Oppo HA-1

Well F me. I thought Tyll did all the reviews on IF. I'm almost afraid to try and figure out Skylab's preferred signature. This is degenerating quickly!

 

With a lot of music they sound better than anything I've heard before BUT I know something is off and I'm trying to find the path of least resistance (expense) to fix my problem while mitigating as much future upgradeitis as possible. I was hoping a totl darker & open headphone would be the answer but it sounds like this is not the case. Anyhow, thanks everyone for all your input. I hope I didn't derail things too much for the OP.

 

So your recommendation is the Go V2 for an all in one? What about the Fostex HP-A8 or HP-A4?

I guess I could just duct tape a GoV2 to a usb cable and call it a day.

 

Beginning to think I shouldn't have canceled my Schiit order. I can get the Neo230HAD for not a terrible price here (NZ), may go with that pending more impressions.

 

What are your headphones, again?

 

At the moment, Fostex TH-600. But I have a ZMF Blackwoods coming and will probably get HD-800 at some point.

 

I had an Oppo HA-1 coming from an original Schiit Modi/Magni. To my ears the HA-1 was an upgrade, but I found that the HA-1 didn't sound nearly as nice as the Asgard 2 when I heard that paired with a Modi and I also preferred the WA7 Fireflies over the HA-1 by a good margin.

I know the WA7 Fireflies isn't well liked here, but I really liked my time with it.

 

Thanks for the advice. Is it fair to assume that your Vali 2 recommendation is in part meant to spare my wallet? I only ask because looking at the DAC chart thread it would seem that a Bifrost Multibit in place of the Oppo's DAC could be another (albeit much more expensive) path to improving my rig without starting from scratch? Any disdain I've seen for the HA-1 tends to be directed primarily at the DAC chip and/or its implementation so I guess I'd feel better eliminating it completely from the chain, unless of course the amp section is an issue too. Curious too where the oppo's dac would land on that chart's vertical axis?

At the end of the day if I were starting over I'd probably pick up an HD650 and a schiit stack to fit my budget and call it a day. Sigh.

 

6 Years and $$$$ of Headfi journey right there.

 

The best advice I could give to a complete noob would be to go to a meet and graciously ask some of the vets to try their equipment and share their knowledge. My location coupled with my profession and young family made it such that this simply wasn't an option. Sight unseen (sound unheard) I probably could have done worse. The HA-1 has a permanent place in my home but I know now (especially after the new toy euphoria has worn off) that the HA-1 is NOT the end of my journey.