[MynnyD]

How do you find HE-400i with HA-200? I must admit I do not like this combination, clean and detailed but way too bright, vocals are fatiguing after a few minutes without EQ. It is a shame, because anything but vocals sounds amazing. My DAC is Modi 2U, which sounds great with portable Fiio A5, but I feel I need stronger amp. Thinking about Magni 2U (another 200€ gone, phew). Do you have any experience with Shchiit Stack + HE-400i?

 

[peter123]

  How do you find HE-400i with HA-200? I must admit I do not like this combination, clean and detailed but way too bright, vocals are fatiguing after a few minutes without EQ. It is a shame, because anything but vocals sounds amazing. My DAC is Modi 2U, which sounds great with portable Fiio A5, but I feel I need stronger amp. Thinking about Magni 2U (another 200€ gone, phew). Do you have any experience with Shchiit Stack + HE-400i?

Hmm, this is the total opposite of my experience with the HA-200/HE400i combination. I find it, like you, to be clean and detailed but also very smooth (without being rolled off). I'm using the DAC from my Burson Conductor V2+ to feed my HA-200.
 
I've never heard the Magni 2U but I had the original Magni for a long time and found it a lot brighter and more fatiguing than the HA-200. 
 
Hopefully others can share their experience with the HA-200/HE400i as well. I'm thinking that maybe your DAC is the problem but as I've got no experience with it at all it's just a thought really......

 

[tonKopf]

  How do you find HE-400i with HA-200? I must admit I do not like this combination, clean and detailed but way too bright, vocals are fatiguing after a few minutes without EQ. It is a shame, because anything but vocals sounds amazing. My DAC is Modi 2U, which sounds great with portable Fiio A5, but I feel I need stronger amp. Thinking about Magni 2U (another 200€ gone, phew). Do you have any experience with Shchiit Stack + HE-400i?

 
I've just purchased both the HE-400i and HA-200 within the last two weeks. I use Volumio as a source; Monoprice interconnects; plain USB cable (2.0); and my SMSL M8. The headphone cable has not been upgraded. The filter setting on my SMSL M8 is set to FAST. I am listening to MP3 320 and FLAC.
I can pretty much echo peter123 observations. The sound is clean and detailed; great separation between all instruments and vocals; and additionally as others have been noted elsewhere about the HE-400i, an open sound, textured bass and small-ish soundstage (that's not a negative).
I find the vocals to be articulate, but not harsh at all. There's no harshness anywhere at all. Everything is warm-ish (but not tube-ish) and relaxed. I would try a different DAC. Any DAC really, just to see, if it makes a difference.
I've come to believe in audio gear synergy over the years. Synergy vs. just getting expensive gear; or simply writing off an inexpensive component. Prime example: the SMSL M8. You'll find a vast number of reviewers who describe the sound as harsh, clinical, analytical, bright; anything but musical. In my stereo speaker setup I use a Nelson Pass Amp Camp Kit Amp with my second SMSL M8. Again no harshness. The sound is detailed, warm-ish and musical. In fact I chose the HA-200 specifically to be paired with my SMSL M8, because the amp is based on a similar design principle as the Pass, so I expected a similar sound-signature. I've not been disappointed.
Just my two cents.
Cheers

 

[MynnyD]

   
I can pretty much echo peter123 observations. The sound is clean and detailed; great separation between all instruments and vocals; and additionally as others have been noted elsewhere about the HE-400i, an open sound, textured bass and small-ish soundstage (that's not a negative).

 
Thanks guys. I have tried HE-400i with ZuperDAC and Asus Xonar DX - it sounds less detailed and a little bit less fatiguing on the ZDAC, Xonar is just as fatiguing and sounds kinda crappy compared with Zuperdac and Modi2 U. But I have auditioned HE-400i + Magni 2U AMP + ZuperDAC in a store yesterday and it was very similar to my home experience with HA-200 (can listen only on kinda low volume, my usual volume results in fatigue in 15 minutes). Guess my ears and brain are not compatible with this amount of details On the other hand, HE-400i still beats HD-650 by a big margin

 

[MynnyD]

Well, do not mind me. Turns out that ground loop or some electrical interference (humming/buzzing without any pattern) made HA-200 sound bad. I always thought that it only affects high volume, it was only audible with Zuperdac and Xonar when amp was on 75%+ volume and not audible with Modi 2U at all. However, it somehow managed to strip out like half of the bass and made vocals sound thin. Ubelievable. When I´ve tried the setup in other room on my phone, it suddenly sounded fine. So I´ve changed electrical plugs in a way that separates PC from amp completely and it sounds like it is supposed to. I am happy as hell and after three weeks I finally enjoy my music again And glad I have not returned Modi 2U

 

[peter123]

Well, do not mind me. Turns out that ground loop or some electrical interference (humming/buzzing without any pattern) made HA-200 sound bad. I always thought that it only affects high volume, it was only audible with Zuperdac and Xonar when amp was on 75%+ volume and not audible with Modi 2U at all. However, it somehow managed to strip out like half of the bass and made vocals sound thin. Ubelievable. When I´ve tried the setup in other room on my phone, it suddenly sounded fine. So I´ve changed electrical plugs in a way that separates PC from amp completely and it sounds like it is supposed to. I am happy as hell and after three weeks I finally enjoy my music again And glad I have not returned Modi 2U

I'm glad to hear that it worked out well for you, nice detective work.

On a unrelated matter I've been testing my HA-200 with a large number of dac's lately and I'm super impressed with the combination of the DACmagic Plus and HA-200, pure bliss

 

[tonKopf]

  Well, do not mind me. Turns out that ground loop or some electrical interference (humming/buzzing without any pattern) made HA-200 sound bad. I always thought that it only affects high volume, it was only audible with Zuperdac and Xonar when amp was on 75%+ volume and not audible with Modi 2U at all. However, it somehow managed to strip out like half of the bass and made vocals sound thin. Ubelievable. When I´ve tried the setup in other room on my phone, it suddenly sounded fine. So I´ve changed electrical plugs in a way that separates PC from amp completely and it sounds like it is supposed to. I am happy as hell and after three weeks I finally enjoy my music again And glad I have not returned Modi 2U

Ah fantastic! This makes much more sense now.
I also have an HD650 and I couldn't imagine how the HA-200 or any DAC for that matter would make it overly bright or super detailed to the point of harshness.
Enjoy!

 

[Beau Cauchemar]

There seems to be a comeback for this amp (possibly given the latest Massdrop deal.) Might as well take this opportunity to ask a question.
 
Has anyone experimented with swapping the lone OPA2134 op-amp with something else? I'm considering doing this just to see if I can tweak the sound even more to my liking. I'm relatively happy with current sound (iPhone + Onkyo HF Player > Cozoy Astrapi DAC > HA-200 > Q701 with bass port mod) but after some reading, I'm currious to check out if the OPA2107, OPA2228, or the AD8620 make an improvement in the detail/soundstage department with this amp. I'm also wondering if these would be possible to be a direct, drop-in in replacements (using the necessary Brown Dog adapter for the AD8620) without any ill affects in terms of operational requirements.
 
So far it's been hard to figure out due to the extremely technical nature of this procedure whether or not these op-amps would be compatible or even beneficial sound-wise. Anyone care to shed some light on this? Like I said I'm just looking to see if I can tinker my way to a bit more resolution/imaging.

 

[Armaegis]

Not that I know of. The opamp does not sit in socket, so swapping out (at least the first time) would be tricky as you would have to detach all wiring and output devices, then desolder the opamp and put in a socket. It's doable... but non-trivial. If you can do that, then as long as the opamps you're swapping in have compatible voltages etc then you *should* be fine.

 

[Beau Cauchemar]

  Not that I know of. The opamp does not sit in socket, so swapping out (at least the first time) would be tricky as you would have to detach all wiring and output devices, then desolder the opamp and put in a socket. It's doable... but non-trivial. If you can do that, then as long as the opamps you're swapping in have compatible voltages etc then you *should* be fine.

 
That's odd. I could have sworn that the op-amp was a single Dual DIP-8 and therefore able to swap out via socket, solder-free. It even looks that way in the pictures I've seen.
 
http://static.qobuz.com/info/IMG/jpg/Ampli_class_A.jpg

 

[Armaegis]

   
That's odd. I could have sworn that the op-amp was a single Dual DIP-8 and therefore able to swap out via socket, solder-free. It even looks that way in the pictures I've seen.
 
http://static.qobuz.com/info/IMG/jpg/Ampli_class_A.jpg

 
Yes it's a DIP8... but that might still be soldered down directly to the board. I would not trust mounting an opamp to a pcb simply with through-holes. You want a proper socket in there.

 

[Beau Cauchemar]

Ahhh I understand what you mean now. I completely overlooked the fact that it was missing the socket portion when noting the connection type. So from what I understand is that, even if I were able to remove the op-amp from the PCB, that plugging in the new one directly without any soldering would be a no-no(?)
 
Kinda would put the damper on my enthusiasm since I don't have the equipment or confidence to get soldering.

 

[Armaegis]

If you really wanted to swap opamps, first you'd need to remove the existing one and then solder in a socket. If you've never soldered before, this is not a good first project as desoldering is a bit trickier than soldering.

 

[Beau Cauchemar]

UPDATE: The Burson V5 is NOT compatible with the HA200 for temperature reasons. Please see the following posts for more details.

I ended up getting the OPA2134 removed and a new DIP8 socket soldered in. Ended up choosing the Burson V5 op amp and I have to say that so far the sound is noticeably improved after just an hour or so of listening. The mids are especially more forward and spacious and the overall sound is more detailed, wide, deep, textured, and balanced compared to the 2134. It's also added a more pleasant, shimmery top end to my Q701s (with bass port mod) without feeling like I'm missing any frequencies. Bass impact is the only aspect about on-par with the 2134 with the V5 being perhaps a tad tighter/faster.

I have it burning in overnight to see if things improve any farther, but I'm honestly quite happy with the V5 and feel like the effort modding was worth it. My only real concern is temperature. With this being a Class A, the temps people have measured are on the high end of the spec sheet for the V5, however, so far I haven't encountered any issues or noticed any anomalies (vs with the 2134 installed.) I should also mention that I had to use the DIP8 Extension in order for it to fit sideways, along the top of the heat sink (but not directly touching anything.) Perhaps this distance will help keep it away from some of the hotter parts.

P.S. - It's a good thing that Burson sells the extensions in pairs since in the process of bending one of them to clear the case, one of the wires snapped rendering it useless. Be very careful handling these, people.

 

[Armaegis]

Are you using the extension to mount the V5 horizontally in the case?