Hello there! I'm looking into purchasing a pair of Hifiman HE-400's. I know they are very efficient and can be driven easily, but I'm still wondering. So, will a PA2v2 drive the HE-400's well? If not, would an O2 do any better? Please let me know! Thanks.
Certainly the O2 will do better...but you already knew that.
PA2V2 will give you the truly portable option as well as the wall wart option, it is also a high current amp from what i gather and does well with orthos. I run a bunch of mine on it often. You may have to adjust the two gain screws insidie a bit higher. Just my two cents on that thing.
Recently went on vacation for a few days. The only amps I brought with me were two O2's. As we know, they're not playing-card sized,
but to go in and out of the luggage and sit on the nightstand they were perfectly OK. (I brought 2 in case one went defective for some
reason.)
Headphones were Beyer T51p, and Thinksound on1 with an aftermarket cable.
DAP = DX50, cables are customs.
All FLAC files.
Well, the music sounded terrific.
I really didn't miss my home system very much at all.
One rainy afternoon, I'm going through my stuff with nothing much better to do, and -
Here it is! My PA2V2 that I bought from Gary about 5 years ago.
Perfect condition...well of course - it had been inside this suitcase the whole time.
I switched it on - the light went on.
I unscrewed the case > two high quality rechargable batteries.
So, oddly, I had a chance that rainy afternoon to compare the O2 and the PA2V2.
Though I was quite surprised at the bass and dynamics of the smaller amp,
there was really no comparison. The O2 was clearer, more dynamic, more
detailed > in fact, it was better in every way (except portability, of course).
So, while the EA amp still maintains very good value,
it (IMO & IMO) simply does not compete favorably with the O2.
