System Context
The Harmony HP2A will be used in conjunction with the Harmony DAC and listened to in the main system, along with the XACT S1 Music Server and Aqua LinQ Network Interface. The rest of the system comprises the CH Precision L1 preamplifier, CH Precision A1.5 power amp, and Magico S1 MkII speakers.
Listening
With the help of two headphone aficionado friends, I was able to use a nice collection of different headphones to review the HP2A, as listed below.
- Sennheiser HD-238i (dynamic)
- Sennheiser HD-650 (dynamic)
- HifiMan Arya Stealth (magnetostatic)
- Audeze LCD-1 (magnetostatic)
Since the PH2A was brand new when I received it, I allowed it plenty of time to warm up and bed in. With the XACT S1 streaming to the Aqua LinQ endpoint, I had a great S/PDIF source to feed to the Harmony DAC, which was connected to the HP2A using Driade Flow Link Reference RCA or XLR interlinks.
The Harmony DAC and HP2A form an aesthetically pleasing combination
From the first moment I listened to it, even when still using the stock power cable and my entry-level Sennheiser HD-238i, I was struck by its immense clarity, transparency, and precision. Of course, the 238i can only do so much at its price level.
The Sennheiser HD-650 delivers a massive step up in performance, and it only gets better when using the two magnetostatic headphones. The HP2A works equally well with all four headphones, allowing each to express its particular fortes precisely as expected.
That said, I have developed a strong preference for the HifiMan Arya Stealth for its combination of resolution and crisp transparency on the one hand and a lush, tonally rich, and velvety smooth presentation on the other. The Audeze LCD-1 can appear even more revealing, but I think that’s more a matter of psycho-acoustics due to its very bright and tilted-up balance. It might be interesting, but it is not very linear. For this review, I stuck with the HifiMan Arya Stealth.
Curious to see how it compared, one of the headphone aficionado friends brought over his Violectric HPA V550. While this unit sounded powerful, neutral, and dynamic, I would place it firmly in the solid-state camp. Listened to without comparison, it sounds perfectly neutral and pretty convincing, but compared to the Laiv or the Wattsons, it lacks a lot of fluidity, refinement, and air, making it sound relatively sober and down to earth.
Although the HP2A and Harmony DAC both have a fluid and highly refined nature, the combo has a wide-open and highly audiophile presentation that unveils everything, warts and all. If the recording is so-so, the HP2A will let you know. The combo has such immense precision that flat and compressed recordings sound less appealing than with more forgiving products such as the smoothly-performing Wattson Madison or Madison LE. On the other hand, the HP2A allows for deeper digging into the mix. In this respect, it reminds me of my current reference headphone amplifier, the very puristic SAEQ Hyperion Ge. The HP2A does not quite equal the SAEQ in all-out dynamic slam, but in terms of resolution and transparency, it comes close. That’s quite an achievement, given that the Hyperion Ge costs over twice as much as the HP2A while being low on features and not offering remote control. Besides being a master of resolution, the HP2A is infectiously rhythmic and upbeat, with excellent articulation and fast transient behavior.
With all the resolution on tap, one might assume that the HP2A is strictly for those who want an ultra-revealing setup. While it will never hide the characteristics of any connected components or cables, it can still sound sweet and engagingly musical. One way to achieve this is by using less revealing headphones, such as the inherently friendly-sounding Sennheiser HD-650.
LExt IN2 Extender
The LExt IN2 Extender provides unbalanced RCA inputs and an extra pair of balanced XLR inputs. When connected, the HP2A automatically recognizes the unit and adds the extra inputs as available options to the input select menu.
The LExt IN2 connects to the HP2A via a single proprietary cable that provides power and transports the audio signals.
When I connected the unit and its front panel LED came on, I heard a subtle change in the HP2A’s sound, even when I was still using its own XLR input. The sound became slightly damped and smoothened—in other words, just slightly less crisp and direct. Whether this is desirable will depend on the listener and the rest of the system.
This small impact aside, the extender offers a very uniform performance. Comparing the HP2A’s XLR 1 input to the extender’s XLR 2 input whilst leaving the extender connected, the latter offers practically indistinguishable sound quality as when using the HP2A’s XLR input. Clearly, nothing is lost along the way.
When RCA and XLR are connected between the Harmony DAC and HP2A simultaneously and switching between them, there is practically no discernible difference. Of course, this is not an ideal comparison method. But even when connected with only one cable at a time, either XLR or RCA, there is only the usual slight difference that always exists between the two connection methods: XLR sounds slightly more spacious, and RCA slightly more focused and upfront. Much to the credit of Laiv’s implementation, the differences are so slight that I would refer to them as nuances.
While using three footers eliminates wobble, the LExt IN2 is so lightweight that this causes the unit to topple over to one side under the weight of connected cables. However, the unit will remain balanced when the cables are allowed to rest on the support, as shown below.
Next: Tweaks and Listening as a preamp for the main system
