Moon Nēo 430HA Reference Headphone Amplifier

[OnlySoMany]

How would you compare 430 to 230 sound wise? Is there a huge difference? I am thinking about buying a used 430 since trade in option is no longer available

230 leans slightly warm, but still incredible. Especially for the money.

430 is more reference. Brings out more of the micro details and space.

I currently own both. Personally, I find the 230 to be more fun. I don't regret buying the 430, it's just a different animal altogether. Forces you to pay attention. Not in a bad way, but it's noticeable.

Used these go for about $900 for a nice 230, and about $1800-2000 for a nice 430 (without dac).

Personally I do not think the 430 is worth the new cost. Used it's a no brainer if you can swing it.

Really depends what you are looking for. Id love to give you an example saying "the 230 is xyz% of the 430 for abc% of the price" but they just don't sound the same. See my first 2 sentences.

 

[dimkaa]

So I pulled the trigger on a second hand moon 430had. No matter what I do , I just can’t get a decent sound out of the 6.3 jack. Connected to a windows pc via toslink, sound that comes out is veiled snd lacks in transparency with elevated bass compared to my moon 230. It may give out a different sound via xlr but my headphones ( akg 812 ) do not support balanced. I had a brief listen before I purchased it and it sounded alright, but the more I listen to it , the more I dislike its sound signature.

 

[PinoNL]

I've seen that too, their site recommends something like 35 ohms the lowest, which is weird to me.

Indeed. And with my 20 Ohms LCD-XC’s it’s a no go for me

 

[jamesjames]

So I pulled the trigger on a second hand moon 430had. No matter what I do , I just can’t get a decent sound out of the 6.3 jack. Connected to a windows pc via toslink, sound that comes out is veiled snd lacks in transparency with elevated bass compared to my moon 230. It may give out a different sound via xlr but my headphones ( akg 812 ) do not support balanced. I had a brief listen before I purchased it and it sounded alright, but the more I listen to it , the more I dislike its sound signature.

The 430HA has been my preferred amp for years with HD800S, ADX5000 and Composer headphones. But I previously used K812 and T1 phones with unbalanced connections. And, for what it's worth, I think the Moon is at it's best on its balanced outputs - which I find surprising in view of the care taken with this amp to optimize the unbalanced output. My preferred amp with the T1 was an SPL Phonitor xe - but this wasn't such a good partner I thought with the K812 (and some other phones with lowish nominal load impedance). I found the K812 very appealing with my Sennheiser HDV820 - and the direct output from my Marantz SA10 digital player (which incorporates a good headphone amp). The Audio Technica HA5050 - which allows adjustment of output impedance - is also good I think with the AKG. I found I liked the slight warmth added to the AKG by amps with higher output impedance.

EDIT
I should add I thought the AKG sounded excellent with the Moon too - I'm really splitting hairs here (it is head-fi, after all). As I've said above, to my ear, the Moon is the amp I would own if I could own only one.