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Originally Posted by minivan /img/forum/go_quote.gif
thanks gav, and superpredator. looking forward to hear more about your impression of the amp.
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The short of it thus far is that the HA-02 has satisfied the urge to move into a higher tier of sound. The last amp to seriously impress me was the M^3. I got the CanAmp and the EC/SS purely as an exercise in discovering what the current "value amps" sound like, and to get a sense for the value and sound quality of the M^3. All three are nice in their own way, but right out of the box the HA-02 is clearly a tier above. Just in terms of sound quality I feel the HA-02 is worth its price, and it's very nice to finally hear an improvement in the W2002.
The HA-02 brings a few sweet touches of tube glow to the W2002, adding a sense of life and air that was missing with the M^3. The two amps sound similar in that they each have a sense of rightness for these difficult-to-drive ATs (a quality almost entirely missing in all other amps I've tried), but the HA-02 is more precise and refined, eliminating the thick, slow, sometimes overly warm and muddy quality the M^3 imposes.
The HA-02 seems to open up the midrange while minimizing the upper midrange/lower treble peakiness that the W2002 seemed to have before. That range still maintains the classic AT signature sound of being ever so slightly prominent, but the whole spectrum seems more balanced. The mids now seem a great deal more fleshed out, reminding me of the expansive mid-vintage (non-serialized) RS-1's midrange.
One area where the M^3 still reigns supreme is in the mid/upper bass, where low percussion sounded eye-poppingly good. So far the HA-02 seems a little flatter, less textured/shapely/vivid in that area, but at the same time doesn't emphasize the absence of deep bass that seems to be a persistent quality of the W2002. Burn-in has yet to commence, so we'll see if this improves.
Soundstage with the HA-02 is already superior, greatly reducing the closed-in quality the W2002 sometimes has. It doesn't quite approach W5000-levels of air and openness, but it definitely makes progress in that area, and further confirms my thinking that the W2002 is AT's hybrid woody, fusing the technical benefits of detail and precision with the euphonic niceties that come with vivid colors and a full-bodied tonality with very slightly but pleasingly fuzzy note edges. These qualities were detectable using the M^3 but I think the HA-02 brings them into focus, trimming the fat and boosting the goodness.
good news
in your neck of the woods. You know the rules 
- we'll be expecting impressions and/or pics asap.
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