[preproman]

Umm....thanks.....I think! 8 Watts into 50 Ohms, no wonder the headphone amp is not biased into Class A!

I also thought the link might be useful for any other folks interested in reading the White Paper.

Seriously, thank you for the link!

 
Why?

 

[Chris J]

Why?

8 Watts in a Class A amp typically means the amp would dissipate 32 Watts when idling.
Since this is a two channel amp, the Neo's hadphone amp would dissipate 64 Watts with no load, and slightly less when a headphone is plugged in and reproducing music.
So the headphone amp would dissipate 64 Watts, plus everything else in the 430HA.........the 430HA would run rather hot if designed like a typical Class A amp!

I suspect the whole positive/negative transistor thing is because the English manual is translated from the original French manual.

 

[Theogenes]

  Theo, I would expect the review in early April. Lionel and the team at Moon have been terrific. Any question I have had so far or information I needed they have happy to supply the answer quickly and usually with a white paper or technical document. That's all I can ask of a manufacturer. It will take a couple of months between the break in time and the flexibility of the unit. There is a lot here to get my arms around.
 
Best!
 
Eric

 
Excellent,  I look forward to it! And as an HE-6 owner, I selfishly hope you'll give it an extensive audition and let us know if the Neo has the ability to drive it as well as the speaker amps it seems to prefer .
 
Enjoy your audition!

 

[longbowbbs]

Theo I do not have an HE-6 handy. I will be using an HD800, an Alpha Prime and LCD-X's though. 

 

[Theogenes]

Drats!! Please excuse my attempt anyway . Very much looking forward to your thoughts!! Especially given your experience with the Cavalli amps, which seem to be very well regarded. Can't wait to see how this stacks up against some of the other (presumably) top-tier amps coming out like the Rag and the Pass Labs amp... Fun times to be a headphone nerd!

 

[longbowbbs]

It is the golden age of both headphones and two channel!

 

[Theogenes]

Agreed!! And if the HE-1000 is as good as people say it is.... *shivers expectantly and grins*

 

[metalboss]

  It is the golden age of both headphones and two channel!

Ya man...and I'm so excitingly awaiting my moon ... 

 

[Madeupword]

@longbowbbs Would you kindly compare it with LH Labs' Pulse Xfi + LPS?
 
Thank you & stay safe!

 

[longbowbbs]

  @longbowbbs Would you kindly compare it with LH Labs' Pulse Xfi + LPS?
 
Thank you & stay safe!

One the Unicorn arrives from LH Labs I will.  

 

[Chris J]

The latest issue of the UK magazine Hi-Fi News (March 2015) contains a glowing review of the 430HA!

 

[TonyNewman]

The latest issue of the UK magazine Hi-Fi News (March 2015) contains a glowing review of the 430HA!

 
Just read a digital copy online - good review of the amp functionality and sound. The DAC is good but not stunning, as you might expect from a $800 add-on (I have ordered mine without the DAC - I already have an Auralic Vega).
 
Sound is neutral / transparent and does all the good things a high end SS headphone amp should do with the bass / treble / vocals. No surprises here - great sound.
 
Some limitations on the review - as best I could tell, the reviewer only used a pair of HD650s for the review - no other headphones are mentioned. The HD650 is a great headphone, but it is not a flagship and it is not neutral. It would have been great for more headphones to get a test - HD800 / Audeze / HE6 / Grados ... etc. I was particularly hoping to hear how the amp would do with the HE6 - 8W and a beefy power supply should do the business.
 
Also not tested was how it functioned as a preamp, and no mention of the preamp outputs as RCA only (that doesn't bother me, but it might bother others thinking of using this amp as a preamp also and would like XLR preamp outputs).
 
So, some minor nitpicking aside, this is a good review of the results of the 430HA with the HD650s. If you had to pick just one headphone to review an amp against the HD650 is not a bad choice (better choice might have been the more neutral HD600 or the more revealing HD800).

 

[Chris J]

Just read a digital copy online - good review of the amp functionality and sound. The DAC is good but not stunning, as you might expect from a $800 add-on (I have ordered mine without the DAC - I already have an Auralic Vega).

Sound is neutral / transparent and does all the good things a high end SS headphone amp should do with the bass / treble / vocals. No surprises here - great sound.

Some limitations on the review - as best I could tell, the reviewer only used a pair of HD650s for the review - no other headphones are mentioned. The HD650 is a great headphone, but it is not a flagship and it is not neutral. It would have been great for more headphones to get a test - HD800 / Audeze / HE6 / Grados ... etc. I was particularly hoping to hear how the amp would do with the HE6 - 8W and a beefy power supply should do the business.

Also not tested was how it functioned as a preamp, and no mention of the preamp outputs as RCA only (that doesn't bother me, but it might bother others thinking of using this amp as a preamp also and would like XLR preamp outputs).

So, some minor nitpicking aside, this is a good review of the results of the 430HA with the HD650s. If you had to pick just one headphone to review an amp against the HD650 is not a bad choice (better choice might have been the more neutral HD600 or the more revealing HD800).

Good "review of the review".
Good point WRT the headphones, a proper review SHOULD have a good assortment of headphones.
It could be argued that an $800 add-on DAC should be compared to a $1200-1600 stand alone DAC which would lead me to think that in relative terms the DAC is not at the same level as the headphone amp, which is basically what the review says.

 

[TonyNewman]

...
It could be argued that an $800 add-on DAC should be compared to a $1200-1600 stand alone DAC which would lead me to think that in relative terms the DAC is not at the same level as the headphone amp, which is basically what the review says.

 
Sounds reasonable to me. I think the add-on DAC is aimed at folks that don't already have a digital solution in their setup, or want a one box answer for DAC + headamp. A decent offering, but not at the same level as the amp itself is how I read it too. A more appropriate DAC match would be something in the Vega price bracket (lots of great DAC options around the 3 to 4K region).
 
Still waiting on delivery for mine. My retailer tells me it has left the USA and is on the way to NZ. Maybe next week. This is what happens when you live at the bottom end of the Earth amongst the Hobbits

 
First thing I will be doing is hooking it up to my Vega and trying it with the HE6. That is probably what I will use for burn in - get some heavy lifting happening - and the lifting doesn't get much heavier than driving the HE6.
 
As soon as I get some results I will be posting in depth on the 430HA. I have high hopes for this amp - have a chubby for Simaudio products in general, really

 

[longbowbbs]

I guess I will have to pick up a copy of  Hi-Finews this week and catch the review.
 
Here is what I am using for my review of the 430:
 
HD800, HD650, LCD-Xf, Alpha Prime, JH16's  Sorry I do not have the HE-6 though I will try and get a loaner if I can. My DAC is the Wyred 4 Sound DAC2DSDse with Femto clock upgrade. I will also have various Toxic, WyWires and Nordost cables. Here is a quick shot while things continue to burn in the recommended 300 hours.
 

 
There are several sections this review could contain as I approach it.
 
 
Headphone amp
amp with internal DAC
amp with external DAC
DAC only using another amp (My SLI-80)
430 as 2 channel SE pre-amp (No balanced output to test that capability)
 
I do not want to end up with a 4000 word manifesto. Any things in particular everyone is interested in?
 
Thanks!
 
Eric