Moon Nēo 430HA Reference Headphone Amplifier

[Armaegis]

If you feed an unbalanced signal into the machine, it will convert to balanced output.

 

[Roybenz]

Would really appreciate help with identifying stock power cable for the 430had

Could this be the one?

Anyone ?

 

[longbowbbs]

I have been using AudioQuest with mine since I bought it. The supplied one was basic.

 

[Roybenz]

I’ve been using Nordost Heimdall 2, swapped now just for fun, and the stock has a nice different sound actually, but i also use power conditioning before the wall outlet. Would be fun to know if it’s stock or not, it has a white label close to the plug, and the brand name is ‘Qinopu’

 

[PinoNL]

I have been using AudioQuest with mine since I bought it. The supplied one was basic.

Same here

 

[Roybenz]

Just compared stock (if it’s the right one) to heimdall 2 and the stock is more closed in, plays smaller but also kind of warmer/smoother in a way. Heimdall 2 have bigger stage and feels like more resolution.

 

[TSAVJason]

Since the qutest doesnt have xlr balanced like the 430had, qutest only have rca. Would it be a mismatch with the balanced build of the Moon 430 to feed it unbalanced rca?

No, it just means you don’t have much RF shielding and a very tiny bit of signal loss using the RCA connections

 

[iCoy]

Hey everyone,

I have a Moon 430 HAD and I've been wondering how to best connect this to my Gaming PC for audio from games, youtube, spotify, etc. I've seen people ask similar questions but I don't totally understand how best to approach this.

My choices as I see it are:

• Currently: PC > Slightly Upgraded USB Cable > Internal DAC
• PC > JCAT USB Card > Slightly Upgraded USB Cable > Internal DAC
• PC > JCAT USB Card > Slightly Upgraded USB Cable > Intona USB Isolator > Internal DAC
• PC > Slightly Upgraded USB Cable > Some sort of DDC like a Singxer SU-6 > Coaxal Cable? (Recs Appreciated, is coaxal even best?) > Internal Dac

Because some people on this forum have recommended that I skip USB entirely for this built-in DAC, would that mean that option #4 would be better? Would something like an Empirical Audio OFF RAMP 5 or an Audiophilleo2 be a better choice than the Singxer SU-6?

Lastly, I would mention that round trip latency (as I game and chat with people on discord) is a factor I consider. I don't know if this is added with these devices but I know things like an M-Scaler do add latency.

Thanks for your thoughts and help sorting this out. I'm a bit out of my depth here.

Hope you are well,
McCoy

 

[Roybenz]

Why would anyone recommend to skip usb? It’s galvanic isolated. I use an upgraded usb, after testing several cables (very small audible differences) I stick with wireworld platinum starlight 8

 

[iCoy]

Why would anyone recommend to skip usb? It’s galvanic isolated. I use an upgraded usb, after testing several cables (very small audible differences) I stick with wireworld platinum starlight 8

It’s galvanic isolated? The Moon 430? I was under the impression it wasn’t.

Someone (or maybe even a couple people) many many pages ago (I found via googling) mentioned they thought the USB implementation was a bit harsh and digital sounding whereas the other digital inputs were smoother and analogue. That’s what I was going off of.

 

[Recursion]

Hey everyone,

I have a Moon 430 HAD and I've been wondering how to best connect this to my Gaming PC for audio from games, youtube, spotify, etc. I've seen people ask similar questions but I don't totally understand how best to approach this.

My choices as I see it are:

• Currently: PC > Slightly Upgraded USB Cable > Internal DAC
• PC > JCAT USB Card > Slightly Upgraded USB Cable > Internal DAC
• PC > JCAT USB Card > Slightly Upgraded USB Cable > Intona USB Isolator > Internal DAC
• PC > Slightly Upgraded USB Cable > Some sort of DDC like a Singxer SU-6 > Coaxal Cable? (Recs Appreciated, is coaxal even best?) > Internal Dac

Because some people on this forum have recommended that I skip USB entirely for this built-in DAC, would that mean that option #4 would be better? Would something like an Empirical Audio OFF RAMP 5 or an Audiophilleo2 be a better choice than the Singxer SU-6?

Lastly, I would mention that round trip latency (as I game and chat with people on discord) is a factor I consider. I don't know if this is added with these devices but I know things like an M-Scaler do add latency.

Thanks for your thoughts and help sorting this out. I'm a bit out of my depth here.

Hope you are well,
McCoy

Would recommend you go with either option 2 or 3 on your list. Converting the USB signal to coaxial (option 4) adds another step at which SQ could potentially be negatively impacted. Now, conventional wisdom would dictate that you keep the signal path as short as possible, to obtain the best possible SQ. However, the USB output on the JCAT card (using one myself here with Yggdrasil A2, USB gen 5, which considerably improved the SQ) is very likely to be of much higher quality than a regular USB 2/3 port on your PC. Feeding the DAC the best possible signal will likely result in improved SQ versus going the direct route (option 1) in this case.

You could also add the Intona USB isolator in between and see if that improves things further. If it doesn't then you would obviously remove it from the signal path, simplifying it a bit.

To keep the latency as low as possible, you go with the most direct route, but might end up sacrificing a bit of SQ in the process. You might even end up not noticing the extra latency at all. One has to be a trained listener to be able to discern that in the first place, but you might be one.

In the end, none of the above matters all that much as you might think, your ears are the ultimate judge as to what sounds best, and you just choose what you like best.

 

[Roybenz]

Greetings. Does anyone know how many volts the 430ha outputs ? I can’t find it anywhere.

I’m comparing it to the goldenwave prelude. Which outputs 0,7 in lo and 1v in hi gain. If I got it correctly.

 

[Armaegis]

I don't have the dac output specs, but just looking at what's published online for their headphone outputs, they are very similar... top chart is the 430HA, bottom is the Prelude, columns are power output at the rated impedance, and the calculated voltage output. As you can see, the 430HA puts out a max of 20V, and the Prelude is around the same. It looks like it may be current limited once you drop down to 32 ohm. Not sure why there's a drop at the higher impedances as that's typically an easier load for amplifiers, or the published numbers were just rounded out.

 

[Roybenz]

Thank you very much for the help. That means both the 430ha and the prelude will drive the notorious susvara equally good ?

I was thinking maybe the prelude was giving out even more volts since it’s positive rewievs pretty much states it’s excellent with driving susvara headphone.

 

[Armaegis]

In terms of power output, they are nearly the same (the 430HA technically has a little more power). I don't have the Susvara, but I have an original HE-6 and the 430HA did a fine job of powering it even though I tend to use a pure speaker power amp these days.

Please note that voltage and power are not the same, but they are related. The amount of current that an amplifier can provide is also important for low impedance loads.

As for which one "sounds" better, you can't determine that based on power alone.