Xenos 3HA arrived!

[Andrea]

I've just unpacked it.

Wow, my first true "headphone amplifier"

Looks nice, very nice. And as a surprise, as if things weren't already good enough, in the box I've found 4 NiMh 2400mA batteries!




My (brief) review to come soon...

 

[kramer5150]

Looking forward to your impressions... since Im also lurking for a $100 range portable... pimeta, govibe III or the likes.

Would it be possible for you to demo it with lower impedence cans? Grado/Sony... and IEMs too?

**edit**
can you also post pics?... wondering just how big it is with cables

Thanks Andrea,
Garrett

 

[Andrea]

Hi Garrett,

sorry, but the first impressions will come a bit later than I thought, late this evening (here) or at most tomorrow morning. I don't have a digital camera myself, yet my brother does, so possibly...

Anyway, not a trace of IEM or Grado over here, but I have HD595, the 24 ohm HD201 and even the 16 ohm PX10 to test it with!

 

[spinali]

Andrea, hope you like the amp.

I really enjoy the 3HA, considering its price and features, and the abiity to vary bass and treble is of great value. Right now, I'm even using it as a portable (until I do the Xin thing).

You can read my old two-part review here:

http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showt...ight=xenos+3ha

I'm very interested in reading your reactions to the 3HA.

 

[Andrea]

spinali,

I've done a bad thing.

While trying to solder on the ext. power supply a piece of cable with an Italian network plug, ... I messed up things ... It was nearly impossible to solder on there, then I became a bit nervous and ... The power supply is no more.

Actually, when I saw the damage was done, I decided to open it up and satisfy my curiosity; so I found out that (predictably btw) it's a tiny switching supply... Nice, but makes me feel better 'cause I'd have wanted to upgrade it anyway

So I'm 'condemned' to use rechargeable batteries for now.


End of the story is, I'm feeling sick enough to prefer to do something else tonight. Tomorrow, forgetting of my bad luck with soldering iron & power supplies, I hope to finally hear how good the amplifier sounds...

 

[spinali]

Andrea,

Aside from saying the conciliatory "Ouch!", I can offer some small encouragement. I think the 3HA sounds slightly cleaner with batteries, and using the adapter has simply become an annoyance.

Using my MAHA MH204W NIMH battery charger and some 2500 mHa batteries, I get about a week of daily use before I switch batteries. (On average, the amp is on maybe 2 - 3 hours a day.)

 

[Andrea]

Thanks, your encouragement couldn't have been more accomplished!

So it's true that the little switching adapter isn't optimal. I'll be searching shops for a linear regulated 9V 1,5A PSU ...

And good to know about battery use. Especially as I've had these 2400mA ones for free.

After all with four 1.2V batteries the internal circuitry can still provide the amp stage with +/- 10.3V, which is more than some of the more popular portable amps can dream of

 

[Andrea]

I've managed to get a 9V 1,2A linear regulated PS 'as desired'. Amp is connected and playing. I haven't even put the phones on my head to listen yet. Impressions later this afternoon.

 

[Naga]

get a GS-1

i was curious about this amp myself - i may have gotten one but instead i got a presonus hp4 for my 497 and 580

 

[spinali]

Quote:

i was curious about this amp myself - i may have gotten one but instead i got a presonus hp4 for my 497 and 580

I'll let Andrea write at greater length. Suffice to say that it has a wonderful sound with great source material, and has great versatility with less than perfect recordings thanks to its treble/bass controls. It's not as small as the stealthier offerings by Xin (etc.), but I still carry it around in my backpack with an iPod and a UM2.

 

[Andrea]

Eventually here come my early impressions

Less than 2 hours of listening and already I'm loving this amplifier.
I nearly immediately realized it's the sound for me -- no gratuitous euphony, seemingly no emphasis on any particular component of the music, or range of the spectrum, but simply a great, impressively clean/controlled yet flowing, vivid but neutral and integrated, natural sound. Wow, what a sentence crowded with adjectives

What I'm more impressed by, perhaps, is how good the amp can sound notwithstanding the fact I'm using the supplied (obviously cheap) interconnects, for lack of a rca to mini adapter to connect my VDH and take advantage of its far superior qualities. Admittedly, as it is, there's just a slightly hinted lack of more inner detail/texture as I was getting with my previous setup with the VDH interconnect 'in line'. But that is easily offset, already, by an impressive smoothness of the midrange, most appreciated with vocals (any trace of the famed/supposed 'grain' in my 595 being wiped out), a great ability to locate/separate instruments in the soundstage, very quick, deep, articulate bass and delicate, refined treble.



That's it for now, more to come when time allows...

 

[Andrea]

Two side notes.

The amp is absolutely quiet with the HD595, without even the most feeble hiss or hum.

It is high-gain! (or my CD player has an unusually strong output?)
Volume at 8 o'clock is a normal listening level with most cd's with the HD595.
More than that, the sound conveys an overall sense of 'vigour' that the HD595's efficiency combined with the amp's gain will only underline.

 

[Andrea]

Further side note.

I'd kill for a good female rca to male mini adapter

 

[Andrea]

Update:

Great amp.

 

[Azure]

What other amps have you heard and how would you rank the 3HA in respect to those other amps?