[manpowre]

I've come across a weird thing with the HA-1. I don't know if it has been discussed here as I left the forum for a long time. I own the Audeze LCD-X and LCD-3 and when I first power up the HA-1 and plug the X in I get a low level hum in the background. Kinda low level buzz. The LCD-3 is 100% quiet.
After about an hour of using the HA-1 and LCD-X it goes away. 100% quiet. As something gets hot it settles down. Anyone else come across this?

I'm now feeding the HA-1 music from Auralic Vega DAC. Just using the amp from the HA-1. The result is glorious.

I dont know if my findings are related, but I looked into the 8khz noise of USB cables, and I played out a mono 8khz clear sound, and on my Oppo HA-1 when it is cold play this 8khz tone clear on right channel. After 30 minutes being turned on, this tone is equal on both sides.
 
I suspected this to be the 8khz USB noise, so I ordered the Intona USB separator device, and it separates the Oppo from my computer, and it removed the effect entirely.
 
I did get more punch with the separation filter, so I suspect the Oppo HA-1 DAC is affected by the USB noise. thei high-tones are the same, and actually pretty good on the sabre chip. But USB separation improved soundstage entirely on this unit.
 
I also bought a new Hegel HD25 DAC, and using that now with the Oppo to amplify for my headphones, and it sounds great. So I am only using the analogue part of the HA-1 now as I found that the digital part was so weak.
 
Just suggestion, but try to plug in a powered USB 3.0 device between computer and DAC or use optical or the other digital input and see if that appears different. If it does, your issue might be related to USB noise.

 

[Allanmarcus]

I've come across a weird thing with the HA-1. I don't know if it has been discussed here as I left the forum for a long time. I own the Audeze LCD-X and LCD-3 and when I first power up the HA-1 and plug the X in I get a low level hum in the background. Kinda low level buzz. The LCD-3 is 100% quiet.
After about an hour of using the HA-1 and LCD-X it goes away. 100% quiet. As something gets hot it settles down. Anyone else come across this?

I'm now feeding the HA-1 music from Auralic Vega DAC. Just using the amp from the HA-1. The result is glorious.

A couple of things.First, swap the cables and see if the same thing happens. Maybe there a slight problem with one of the headphone cables. 
 
I high debt it's an input cable, but if you can try a different source when the amp is cold (maybe an iPhone connected to the front or BlueTooth) and see if it happens. 
 
Forensic hi-fi is all about changing one thing, then see what happens. Repeatability is also key, which sucks in your case because you have to wait for the device to cool down.
 
If you turn it on cold, get the hum, then turn it off, wait 5 minutes, then turn it on again, do you still get the hum? If you do, then you only need to keep it on to validate the hum. Don't keep it on too long between tests so that it doesn't get warm (assuming warm-up is solves the issue).
 
Also, and this sounds silly, but with the machine off, rotate the volume knob all the way left and right twenty times. It seems a lot of oppo is tied into he volume knob, and it can collect dust. 
 
If all else fails, contact Oppo. Their support is stellar. 

 

[Middy]

I wonder if it's ground related? There is only one ground point off the chassis and it's not the best. I won't repeat myself I cleaned that and the PCB grounds, just a fantastic change in SQ. I have silver contact grease to try this week.. But if in warranty let OPPO fix it. Heat or cold means a poor connection making it slightly intermittent. We use freeze sprays to diagnose faults on our aerospace boards..

Good luck though
Dave.

 

[WayTooCrazy]

  LOL!  Not a must but my A5's are too close to the wall and sounded boomy.  Cutting out the low frequencies below 100 Hz made a huge difference.  Of course, didn't hurt to gain that tight bass from the S8 either... 

When I had my Quad 11L2 as computer monitors, I was getting port noise and buffeting due to the dual ports too close to the wall. I looked up how much space they suggested for those speakers (the Quads) and I believe it was in excess of 2 feet. That would've put them teetering off the edge. I ended up switching to A2+ and a Sub. They don't sound quite as nice as the Quads, but I like them a lot. Audioengine makes great stuff!

 

[Middy]

Anybody tried the Intona with our HA1?
I have got to stop spending... It's enough to go under the radar but it's adding up. If anyone can give me a heads up before next week...when it comes...

 

[T Bone]

Well the issue I had with my first unit had to do with unbalance between left & right channel. Left channel would start with half the volume and after 30min it would balance out with the right.

Yogi - did you ever get a resolution to your unbalanced left/right channel?  
I've encountered almost the same thing.  When my amp starts up, the left channel only plays at like 80% volume of the left.  After about 30 minutes, it would suddenly come to life and the volume, imaging, presence and stage would finally appear.  I'm curious how your problem was resolved and what was deemed to be the root cause.
 
I got an RMA from Oppo and just shipped it off for repairs.  

 

[manpowre]

Anybody tried the Intona with our HA1?
I have got to stop spending... It's enough to go under the radar but it's adding up. If anyone can give me a heads up before next week...when it comes...

Yes I tried Intona with HA-1, and audible differences in soundstage. I heard more accurate medium tone and bass. 
I got my tascan uh7000 unit yesterday, and I started measuring with a spectrum, and I definetely saw whats going on with HA-1 the lower tones spread is higher without Intona. So I can definetely measure it. 
 
The Tascam has 21khz+ noise, so Ive been looking into removing that noise. I finally did it!!! so now I am warming up the unit for half hour to allow it to settle.. if it still looks good, I can start measuring alot of fun stuff.

 

[Middy]

I am not bright enough to do clever electronics, but cleaning with contact cleaner on inside connections . (Only with good ESD practice) turned.. my out of warranty OPPO into a different beast...

Just fantastic.... This is my last buy now with the intona...I hope it works with my other under the radar last buy..
The IFI IPURIFIER 2. ...8^/.

My modded Mr Speakers Ether cans now sound like I have a 30 feet space on some songs...bloody lovely..

Thanks for the heads up and good luck with the new preamp..

Have a good weekend
Dave 8^)

 

[Allanmarcus]

Does the oppo HA-1 not provide galvanic isolation? I thought that was pretty standard in good DACs. My $300 peachtree DAC had galvanic isolation.

 

[Middy]

Iam not sure Allan, thought I'd give it a try anyways..... 8^)

 

[Middy]

Initial impressions of the intona.
1 very light and 1980s Russian pc looks.
2 Designed for industrial use..
3 you will need another printer AB USB.
4 I Couldn't get the IFI IPURIFIER 2 to work post input. It maybe 300mv output and IFI needs 500mv. Works great before.
5 it has 2 spartan FPGA'S re clocking split by galvanic isolation.
6. I wasn't sure if it would do anything as I run my transport from Battery Otg Sammy S5 phone. But it has more sound stage and detail/Bass. Subtle but quite marked change.
7 I don't know yet what a PC LAPTOP would sound like.

8. Value... to me just worth it with the extra detail. I bought the non industrial. It was still £195.

9 maybe a better value from noise PC USB.

10 My internal connections deoxited and outside cables. Have given new life to the OPPO quite amazing.....
The IFI IPURIFIER 2 and the INTONA have added extra detail /Depth to the music.
.
My last step a bit OTT but I will silver solder the wire crimps in the plastic connectors.
Apply Mapleshade silclear silver contact grease to the male pins and earth screws. To kill any contact resistance issues... and see what a perfectly set up OPPO ha1 can produce..
Cheers and keep smiling

Dave 8^)

 

[Middy]

A piece from COMPUTER AUDIOPHILE... With and with out the Intona attached. With our OPPO HA1. Silver soldering the internal connections this weekend..8^)
Hopefully silver grease Saturday...

Enjoy..

About the HA-1 and my measurements what I found last weekend without the Intona device, as I didnt get that far to plug that in while measuring (only on HA-1 a little):

Cold unit: bass and mid tone has a noise level that varies with 30 desibel. The jitter test show me inaccurate sound, especially in the peak there is alot of inaccuracy where the peak builds up.
Once warmed up. The bass and mid tone settles with variations of 20 desibel above noise floor. The jitter test shows more accurate buildup of the 11khz tone, more like my Hegel HD25.

I always felt the Sabre chip of HA-1 to be accurate in upper mid-tone and treble, very accurate. Sabre chip is known for that. Compared to my Hegel HD25, it confirms that with the 11khz tone as I see very similar buildup of the 11khz tone. But I felt the HA-1 DAC/sabre chip didnt reproduce bass extension enough for me to really enjoy the music, so I bought a Hegel DAC as that has more neutral soundstage from bass through mid-tones to treble. Once I took the sound from HD25 to the HA-1 the sound was right to my ears.

The jitter test didnt show any bad signs of jitter though.

I did plug the Intona device in and measured once on the HA-1, and immediately what I saw, was the bass and mid-tone didnt vary so much anymore, seemed to settle to a more tight noise level. Instead of varying 30 desibel at cold, it varied 20, and as a warm unit instead of varying about 20 desibel, it was suddenly down to just above 10-15db. That might confirm the findings that bass and mid-tone with the intona device is more accurate in sound reproduction.

Sidenote, the Hegel DAC has a 10 db variation in bass and mid-tone without the Intona device. and I didnt see anything improve with it either. just as I had problem listening to artifacts with or without Hegel HD25 dac. This also confirms that some DAC's can benefit from separating usb from the host and some where you can't really hear much difference.

We later confirmed the Hegel DAC is galvanically isolated....

 

[Allanmarcus]

A piece from COMPUTER AUDIOPHILE... With and with out the Intona attached. With our OPPO HA1. Silver soldering the internal connections this weekend..8^)
Hopefully silver grease Saturday...

Enjoy..

About the HA-1 and my measurements what I found last weekend without the Intona device, as I didnt get that far to plug that in while measuring (only on HA-1 a little):

Cold unit: bass and mid tone has a noise level that varies with 30 desibel. The jitter test show me inaccurate sound, especially in the peak there is alot of inaccuracy where the peak builds up.
Once warmed up. The bass and mid tone settles with variations of 20 desibel above noise floor. The jitter test shows more accurate buildup of the 11khz tone, more like my Hegel HD25.

I always felt the Sabre chip of HA-1 to be accurate in upper mid-tone and treble, very accurate. Sabre chip is known for that. Compared to my Hegel HD25, it confirms that with the 11khz tone as I see very similar buildup of the 11khz tone. But I felt the HA-1 DAC/sabre chip didnt reproduce bass extension enough for me to really enjoy the music, so I bought a Hegel DAC as that has more neutral soundstage from bass through mid-tones to treble. Once I took the sound from HD25 to the HA-1 the sound was right to my ears.

The jitter test didnt show any bad signs of jitter though.

I did plug the Intona device in and measured once on the HA-1, and immediately what I saw, was the bass and mid-tone didnt vary so much anymore, seemed to settle to a more tight noise level. Instead of varying 30 desibel at cold, it varied 20, and as a warm unit instead of varying about 20 desibel, it was suddenly down to just above 10-15db. That might confirm the findings that bass and mid-tone with the intona device is more accurate in sound reproduction.

Sidenote, the Hegel DAC has a 10 db variation in bass and mid-tone without the Intona device. and I didnt see anything improve with it either. just as I had problem listening to artifacts with or without Hegel HD25 dac. This also confirms that some DAC's can benefit from separating usb from the host and some where you can't really hear much difference.

We later confirmed the Hegel DAC is galvanically isolated....

 
Interesting. What about using optical Toslink? Do you get the same measurements as with USB?
 
Also, I just ordered some dexit!

 

[AudioMan2013]

A piece from COMPUTER AUDIOPHILE... With and with out the Intona attached. With our OPPO HA1. Silver soldering the internal connections this weekend..8^)
Hopefully silver grease Saturday...

Enjoy..

About the HA-1 and my measurements what I found last weekend without the Intona device, as I didnt get that far to plug that in while measuring (only on HA-1 a little):

Cold unit: bass and mid tone has a noise level that varies with 30 desibel. The jitter test show me inaccurate sound, especially in the peak there is alot of inaccuracy where the peak builds up.
Once warmed up. The bass and mid tone settles with variations of 20 desibel above noise floor. The jitter test shows more accurate buildup of the 11khz tone, more like my Hegel HD25.

I always felt the Sabre chip of HA-1 to be accurate in upper mid-tone and treble, very accurate. Sabre chip is known for that. Compared to my Hegel HD25, it confirms that with the 11khz tone as I see very similar buildup of the 11khz tone. But I felt the HA-1 DAC/sabre chip didnt reproduce bass extension enough for me to really enjoy the music, so I bought a Hegel DAC as that has more neutral soundstage from bass through mid-tones to treble. Once I took the sound from HD25 to the HA-1 the sound was right to my ears.

The jitter test didnt show any bad signs of jitter though.

I did plug the Intona device in and measured once on the HA-1, and immediately what I saw, was the bass and mid-tone didnt vary so much anymore, seemed to settle to a more tight noise level. Instead of varying 30 desibel at cold, it varied 20, and as a warm unit instead of varying about 20 desibel, it was suddenly down to just above 10-15db. That might confirm the findings that bass and mid-tone with the intona device is more accurate in sound reproduction.

Sidenote, the Hegel DAC has a 10 db variation in bass and mid-tone without the Intona device. and I didnt see anything improve with it either. just as I had problem listening to artifacts with or without Hegel HD25 dac. This also confirms that some DAC's can benefit from separating usb from the host and some where you can't really hear much difference.

We later confirmed the Hegel DAC is galvanically isolated....

I haven't done a study such as this before but I have improved the sound quality of the HA-1 and other dacs by using devices such as the Schiit Wyrd, Audio GD interface, and the Wyrd 4 Sound Remedy.  I no longer use the Remedy because it upsamples everything to 96khz which is not good for 44.1khz sources.  I have also changed out a clock or two with Crystek's 957 and use a battery to power them.  This improved the audible jitter phase noise. 

 

[Middy]

I already had the IFI IPURIFIER 2. But to be honest until I started cleaning the inside connectors I couldn't hear that much change. It might just be mine but getting it back to its best has opened my eyes.

As an experiment I am taking it to the extreme..Silver soldering inside wires....Silver grease. Deoxit.. polishing plugs... See if it makes a difference..
Deoxit+ IPA cheap... The SILCLEAR silver lasts for ages but $40.

Just the deoxit made the ifi make a difference. The INTONA if you have the cash was £195....but worth getting that last 10%..

Tired.. and rambling too much...
If it works out I'll post some impressions. But my theory is a good earth path all the way to the socket.
Reduce contact resistance... As cheap and easy as possible..safely..
I would have sold on the OPPO if this boost back to best never happened.
The MODED Ethers just keep getting better sounding..

It's all fun and something to kill time with..