[Operabuff]

Hi everybody,

I've just bought this amplifier and i would like to ask you if i have to remove the headphones every time before turning off the amplifier?

Thank you for your help.

Regards from italy.

Nico

Assuming that your amp works like mine does, I see no reason to remove the headphones before switching off.

Mine makes absolutely no noise ("thud" or similar) like some amps do when turning off. None whatsoever.

And when turning on, the auto-mute feature silences the output for 10 seconds when the power is turned on. Unless you have the volume setting at something other than full off, when it keeps the output silent until you turn down the volume, and then up again.

I've only had the amp for a month, and only used it with one set of headphones (Sennheiser HD-540 Reference, 300 Ohm model of the first series), but so far I'm pretty impressed. Very quiet (no noise - very high S/N ratio), mechanically well built, does not seem to remove or add anything to the music - kind of "dissapears" from the chain. Effortless, if you will. Good range of inputs, and pre-out - I use mine also as a control amp for my active monitors (small Genelecs, the 6010A). It is not inexpensive, but for me it is worth the price, and I say that being a pretty frugal person....

Best regards,
Patrik

 

[nikko2014]

Good morning Patrik,

Thank you for your answer, i just wanted to be sure since this is my second headphone amplifier after the epiphany o2 that i used before and i'm not so expert in this regard. No i do not hear any noise turning off the amp so i assume it's pretty safe to leave the headphones inside.

I just received the amp yesterday and so far my impressions are really positive. Actually i use a pair of fidelio x1 but i was thinking of buying the beyerdynamic T1, do you think it would be a good match with this amplifier?

Thanks again for your help.

Regards.

Nico

 

[Operabuff]

I think I'm the wrong person to answer if the T1 is a "good match" in the sense that manay people here seem to hear/feel.

Two reasons for why I say that:

1.
I've used the same headphones as my main "stationary" pair for 22 years now. So I'm definitely not experienced at all when it comes to many brands or models.
Still, I plan to audition/try some new decent headphones within the next couple of weeks, among them the T1, T90 and DT-880, and the Sennheiser HD-800 and 700.
Not that I'm unhappy with my current headphones, but their design is about 30 years old, so I'd like to hear for myself how much better modern headphones might be.

2.
While the Teac is my first dedicated headphone amp, my feeling/guess is that "synergy" between amps and headphones is mostly that they technically work well together (enough power for a certain impedance, be that impedance high or low, suitable damping factor i.e. output impedance and that neither the headphones or the amp has similar "aberrations" in the frequency response).
While accepting that nothing is perfect, much of the matching of a certain amp to certain headphones seems to me to be an effort to correct a fault in the headphones frequency response by using an amp with a similar fault in the other direction, which atleast partly reduces the total error in the combinations sound signature.
Given that the Teac should be powerful enough to easily drive and control the 600 Ohm T1 to whatever safe volume with ample reserves (i.e. provide enough voltage), while being a solid state (transistor) amp, it should also be able to supply any current demand that low impedande headphones might require. Thus I fully expect it to work well with any headphones, really. But being neutral in sound signature, it will likely not "mask" any shortcomings in the headphones, either.

Now that I've gotten that all off my chest, I invite anyone disagreeing, to make their point...

One other thing about the T1's with the Teac:
There is a picture of the Teac product page showing T1's with this amp...

Best regard,
Patrik

 

[nikko2014]

Thank you Patrik for your point of view. It makes perfect sense to me.
 
I'm planning to hear some more headphones myself before buying the t1 since it's a quite expansive headphone, but for now it's the one that i prefer among all the ones (very few)  that i've been able to listen.
 
Thanks again for your opinions.
 
Best regards.
 
Nico

 

[ESL-1]

A follow up since I had possession of the HA-501 for several days around the time of the NY meet as it was loan to me by a local high end shop, American Audiophile in Lynbrook. I was very pleased with it's ability to pair well with the number of phones I tried it with. It made my Q701, Beyer DT880 250 ohm and Grado RS1 sound better than they have before. The damping adjustment is definitely a real tool here. Wish I had more time with it. The single most impressive result was what it did with my Grado SR225i which I feel is a superb phone and value for their $200 price range. The transformation with Teac was amazing, everything improved across the full spectrum, it took the 225i into a whole other level of performance.

Bottom line, I intend to get the HA-501 into my arsenal in the next few months if possible.

PS. The build quality is excellent as pretty much everyone else has said.

Well, the time has come and the trigger has been pulled, I ordered the HA-501 from local dealer American Audiophile in Lynbrook, N.Y. earIier this week and am hoping to have it in time to begin break in and listening next weekend if all goes well.  This has been on the top of my to get list since my posting back in the Fall.  I have added a few more phones to the collection in that time so I should be able to get a broad band assessment in the next few weeks.  Feels like Christmas eve already.....

 

 
It certainly is a looker too.....

 

[lithium1085]

  Well, the time has come and the trigger has been pulled, I ordered the HA-501 from local dealer American Audiophile in Lynbrook, N.Y. earIier this week and am hoping to have it in time to begin break in and listening next weekend if all goes well.  This has been on the top of my to get list since my posting back in the Fall.  I have added a few more phones to the collection in that time so I should be able to get a broad band assessment in the next few weeks.  Feels like Christmas eve already.....

 
 
 
It certainly is a looker too.....

 
I look forward to your impressions.....I looks really interesting

 

[buson160man]

 There is a review of the ha-501 in the april 2014 issue of the hi-fi news & record review. The review was very positive.
I have the companion ud-501 dac and it is a honey of a dac on my desktop sound system.

 

[ESL-1]

Thanks for the heads up. One of my other headphone buddies came across that issue yesterday and has purchased it for me, hope to meet up with him sometime within a week. In the meantime Fedex tracking indicates it will be delivered to American Audiophile on Thursday so I am planning to get out of work on time for a change and get to pick it up.

Should make for a fun weekend. Impressions will follow as I get some time logged in.

 

[ESL-1]

I picked up the TEAC HA-501 tonight, it arrived at the dealer at 3:30pm today, I couldn't wait to get out of work and get there. Once home I quickly set it up and got it running my Grado PS500. After a hurried dinner I began some listening and tried several phones. I settled on the PS500 for the remainder of the evening, they never sounded as good. So far I found the second step up on the damping factor control seemed to mate best with them.

Being a firm believer in electronics breaking in I will give it more time before giving more in depth impressions. Suffice to say it appears it will be a long and happy relationship.

Stay tuned.

BTW, thanks to Mike of American Audiophile for getting it in for me before the weekend and for always being a great guy to deal with.

 

[ESL-1]

Day two and I spent some time listening to the amp with my AKG Q701. I never heard my 701's sound so good. Bass extension, control and detail is much improved. Mids continue to sound excellent and the high frequency has been reined in without any loss, just sounds smoother and more refined, little details not heard before with these phones are now present and the sum total is a top to bottom transformation.

I ran the amp all Thursday night so I have perhaps ten hours on it. I am positive it will be benefitting from more play time.

Just in case it not obvious, I am very impressed with my first listens, confirms what I thought when I had a sample on loan for the Fall N.Y. Meet in Queens that Mullet put together.

More to come......

 

[hodgjy]

I received my HA-501 last Friday and I've been giving it a good workout.  So far, all of my impressions have been very positive.  At some point, I'll write up a more formal mini-review, but for now I'm just enjoying the beautiful music.

 

[ESL-1]

I have close to 100 hours logged and it is really showing it's stuff. I tried a couple of harder loads, my AKG K240 Sextet along with the AkG K340 and Beyer DT880 600ohm. The Grado PS500 does great with just one turn of damping control making a significant difference in results. I need to unbury my vintage RS-1, expecting excellent results here also. Seems to be truly an amp for all seasons and mating. Excellent control os all aspects of the frequency, dimension, detail refined articulate sound with a lot of dimension. Fully coming up to my expectations. I am sure the best is yet to come.

Get your ears on one and put it on top of your wish list.

More to report as that rare commodity time allows me.

Wonderful design, all the controls feel great too, a lot of pride of ownership in one package

Joe

 

[r3dMuGeN]

Im on the same boat as nikko2014, looking to work this with my T1's
also, no pro at this headphone stuff quite yet, just been using really entry level gear
currently running DT880 600 ohm and T1's at home with a FiiO E09K and E17
its used for......everything........ music, movies, games, net browsing, just everything so far
 
this may be my 2nd largest investment in audio gear
just wanted to see if anyone else has anything to say on this with the T1's
 
Thanks!

 

[hodgjy]

I wrote a review about this amp.  You can read it here:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/products/teac-ha-501-b-dual-monaural-headphone-amplifier/reviews/10925

 

[ESL-1]

Im on the same boat as nikko2014, looking to work this with my T1's
also, no pro at this headphone stuff quite yet, just been using really entry level gear
currently running DT880 600 ohm and T1's at home with a FiiO E09K and E17
its used for......everything........ music, movies, games, net browsing, just everything so far

this may be my 2nd largest investment in audio gear
just wanted to see if anyone else has anything to say on this with the T1's

Thanks!

On my second week with the HA-501 and have been enjoying every moment. Since I also received in the same last two weeks a set of Stax SR Sigmas that i had pursuing it has been hard each night to decide what new toy to indulge in. After reading your comments above I decided tonight I should try my DT 880 600 ohm with the Teac.
Seven songs in on one of my main test discs (Burmester -Art for the Ear / Vorfuhrungs -CD II) and I am just loving what the amp is doing with the Beyers. Sorry I do not have access to a T1 but I can pretty much guarantee your really liking the Teac with your 880's. So far I have tried and loved the results with this amp driving my AKG K340, Q701 and K240 Sextett, Grado RS1, PS500, RS225i and SR60i. In most cases all these sounded better on the HA-501 than I have previously heard them. The one exception would be the AKG K340 on my OTL Woo WA3 which approaches a magical synergy. When I find more time I will need to do some serious comparison with DT880 on the Woo vs. The Teac.

I hope this is helpful.