[polecrab]

[COLOR=434343]"At the same time, the convenience of modern digital volume control is not lost -"   this line is from the oppo ha1 website. the sales assistant seems right here that a digital volume control stops any distortion no matter how high the volume. i would find it hard to believe that the explorer could not drive the pm1 but i bet it would be on highest volume to get a decent signal. such a small thing wasn't made for planars no matter how efficient the cans. anyway putting all that jargon to one side i still have a dilemna. tidal is my main source for hifi lossless. if i get the ha1 and tidal go mqa i loose out. if i buy the brooklyn dac i get a small box no  pm1 cans but i get mqa ready dac. both sound great. any help? the gain was high when i listened to pm1/ha1 in shop. it sounded crystal clear. does that mean even though its a planar with only around 40 impedence the ha1 still needs to be on high gain to power them.[/COLOR]

That sales person was mistaken, the HA1 uses an "analog potentiometer" as that same website states. The comparison to digital convenience relates to usability, not sound. And digital volume control has nothing to do with distortion at high volume. Volume controls usually become a factor at very low volume. The PM1 is a very sensitive headphone so you can easily drive it to deafening levels with just your phone.

 

[musickid]

HI THERE,
 
My mistake as i have had 5 days exposure to really reading about the ha1. do you know when high or low gain is used for balanced/unbalanced pm1 with ha1? we saw a digital readout on the screen when volume was turned and so assumed it was a digital volume control.!
 
so why did oppo design a powerful amp to go with a relatively easy to drive cans. on paper technically it makes no sense but when listening its great. flagship amp ha1, flagship headphones pm1. 
 
Last point is it normal to use third party dac so ha1 is just a headamp? (reason i may want the explorer2 mini dac for tidal mqa if it arrives.) 

 

[polecrab]

  HI THERE,
 
My mistake as i have had 5 days exposure to really reading about the ha1. do you know when high or low gain is used for balanced/unbalanced pm1 with ha1? we saw a digital readout on the screen when volume was turned and so assumed it was a digital volume control.!
 
so why did oppo design a powerful amp to go with a relatively easy to drive cans. on paper technically it makes no sense but when listening its great. flagship amp ha1, flagship headphones pm1.

I would assume that low gain would be used either way with the PM1. Just see where you have the volume set at your normal listening volume. If you have to turn the volume way past the halfway point, then increase the gain. But other people who actually own that combination could chime in on what works best for them. When I listened to the PM3, which I think is just slightly more sensitive than the PM1 due to the closed design, I used low gain on the HA1 and that was more than enough gain.
 
If Oppo designed a headphone amp optimized for high-sensitivity headphones, they would sell very few units. But with a powerful amp, you can use it with a much wider range of headphones, including those that are a lot harder to drive than the PM1. That's much smarter.

 

[musickid]

hi pole,
 
when i listened to ha1 with my beyers dt880  it was ok. it wasn't just a question of matching cans with amps as the pm1/ha1 combo i heard went beyond what can be described technically. the sound was fluid on high gain till max vol levels really smooth and detailed. i am sure they designed the amp for audiophiles not the normal public and they have done some magic with the pm1 combo. every review says the two were designed for each other both marketing and tech. if you listen to same sensitivity as pm1 ie other cans its not the same. beyer sounded dull. any advice regarding 3rd party dacs to ha1. maybe for me if mqa tidal arrives or is another dac not good.

 

[Whitigir]

I pair HA1 to Z1R balanced and love it

 

[T Bone]

To all of my fellow Oppo HA-1 owners - have you ever tried using the HA-1 solely as an amplifier, bypassing the DAC?
 
I might considering routing an exernal DAC's output through the balanced XLR input.

 

[Raptor34]

  To all of my fellow Oppo HA-1 owners - have you ever tried using the HA-1 solely as an amplifier, bypassing the DAC?
 
I might considering routing an external DAC's output through the balanced XLR input.

Go for it!   When I got a multi-bit dac, that's exactly what I did.   The on board dac is very good but the HA-1's class A amp is the real star of the show and can be mated with any outboard dac you wish.  imo of course

cheers

 

[T Bone]

  he on board dac is very good but the HA-1's class A amp is the real star of the show and can be mated with any outboard dac you wish.

 
That is EXACTLY the kind of feedback I was hoping for!  Thank you.
May i ask which multi-bit DAC you tried it with?  I'll go out on a limb and guess it was Schiit.  

 

[Raptor34]

   
That is EXACTLY the kind of feedback I was hoping for!  Thank you.
May i ask which multi-bit DAC you tried it with?  I'll go out on a limb and guess it was Schiit.  

Yup, Schiit's M/B Bifrost.

 

[musickid]

I have a schitt modi multibit dac the small version thus still multibit. would it perform better than the onboard dac and how can you ensure any 3rd party dac will match the ha1 specs powering etc. last thing if i use an intona with the ha1 does the current output of the intona become an issue or is that only with usb powered dacs. intona current output 300/500mA max. many thanks.

 

[LittleToast]

I hope to connect the headphone balanced output of the HA-1 to my active speakers. My active speakers only have xlr terminals. However, I am not able to find a cable in the market that can help me do this. I hope to get a good cable. Can anyone help? Thanks.

 

[Whitigir]

Why don't you use preamped dual XLR ? It is better suited for this situation rather than XLR 4 to speakers

 

[LittleToast]

I read that the quality is better. Hadphone amp uses discrete components on class A. Xlrs output on the back uses op-amp.

 

[Raptor34]

I read that the quality is better. Hadphone amp uses discrete components on class A. Xlrs output on the back uses op-amp.

I've never heard of a class A 'XLR pre-out.   These do not power headphones, they just pass the source signal to amplifier inputs.  

 

[polecrab]

I read that the quality is better. Hadphone amp uses discrete components on class A. Xlrs output on the back uses op-amp.

A guy in one of the modding forums rewired his HA-1 so his class A balanced output was connected to the dual XLRs in back instead of the front balanced headphone out. He really loved the results. I tried connecting the 1/4" out to my power amp for my speakers but it was way too quiet. I'm sure the balanced out would have better results since it's more powerful, but I wonder about impedance mismatches.