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Review and Measurements of Benchmark HPA4 Headphone Amp/Pre
- Thread starter amirm
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With IR remotes, I expect that volume control across 3 LA4's is not 100% guaranteed.
- Rich
- Rich
exaSound e38v2 multichannel DAC.
That was the setup when I was doing the review. I have not kept them but I am contemplating it.Showoff!
That is a problem but largely solved by the tiny gadget on top of the right stack. It is a IR receiver/transmitter with the receiver dangling between the stacks and three transmitters which can be seen covering the IR receivers on the LA4s. It assures that all the LA4s get a "synchronous" input. Not perfect but close.
Using $5k worth of electronics to power a $200 pair of headphones
Using $5k worth of electronics to power a $200 pair of headphones
That was basically the norm 10 or so years ago until the HD800, T1, and LCD-2 kicked off the kilobuck+ headphone market. It was HD650, DT880, K701, or go home. At least for dynamics.
Only Stax was more expensive.
Things have sure changed...
The last 10 years coincided with the rise in popularity of on-line headphone communities and 'audiophile' review blogs that were effectively hype machines driving the prices of high-end headphones up. The reason the HD800s and T1 V2 seem like such good 'high-end' deals today, is because they can't credibly raise their prices from where they were years ago.
Then NwAvGuy came along with his manifesto site and the Objective 2, and the interest for objective measurements for electronics started (and here we are at ASR). The reason we have such high performing amplifiers (and DACs) in the $100-$400 range today, is because of the market ripples the Objective 2 created.
I gave my old O2 to a family member (along with an impassioned plea not to get caught up in the audiophile BS), years ago. I think it's still working. That amp is going to be a piece of headphone history.
Too bad he burnt out and disappeared. Thankfully we have Amir and ASR now.
I actually have a prototype O2 that NwAvGuy sent me as review sample back in the day. I had a review thread for it somewhere on Head-Fi. I used it pretty much daily until last year when I replaced it with a Massdrop THX. And that was just so I'd have a balanced input to deal with occasional noise issues.
It's still a great little transportable amp. I always carried it around at shows and meets along with my DAP to hear what headphones should actually sound like instead of using whatever weird amps were usually at the table. There's really only a few planars it doesn't have enough power for.
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At least Stax came with their own amp. Still expensive. You could buy them individually. At the upper end Stax offered the SRA12S which included a fairly full function preamplifier--the HPA4 of its day. $500.00 ($2100.00 in today's dinero--phones extra).
Then there was the Jecklin Float (imported by Mark Levinson). At three hundred dollars ($1500.00 in today's funny money) it gave you that authentic Zombies of the Stratosphere sci-fi experience (girl an option at extra cost).
If there is such a thing as an audio museum, that should be in it! You should have had it autographed.
I almost bought another JDS O2 but went with the Element II instead, which is the '
To relate this O2 discussion to this Benchmark thread, both the Benchmark and the Massdrop 789 use THX technology and have similar SOTA performance.
Looking at the product description of the Massdrop THX 789:
"It’s powerful (2 x 6W at 32 ohms) and quiet (136 dB SNR) with a record-low THD of -140 dB at 300 ohms, 100 mW. That’s four times the power of the Objective 2 amp, for example, with far less distortion."
Not bad for an almost 10 year old, creative commons design amp, that's still for sale, to be still used as a point of comparison.
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This blows my mind.
The good news is that the law of diminishing return is still in full force! Going to 40,000 Hz response will cost an extra $2,000 for bragging rights, but for the purposes of actually "hearing" great sounding music? Spending less than $800 gets you 99% there, I'd argue. I have the DT1990 Pro, and I'm looking for an excuse to get something from Focal, but after A/B testing, I just can't justify the premium for the "difference" not necessarily "improvement". Although I have yet to listen to electrostatic or mag-planar headphones... We are living in a golden age of affordable headphone gear without a doubt!
Yeah. I am desperate for a multichannel preamp but the tediousness of the setup and the cost have, so far, kept me from pulling the trigger.
Hooked up my HPA4. Haven't hooked any headphones to it (yet), but it is flawless as a preamp for my needs.
XLR-1 - Yamaha CX-A5100 (HT bypass)
XLR-2 - Oppo Sonica DAC
RCA-1 - Moon 110LP v2 (with Rega RP6)
Using Monoprice Monolith 7 for an amp.
XLR-1 - Yamaha CX-A5100 (HT bypass)
XLR-2 - Oppo Sonica DAC
RCA-1 - Moon 110LP v2 (with Rega RP6)
Using Monoprice Monolith 7 for an amp.
It is commonly reported that cable installations that are not problem grounded can cause hum. The best solution is to get the cable installer to use the common ground.
Another noise source is amplifier transformer hum which cannot easily be solved. For that Monoprice amp, Gene at Audioholics was able to cure using an Emotiva CMX-2 power strip.
When I had ATI AT6000 amps, I had intermittent hum which I was able reduce that by putting my DC fans on a HumX filter that I had hanging around.
Ultimately, I switched the AHB2's which do not have any discernible noise at the speaker nor any mechanical noise. The reduction in heat allowed the fans to be removed. My equipment rack got lighter as did my wallet
- Rich
I wasn't really having issues, just curious. The cable did cause ground loops a long time ago, so it has one of those Jensen transformers on the back of the cable box.
The cable outside is grounded tot he electric meter. Don't know if that counts as proper, buts that's all they do here generally.
The cable outside is grounded tot he electric meter. Don't know if that counts as proper, buts that's all they do here generally.
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