12345142
500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Nov 14, 2009
- Posts
- 823
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- 44
I just got it today, and it sounds quite good - definitely very solid-state, and very neutral, but never sterile. Build quality is also top-notch. Loop-out, Preamp-out, and two inputs, all RCA. It's also very loud - my K702s usually don't go past 9 o'clock on low gain, and the pot starts at around 7:30. I'm not sure if that means there's a lot of power or a lot of gain. The Caliente is stacked on top in favor of a smaller footprint, but it obscures the translucent Plexiglass lid, which is a nice touch.
Picture was taken with a Sony Ericsson C901 - pretty impressive for a phone, if I do say so.
More to come.
Update: May 14
Things aren't in quite as much of a rush now, and after a good month I've familiarized myself pretty well with the HA-171. It's a solid state amp, using LME49710 opamp and LME49600 buffer.
Build quality is great, and everything feels tightly fit and sturdy. The jacks are chassis-mounted, and the headphone jack slides smoothly. The volume knob has a bit of imbalance at very low levels, but pretty much any analog volume control does that. No complaints here. My favorite aesthetic feature of this amp is the translucent Plexiglass lid, which lets you see the insides faintly. There are also some LEDs inside to indicate power, right/left signals, and whether Input II and high gain are currently selected. The HA-171 also gets very loud; with my K702s, I rarely go past 9 o'clock, and that's on low gain.
The difference in build quality with the Caliente is very obvious: the Caliente looks like a good DIY, but the HA-171 is clearly more professional. The holes are bored with immaculate precision, whereas on the Caliente there's a bit of space around the jacks. The KECES also has an extra input, loop-out, preamp-out and switchable gain compared to the Caliente, which only has one input and nothing else.
The HA-171 measures 21.5 (w) by 20 (l) by 8 (h) centimetres, which is fairly compact for an amp with an internal PSU. The front panel (pictured above) has a headphone jack, input selector, gain switch, and volume knob.
On the back, from left to right: Input I, Input II, Bypass/loop out, preamp-out, power switch, 115V/230V selector, and AC power jack.
The biggest part of an amp, of course, is the sound, though, and in this regard the HA-171 is as "solid state" sounding as it gets. When people write about "solid state," they might as well be describing the HA-171, because it fits the description exactly: dynamic, fast PRaT, punchy impact and neutral sound.
The HA-171 is slightly aggressive-sounding, but it's truly flat across the frequency spectrum, and to me, that's one of its merits, because it is extremely transparent and shows exactly what your headphone sounds like. K702s are bass-light with a slight lower treble peak, ESW9s have thick, warm mids, and the Pro 900s have strong low bass and slightly recessed mids - these headphones are commonly described as such, and the HA-171 tells it like it is, with no coloration whatsoever. I think it sounds quite musical, but in all fairness, it does get a bit sterile-sounding on certain recordings, probably too much so for some people.
Compared to the Caliente, the difference is as you would expect: the Caliente sounds warmer with a more weighty bass. After some more listening, though, I noticed some more differences - for one, the HA-171 has more precise imaging compared to the Caliente. When listening to the Caliente, I could tell that instruments were coming from a general direction, but through the HA-171, there was a very exact source of the sound, and I could distinguish the location of all the instruments as well as their relative distance. The Caliente was also slightly slower in terms of PRaT and less punchy, owing to its reportedly "tubey" sound. As for bass extension, though, I think the Caliente is still unbeatable in this regard. The bass is deeper and has more decay than the HA-171.
Over the course of this review, I've been criticizing the Caliente while emphasizing the strengths of the HA-171, but bear in mind that the Caliente is currently $250 compared to the HA-171, which is $400, so there's a substantial price difference (although before, the Caliente used to cost $400 as well). When it comes to value, the Caliente is unquestionably better than the HA-171, especially if you don't need the extra features. Although I believe the HA-171 sounds better overall, the Caliente has its own strengths, like its enticingly warm sound signature that makes it match the K702s so well.
When it comes down to it, though, I do think the HA-171 is a great amp, and an excellent choice for people looking for a sound that is as neutral as it gets, not to mention one of the few professionally-made amps that offer both a loop-out and gain switch, and other useful features.
I didn't mention any specific genres for this review, as I don't think the HA-171 is particularly genre-specific in its sound, but if you'd like to know, I'd be more than happy to talk about how it sounds with different genres.
Thanks for reading.
Picture was taken with a Sony Ericsson C901 - pretty impressive for a phone, if I do say so.
More to come.
Update: May 14
Things aren't in quite as much of a rush now, and after a good month I've familiarized myself pretty well with the HA-171. It's a solid state amp, using LME49710 opamp and LME49600 buffer.
Build quality is great, and everything feels tightly fit and sturdy. The jacks are chassis-mounted, and the headphone jack slides smoothly. The volume knob has a bit of imbalance at very low levels, but pretty much any analog volume control does that. No complaints here. My favorite aesthetic feature of this amp is the translucent Plexiglass lid, which lets you see the insides faintly. There are also some LEDs inside to indicate power, right/left signals, and whether Input II and high gain are currently selected. The HA-171 also gets very loud; with my K702s, I rarely go past 9 o'clock, and that's on low gain.
The difference in build quality with the Caliente is very obvious: the Caliente looks like a good DIY, but the HA-171 is clearly more professional. The holes are bored with immaculate precision, whereas on the Caliente there's a bit of space around the jacks. The KECES also has an extra input, loop-out, preamp-out and switchable gain compared to the Caliente, which only has one input and nothing else.
The HA-171 measures 21.5 (w) by 20 (l) by 8 (h) centimetres, which is fairly compact for an amp with an internal PSU. The front panel (pictured above) has a headphone jack, input selector, gain switch, and volume knob.
On the back, from left to right: Input I, Input II, Bypass/loop out, preamp-out, power switch, 115V/230V selector, and AC power jack.
The biggest part of an amp, of course, is the sound, though, and in this regard the HA-171 is as "solid state" sounding as it gets. When people write about "solid state," they might as well be describing the HA-171, because it fits the description exactly: dynamic, fast PRaT, punchy impact and neutral sound.
The HA-171 is slightly aggressive-sounding, but it's truly flat across the frequency spectrum, and to me, that's one of its merits, because it is extremely transparent and shows exactly what your headphone sounds like. K702s are bass-light with a slight lower treble peak, ESW9s have thick, warm mids, and the Pro 900s have strong low bass and slightly recessed mids - these headphones are commonly described as such, and the HA-171 tells it like it is, with no coloration whatsoever. I think it sounds quite musical, but in all fairness, it does get a bit sterile-sounding on certain recordings, probably too much so for some people.
Compared to the Caliente, the difference is as you would expect: the Caliente sounds warmer with a more weighty bass. After some more listening, though, I noticed some more differences - for one, the HA-171 has more precise imaging compared to the Caliente. When listening to the Caliente, I could tell that instruments were coming from a general direction, but through the HA-171, there was a very exact source of the sound, and I could distinguish the location of all the instruments as well as their relative distance. The Caliente was also slightly slower in terms of PRaT and less punchy, owing to its reportedly "tubey" sound. As for bass extension, though, I think the Caliente is still unbeatable in this regard. The bass is deeper and has more decay than the HA-171.
Over the course of this review, I've been criticizing the Caliente while emphasizing the strengths of the HA-171, but bear in mind that the Caliente is currently $250 compared to the HA-171, which is $400, so there's a substantial price difference (although before, the Caliente used to cost $400 as well). When it comes to value, the Caliente is unquestionably better than the HA-171, especially if you don't need the extra features. Although I believe the HA-171 sounds better overall, the Caliente has its own strengths, like its enticingly warm sound signature that makes it match the K702s so well.
When it comes down to it, though, I do think the HA-171 is a great amp, and an excellent choice for people looking for a sound that is as neutral as it gets, not to mention one of the few professionally-made amps that offer both a loop-out and gain switch, and other useful features.
I didn't mention any specific genres for this review, as I don't think the HA-171 is particularly genre-specific in its sound, but if you'd like to know, I'd be more than happy to talk about how it sounds with different genres.
Thanks for reading.
