[Smarty-pants]

Perhaps if MUTE is held across power cycles, when the unit is powered on and mute is engaged, the display could flash a message that mute is engaged, or maybe just the word MUTE in big letters.

Either flashing, or just on screen for something like 5 seconds and then disappear.


I have also mentioned the mute button to Oppo on the remote app... IIRC, the mute button always has an "x" on it.

I suggested if possible, to make the mute button show an x only when mute is engaged, and then remove the x when the mute function is not active.

I like both of these ideas. Youre right, the button does always have the X on it. Toggling the X may be the easiest solution.

Do you have speakers connected as well? How do you feel about the mute on power cycle? I'm just wondering if Im the only person that thought the way it works wasnt ideal. The unmuting isnt a huge issue but the few times i forgot to check I had the volume pot up a fair bit and got a bit of a jolt when music started playing!

Personally I would rather have the MUTE carry over across power cycles. I have had at least one instance of it blasting me away when powering on from previously in mute state.
I was happy to find that it didn't damage my speakers that I know of.
HasturTheYellow makes a very good point about it confusing some users into thinking the amp has gone tats up when not realizing it's muted.
However, another idea which may be even better, is to implement a "power on volume level" in the amps menu.
So then whatever number the user decides to plug into that setting, the unit will always power on at that volume level, despite what the volume was when powering off.
Their latest media players do have that feature already, and I think they could also implement it in the HA-1 if they wanted to.

 

[x RELIC x]

+1 ^

Great idea! Works a treat with my receiver.

 

[Stereolab42]

Personally I was surprised at the lack of an option to switch between the pre-amp and headphone outputs, as opposed to simply being able to mute the pre-amp. This is the primary advantage of at least one competing headphone amp for me. Who listens to headphones and their speakers simultaneously???

 

[HasturTheYellow]

You would be surprised over how many people wanted the BDP-105 players to support the analog outputs as well the headphone amplifier. The main reason for this is that customers wanted to be able to use a home theater setup while someone who is hard of hearing can use the headphones at the same time.
 
Some people also wanted to run a second room while using the headphones.

 

[Brault]

I often use phones and speakers simultaneously. I can get the room ambience from the speakers plus the clarity and distinct localization of the phones. However, I'm doing this with separate volume control of the two so I can find a p,easing balance. This wouldn't work as well with the one control on the HA-1, I don't think...

 

[Currawong]

  1. Being able to keep the HA-1 muted across power cycles is something that we can consider, but not necessarily something that we can guarantee as being a part of the player. The main issue is that if you allow for continuous mute, you run the possibility of customer's thinking the HA-1 is defective, rather than just muted.
 
2. This is something that I will suggest to the software engineers, but grey may not be the best color, since gray is usually used to show that something is not available.
 
There is no remote control code. You will need to manually learn/program the remote control commands to a learning/universal remote.

 
The one negative in the set-up I don't like is that the mute button is on the remote only (as far as I can tell anyway).
 
One of the nicest set-ups I've seen for sorting out the headphone outputs versus the pre-amp output is on the Resonessence Invicta and Mirus, where you can program a preset level for the pre-amp and headphone outputs which holds through power cycles, though I don't expect Oppo to suddenly implement anything as comprehensive as what they have.

 

[HasturTheYellow]

I often use phones and speakers simultaneously. I can get the room ambience from the speakers plus the clarity and distinct localization of the phones. However, I'm doing this with separate volume control of the two so I can find a p,easing balance. This wouldn't work as well with the one control on the HA-1, I don't think...

 
That is what Home Theater Bypass is for. The analog/XLR outputs can be full volume and be controlled by the downstream amplifier/pre-amplifier/receiver, while the HA-1's volume controls just affect the headphone amplification.
 
If you are using the HA-1 for all volume controls, then you will have problems with trying to get a proper mix for the amplified speakers and the headphones, as one is ultimately going to sound louder than the other.

 

[Stereolab42]

   
The one negative in the set-up I don't like is that the mute button is on the remote only (as far as I can tell anyway).
 
One of the nicest set-ups I've seen for sorting out the headphone outputs versus the pre-amp output is on the Resonessence Invicta and Mirus, where you can program a preset level for the pre-amp and headphone outputs which holds through power cycles, though I don't expect Oppo to suddenly implement anything as comprehensive as what they have.

 
The Grace m920 does that as well, in addition to the ability to assign exclusive output to phones/preamp or have them run simultaneously. Of course all these other amps cost a lot more, but I would guess this can be added as a software feature to the HA-1. My advice to Oppo would be to shift focus more towards computer and pro-audio setups, as opposed to home theater, for headphone amps.

 

[jonstatt]

   
The Grace m920 does that as well, in addition to the ability to assign exclusive output to phones/preamp or have them run simultaneously. Of course all these other amps cost a lot more, but I would guess this can be added as a software feature to the HA-1. My advice to Oppo would be to shift focus more towards computer and pro-audio setups, as opposed to home theater, for headphone amps.

 
Not as "opposed to" but in addition to! I use my HA-1 exactly as Oppo have envisaged with it being used alongside a Home Theatre AV set-up. It acts as a DAC for my Sonos with home-theatre bypass full line out level to my AV system. And it also acts as a headphone amplifier with an XLR direct connection from the Oppo 105. I think I fit exactly into one of the set-ups that Oppo was aiming at so I wouldn't want attention diverted. No harm in them accommodating additional scenarios though!

 

[Brault]

One of the nicest set-ups I've seen for sorting out the headphone outputs versus the pre-amp output is on the Resonessence Invicta and Mirus, where you can program a preset level for the pre-amp and headphone outputs which holds through power cycles, though I don't expect Oppo to suddenly implement anything as comprehensive as what they have.

Emotiva does this on the XDA-2 as well.

 

[x RELIC x]

One of the intangibles with Oppo Digital are it's stunning customer care.

I contacted them with a question regarding my HA-1 and without hesitation they set aside a unit to ship to me with a return shipping label in case my unit was 'abnormal'. Of course nothing was wrong and they kindly confirmed my query, but still......

These guys are on the ball. Customer for life!

 

[craftyhack]

   
Not as "opposed to" but in addition to! I use my HA-1 exactly as Oppo have envisaged with it being used alongside a Home Theatre AV set-up. It acts as a DAC for my Sonos with home-theatre bypass full line out level to my AV system. And it also acts as a headphone amplifier with an XLR direct connection from the Oppo 105. I think I fit exactly into one of the set-ups that Oppo was aiming at so I wouldn't want attention diverted. No harm in them accommodating additional scenarios though!

+1

 

[Frank I]

I am going to connect it shortly to the Oppo BDP 105 to see how it works with the sacd disc and hdcd disc I have. The HA-1 doing well with both the high and low impedance headphones. Sound good on high gain with the hd800 and use low gain for everything else.

 

[HiFiAudio]

I was reading on exasound web site that they came out with downloadable (requires registration) Core Audio DoP256 and OS X ASIO drivers last march for their e20 Mk III, e22 and e28 DACsto support native DSD 256 within MacOS X, is Oppo Digital able to provide similar drivers to take advantage of native DSD 256 instead of just DSD over PCM ?

 

[PerfectHiFi]

What are the differences between US-, Asian - and European versions? All uniit have autosensing power 110 vac...240 vac, correct? Anything else that must be considered?