load I don't think its too uncommon

Plus even my Fiio E17 could get the Talos V2 louder single ended...

It's not like I'm expecting it to power an HE 4/6

So quality aside, if the E17 can do it as a portable I expect a fully balanced desktop dac/amp to at least be capable of producing similar output

 

[davehutch]

A favour needed please somebody...
I haven't been using my Fostex a great deal lately and since the last time I used it I was on Mac OS High Sierra.
All worked fine.
However, now I'm on Mojave and I did what I often do which is to play iTunes through the DAC and also through one or two Airplay devices at the same time. I can then put on/take off my headphones and wander around the house and still listen to the music without constantly connecting/disconnecting devices.
Problem!...the DAC audio is behind everything else by about half a second (before you ask, there are no audio delay system settings on a Mac)

If I do the same thing but play through the internal speakers and a couple of Airplay devices, all is well. I've also tried both USB outputs.
Can anyone confirm whether they also have this issue with the latest firmware for the Fostex and Mac OS Mojave 10.14.1 please?

Just to be clear, this is not an issue with my Grace Design m9xx over USB, nor with either of the DACs using Toslink.

I've written to the UK distributor but wanted to ask on here as well so I have more info.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Yevgen Chupak]

try to check your audio midi settings and set up there anything that is greater than 44kHz and check your delay

 

[davehutch]

try to check your audio midi settings and set up there anything that is greater than 44kHz and check your delay

Thanks, there are no delay setting in Midi Setup and I'm using 44.1KHz