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Originally Posted by bcwang /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Your 300 hour mark should be coming up soon. Can't wait to get your full impressions.
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I have been posting my listening updates often in post #2, so be sure to take a look there. Basically the HDP headphone amp is great and at less than 10 hours it was clearly better than the prototype which I returned to be updated. The HDP headphone amp is probably on the level of (and reminds me of) the $690 Grahm Slee Solo SRG II that I borrowed and reviewed just a month ago; and it's only slightly below my $1250 maxed Woo WA6 with RCA 6DE7 and Sophia Princess 274B, or my $995 ALO Amphora headphone amps.
The WA6 and Amphora have a little more depth of stage and soundstage size, and a touch more refinement and transparency, among other things; but the HDP headphone out is surprisingly close for a much lower price. This is whether using my HD800, HD600, HF-2, HE-5, or IEMs. I actually prefer the HDP for the HE-5 because it seems to have more power than WA6 and Amphora now, rather than less like the prototype had with these phones.
And, while the Solo SRG II was not a good choice for IEM because of noise and high gain, the HDP is perfect for all of my IEM, universal or custom. My UE11Pro are very picky about what amp I use with them in order to control the bass and fill in the mids, and the WA6 has always been my best amp for them. But the HDP headphone amp is almost as good as the WA6 with the UE11Pro, and it actually beats the Amphora when using the UE11Pro (Amphora also has much more hiss than HDP with IEM).
The HDP as a desktop amp beats all of the portable DAC/amps that have come through here now or in the past, including the DACport which comes close, or my opamp rolled iBasso D4 and D10 which are slightly farther back but also quite good. It almost seems like the HDP's $449 price is reasonable for the DAC, and the $449 price is also reasonable for the headphone amp, and somehow we get both for the same low price. In my book that makes it a best-bang-for-the-buck purchase.
What I am focusing on right now is the HDP as a DAC feeding my other amps, and comparing it to my Apogee mini-DAC, and then my PS Audio DLIII. That is taking me more time than I had planned.