[kawaivpc1]

How does this unit sound to you guys?
Tell me about your impression.

 

[HiFiAudio]

Brilliant. So I did well for my first HP purchase. Can I assume that the amp section is fairly powerful and I choose most HP's within reason to use with it?

I'm loving this hobby. I am very quickly moving from a Home theatre enthusiast to wanting to experiment with HP's.

Yes, especially using balanced headphone output.

 

[x RELIC x]

Although I like Black I like Silver better, more of a decision to what it is sitting next to.  :wink_face:

Since my unit is next to nothing I guess I'll have to get the silver also.

 

[Badas]

Yes, especially using balanced headphone output.

Thanks. New to this site and you guys have been real nice.

 

[MattTCG]

I wonder how planar mag hp's that are somewhat hard to drive will do from the SE jack?

 

[Smarty-pants]

I wonder how planar mag hp's that are somewhat hard to drive will do from the SE jack?

With the option of the balanced headphone output, and a high gain option too, the HA-1 will drive any headphone efficiently.

 

[MattTCG]

^^ Understood. But there will be many people with SE planar mag hp's who want to run them that way and not go balanced. My question is how well the Oppo would run hp's with that scenario.
 
For example, how would something like the he-4 do SE from the HA-1?

 

[PerfectHiFi]

Strange! HiFi News specify an output impedance of 1.3...1.5 Ohms. However, HA-1 manual specifies 0.5, resp. 0.7 Ohms output impedande. However, I assume for getting best damping factor of 100....1000, a headphone impedance of 250 Ohms....600 Ohms would achieve best results for best impulse response. This is probably the reason why HD-800 (600 ohmes) sound fantastic. Anyones opinion?

 

[ogodei]

Hey, someone on another thread said the HA-1 is not a neutral amp and was bright and only designed to work with the PM-1.

 
This comment may have been based on Oppo's use of the Sabre chipset which some people claim is bright.   In this case it is complete BS from someone who has not listened to the amp; The amp is not bright.
 

Is there an equaliser thingy I could install to give tone bass control?

 
No plug ins for the Oppo itself.  Look for a plug-in for your preferred software player (if your source is PC or Mac) before moving into hardware equalisers.
 

Brilliant. So I did well for my first HP purchase. Can I assume that the amp section is fairly powerful and I choose most HP's within reason to use with it?

 
The HA1 will do justice to 98% of the headphones out there, including the HD-800s.  That said it is NOT the most powerful HP amp out there and people will be very quick to make sure you know it.  When they do, consider if you bought the amp to power your headphones sufficiently or if you bought it to compete in the specification wars. 
 
edit for grammar

 

[x RELIC x]

^^ Understood. But there will be many people with SE planar mag hp's who want to run them that way and not go balanced. My question is how well the Oppo would run hp's with that scenario.

For example, how would something like the he-4 do SE from the HA-1?

I believe Smarty-pants is saying that the HA-1 can drive more difficult SE headphones well using high gain, and not have to use balanced.

 

[Smarty-pants]

^Yep, should be just fine with high gain, maybe even low gain.
Personally I have never tried the HE-4.

 

[Maxx134]

So which is sexier....black or silver?

Dam I whish we had some more pics maybe even of both side by side,
But I think both are equally impressive.

...
Hey, someone on another thread said the HA-1 is not a neutral amp and was bright and only designed to work with the PM-1..

This view is a result of trying to push both the PM-1 with the HA-1 together all the time,
which in reality makes no sense as the PM1 is both very efficient does not climb much if at all with more amplification.

The HA-1 is just top notch and,
From an engineering view, just one look at the internals and I was hooked at the beautiful UNCLUTTERED layout with nice huge toroidal transformer and huge caps...

 

[olegausany]

I wonder how planar mag hp's that are somewhat hard to drive will do from the SE jack?

Not as good, the difference noticeable right away even if cheap cable from eBay is used

 

[pragu]

I wonder how planar mag hp's that are somewhat hard to drive will do from the SE jack?

Not as good, the difference noticeable right away even if cheap cable from eBay is used

 This is good to hear, my balanced cable is on it's way just for the HA-1. 
 

  Is anyone else having trouble getting output from chrome on a mac? I'm not sure if it's a chrome bug or something wrong with the driver, but they won't play together  
 

 
And an update on this - the problem was something to do with 384000.00Hz sampling, which is the default for the HA-1 when you first plug it in. You need to open the Midi settings and turn it down to something 96000Hz or lower and everything will work again.

 

[Badas]

This comment may have been based on Oppo's use of the Sabre chipset which some people claim is bright.   In this case it is complete BS from someone who has not listened to the amp; The amp is not bright.

Okay so I can just ignore that comment. Cool.

I do find my Senny HD700 and Oppo HA-1 combo to bright for my taste. I think my Senny purchase was a wrong one. So I will hunt and find a pre Frazer LCD2 or 3.

No plug ins for the Oppo itself.  Look for a plug-in for your preferred software player (if your source is PC or Mac) before moving into hardware

I only use CD via optical, SACD DVD Audio via analog and iPod via a Arcam Dock via coaxial. No computer. Is there a piece of hardware I could add in the chain where I could play with equalisation? Or do I just get HP's that suit my taste and leave it?

The HA1 will do justice to 98% of the headphones out there, including the HD-800s.  That said it is NOT the most powerful HP amp out there and people will be very quick to make sure you know it.  When they do, consider if you bought the amp to power your headphones sufficiently or if you bought it to compete in the specification wars. 

edit for grammar

I don't think I will ever be in a mine is more powerful than yours situation. I just want to plug in a set of HP's and know the amp is doing great. I find I don't like listening loud anyway. I have my HD 700 on high gain one third volume.