[AudioMan2013]

hey sry for just jumping into this thread, but ive recently started looking for some good valued balanced amp/dac equipment. Besides this and the dc-1 stealth, I havent been having much luck. I was wondering if there were any other shoppers who were in a similar position previously and what are the other competitors to this product or if there are any individual balanced dac and amp setups that would be within this price range. Thanks! The HA1 does seem like a great value, but just doing a bit of research and due diligence for now.

There is the Parasound Zdac V.2 that you may want to look at.

 

[DrKC]

hey sry for just jumping into this thread, but ive recently started looking for some good valued balanced amp/dac equipment. Besides this and the dc-1 stealth, I havent been having much luck. I was wondering if there were any other shoppers who were in a similar position previously and what are the other competitors to this product or if there are any individual balanced dac and amp setups that would be within this price range. Thanks! The HA1 does seem like a great value, but just doing a bit of research and due diligence for now.

Take a look at some of the Violectric products.  Their mid-level products are a little more than the Oppo, but they do offer a dac/amp combo with balanced connections.  I have one of their amp-only products and it is one of my best-sounding amps.

 

[x RELIC x]

For this price? Nothing compares. The sound quality is superb and the features are unmatched. Just think, TOTL DAC implementation, very clean and powerful analogue classA amp section, and balanced topology throughout. Add to that the convenience features and you'd be hard pressed to find something twice the price that can compete.

The HA-1 is an honest system and it will reveal the character and flaws in your chain, but it will also reward you by showing the nature of your headphones without coloration and present gobs of detail in your music. I find the frequency range to be flat throughout and the bass is definately present when it's called for. Bright headphones may be a bit much for it but I see that as more of a character of the headphone, not the amp. Transparancy, clarity, natural are words I would describe the HA-1 with.

 

[goldendarko]

What he said. Excellent match with audezes though, no seriously give the matchup a try

 

[olegausany]

What he said. Excellent match with audezes though, no seriously give the matchup a try

Unless you want to spend way more money

 

[sskom]

Can not control track as some people wrote: "...remote can be used to rewind and skip tracks through the USB connection". I use Foobar2000 on Windows 7 Bootcamped Mac mini. Foobar Android remote applications work nice. Do I have to add components? 

 

[billhickok]

   
This hasn't happened to me a single time and I keep the volume at the same setting for hours on end.

 
Okay I just jinxed myself. Had this unit for 3 weeks and it didn't happen a single time. Now just tonight it happened twice. The volume changed by .5dB without touching it (volume pot at around 2 o'clock.) The room it's in is quite warm, just for reference.
 

 

 

[Spamateur]

  Can not control track as some people wrote: "...remote can be used to rewind and skip tracks through the USB connection". I use Foobar2000 on Windows 7 Bootcamped Mac mini. Foobar Android remote applications work nice. Do I have to add components? 

Tried this out of curiosity last night. I'm using WASAPI event to in Foobar to the HA-1 and the back/forward tracks on the remote didn't work for me either. I'll try it with jriver when I get home from work.

 

[HI-BIT]

For this price? Nothing compares. The sound quality is superb and the features are unmatched. Just think, TOTL DAC implementation, very clean and powerful analogue classA amp section, and balanced topology throughout. Add to that the convenience features and you'd be hard pressed to find something twice the price that can compete.

The HA-1 is an honest system and it will reveal the character and flaws in your chain, but it will also reward you by showing the nature of your headphones without coloration and present gobs of detail in your music. I find the frequency range to be flat throughout and the bass is definately present when it's called for. Bright headphones may be a bit much for it but I see that as more of a character of the headphone, not the amp. Transparancy, clarity, natural are words I would describe the HA-1 with.

Compares to Auralic Vega DAC at $3500.

 

[akhyar]

Can not control track as some people wrote: "...remote can be used to rewind and skip tracks through the USB connection". I use Foobar2000 on Windows 7 Bootcamped Mac mini. Foobar Android remote applications work nice. Do I have to add components? 

I'm using Foobar2000 on Win7 Bootcamped MBP2009 and the back/forward track works on the supplied remote when running USB

 

[sskom]

Strange.. Any special component?

 

[sskom]

May I ask you make screeshot?

 

[Spamateur]

hey sry for just jumping into this thread, but ive recently started looking for some good valued balanced amp/dac equipment. Besides this and the dc-1 stealth, I havent been having much luck. I was wondering if there were any other shoppers who were in a similar position previously and what are the other competitors to this product or if there are any individual balanced dac and amp setups that would be within this price range. Thanks! The HA1 does seem like a great value, but just doing a bit of research and due diligence for now.

 
Appreciate your help in the LCD-X thread and saw you were asking about the HA-1 over on this thread. I posted a follow up in the LCD-X thread about my experiences with the HA-1 and had a chance to compare it in depth to the Bifrost Uber last night over the period of several hours. I found the HA-1 to be far superior at least as far as the DAC goes and have decided to keep it despite finding it a tad bright. I'd highly recommend you try the Oppo when you get a chance. It really is amazing for all this functionality and superb sound along with the amazing build quality. Like you, I started looking at a component-based balanced setup and nothing is even remotely in the same league price-wise.

 

[money4me247]

Appreciate your help in the LCD-X thread and saw you were asking about the HA-1 over on this thread. I posted a follow up in the LCD-X thread about my experiences with the HA-1 and had a chance to compare it in depth to the Bifrost Uber last night over the period of several hours. I found the HA-1 to be far superior at least as far as the DAC goes and have decided to keep it despite finding it a tad bright. I'd highly recommend you try the Oppo when you get a chance. It really is amazing for all this functionality and superb sound along with the amazing build quality. Like you, I started looking at a component-based balanced setup and nothing is even remotely in the same league price-wise.

thanks! any more comparative thoughts between the bifrost and ha-2? ive heard some differing opinions of which is superior. rly interested in a relative comparision of sound signature. how much brighter for example (like the difference between the k712 and q701 headphones or hd800 from lcdx difference or smtg more subtle?) how does the bass response compare? thanks for ur help!

 

[sskom]

When I connect OPPO to Windows 8 on Parallels on Macbook Pro (Retina) the tracks can be controlled by remote. But it does not work with Mac mini 2014 with bootcamp Windows 7. I do not know where to look for the problem