[sky.xd]

Audeze ship with a balanced cable. I use it and have bought two spares. Cable works well.

I never go past 1 O clock position when using the HA-1 LCD3c combo.

 
Oh do they? The salesman told me they only come with SE cable and not balanced. I probably should have stopped listening to him when he told me the LCD-2 are 600 ohm haha.
 
Thanks everyone for reassuring my decision to get the HA-1. It is going to be a slow week waiting for it

 

[akhyar]

   
Oh do they? The salesman told me they only come with SE cable and not balanced. I probably should have stopped listening to him when he told me the LCD-2 are 600 ohm haha.
 
Thanks everyone for reassuring my decision to get the HA-1. It is going to be a slow week waiting for it

 
IIRC, the 3, X and XC come with both cables, only the 2 comes with SE cable

 

[x RELIC x]

HA-1 puts out 4x more power in balanced mode and is a treat with the LCD-2.

 

[Maxx134]

The only problem I find with the HA-1 is the level it is at...
In other words, it is too good..

Nowhere to go from here if wanting to move up unless you have $4k plus to spend, to notice an appreciable improvement. .

The only cheaper choices is to mix it up with either a tube amp or a different sounding Dac like an irDac or better yet a Gungnir.
Yet Ur still at that same level.

I recently herd the LIO and can say IMO that is the only worthy amp/dac solution worth looking into if U have $4k plus to blow..

Personally I rather keep the oppo or a tube amp and wait for the yggy instead.

 

[Dixter]

As the Oppo is open type...  another option if you want/need closed is to consider the Alpha Prime Phones...  you don't have to spend $4K on them... 

 

[reddog]

As the Oppo is open type...  another option if you want/need closed is to consider the Alpha Prime Phones...  you don't have to spend $4K on them... 

+1 Alpha Prime is a fantastic headphone, I swear by mine. Would not mind a portable orthodynamic headphone, like the Oppo pm-3.

 

[Maxx134]

+1 Alpha Prime is a fantastic headphone, I swear by mine. Would not mind a portable orthodynamic headphone, like the Oppo pm-3.

planars do excellent on ha1 balanced out but instead of Alpha Primes I would also look into new the LCD models..
both I would choose over the pm1 ..

 

[atubbs]

I like a lot of phones fed from the balanced output of the HA-1 but the last 3 nights I have really begun to appreciate what a great pairing it is with the PM-1.

I hadn't given the PM-1 too much air time as I just didn't expect it to compete with the likes of the HD800, LCD3 or HE6. Not saying it's better than these technically but with the HA-1 there is a definite synergy which is something I guess Oppo have worked hard to achieve.

Any of you guys loving the combo?

 
I really like the two together. In fact, at its price point, I think the PM-1 is one of the better values in high-end cans right now, and that value is made even more pronounced by the PM-2. They're both incredibly easy to drive from any source; I think this is a fantastic feature. That they do well with the HA-1 I think has more to do with this than that they're particularly synergistic, but I'll admit to having spent a lot of time with the HA-1/PM-1 chained together; that's my go-to system for headphones in my home office. My only real beef with it is that with large ears, the PM-1 cups are pretty small and definitely end up as somewhat on-ear instead of over-ear for me; even with good pads, reasonable clamping and light weight I find them somewhat physically fatiguing ... so will alternate to something like the K701 which is easier on the ears but the headband hurts after a while. Can't win!

 

[wgb113]

I've only heard the HA-1 with PM-1 with original leather pads and didn't care for the sound signature at all.  It was tilted far too much towards the bass for my taste, resulting in muddied mids and a lack of highs, especially when compared side-by-side to my AKG K712.
 
I'm not ready to give up on the Oppo cans yet, which is why I've requested the loaner PM-2 (with various pads) that Oppo's offering up here (think that's awesome by the way.)  Plan on comparing them to the Audeze EL-8 as well.
 
Bill

 

[Wurstteppich]

For those who are interested, I just received my T1 cans back, after I send them in to have a balanced 4-pin XLR connector mounted: http://www.head-fi.org/t/508836/the-official-beyerdynamic-t1-impressions-and-discussion-thread/8745#post_11429207
 
Just tried it out and I am impressed on how much juice the balance out got in comparison to the 1/4" out. Instead of turning it up to 3-4 to satisfy my 600 ohms T1, I now just need to turn it up to 11 now. I think the sound has improved as well, however I need more listening hours to definetly give a judgement on that.

 

[SpudHarris]

I'm still rolling with the PM-1's. Have my favourite balanced cans (HD800, LCD3 and HE6) hanging in front of me but I'm not tempted once they PM-1's are on my noggin

 

[Badas]

I'm still rolling with the PM-1's. Have my favourite balanced cans (HD800, LCD3 and HE6) hanging in front of me but I'm not tempted once they PM-1's are on my noggin

In what way would you say the PM1 is better than the LCD3 with the Opo HA-1?

I use the LCD3 primarily with the Woo WA22 however I was thinking for nice short listening sessions I could use a PM1 or 2 with the Oppo.

If you say the PM1 beats the LCD3 with the Oppo then I'm very impressed and interested.

 

[SpudHarris]

I said before that the others including the LCD3 are probably technically better than the PM-1 and have never said that the PM-1's were better. However, sometimes when I want a nothing to complain about easy to get involved in the music listen, then the PM-1's are perfect 'for me' with the HA-1.

 

[Badas]

I said before that the others including the LCD3 are probably technically better than the PM-1 and have never said that the PM-1's were better. However, sometimes when I want a nothing to complain about easy to get involved in the music listen, then the PM-1's are perfect 'for me' with the HA-1.

Excellent. I like that. I know what you mean.

PM2's are on my to do list.

 

[billhickok]

Just received my HA-1 and absolutely love it so far. I'm only using a set of MDR7506's for the time being but it sounds splendid. Beautiful device too (got it in silver.)
 
One question though, i'm using Mac OS X and can't seem to set the bit depth to my liking. It's automatically set to 32bit in Audio MIDI Setup. I want to set it to 16bit so it matches the native bit depth of the majority of my music. I've had the same issue with my Apogee Duet DAC (automatically set at 24bit.) Anyway to change this?
 
See below: