[peter123]

I have KISS modded my hd650, which surprisingly has made the 650 pair okay with SS. The 650 stock din't pair well with any of my amps. I tried the following combinations

Mac (Audirvana) -> Matrix m-stage hpa3u+ -> hd650/he560/k7xx
Mac (Audirvana) -> Matrix m-stage hpa3u+ (dac & preamp) -> ha-200 -> hd650/he560/k7xx

I really like what I heard from the ha-200, it was really euphonic compared. I couldn't shake off the feeling of compression. I have to check if I the matrix -> ha-200 was bad and the signal was clipping.
Btw. how long have you been using this monoblock setup. What dac/headphones are you using?

Did you find it compressed with the HE560 and K7XX as well?

I've used the monoblocks for almost a year but I've got several setups so haven't used it exclusively. In my living room I've got them as well as a Burson Conductor V2+ and Project Ember II. I tend to use HA-200's and the Burson the most though.

After trying out a couple of Dac's I've ended up with the DACmagic Plus paired with the HA-200's. Its detailed and slightly bright signature matches the laid back and smooth signature of the HA-200's really well for my preference. I used it with my tube DAC for a while but it got too warm (and maybe slightly compressed but this was many months ago so I'm not sure) for my liking.

I've got quite a few headphone, please look at my profile for the full line up.

 

[Arcee]

I'm using the HA200 with the Nuforce DAC-80 driving my Sennheiser HD800 with the Superdupont resonator mod and the combination is just perfect. I'm using Nuforce's own IC700-R interlink between them which is making a different, this RCA cable is very fast and makes the combination just perfect.

 

[trybeingarun]

Did you find it compressed with the HE560 and K7XX as well?

I've used the monoblocks for almost a year but I've got several setups so haven't used it exclusively. In my living room I've got them as well as a Burson Conductor V2+ and Project Ember II. I tend to use HA-200's and the Burson the most though.

After trying out a couple of Dac's I've ended up with the DACmagic Plus paired with the HA-200's. Its detailed and slightly bright signature matches the laid back and smooth signature of the HA-200's really well for my preference. I used it with my tube DAC for a while but it got too warm (and maybe slightly compressed but this was many months ago so I'm not sure) for my liking.

I've got quite a few headphone, please look at my profile for the full line up.

Yes, I find the same with all my headphones. When I say compressed, I don't mean offensively compressed, I mean compared to my matrix. If i din't do a side by side comparison I probably won't even have noticed it. My matrix has a slightly darker background and gives a better sense of layering than the ha-200. After posting my here yesterday I tested it once again just to reconfirm. To me the matrix (modded) sounds slightly better.

 

[Enrico00]

has anyone ever compared the Nuforce HA-200 with Schiit Jotunheim ?

 

[gb21011971]

Did you find it compressed with the HE560 and K7XX as well?

I've used the monoblocks for almost a year but I've got several setups so haven't used it exclusively. In my living room I've got them as well as a Burson Conductor V2+ and Project Ember II. I tend to use HA-200's and the Burson the most though.

After trying out a couple of Dac's I've ended up with the DACmagic Plus paired with the HA-200's. Its detailed and slightly bright signature matches the laid back and smooth signature of the HA-200's really well for my preference. I used it with my tube DAC for a while but it got too warm (and maybe slightly compressed but this was many months ago so I'm not sure) for my liking.

I've got quite a few headphone, please look at my profile for the full line up.

Exactly my setup and you described my impressions of its sound exactly. This combination works pretty well with my most demanding headphone, the T1.2. The HA200's have enough power and warmth for that headphone to balance it pretty well. Bass is almost punchy, and that on a T1.2!

 

[Villy]

 

[148124]

I measured output of HA-200 to be 100% sure. The internal voltage gain is 2X (for input 2,4Vrms sinus 1kHz, I measured exactly 4,8Vrms at headphone output with the volume pot maxed).

So to achieve declared output power you need source with "hot" output (or just some dac from nuforce as most of them is about 2,7Vrms if I recall correctly).

For example for 32ohm to achieve declared "nominal" power output of 0,747W, you need the source that is able to produce 2,45Vrms (and it will be only possible with the recorded signal @0dBFS, if it's classical recording with low average level it will be even much harder to get there - that's why some of you might feel this amp as not so mighty as other amps, all of that because of quite low internal gain, so for classical lovers I would opt for the source with output level like 3 - 3,4Vrms, for the rest - about 2,7Vrms).

I was also thinking about changing gain by soldering different resistors next to the opamp, but don't know about stability of the whole circuit and possible impact on the sound (avoiding oscillation etc).

To achieve "peak" power of 0,937W for 32ohm you need the source with 2,74Vrms output (0dbFS)

So for instance forget about having mighty amp with iphone 5s connected as a source with its 1Vrms output (even though the sound is superb, because max output power that you can get with the file recorded at 0dBFS with maxed pot volume is (1V*2)^2 / impedance of your phones. For 32ohm it's ridiculous 125mW, instead of almost 1W peak power per channel)

This amp is great to push some low impedance headphones, love the weight of the sound, control over the drivers and euphonic sound signature.

 

[johnnyb]

I measured output of HA-200 to be 100% sure. The internal voltage gain is 2X (for input 2,4Vrms sinus 1kHz, I measured exactly 4,8Vrms at headphone output with the volume pot maxed).

So to achieve declared output power you need source with "hot" output (or just some dac from nuforce as most of them is about 2,7Vrms if I recall correctly).

For example for 32ohm to achieve declared "nominal" power output of 0,747W, you need the source that is able to produce 2,45Vrms (and it will be only possible with the recorded signal @0dBFS, if it's classical recording with low average level it will be even much harder to get there - that's why some of you might feel this amp as not so mighty as other amps, all of that because of quite low internal gain, so for classical lovers I would opt for the source with output level like 3 - 3,4Vrms, for the rest - about 2,7Vrms).

I was also thinking about changing gain by soldering different resistors next to the opamp, but don't know about stability of the whole circuit and possible impact on the sound (avoiding oscillation etc).

To achieve "peak" power of 0,937W for 32ohm you need the source with 2,74Vrms output (0dbFS)

So for instance forget about having mighty amp with iphone 5s connected as a source with its 1Vrms output (even though the sound is superb, because max output power that you can get with the file recorded at 0dBFS with maxed pot volume is (1V*2)^2 / impedance of your phones. For 32ohm it's ridiculous 125mW, instead of almost 1W peak power per channel)

This amp is great to push some low impedance headphones, love the weight of the sound, control over the drivers and euphonic sound signature.

Thanks for the great analysis! Helps explain why the Nuforce DAC and HA200 are such a great pairing. And maybe why some are not that impressed with the HA200.

 

[148124]

No problem ! I was just measuring some things regarding questyle CMA400i - it has 3,4Vrms in FIXED DAC mode and it was out of this world pairing, even though it can cause clipping when you set volume too high with high recording signal (around 0dBFS).

I can remember that having 2,4Vrms source, I was able to push HE-4 with this amp, which is not easy (86,5dB/mW sensitivity) and with low level recordings (classical music). So you can push low efficiency planars as long as you have source with hot output level (not standard 2Vrms red book line-out CD player)

 

[148124]

Have you tried FOSTEX TH610 with HA-200 ?