I use it mainly as a preamp and in that capacity I find that it's completely transparent. I really like the ergonomics. The LExt is a bit lightweight and gets easily pulled to the side or tilted by the umbellical cord, but the function is outstanding. Again: fully transparent.
What struck me when switching between 2 DACs is that you can't hear anything when switching. The music flows uninterrupted and there's no mechanical click from a relais or anything.
A minor niggle is that I have real trouble seeing from my seating position (3m away) what input is active. So I can do real blind AB testing all on my own
Next up is the GanM. For that one I'm really going to wait for the reviews. As of now I'm already really happy with the Laiv stack as is.
For those that have an HP2A just a bit of a note, it definitely does need a reasonable amount of warmup.
This is showing THD over the first hour and a half or so from turning on. It's definitely an amp you'll want to leave on if you can rather than just turning on when you want to go use it
For those that have an HP2A just a bit of a note, it definitely does need a reasonable amount of warmup.
This is showing THD over the first hour and a half or so from turning on. It's definitely an amp you'll want to leave on if you can rather than just turning on when you want to go use it
So I've been using the Laiv for a little bit now and I just started throwing some IEM's into the 4.4mm output and I'm getting a good amount of noise from it. Which is surprising. Will that change with the warmup you're showing?
So I've been using the Laiv for a little bit now and I just started throwing some IEM's into the 4.4mm output and I'm getting a good amount of noise from it. Which is surprising. Will that change with the warmup you're showing?
The HP2A will have a higher noise floor on iems. Approx 15-20dB more than. Other amps.
The HP2A is ridiculously powerful (I nearly blew up my dummy load pumping 50W@50ohm through it the other day) but in order to achieve this the noise floor has to be higher unfortunately.
I wouldn't recommend using the HP2A for more sensitive headphones/iems. It's much more geared towards running really demanding stuff like Raals, Susvara, Tungsten etc
Hi all
So I took the plundge and ordered lhe HP2A via Audiophonics. Let's see when it is delivered...
It will be used exclusively as a preamp (no headphones so far), and I really look forward what it will bring to the party ! I used to hook the CenGrand DeLuxe directly to my 2 mono amps
Not that I really need a preamplifier, but let's see. And it is a beautifull piece of engineering, so it won me over...
I was really disapointed in the BlueMoon report that Srajan Eben did not try to put it in front of his CenGrand DeLuxe, would have been interesting to know his opinion
Hi all
So I took the plundge and ordered lhe HP2A via Audiophonics. Let's see when it is delivered...
It will be used exclusively as a preamp (no headphones so far), and I really look forward what it will bring to the party ! I used to hook the CenGrand DeLuxe directly to my 2 mono amps
Not that I really need a preamplifier, but let's see. And it is a beautifull piece of engineering, so it won me over...
I was really disapointed in the BlueMoon report that Srajan Eben did not try to put it in front of his CenGrand DeLuxe, would have been interesting to know his opinion
Just note, the Harmony HP2A benefits from as much clean and high input voltage as possible.
So depending on your DAC and it's settings, make sure its line out is high voltage.
Unfortunately, high voltage into the HP2A is not recommended for IEM use. Use lower input voltage for earphones in general.
For headphones and amplifiers though, HP2A is a serious piece of kit!
HP2A has astonishing specs, measurements, and real-world attributes from very high voltage input devices, so devices from 10V onwards are especially good with it.
As a preamp it has no background hiss if you listen close to speaker or in headphones? I dont use iems but some of my big headphones can be at 32 ohms. Total quiet as preamp?
Can you use the remote for volume control for both Headphone amp listening and as a preamp?
The changing of volume is quiet and not like mine Gustard X-30 resistor ladder loud clicks?
I find this interesting to maybe use as a preamp to Ferrum Oor/Hypsos set to power amp mode for better sound then built in Dacs preamps like Gustard X-30. For richer tones bigger soundstage and more natural sound. Also find this interesting as Headphone amp and putting my Dac at fixed and control the volume from HP2A instead. That would be the advantage over Oor for better DAC sound.
How does it compare to Ferrum Oor/Hypsos? Sidestep or uppgrade?
Great review. It seems little odd their own DAC doesn’t provide enough output voltage to truly take advantage of the power from the Amp. Is this because they were already done with the DAC before changing up the amp?
Exactly this. The DAC was designed and released first, the HP2A some time later. They originally had no plan to have this higher output design for the HP2A but consulted Goldensound on their working design who suggested this which they adopted in a design change.
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