Pass Labs - HPA1

[adydula]

Wow thats a great question.....one I have been asked several times.
Consider $500 vs $3500.
To many its not worth the difference in cost.
Class AB vs Class A.
Less power - More power.

Both drive all my stuff very well.

Different sound signature for sure.

Which one is better.....only you can answer this by listening yourself.

My subjective opinion tells "me" that the HPA-1 is more musical. The RHNP is more "clinical"....
So very dependent on the recording and mix.
Music is soooo widely varied it makes it hard to just say this one is better than that one...
There are so many opinions and flowery adjectives thats is very hard to understand or believe what the youtube reviewers are saying at times.

What I can say objectively here is having a setup that is resolving enough to actually hear differences is very important to begin to honestly state any real discernible differences...

With the addition of the iFI Pro DSD dac and the D8000 Pros...I am there or at least my ears are telling me that I am.
Any one of the amps in the picture will make me smile.

Even the linestage of the Pro DSD with the D8000 Pros using the SE out, lower power are very, very good...listening to some good DSD stuff.

So you got more than you asked for!! lol...
I like both...but I would sell the RHNP and keep the HPA-1 for sure if it came to that.

Alex

 

[ThanatosVI]

ALways re-arranging!

Is it weird, thst from all those amps I'd chose the Lyr3?

 

[adydula]

Ha! no not wierd at...great choice!
The Lyr 3 has given me many hours of smiles...I actually was selling it...then I listened with it several times
and took it off the market!

There are sooo many good choices out here...

I am down from 30 amps!! (yes I am crazy) to about 6 now....and I have a Bryston BH1 being built to play with...
iFi is rumored to possibly having a new amp...???

But honestly dont think either one will really surpass any of the things I have in house.

As u know the D8000 p's have really impressed me...and the adding of the new dac has elevated everything here...

 

[Alcophone]

My subjective opinion tells "me" that the HPA-1 is more musical. The RHNP is more "clinical"....

I like both...but I would sell the RHNP and keep the HPA-1 for sure if it came to that.

That helps, thank you! I have to check out the D8000 Pro. And the Susvara.

 

[adydula]

I had the Susvara and the D8000 p's here....both nice, for me it was the d8000's...easy to drive dont need a speaker amp etc..and I actually preferred the
sound for me with the finals..

HPA-1 is the better amp, but it does cost a ton more...good luck let us know what you settle in on...

:>)

 

[ZoNtO]

@adydula, could you please compare and contrast the sound of this amp with the ECP T4 and the Schiit Jotunheim 2?

 

[adydula]

@adydula, could you please compare and contrast the sound of this amp with the ECP T4 and the Schiit Jotunheim 2?

The ECP T4 is a marvelous non-OTL amp....but it doesnt have the "power" that the HPA-1 does. Very clean sounding....with its Lundahl output transformers.
The HPA-1 is just a different more musical lifelike sound...works well with brighter or close to neutral sounding headphones IMO.
The Jot has more power, has many possible settings with the SE and Balanced and low/high gain....so its more versatile for sure.

Throw in price and the winner for most would be the Jot 2 from Schiit.

The ECP T4 is not made anymore. Parts issues. Maybe...a long shot a follow up someday. So it you want one and find it on the used market grab it fast!

Alex

 

[CrispyWhale]

Never heard from the service about the HPA-1, but indeed D8000 Pro's are just fabulous. I can't stop smiling since a few months now

 

[wanderingnomad]

Is anyone using or has used the HPA-1 with Arya's? Trying to see if this is a good pairing.

 

[adydula]

I have never used any HiFiMan headphones with the HPA-1 amp. Had several here prior to having obtained this amp.
The amp would have no issue with the Arya's IMO.

Still have the HPA-1, sold the Whammy and I do have the ACP + that Nelson Pass designed for burning amp etc...

Still my favorite all around amp.

 

[CrispyWhale]

I finally bought Violectric DHA V590 Pro and together with my Final Audio D8000 Pro is just a dream pair.

Happy Christmas, folks!

 

[Justin_Time]

Is anyone using or has used the HPA-1 with Arya's? Trying to see if this is a good pairing.

I have used the HiFiMan HE1000, Arya and Ananda with the Pass-Lab HPA-1. They work very well together. The other possible amps you may want to consider is the GSX-1 MkII—it is slightly more colored than the HPA-1 but is allows you to play the HiFiMan at the ear-damage level—and the Violectric V550, which is also a very fine balanced amp with huge power though sonically less musical than the HPA-1.

I also enjoy using various HiFiMan planar HPs with tube amps for admittedly a more colored but very pleasing sound—liquid top end and fuller bass—and have excellent results with the Apex Pinnacle and the Feliks Euforia.

There are many excellent amps you can pair with the HiFiMan Arya. The PassLab HPA-1 is a great choice.

 

[barbz127]

Hi all,

Has anyone had the opportunity to compare the HPA1 with the Sparkos Aries at all?

Also has anyone teamed the HPA1 up with the TT2 and could comment on the pairing and how the two headphone outputs differ to one another?

Thankyou

 

[Alcophone]

Hi all,

Has anyone had the opportunity to compare the HPA1 with the Sparkos Aries at all?

Also has anyone teamed the HPA1 up with the TT2 and could comment on the pairing and how the two headphone outputs differ to one another?

Thankyou

I have had both here for weeks and never really warmed up to the Aries, but quickly fell in love with the HPA-1. It just keeps the music intact. Tried both primarily with the DCA Stealth, but also Ether Flow, Ether C Flow, HD660S, Focal Listen and SHP9500S and universally preferred the HPA-1.
I also like it as a preamp into the XTZ Edge A2-300 driving a pair of Dali Spektor 1.

Source is the Yggdrasil A2 with USB gen 5. Even though the Aries had the advantage of balanced inputs (which it needed to sound decent, even with the Bifrost 2, despite both being internally single ended), the Yggdrasil single ended into the HPA-1 still beats it.

I did like that I had an absolute volume level to set the Aries to for volume matching, but also like that the HPA-1 has a continuous volume knob that feels luxurious on top. Don't like that the HPA-1 has the power switch in the back and that it has slippery feet (easy to fix) while using that locking Neutrik jack, which requires quite a bit of force to disconnect a headphone from. On the other hand, switching inputs can be done blind because of dedicated buttons while the Aries has a submenu for it that closes when you adjust the volume. The preout is switchable (either headphones or preout) which is perfect for me.

In direct comparison to the Gustard H20 with SparkoS SS3602s I'm struggling to decide whether the HPA-1 is actually better. I like both a lot, they feel different when listening to them, but it's hard to describe how exactly. The HPA-1 sounds maybe slightly more natural, while the H20 seems to have a bit more grunt. I've been using the HPA-1 happily for a few months now.

 

[chesebert]

A bit overpriced at the MSRP but you can do a lot worse these days - way worse with FOTM stuff. Sensible design, layout and BOM.