OPPO HA-1 Headphone Amplifier

http://www.oppodigital.com/future/HA-1_Headphone_Amplifier.aspx


Discuss!

 

Price: TBD
I'm not sure if I can afford to get excited yet.
Plenty of features, inputs, and outputs. Lots of features.

 

Looks very cool.

 

I emailed Oppo asking if there was a possibility that the HA-1 would have a home theater bypass input. It would be a great feature so the HA-1 could be used as a preamp in a HT system. Oppo replied that it wasn't a feature at this time but might be possible before it is released or in the future.

Bill

 

Wow, that does look very cool. You gotta hand it to them for industrial design -- they do good work.

 

From the product page link above, there are some interesting/unique features that some may have overlooked:

• Class A balanced power amplifier section
• volume control knob ....keeps the audio in a pure analog audio path
• OPPO is also working with a leading smartphone and tablet manufacturer to certify the HA-1 so it can pass the required authentication and take digital audio from those popular mobile devices

Could be a great choice as a fully-functional stereo pre-amp. Maybe even pair up with a nice tube amp? Best of both digital and analog worlds. We shall see.

 

I must admit it looks very cool. I will be very interested to see the price tag.

 

I cannot imagine the price on this but it sure is very nice.

 

There are many preamp/headphone-amp/DACs out there so Oppo will have serious competition. I have been looking at such devices and the Benchmark DAC2 is one that I like. A similar, but lower priced alternative to the Benchmark DAC2 (or Grace M903) is the Audiolab M-DAC.

At any rate it will be interesting to see what price the Oppo is going to have.

 

I think this unit has some unique features (highlighted above) that could set it apart from competition like the Benchmark DAC2.

 

How does it sound?

How much does it sound?

These are the questions we wish to know.

I like the two analog inputs, I need one for vinyl and one for SACD.

I'm pretty happy with my Woo WA7, but we'll see.

 

I was interested to see this announcement. Earlier this year I enquired about the possibility of a Oppo branded PrePro and this was their reply:

So clearly they are now willing to introduce products that are not specific to physical disc media. It'll be be interesting to see what the future holds...

 

Is this the photo of an actual product or is it computer generated?

 

Lots of input options, 5 of which I'd never use... But why not? There's such a shortage of headphone amplifiers...

 

Dear Santa . . .

 

That's the actual unit.

 

Crossfeed?

 

??

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossfeed

 

Is this a common feature on headphone amps?

 

Not uncommon on high end. I have a Grace 903 with it, and a Headroom portable that has it also. I like it.

 

Looks like a render to me. For example the XLR pins do not align correctly with the case, and the USB port looks funny.

 

It is obvious that they are attempting to branch out since I'm sure the disc player market continues to shrink. I am looking forward to seeing the price on this unit and their new planar headphones. I suspect both will be expensive by my standards, but we'll see.

 

Ah, I see what you mean, now that I'm looking via a better monitor.

I suppose it's a render, but prototypes look exactly like what is depicted above, minus those things you pointed out.