[ckhirnigs113]

… don’t let sentimentality prevent you from a great upgrade … besides, they’re vacuum tubes … Being And Nothingness (L’etre et le neant) … they feel nothing for you …

Ha! You’re right, the love certainly isn’t reciprocated.

 

[jonathan c]

Couldn`t agree more with Jay Smiths post.
(Want to go shopping for curtains together?)

Another aspect I have come to love about this amp is the mono switch.**... drip feeds into my interest in music production.

** THE way to listen to early mono ‘Parlophone’ Beatles or ‘Decca’ Rolling Stones

 

[Slim1970]

Has anyone seen anywhere the actual output impedance of the HP8 MkII at the three settings?

I use mine with an HD800S but I'm considering a discounted pre-2022 Focal Utopia (80 Ohms) and - given the outlay - would like to be reasonably sure I can get a good impedance match. Thanks in advance.

When @geoffalter11 let me borrow his HP8, the Utopia's were my favorite pairing with it. I used the middle impedance setting as it seemed to provide the closest match to the actual impedance of the Utopia's. My Head 2 has a similar impedance dial. Going above the actual impedance of the headphone does nothing to better the sound.

There are some tha complain about the lack of bass that the Utopia's have, but I've never once thought they lacked bass. What the HP8 does for the Utopia's bass is something you have to hear. I've never heard them hit so hard with so much detail and layering. The bass is physical, the midrange is textured, the treble is airy and overall sound is resolute and omnipresent. The HP8 Signature and Utopia are a highly recommended pairing.

 

[Pharmaboy]

Sorry to correct you Peter, but the Elite is 32 ohms, not 320. I think it was just a typo....

Right you are, Geoff!

 

[Pharmaboy]

… don’t let sentimentality prevent you from a great upgrade … besides, they’re vacuum tubes … Being And Nothingness (L’etre et le neant) … they feel nothing for you …

(another day, another Sartre quote in the HP8 thread...!)

My favorite Sartre quote is this line of dialog from 'No Exit": "Hell is other people."

That line is sweet music for a misanthrope like myself. I later appropriated & revised it for an ironic t-shirt slogan:

Hell is other people

(with cellphones)​

 

[jonathan c]

Hell is other people ​

(with hellphones)

FTFY…[Reg. TM; © bcowen: 2021.]

 

[JonT]

When @geoffalter11 let me borrow his HP8, the Utopia's were my favorite pairing with it. I used the middle impedance setting as it seemed to provide the closest match to the actual impedance of the Utopia's. My Head 2 has a similar impedance dial. Going above the actual impedance of the headphone does nothing to better the sound.

There are some tha complain about the lack of bass that the Utopia's have, but I've never once thought they lacked bass. What the HP8 does for the Utopia's bass is something you have to hear. I've never heard them hit so hard with so much detail and layering. The bass is physical, the midrange is textured, the treble is airy and overall sound is resolute and omnipresent. The HP8 Signature and Utopia are a highly recommended pairing.

Thank-you so much @Slim1970 for sharing your experience with the Utopia and the HP8.

Utopia now ordered!

 

[geoffalter11]

(another day, another Sartre quote in the HP8 thread...!)

My favorite Sartre quote is this line of dialog from 'No Exit": "Hell is other people."

That line is sweet music for a misanthrope like myself. I later appropriated & revised it for an ironic t-shirt slogan:

Hell is other people

(with cellphones)​

Do you live a life free of cellphones? I always thought I was one of the last to get one. I didn't get my first cell phone until 2002. I miss life without them. I kind of wish we could go back to that world.

 

[David A Silva]

Here here Geoff, I toast to that sentiment!

 

[jonathan c]

Here here Geoff, I toast to that sentiment!

…did you use a cellphone to express this?

 

[Pharmaboy]

Do you live a life free of cellphones? I always thought I was one of the last to get one. I didn't get my first cell phone until 2002. I miss life without them. I kind of wish we could go back to that world.

I only wish I lived a life free of cellphones. I have one (courtesy of my wife's Verizon account). I dutifully carry it with me while out walking, also when driving anywhere. It's almost never turned on. Months go by w/o making a call on it.

Part of the reason is vision. I have age-related presbyopia (pretty severely). Even w/readers, I can't easily read anything on a cellphone.

But the larger reason is social/interpersonal. Way back in '99 when I worked in NYC I began seeing people behave weirdly and/or badly with cellphones (ie, walk into side of taxi; make loud calls in a library). This has gotten much worse since. Now it's speakerphone calls and/or face-timing. Everywhere I go, indoors or outdoors, there are multiple people shouting into their phones w/the other party shouting back on speaker. Everyone else hears the entire thing. It's maddening.

I'm a misanthrope & would've thought it impossible that my opinion of humanity could sink any lower. But thanks to cellphones, it has...

Another:

NOT A CELLPHONE

(I'm talking to my hand)​

 

[geoffalter11]

…did you use a cellphone to express this?

No, my computer. But I am a slave to my cellphone. I can’t live without it. Especially in business where it is attached to my work. However I am pretty much social media free. I have a LinkedIn account I rarely use, an instagram account I never use and then head-fi, which I use way too much. This message is from my cellphone.

My favorite apps are Bandcamp, CNN and Yhe Golf Channel. And then maps while traveling for business. Oh and my banking apps. I am pretty inefficient with a cellphone to be honest.

 

[cats4cans]

I'm a misanthrope & would've thought it impossible that my opinion of humanity could sink any lower. But thanks to cellphones, it has...

Individual people are sometimes not completely awful. Unfortunately the probability of poor behavior approaches unity even for surprisingly small groups. It pretty much eliminates any chance of a misanthropic society. I’m down for the hermit life.

 

[ckhirnigs113]

@jonathan c Thanks for the recommendation on the tube risers (socket savers) you made earlier in the thread. I got a pair to use in my Quicksilver, and it completely eliminated the noise issues I was having with my long plate Amperex 12AX7s. Ironically, it may have deterred me from purchasing the HP8. With my favorite combo of tubes in the Quicksilver, I have very little to complain about. I also have a nice solid state amp, the Cayin iHA-6, to use when I don’t feel like waiting on tubes to warm up or if I don’t have too much time for a listening session.

 

[Shane D]

Individual people are sometimes not completely awful. Unfortunately the probability of poor behavior approaches unity even for surprisingly small groups. It pretty much eliminates any chance of a misanthropic society. I’m down for the hermit life.

Been living it for Years!