Quote:
Some initial impressions of Bakoon HPA-21: http://www.head-fi.org/t/575751/new-audeze-lcd3/7230#post_9171131
Somewhat edited:
I listened to
Bakoon Products SATRI HEADPHONE AMPLIFIER HPA-21 driving LCD-3 today at the Stockholm HighEnd Show (
http://highendmassan.se, I’m in the show team).
World premiere!
The sound is so clean! And none of the attenuated treble that you may feel that the LCDs have. “S”, cymbals etc. are somewhat more noticeable. I could easily take the setup at the show and live happily forever after. Of course I don’t know how much the amp is responsible for that sound. I’m listening to exactly the same songs with my own equipment now and it doesn’t sound as good, more reminiscent of the voltage output of HPA-21.
Show setup:
PC with JRiver MC, 16/44 flac – Lindemann USB DAC, battery powered – Bakoon HPA-21 – Toxic Silver Widow cable – LCD-3 (serial number 261xxxx)
Home setup:
PC with JRiver MC, 16/44 flac – Lynx Hilo – Bryston BHA-1 – Red Astrachan cable (from Swedish Audez’e importer) – LCD-3 (RMD’d late August)
I don’t know how the Lindemann USB DAC compares to my Lynx Hilo.
I don’t know how the Toxic cable compares to my cable, maybe it has some more treble (if it’s really trebly).
And the LCDs could sound different too, of course.
The PHA-1 at the show is a pre-production unit. It has 95% of the final sound, and the front is secured with double-sided tape. It is battery powered, the battery lasts for up to 7 hours. It’s heavy, 5 kilos.
For more information on HPA-1 read Srajan Ebaen's Preview in 6Moons:
http://6moons.com/audioreviews/bakoon3/1.html
The HPA-21 has two HP outputs, "voltage" and "current". The sound is very different IMO. You could almost compare to SE (voltage) vs. balanced (current) sound. The current output has a higher volume level, which makes it harder to compare correctly of course.
The voltage output sounds “normal”, more like my BHA-1. The current output opens up the sound, makes everything clearer with more space, details and dynamics. It is almost as if something has been vacuumed away compared to the voltage output. If you believe the manufacturer that would be the distortion...
HPA-21 only has SE outputs, no balanced outputs. If it sounds that good, I don’t care.
It has two sets of SE inputs, one pair using BNC jacks to connect to Bakoon's upcoming (and expensive) DAC and one pair regular RCA. It would have been nice to have balanced inputs, especially since my DAC only has balanced outputs...
The preliminary price is SEK 25,000 to 29,995, which should translate to $2,500 to $2,995.
Some crappy pictures:
I will continue to listen to HPA-21 tomorrow, I’ll see if my initial impressions last.