[olegausany]

While HD800 sound very very good with HA-1 on normal gain and 1/4" jack i still would recommend high gain and 4 pin XLR out to get best sound with better microdetails retrieval

 

[TheGovernment]

   
Thanks for the quick impression.
Btw, do you have the chance to compare the balance headphone out vs the single-ended out for HD800?
Interested in getting the HA-1 for my HD800 and LCD-X

Nope, I don't have a balanced cable yet, I'm making one but waiting for my minixlr to get here.

 

[akhyar]

  Nope, I don't have a balanced cable yet, I'm making one but waiting for my minixlr to get here.

 
Excellent news.
I'm reading as many impressions I can find on the pairing as my local dealer will only bring-in the demo model in 2-3 weeks time.

 

[arnaud]

OK, original post edited with side bar hiders, does that help a bit until I can add pics and break up the text even more?

I'm afraid people will have moved on to more recent product announcements by the time you finish your review lol .

 

[sbgunn]

While HD800 sound very very good with HA-1 on normal gain and 1/4" jack i still would recommend high gain and 4 pin XLR out to get best sound with better microdetails retrieval

Why is that? The Oppo manual and everything else I've read about amplification says its best to use the lowest gain you can get away with to reduce potential for distortion or raising the noise floor.

Also balanced on normal gain the HD800s get pretty loud! I haven't even considered switching to high for the sake of my poor eardrums!

 

[mrscotchguy]

A lot of words for taking something out of its box.

LOL, point taken, thanks for the feedback!  I used to write for different publications in a different time, and much of that audience enjoyed "the journey" but without the pics and video's inserted it is nothing but a WOT, I agree.  And, there was a length requirement for post of which the style I am working for here (a detailed review).  I will also have an executive summary review that I will compile from the high points of the detailed one once complete  for those that don't have the time or inclination to read through the long stuff, kinda like CNet does.  Also, my OT side bars, once edited will be hidden unless you click on them, I can at least fix that right now.  So I take it from the 90's until now, brevity is the order of the day more frequently vs. painting a picture with a WOT , things have changed where there is so much more to do, and social media/email proliferation/smart phones(bringing all of that stuff with you) has basically created a new state of mind that would have been called ADD 20 years ago... at least that is what has happened to me!!  Reading and writing gear reviews in the 90's was like reading short novel', although I certainly enjoyed reading them when they were talking about gear I would never be able to afford the subjects of the review.  That is the "value" of the long ones is if done right, you feel like you kinda did buy and own that $250,000 set of speakers that you just read about.  Because of an article like that I read about Veritas 2.8s almost 20 years ago, I never forgot them and finally got a pair a year or two ago for a fifth of their price then, the story was that well written.  I strive to be able to be in that ball park some day.  The same ball park as Jason from Schiit, reading his serial novel about Schiit is a hell of a lot of fun!

I used to be an author for IBM redbooks and manuals for performing maintenance on Naval nuclear reactors in addition to my digitaltheater.com reviews and blogs, so yes, I can be verbose and too detailed (if you have ever read an IBM redbook from the 90's you will know what I mean).  I will work on that!

Let me know if the writing style sucks too and I will work on it... as my plans are to combine all of my parts into a review to post on the review product page, and I don't want to stack crap, as it doesn't stack very well .  Don't worry about grammar, mixed tense issues, confused subjects vs. predicates, etc., I will edit those out.

Basically any feedback, no matter how harsh, is appreciated!!

I disagree, I enjoyed the read, especially after it was cleaned up a bit. It seems like the first real constructive bit of information, even if it is just about opening the box.

I appreciate your thoughts on what the bulk of us may often take for granted. Keep up the good work, and I look forward to reading the full review.

PS, I'm sure there'd be no hate if there were a picture or two

 

[craftyhack]

I'm afraid people will have moved on to more recent product announcements by the time you finish your review lol

.

LOL, well, I may just be setting expectations as low as possible to protect myself.  In reality, I am extremely excited to do this, so I expect it to be done much sooner, to the point I am thinking of taking vacation to do it!!  But, low expectations = no disappointment.  Ask Schiit about that regarding setting expectations .

 

[olegausany]

While HD800 sound very very good with HA-1 on normal gain and 1/4" jack i still would recommend high gain and 4 pin XLR out to get best sound with better microdetails retrieval

Why is that? The Oppo manual and everything else I've read about amplification says its best to use the lowest gain you can get away with to reduce potential for distortion or raising the noise floor.

Also balanced on normal gain the HD800s get pretty loud! I haven't even considered switching to high for the sake of my poor eardrums!

Don't forget that HD800 are high impedance headphones. At high gain i use volume level between -30 and -25 while at normal gain i will need it between -15 and -9 depending on the recording

 

[Headphoner]

   
So I take it from the 90's until now, brevity is the order of the day ...

Brevity is not the order of the day.  A lot of words on the sound of a unit will be appreciated.  A lot of words on taking the unit out of its box is too many words.

 

[jonstatt]

   
 
Dito.  I tried both out of the HA-1 dac, and both amp sections out of the NF-DAC.  Volume matched, they sounded nearly indistinguishable.  I would hope for that with good, discrete design, class A solid state amps.  The DACs had very, very slight differences - more noticeable than any slight differences between the amps.

 
Are you talking 160D or Soloist/Conductor here? The Soloist/Conductor was considerably better in performance than the 160D and in particular the 160D was under-powered for headphones like the Audeze. If you feel the HA-1 matches the 160D that would not really be an accolade. I have both the Soloist and the HA-1 and I can certainly hear differences between the two volume matched. They are different tonally although I have not concluded one as being better yet as I have been too busy over the weekend to do some proper listening tests.
 
EDIT: Further thoughts....
To add, the pricepoints are a bit different across the globe making comparisons in terms of pricepoint and value a challenge.
In the UK the prices are
Burson Soloist 800 pounds, Conductor 1500 pounds, HA-1 1200 pounds
 
In the US the prices are
Burson Soloist 1000 dollars, Conductor 1850 dollars, HA-1 1200 dollars
 
So in the UK, you are more likely to draw a comparison with the Conductor than in the US perhaps. On the other hand, is Oppo trying to be a giant slayer here. Achieve a higher performance point at a lower price. Audiophile grade technology is very fickle. The price something costs is often more about "What the manufacturer can get away with charging" rather than the true cost of research, development and production. It is therefore very possible to have giant slayers if a manufacturer approaches this in an aggressive quality/pricepoint manner.
 
The Oppo does have more gimmicks than the Burson of course. It has a colour screen and Bluetooth. It also has balanced connections which the Burson does not.

 

[JML]

Quote:

   
Are you talking 160D or Soloist/Conductor here? 

 
From his profile listing, he had and sold the Soloist.

 

[Subatomic]

   
Are you talking 160D or Soloist/Conductor here? The Soloist/Conductor was considerably better in performance than the 160D and in particular the 160D was under-powered for headphones like the Audeze. If you feel the HA-1 matches the 160D that would not really be an accolade. I have both the Soloist and the HA-1 and I can certainly hear differences between the two volume matched. They are different tonally although I have not concluded one as being better yet as I have been too busy over the weekend to do some proper listening tests.
 
EDIT: Further thoughts....
To add, the pricepoints are a bit different across the globe making comparisons in terms of pricepoint and value a challenge.
In the UK the prices are
Burson Soloist 800 pounds, Conductor 1500 pounds, HA-1 1200 pounds
 
In the US the prices are
Burson Soloist 1000 dollars, Conductor 1850 dollars, HA-1 1200 dollars
 
So in the UK, you are more likely to draw a comparison with the Conductor than in the US perhaps. On the other hand, is Oppo trying to be a giant slayer here. Achieve a higher performance point at a lower price. Audiophile grade technology is very fickle. The price something costs is often more about "What the manufacturer can get away with charging" rather than the true cost of research, development and production. It is therefore very possible to have giant slayers if a manufacturer approaches this in an aggressive quality/pricepoint manner.
 
The Oppo does have more gimmicks than the Burson of course. It has a colour screen and Bluetooth. It also has balanced connections which the Burson does not.

 
Same goes in Australia.
 
Solo SL: $795
Conductor SL (ESS): $1800
Conductor: $2000
Oppo HA-1: $1800
 
So much ouch.

 

[jonstatt]

   
From his profile listing, he had and sold the Soloist.

 
Doh! I should have checked that. Thank's JML. Another poster referred to the 160D which meant the possibility of confusion

 

[sbgunn]

While HD800 sound very very good with HA-1 on normal gain and 1/4" jack i still would recommend high gain and 4 pin XLR out to get best sound with better microdetails retrieval

Why is that? The Oppo manual and everything else I've read about amplification says its best to use the lowest gain you can get away with to reduce potential for distortion or raising the noise floor.

Also balanced on normal gain the HD800s get pretty loud! I haven't even considered switching to high for the sake of my poor eardrums!

Don't forget that HD800 are high impedance headphones. At high gain i use volume level between -30 and -25 while at normal gain i will need it between -15 and -9 depending on the recording

So aside from needing less volume on the knob, high gain is better for quality and detail retrieval? I don't think I've ever see than mentioned anywhere else so I'm curious.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[olegausany]

While HD800 sound very very good with HA-1 on normal gain and 1/4" jack i still would recommend high gain and 4 pin XLR out to get best sound with better microdetails retrieval

Why is that? The Oppo manual and everything else I've read about amplification says its best to use the lowest gain you can get away with to reduce potential for distortion or raising the noise floor.

Also balanced on normal gain the HD800s get pretty loud! I haven't even considered switching to high for the sake of my poor eardrums!

Don't forget that HD800 are high impedance headphones. At high gain i use volume level between -30 and -25 while at normal gain i will need it between -15 and -9 depending on the recording

So aside from needing less volume on the knob, high gain is better for quality and detail retrieval? I don't think I've ever see than mentioned anywhere else so I'm curious.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

This what i hear but everyone hears differently so i understand if don't hear any difference at all