Pass Labs HPA-1 Headphone Amp Review

[Martini]

The "PASS" logo might as well accounts for $3,600 of the price tag.

As in the Tom Waits song Step Right Up, "the quality goes in, when the name goes on."

 

[TimF]

Three thousand six hundred and seventy-five dollars US? $3,675? I haven't got the words that characterize that price with respect to reality.

 

[amirm]

But now he has to sell it knowing it's junk; a heavy price to pay on his conscious.

He sold it before I did the review. Indeed that was the reason I tested it now as the buyer has been waiting for it.

 

[Palladium]

please show some respect folks, 1 out of 100 products there might be some bad design overall, can't hurt the reputation

There are countless other products in the non snake oil world that are panned with far less offensive performance + features over price.

I guess some people just don't like money and standards.

 

[respice finem]

Oh oh .... subjectivist Passists are going to be pissed off!

These phones are best for it

View attachment 244495

For the "mercy shot?

 

[audiotron]

It is almost like a rug pull! Nice review as always.

 

[voodooless]

please show some respect folks

Respect what?

1 out of 100 products there might be some bad design overall, can't hurt the reputation

The other Pass amp tested at ASR ended up at the end of the wrong end of the power amplifier charts, with quite a margin! I guess that is an achievement of sorts?

 

[Billy Budapest]

Nelson Pass is one of the good guys in audio - he freely shares many of his recent designs over on DIYaudio.com - and knows perfectly well what he is doiing. He can design low distortion amps with the best of them - see tests of his old Threshold amps - but chooses not to do so. This amp is intentionally designed with low/no feedback. Nelson Pass has stated that he prefers the way low/no feedback amps sound. Clearly many audiophiles agree with his philosophy for the company is, as far as one can tell, quite successful.

The amp under test reportedly was not designed by Nelson Pass but rather by another Pass Labs employee, as mentioned earlier in the thread

 

[m8o]

@amirm so you don't use Stealth anymore?

Lol. This thing would barely make that whisper.

 

[amirm]

@amirm so you don't use Stealth anymore?

I do use it. It depends on whether it is quiet or not. The Expanse has almost no isolation so I can't use it during the day.

 

[Bleib]

If tests like this had been available for a long time a lot of people would have saved a lot of money.

 

[okok]

there're tons of no name hp amps cost $15000 on headfi, and many (users of those "high end") attack asr as measurement morons... $3000 is like nothing

how can some box can charge $20000 to drive some moving coils?

 

[Alcophone]

Lol. This thing would barely make that whisper.

Weird, mine makes the Stealth louder than I can handle even with the grooviest of tunes.

 

[Ken Tajalli]

If tests like this had been available for a long time a lot of people would have saved a lot of money.

. . . . And a lot of people would have gone out of business. There is a long feeding chain attached to every expensive product.

 

[Robbo99999]

You do have to wonder, had someone stuck the guts of a JDS Atom into that case, what they would have said. My guess is, exactly the same!

Ha, at least it would then actually be a genuinely good product! (Well, not in terms of price, but why be too serious!)

 

[Robbo99999]

You should take the polls away, im sure 90% of people voting dont have any experience with this amplifier or most of the polled items.

lol

 

[Metronomy]

Lots of money, lots of noise. How could you not isolate the circuits from PS noise, in consideration of the large volume of the case? No balanced inputs? A ridiculous locking headphone receptacle, barely adequate power, poor ribbon-cable dressing complete the offer for the anxious “almost-wealthy” crowd of non-cognoscenti. At a 20 times lower price, the Topping L30 II incinerates this bloated sub-spec product to the dust-bin of history.

Thank you Amir for an impeccable review! To the audio electronic engineers of America: it is time to wake-up and return to the drawing board and the 101 Class of contemporary high performance Audio design and manufacturing.

I would really like Amirm to try the Riviera which in my parts is considered a must. https://www.rivieralabs.com/prodotti/elettroniche/
10000 euros would not be enough I think

 

[Robbo99999]

He sold it before I did the review. Indeed that was the reason I tested it now as the buyer has been waiting for it.

lol!

 

[Addicted to music]

I’ve had a listen to a number of Pass Lab power amps, the ones I had in the house I’m sure had similar distortion figures, but some people like that!

 

[BeeKay]

Appears stereophile’s JA measured a different device

”Pass Labs' HPA-1 offers superb measured performance that reflects equally superb audio engineering.—John Atkinson”