[P-Nation]

Hey all,
 
I've had my LCD-Xs for a year now, and while they're amazing in many ways, I've never been completely satisfied with them. I'm using a very underpowered amp/dac combo unit right now with them (Audinst HUD-MX1) and I'm feeling the itch to upgrade to the HA-1 in order to get the punctual and detailed bass I've been craving for a while now.

Is the general consensus is that ought to be a decent combination? I see a lot of bickering back and forth in the thread regarding intricacies and I'm no golden ear - I'm just looking for a bit of punch to the music I listen to. 

What are the general go-tos regardling dac/amp combo units for this particular can? I need to power these things sufficiently, I'm feeling like I'm doing them a disservice by feeding them an entry-level unit!

Any input is appreciated, thanks!

 

[Allanmarcus]

  Hey all,
 
I've had my LCD-Xs for a year now, and while they're amazing in many ways, I've never been completely satisfied with them. I'm using a very underpowered amp/dac combo unit right now with them (Audinst HUD-MX1) and I'm feeling the itch to upgrade to the HA-1 in order to get the punctual and detailed bass I've been craving for a while now.

Is the general consensus is that ought to be a decent combination? I see a lot of bickering back and forth in the thread regarding intricacies and I'm no golden ear - I'm just looking for a bit of punch to the music I listen to. 

What are the general go-tos regardling dac/amp combo units for this particular can? I need to power these things sufficiently, I'm feeling like I'm doing them a disservice by feeding them an entry-level unit!

Any input is appreciated, thanks!

 
You might want to post that int he LCD-X thread if you want a less biased opinion. The general opinion is is more amp power helps planer drivers reach their potential better. 

 

[DaemonSire]

Does everyone typically turn their HA-1 off when not in use or leave it on all the time?  I know with a lot of solid state devices, people typically just leave them on all the time.  But since the HA-1 is also a Class-A amp, I was wondering if that would not be a good idea?

 

[Aaaaa]

That's a good question. It does take half an hour to warm up to sound it's best. I turn mine on when I want to listen, then leave it on for the day becauce I typically will come back to listen periodically, but then turn it off when I'm finished for the night. I leave it off at night especially in summer because the little bugger can warm up the room if left on.

 

[Middy]

Does bend my head, electronics is better cooler. But sounds good when at a stable temperature. Heat does speed up component death. The Schitt Yaggy stabilises at 100 hours on. Play safe though..

 

[Allanmarcus]

  Does everyone typically turn their HA-1 off when not in use or leave it on all the time?  I know with a lot of solid state devices, people typically just leave them on all the time.  But since the HA-1 is also a Class-A amp, I was wondering if that would not be a good idea?

I turn it off if I'm not going to listen to it for hours, like at night. It does generate heat, which means it's using energy. I need to hook up my kil-a-watt to it an see what it uses when idle.  

 

[Middy]

Wish it was like me, I don't produce much heat when idle.

 

[Dickies]

  Does everyone typically turn their HA-1 off when not in use or leave it on all the time?  I know with a lot of solid state devices, people typically just leave them on all the time.  But since the HA-1 is also a Class-A amp, I was wondering if that would not be a good idea?

I turn mine off if I'm not intending to come back to it for more that about a half hour, the fact I have a cat who tries to sit on it for the warmth also plays a part in that.
 
don't really agree it takes 30mins to get in the zone, but do concede you shouldn't listen to your favourite track as soon as you switch it on.
 

Wish it was like me, I don't produce much heat when idle.

 
speak for yourself I run at about 37 degrees C 24/7 365, try holding something that hot for a long period of time

 

[Allanmarcus]

Interesting. I hooked up my kill-a-watt to the HA-1 and idle or in use, it seems to use about 39W, not 70W as shown in the specs. Also interesting, same power usage when idle or when playing music. 

 

[urbino]

  Interesting. I hooked up my kill-a-watt to the HA-1 and idle or in use, it seems to use about 39W, not 70W as shown in the specs. Also interesting, same power usage when idle or when playing music. 

 
That's what Class-A means, right? It's using full power all the time, regardless of what it's doing?

 

[T Bone]

I turn mine on when I want to listen, then leave it on for the day becauce I typically will come back to listen periodically, but then turn it off when I'm finished for the night. 

I have a "new-to-me" Oppo HA-1 and I pretty much leave it on for 8 - 12 hours a day while I'm working in my office.  Even if I'm not wearing the headphones; the background music is nice to have.

 

[hikinokie]

Just bought a refurb HA 1 and plan on feeding it with a digital coaxial/optical cable from my Oppo 105. I have a small collection of 24 bit flac/wav files burned to disc and was wondering if they'll work that way. I have a Android tablet but have never tried computer audio. Not sure i want too. (58 years old)

 

[reiserFS]

I've been thinking about buying a HA-1, but did anyone else try it with a ATH-W1000x?

 

[zilch0md]

Just bought a refurb HA 1 and plan on feeding it with a digital coaxial/optical cable from my Oppo 105. I have a small collection of 24 bit flac/wav files burned to disc and was wondering if they'll work that way. I have a Android tablet but have never tried computer audio. Not sure i want too. (58 years old)

 
Hi,
 
It's really more of an Oppo 105 question. As long as the BDP-105 can read the CD or DVD (and permits some means of navigating the files), your idea of using Optical or Coaxial output to the HA-1 should work just fine.
 
I'm just guessing, but I suspect that using only the HA-1's amp section, feeding it with 3-pin balanced XLR cables (analog) from the BDP-105, might actually sound better - using the BDP-105's own ESS SABRE³² DAC - instead of piping an S/PDIF signal over to the HA-1's DAC.
 
You would need a pair of these, for example, instead of a Coaxial or Toslink cable:
 

Canare L-4E6S Star Quad Balanced Audio Cable​

http://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/balancedaudio/index.htm
 
 

 
Drool!
 

 
Mike

 

[x RELIC x]

Hi,

It's really more of an Oppo 105 question. As long as the BDP-105 can read the CD or DVD (and permits some means of navigating the files), your idea of using Optical or Coaxial output to the HA-1 should work just fine.

I'm just guessing, but I suspect that using only the HA-1's amp section, feeding it with 3-pin balanced XLR cables (analog) from the BDP-105, might actually sound better - using the BDP-105's own ESS SABRE³² DAC - instead of piping an S/PDIF signal over to the HA-1's DAC.

You would need a pair of these, for example, instead of a Coaxial or Toslink cable:

Canare L-4E6S Star Quad Balanced Audio Cable​

http://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/balancedaudio/index.htm





Drool!




Mike

Curious why you would expect the 105's implementation to sound better? Oppo has mentioned that they have paid more attention to the ESS9018S implementation in the HA-1 over their Blu Ray players given that the HA-1 is solely an audio device. I haven't heard the 105 for comparison, just curious.