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Oppo HA-1 Impressions Thread
Apr 21, 2017 at 3:49 PM Post #4,999 of 5,414
gradius said:
  Where can I buy an oppo ha-1 now?!?
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You can buy mine. Works perfectly, rarely used, still in original packaging. Black.
 
I paired the HA-1 with the STAX SRS-3170 (220V 50Hz). Moving back to 120V 60hz country.
 
I'll throw in a Kasso YJ-01 class A tube amp. The power supply was chewed up, it could be rewired. 12V@2.0A. (not a very good amp, but would be fun to modify).
 
Apr 21, 2017 at 5:18 PM Post #5,001 of 5,414
All I know is I'm never gonna sell mine...I love it.  Love the remote and the cool Graph it displays....
 
The Oppo DAC is a bit dry & harsh. I would not have known that until my Yggdrasil stood in for the ESS Sabre 9018 DAC and the difference was really dramatic!!!
 
The Oppo Amp rocks IMO....Shame they quit making it! 
 
Apr 21, 2017 at 5:34 PM Post #5,002 of 5,414
ohmygodpancakes said:
As far as I know they are only available second hand.

Or you can buy a modded one (of which I know nothing about)
Here: http://www.audiocomav.co.uk/headphone-amplifiers/261-oppo-ha-1-special-edition.html
Click to expand...

 
The mods they have done seem rather insignificant. If I was modding it I would replace the DAC. I would also throw out the op amps driving the analog RCA and balanced outputs and wire it so that the headphone amp simply drove those. 
 
Apr 21, 2017 at 6:19 PM Post #5,003 of 5,414
Well it's a long story: purchased 600ohm 990pros (YJ-01 was included for free but not powerful enough***). I read about the HA-1...needed the power and wanted to test the HeadFi claims of DSD superiority. I tried DSD and was not impressed (please no haters/trolls).
 
The Stax distributor was going out of business (JetLive Audio) and gave an unbelievable deal. Best headphones I've ever owned and the only headphones I will ever own. I plan to re-buy the same Stax system, connect directly to my soundcard and enjoy 24bit FLAC. 
 
Apr 22, 2017 at 5:43 PM Post #5,004 of 5,414
ohmygodpancakes said:
As far as I know they are only available second hand.

Or you can buy a modded one (of which I know nothing about)
Here: http://www.audiocomav.co.uk/headphone-amplifiers/261-oppo-ha-1-special-edition.html
Click to expand...


I had no idea on "special edition", but is so little improvision for the price US$ 2690 vs US$ 1199 (almost $1500 diff) they are just crazy.
 
Apr 22, 2017 at 7:02 PM Post #5,007 of 5,414
Has anyone checked out the Headphone Amps from Schiit?
 
http://schiit.com
 
I just became a Customer about a month ago with one of their new DAC's.  
 
It's now what I use with the HA-1 Amp...If you don't like what you buy?, Send it back and get a complete refund...
tongue.gif

 
May 11, 2017 at 1:50 PM Post #5,008 of 5,414
My buddy just recently upgraded to the Gumby, and since I've listened to his stack before he got multibit, I heard huge leaps in performance in terms of clarity, neutrality and the microdetails... enough to push me over the edge to finally pick one up too to replace my Oppo HA-1. Since I got the Gumby in my hands first, I decided to A/B them for fun... so I hooked the Gumby balanced outs into the Oppo XLR inputs and took it for a spin.

...but if I'm honest with myself, I couldn't hear the difference comparing just DAC sections!!! Has anyone else shared this experience?

I've compared just about everything I could... USB input, coax, optical input..... HD800, HD650, and all genres of songs... jazz, classical, pop, etc. Both rapid A/B, and long listening sessions before I switched... and there are times where I forget which input is which.

Both me and my friend found it odd that I would hear them the same, given them being totally different DAC chips. Could it be that that's just the limit of my hearing?
 
May 11, 2017 at 3:24 PM Post #5,009 of 5,414
I still use my Oppo HA-1 but not with that built-in ESS Sabre DAC. I was always told about the infamous Sabre glare...I claimed I could not hear it. But upon getting my Yggy DAC it's not even comparable. Your Gumby should get comparable results too. Delta Sigma DACs all seem to have that harsh, strident and glare producing sound...some are better than others.... But Schiit's R2R ladder type DAC's give up a smooth and natural sound completely different from the ESS Sabre DACs...my ears are 65 yrs old and still work pretty good considering all the loud concerts I've attended. And I'm only using my USB input. I hope to have another jump coming in the way of a DDC that will convert USB to AES input on the Yggdrasil. I also use HD-800S and 650's too!
 
May 11, 2017 at 3:33 PM Post #5,010 of 5,414
It's not at all surprising to fail to differentiate two well engineered DACs in a properly done, level matched DBT. Well engineered & built DACs should be sonically transparent. In fact, if someone were to hear a difference reliably, I'd scrutinize the test setup to ensure that it was set up properly: both signals equally routed, level matched, digital bitstreams set up so as to be properly clocked, etc. Or, perhaps one of the DACs isn't designed to be as flat & linear as possible; it may have some euphonic coloration or distortion designed into it.

I'm not saying that it's impossible to differentiate two well engineered DACs in a DBT, which would amount to saying they all sound the same. But well engineered DACs do sound so similar as to be nearly identical, and any differences that one detects would be splitting hairs.

Indeed, this is as it should be! Well engineered DACs are designed to be as close as human engineering can devise to perfectly flat frequency response, perfect linearity, minimum distortion mathematically possible. The current state of engineering makes it possible for these limits to be so low as to make it questionable whether they are audible to humans.
 
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