[omniweltall]

I love all the Senns (HD650, HD600, HD800) with it. What surprised me is that the HD800 actually sounds good with just the SDR mod. That was unexpected from a solid state.

 

[Amish]

I used an MHDT Labs Pagoda. A good pairing for sure.

 

[aminus]

Just got my BHA-1 in today. So far I've only been able to use it with IEMs, but it's very good. Neutral sound with the slightest hint of warmth and bassiness that's not unwelcome at all. Bass hits like a truck with 0 sloppiness and treble is clean and clear without being grating. I can already tell it'll pair wonderfully with the upcoming HEDDphone. Now the only question is what DAC to get to use with them.

 

[SilverEars]

Just got my BHA-1 in today. So far I've only been able to use it with IEMs, but it's very good. Neutral sound with the slightest hint of warmth and bassiness that's not unwelcome at all. Bass hits like a truck with 0 sloppiness and treble is clean and clear without being grating. I can already tell it'll pair wonderfully with the upcoming HEDDphone. Now the only question is what DAC to get to use with them.

That is sad, only iems. At least try a Sennheiser.

Gain is fairly high even in low setting, it's not ideal for iems. Hard to drive headphones like planars on the other hand, it drives well. If HEDDphone is 87dB of sensitivity, BHA-1 should have more than adequite driving power. It drives HE500 which is also 87dB of sensitivity with breeze.

 

[aminus]

That is sad, only iems. At least try a Sennheiser.

Gain is fairly high even in low setting, it's not ideal for iems. Hard to drive headphones like planars on the other hand, it drives well. If HEDDphone is 87dB of sensitivity, BHA-1 should have more than adequite driving power. It drives HE500 which is also 87dB of sensitivity with breeze.

The HEDDphone is in a pretty nice sweetspot for sensitivity, it’s inefficient but not quite HE-6 or Susvara inefficient where you’re edging towards being better off with a speaker amp. Just nice for using a fairly high powered headphone amplifier.

As for IEMs, eh. It’s not necessarily an ideal setup but while I wait for HEDD to arrive locally it’s apt for getting an idea of what the BHA-1 can do. I can barely get the knob past 10 o’clock with the Z1R but it’s good enough for now.

 

[mthaynes]

That is sad, only iems. At least try a Sennheiser.

Gain is fairly high even in low setting, it's not ideal for iems. Hard to drive headphones like planars on the other hand, it drives well. If HEDDphone is 87dB of sensitivity, BHA-1 should have more than adequite driving power. It drives HE500 which is also 87dB of sensitivity with breeze.

The HD800S seems to work very well with this AMP. number of folks have competed positively on that setup. I know I am happy with mine.

 

[mthaynes]

Now the only question is what DAC to get to use with them.

I am mowing mine with my portable AK 2000 with xlr out. it is amazing how a small little portable player really works well. you may want to give that a shot if you have one hanging about.

 

[judomaniak57]

I am using a AK270 mk2 from the headphone jack to rca's and it sounds fantastic with my elears and Klipsch hp3

 

[judomaniak57]

I was using a mini to mini connection for awhile which also sounded really good. lots of connection options with the bryston

 

[340519]

I just ordered a bha1 to go with my new benchmark dac 3b. Super excited!

 

[340519]

A question for you all: I have the smsl 888 thx ad I'm wondering how it compares to the bha1. On another thread it has been compared to the 789 and the bha1 was said to be the better sounding amp.

 

[340519]

I think the dac1 and the bha1 will be a stellar pairing with the senn 800S, the audeze X, and the focal clears from what I've read.

 

[SilverEars]

I just realized why there are talks of DAP as source for BHA-1. It has a mini-jack input. I had the THX789 and sold right away. It just sounded sterile for my taste. It epitomizes what I consider a 'solid-state' sounding amp. Super low harmonic distortion doesn't mean much to me. There is no correlation between SQ and extremely low THD, in which THX 789 has proven to me.

 

[mthaynes]

what I like about the bha-1 is it is just an amp. I bought a SP2000 that is digital storage and and a DAC. I dont need a second DAC the BHA-1 is just an amp with all the right inputs and all the right outputs. its sweet spot is driving hard to drive headphones. 800S are a surprisingly good match, but any headphone will work. The only drawback to the BHA-1 is it does not have a remote. the only complaint I have

 

[340519]

what I like about the bha-1 is it is just an amp. I bought a SP2000 that is digital storage and and a DAC. I dont need a second DAC the BHA-1 is just an amp with all the right inputs and all the right outputs. its sweet spot is driving hard to drive headphones. 800S are a surprisingly good match, but any headphone will work. The only drawback to the BHA-1 is it does not have a remote. the only complaint I have

I'm cool with no remote. I never use all the myriad I have now. I have 2 benchmark remotes for instance that never get touched.