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Review of Sennheiser Momentum 2 Wireless Bluetoth (M2 AEBT) headphones w/pics!!!

This is a Review of Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 Wireless Bluetooth headphones (M2 AEBT). http://en-us.sennheiser.com/momentum-wireless-headphones-with-mic , also available on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00SNI44CQ/
While waiting to receive my review unit of recently introduced Sennheiser Momentum 2 Wireless headphones, I was both excited and a bit concerned. Personally, I thought it was a risky move for Sennheiser to make a leap from a wired headphone world where they are a well known audiophile player and into a wireless universe dominated by products fueled with celebrity endorsements and exaggerated bass. Wireless Bluetooth technology has been maturing year after year, and now with BT4.x and aptX codec the performance of BT headphones have improved significantly with a sound being less compressed, more dynamic, and with a better transparency through a digital domain delivered to your headphones. But you still need to consider D/A conversion, amplification, and transport of analog signal to your headphone drivers. This fusion of digital wireless domain and analog driver tuning is the biggest challenge to tackle in order to deliver a transparent natural sound, something Sennheiser wired headphones are well known for. So, was Momentum 2 able to accomplish this wirelessly? You BETTER BELIEVE IT!!! Here is what I found.
Arrived in a sturdy cardboard box packaging, I had to pause for a second while looking at the cover picture. Even so it was a familiar image from my review of the original wired Momentum, I still took a moment to enjoy sexy lines of their design. Before opening the box, I usually like to take a tour around it to get acquainted with key features, list of accessories, design details, and technical spec data. Some of this info really stands out with key features of 22 hr battery life, BT + aptX support, NFC pairing, Active Noise Canceling (ANC), foldable design, wireless and wired connection, and 2 year warranty – quite an impressive list to get you excited for what awaits inside of the box. With a cover off, you will find a compact case made out of a soft material (kind of reminds me of suede texture) inside of a foam cutout, a familiar display setting I found with other Momentum models, though case material usually varies.
Unboxing.
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In addition to this soft touch case with a yellow stitching around the edges, other included accessories (all inside of the case) were a detachable audio cable, usb to micro-usb charging/data cable, a flight adapter, a soft draw-string pouch with headphones inside and the pouch placed in the case, and a comprehensive quick guide. Personally I prefer a more heavy duty hard shell case and eventually will look for one which shouldn’t be a problem to find since Momentum 2 has a foldable design, but I do have to admit this case looks really sweet with a yellow stitching matching the one used on leather headband. Audio cable has a right angled gold plated slim connector going to your audio source and 2.5mm twist-on connector going to earcup. This is the same connector used in the original wired Momentum, and my only comment here is that I would have liked to see some kind of an alignment marker so you know when connector is engaged and twisted correctly inside of earcup, but with a few tries you get used to it anyway.
Flight adapter is rather rare to see nowadays, but it also very appropriate since a lot of people use headphones with ANC during their travel, and sometimes you're required to turn off Bluetooth on a plane (putting your phone in airplane mode). Having a wired connection gives you the flexibility to use headphones when battery is low or when you don’t have access to Bluetooth or in a situation like an airplane. USB to micro-usb connector is obviously for charging, but there is also another undocumented feature which I’m going to talk about later in the review.
Accessories.
I already mentioned that unfolded Momentum 2 looks just like its original predecessor. You get the same stainless steel metal arc headband, split at the top, partially wrapped in premium leather with a dense foam padding inside and yellow stitching around the edges. Instead of a typical height adjustment mechanism and headphone yoke, you can slide the earcup up/down across a slit of exposed stainless steel headband sides. The sliding adjustment is very fluid and easily controlled with one hand without being too tight or too loose. The earcup itself is attached to a mounting pin and has a full 360deg pivoting rotation to adjust comfortably to the anatomy of your head and your ears. This adjustment mechanism has a pure German engineering quality written all over it, and at the same time it has a very fashionable modern-classic look. The wires from earcups going to headband are flexible and still have a heavy duty shielding. At the point of their entry to headband you will find 4 metal screws for additional security.
One of the most noticeable design changes introduced with Momentum 2 (both wired and wireless) has to be a foldable headband. Such mechanism is easy to implement with a traditional headband where you can design-in foldable hinges. Looks like Sennheiser decided to challenge themselves keeping the original design, making it look identical from outside, and adding a durable locking hinge on inside right at the point where leather band wrapping begins. This is another example of well executed German engineering - done with a slim hinge which is hardly noticeable from outside. The only comment I have here, you have to be careful when folding earcups in to make sure metal endpoints of the headband don't brush against leather earpads.
And speaking of earpads, you will be pleased to know these have been updated with a bigger opening in comparison to the original Momentum headphones. I never had issues with those original Momentum earpads, though my ears are just average and about 60mm in height. For me with original earpads it was tight but still comfortable. The new earpads are just perfect with an approximate opening of about 65mm in height, but that doesn't mean that 70-75mm ears won't fit in. The earpads are deep, with memory foam and a soft leather wrapping. According to a quick start guide, they are removable and replaceable, so it's definitely a big plus. The donut shape of earpads is not symmetrical where the thicker part is faced toward the back making fitment more comfortable. This also means that you can't flip left/right sides and always have to put headphones one way. The L/R marking is inside of the headband, right underneath of the hinges, and you also get 3 dimples on the outside of the left side at the folding edge, though I wish those dimples would be a little bigger for a “blind” id.
Looking closer at earcups, you will find the Left one having NFC pair up area and what appears to be a two microphone grills. A spec of M2 Wireless lists NoiseGard hybrid feature using 4 mics where I assume these are two of them. Right earcup is where you will find the actual controls. First of all you have a port for 2.5mm cable with twist-on lock, and also micro-usb port for charging and USB DAC input (more about it later). As a right handed person, I prefer cable attachment on the left side, but it’s not an issue moving forward since I’m planning to use these headphones mostly wireless. Right next to it you have another long microphone grill and 2 control buttons. One is a Power button (with led next to it) which also serves a purpose of initiating BT pair up once you hold it down. The other control has a spring-loaded rocking multifunction push button where you push it once for Play/Pause/Call and rock it up/down for a volume control. Furthermore, double and triple click while playing audio will trigger skip track next/prev, and double click and hold or triple click and hold will trigger a fast-forward/-back transport control. In idle, triple click informs you about battery status.
Design details.
Moving on to Bluetooth functionality of these new Momentum beauties, let me first start with a "digital" domain of the design. As it was mentioned before, Momentum 2 Wireless supports BT4.0 and aptX codec which is among the latest Bluetooth standards that enables high definition sound without lossy compression of the source. Pair up was effortless and headphones connected to phone and media audio without a problem. As an alternative you can also use NFC pair up. Keep in mind, with power on, ANC will be enabled automatically and you can’t disable it. Also, I had no issues making/receiving clear phone calls, though it was a bit of a new hearing experience considering ANC noise isolation.
Another way to connect to your source is wired, using detachable cable. With wired connection you have an option to use headphones in passive mode (with power off) or active mode (with power on). According to Momentum 2 spec, this will change input impedance (where btw, the packaging box has a typo so please refer to a spec on the web), thus you will be able to drive Momentum 2 wired with power off like a regular pair of cans, even with addition of external portable amp if you prefer to. With a power on, I would recommend direct connection without any external amping to avoid sound artifacts. I don’t know the exact chipset inside of these earcups, but once you turn the power on sound becomes wider/deeper, more textured and better balanced (especially when it comes to bass) - suggesting a high quality of internal DAC and maybe some amplification stage. Furthermore, with addition of ANC you will also hear a cleaner black background.
Now, here comes a total undocumented surprise! You can push Momentum 2 wired performance even further by using a direct USB connection to your smartphone or laptop/PC. Yes, in a typical fashion of USB OTG connection (to your smartphone) or USB DAC connection (to your computer) you can now bypass analog HO driven by low quality internal DACs inside of your phone or laptop. It’s hard to quantify the level of improvement since with some of the latest phones, like my Note 4, I find a lot of USB OTG DACs to offer only a marginal step up, but when it comes to laptops – you can expect a better wired sound through usb cable.
USB OTG / USB DAC functionality.
Before I proceed to a more detailed sound analysis, I want to bring up another key feature of these headphones – Active Noise Cancellation (ANC). I typically don’t require ANC in my everyday routine since I don’t take public transportation or work in a noisy environment. As a matter of fact, I probably wouldn’t even take these headphones outdoors. But I’m well aware that a lot of people rely on it during their daily activities and very serious about the quality of ANC implementation. I have briefly tested ANC offered by other headphones, and a lot of you probably will agree that Bose is at the top of that game, but I also found Momentum 2 Wireless to be not too far behind and sometimes even better than others (such as noisy hiss of Beats Wireless Studio). Personally, I was pleased with a quality of noise reduction implemented in Momentum 2, and found no annoying hissing or periodic pulsating white noise. There were some occasional bursts, but it happens rarely. I’m not going to carry on about these having the best ANC in the world, and in my opinion if this is your only top priority – Momentum 2 Wireless is not for you. But considering everything else these headphones have to offer and their outstanding performance, ANC implementation is just an icing on a cake!!! And just to be clear, ANC implementation in Momentum 2 Wireless doesn't feel like an afterthought feature added to make them look complete. This is actually a well functioning active noise cancellation!
So how do these sound? I tested them both wired and wireless, and found some interesting differences. As it was previously mentioned, in wired mode you have an option of passive mode (w/power off) and active mode (w/power on and ANC enabled). In passive mode the input impedance is 28 ohms and headphones function just like a regular wired set of cans which you can drive directly from HO of your audio source or through external amp. Even so stock OFC cable does its job well, I was testing these using Whiplash Modular Cable (Pure Silver Litz cable) with a custom 2.5mm connector that plugs right into earcup without a need for a twist-on lock.
Whiplash modular cable.
In this passive mode I found sound to be well balanced and with just slightly overwhelming mid-bass hump. What is interesting, the impact of this bass enhancement only comes out to play in the tracks with a strong 4x4 kick/bass drum, while it was hardly noticeable in mellow tracks. In general, wired passive mode is OK if you completely drained your battery, but I personally prefer to keep active mode always on. As soon as you turn on the power of active mode, you are greeted with an improved sound tuning and an expanded soundstage. One interesting phenomenon, most likely due to internal DAC, in active mode the input impedance goes up to 480 ohms (!!!), and it becomes quite noticeable since the volume drops and you need to compensate it from your source.
In active mode with a stock cable sound signature was close to a wireless mode performance. It was a very impressive comparison since this is a truly best audiophile quality wireless sound I heard to date. When I switched to Whiplash Pure Silver cable, level of detail retrieval went up and sound became just a little bit brighter and crispier. That was also expected and I was very pleased with a level of improvement using a custom cable. But for the sake of my testing, I will refer to how Momentum 2 sounds in a wireless mode of operation since I consider it to be the most important characteristics of these headphones.
So, overall I found Sennheiser Momentum 2 Wireless to have a balanced sound signature with a smooth warm organic tone and moderately enhanced bass.
Starting with a low end, you have a good extension down to a sub-bass layer which is smooth and well balanced with a mid-bass punch. The bass presence is excellent and builds a strong warm foundation without muddying the sound or overwhelming the rest of the frequency range. Also, it is well controlled without spilling too much into lower mids. The mid-bass hump I experienced in passive wired mode was completely gone and smoothed out as soon as you enter active mode.
Mids are warm and smooth, maybe just slightly recessed. They contribute to a full body sound starting with a thicker lower mids and going into a detailed lush of upper mids. Both male and female vocal delivery was very smooth and organic with an intimate feeling. Even though mids are warm and smooth, they still have an excellent retrieval of details without being harsh or analytically bright.
Treble is relaxed, detailed, organic, not too crisp or grainy and without any sign of sibilance. These are definitely great for extended listening period without ear fatigue. Some might perceive treble extension as a bit rolled off, but after a closer listening you realize that it's just a warm nature of the sound.
As I mentioned before, in passive mode soundstage was just average, controlled by your source, but once you put it in an active mode - soundstage expanded to a 3D depth and width with an amazing separation and layering of sounds.
Conclusion.
Overall, I know that wireless experience can vary depending on the make and the vintage of your phone or tablet, BT version and aptX support, Android vs Apple (where aptX is not even supported by iDevices), and perhaps your location due to surrounding that can interfere with a signal. But in my everyday use during a test period I experienced a flawless performance with a wireless sound quality that rivals some of the top wired headphones I’ve tested. Of course a big factor in sound quality has to do with a great job Sennheiser team done in tuning of these headphones to have a warm and natural full body sound that oozes with a high level of detail retrieval. When people think of wireless headphones, usually convenience of cutting a chord is at the top of their list. With Momentum 2 Wireless you don’t have to compromise a sound quality and can add it at the top of your priority list as well. On top of that Momentum 2 Wireless has a remarkable 22hrs battery life, a choice of wired or wireless connection, USB DAC support to connect to your smartphone or PC/laptop, very high quality build and comfortable fitment, convenience of foldable design, latest Bluetooth with aptX support and also NFC pairing, 2 year extended warranty, and of course a bonus of very capable Active Noise Cancellation making Momentum 2 Wireless a complete package with a great value even at its premium price.

smatree said:
seems great
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Click to collapse
It's the BEST!!! Pure Sennheiser sound quality in BT wireless with aptX audio codec.

Great review.
Got two questions tho:
1. How can you tell that aptX mode is enabled and working. Is there any notification icon on Android device?
2. Is it possible for you to receive record your voice? I am heavy phone call and Lync/Skype/Hangous user and the quality of my voice is extremely important for me.

Thank you for a really good review.
These headphones are really really good, bought them during a 1 hour sale for around 360 bucks, money that I dont reaaaaally had for the moment but it turned out to be worth it .
1 question. In one of your pictures you have connected the phones to your computer via usb and it shows up as an input/output device, do you need to do something with the headphones to do that or?

sorcgsdf said:
Thank you for a really good review.
These headphones are really really good, bought them during a 1 hour sale for around 360 bucks, money that I dont reaaaaally had for the moment but it turned out to be worth it .
1 question. In one of your pictures you have connected the phones to your computer via usb and it shows up as an input/output device, do you need to do something with the headphones to do that or?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need to have the power on (so that internal usb dac is powered) and just connect it. If I remember correctly, it was recognized by Win7 as is.

I know this is pretty old, but I came here from google looking for info and your review its much better than browsing 200 pages of head-fi.
thanks for it, appreciated.

Headphones
The best headsets under Rs.1000 is definitely the Boat Rockerz 510. It comes with an exceptional build quality and marvellous sound perfect for Gaming. It is designed specially to run for long hours. I bought these headsets from VPLAK as they offered me the headsets at a much reasonable rate compared to other websites.

Insanely good review! This is how all reviews should be!
I can add to your excellent review that trying to connect the Momentum 2 AEBT to the Sennheiser Smart Control app is a friggin' mega-pain.. (if even possible). I can connect them to my phone without any problems at all, but it's impossible to get the sennheiser app to find any device AT ALL.. tried everything and the app just won't find my headphones. I have followed every guide, checked compatibility with my phone and still no success. I have seen that some people even reinstalled the app 10 times before they got it working..

Exanimus said:
Insanely good review! This is how all reviews should be!
I can add to your excellent review that trying to connect the Momentum 2 AEBT to the Sennheiser Smart Control app is a friggin' mega-pain.. (if even possible). I can connect them to my phone without any problems at all, but it's impossible to get the sennheiser app to find any device AT ALL.. tried everything and the app just won't find my headphones. I have followed every guide, checked compatibility with my phone and still no success. I have seen that some people even reinstalled the app 10 times before they got it working..
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Click to collapse
Thanks! I shared this review 7 years ago which considered to be ancient I moved on to review high end audiophile equipment on Head-fi years ago as well as mirroring everything between Head-fi and my own review site.
If you don't need ANC and ok with TWS earphones, my favorite is still Hiby WH2 (DD version). Was the first pair of TWS to feature LDAC last year, even before Sony introduced it in their wf-1000xm4, not to mention it cost 1/3 of WFs.

Review of AudioQuest DragonFly USB DAC v1.2 with lots of pics!!!

This is a Review of AudioQuest Dragonfly USB DAC v1.2. http://www.audioquest.com/usb_digital_analog_converter/dragonfly-dac , also available on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/AUDIOQUEST-DRAGONFLY-V1-2-USB-DAC/dp/B00H00VLZQ/
No matter how much I enjoy listening to music from a portable DAP or a smartphone, laptop is still a very important part of my personal entertainment, and I'm not giving up on it especially since nothing can substitute for me a physical keyboard! Unfortunately, my laptop audio performance is subpar which becomes painfully noticeable whenever I use premium headphones trying to play higher res audio. It's a common problem recognized by a number of manufacturers with their own USB DAC/amp solutions in a form of a small external usb device used like an external audio card. In the past few months I had an opportunity to review a number of such products, but after every review I have been asked to compare it to Dragonfly - a portable device that started its journey almost 3 years ago and paved a way for a lot of other similar products. Now, over a year after their hardware update to v1.2, I got an opportunity to review this friendly insect and would like to share with you about its infectious soundbite!
Starting with a packaging, the first thing you notice is a colorful image of dragonfly on the cover. I typically don’t analyze a product name since often it’s a boring mixture of letters and number, but I actually found it here to be rather unique. Furthermore, I think it was brilliant how their projected this image even further by having a custom shaped “dragonfly” led with changing colors corresponding to a sample rate (more about it later). I found a read around the box to be quite educational to learn about the product description, capabilities and features. Basically, you can familiarize yourself with DragonFly USB DAC even before taking it out.
Out of the box, you will find a dense foam tray with a cutout for the Dragonfly DAC and the included leather case. Typically I would find a case for usb-stick size device to be an add-on filler, but here it looked and felt like a premium accessory which I’m definitely planning to use moving forward with this USB DAC. I know, this is only a small pocket case, but the level of details with a neat stitching around it and stamped dragonfly logo with a model and a company name was very impressive. Plus, it will protect soft touch finish of the DAC when not in use. Another must-have accessory worth mentioning is DragonTail 4” usb extender. This is NOT included with DragonFly and has to be purchased separately, but I really hope that moving forward AudioQuest will consider adding it as a bonus with their DAC (considering competitive pricing of other similar products).
DragonTail is not just an accessory for convenience. DragonFly itself comes with a built-in full size usb connector (covered with protective dust cap) which requires you plugging it into your laptop/PC/Mac, etc. Often due to adjacent usb ports or location on the back, it’s not always convenient to have a device plugged in directly, so extension helps mitigate this problem. At the same time you have to remember that AudioQuest is a well known company that also makes top quality digital and audio cables. A cable is a conductor with multiple wires where a proper isolation of power and data lines while keeping it further away from a noisy motherboard of your laptop will improve signal integrity and EMI interference. The effect could be subtle, but keep in mind there is a good reason why bringing out audio digitally from your laptop to process analog part externally yields cleaner audio signal. Thus, I would strongly recommend getting DragonTail as an accessory to DragonFly. Plus, if not paying attention, it’s easy to disengage DragonFly by accident from your host usb socket if you pull on headphone chord by mistake. With USB extension cable you have more flexibility if you pull on a chord by accident.
Unboxing and accessories.
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The first impression you get when holding DragonFly in your hand is how much it resembles an ordinary USB stick. It has very similar dimensions with full size usb connector on one end (and a traditional dust cap), and 3.5mm headphone jack on the other end. The build is very solid and has a little bit of weight to it, definitely feels sturdy. By feeling a slightly colder surface, I'm pretty sure the shell is made out of aluminum or some lightweight alloy, and it has a soft touch rubbery finish similar to ThinkPad laptops (perfect match for me since I only use ThinkPads). Also, right in the middle of the module there is an emblem of a dragonfly with DragonFly name above it. What is really cool, the emblem is a hidden led in a shape of a dragonfly that lights up in different colors to reflect sample rate of your source: 44.1kHz (green), 48kHz (blue), 88.2kHz (amber), 96kHz (magenta).
Design details.
One might wonder, what can you possibly pack inside of such a small footprint? Well, apparently you can stuff it with ESS Sabre DAC, analog volume control (controlled through computer with 60-position resolution), and analog output buffer section. Furthermore, it supports asynchronous Class 1 USB data transfer using some proprietary protocol which enhances performance of digital audio. Personally, I prefer to make my final judgment of a sound quality based on what I hear with my own ears rather than fancy design terminology, but I was still impressed that AudioQuest provided details of the design unlike some other companies that prefer to keep it as a "black box".
Connection to my laptop was flawless, and after initial "pair up" of installing/checking all the necessary Windows drivers, it worked in a true instantaneous plug'n'play fashion with the last volume setting being recalled upon each plug in. I don't have any high impedance headphones to confirm, but with most of my IEMs and headphones I didn't have to raise volume higher than 1/4 of the way, but you can pump it pretty loud with a linear performance and no distortion. One unique feature of DragonFly is that you can enjoy variable volume output while adjusting the level through your audio player and/or computer system. But once you set the output of both audio player and computer to a maximum level, you can feed it directly to external portable amp or desktop preamp/AV receiver. It wasn't clear to me if internal amp gets disabled at maximum volume output, acting like a typical LO, but I assume the intention of that was to avoid double amping.
Connected to laptop.
One feature that is not advertised as part of DragonFly spec is their compatibility with smartphones. The original intent of DragonFly design was to provide a pure USB DAC functionality, but with support of OTG USB connectivity offered by so many smartphones - it begs to give it a try, which is exactly what I did with my Galaxy Note 4. There are a lot of variables in this equitation, depending on DAC and power requirements of DragonFly as well as OTG USB support of your phone, and eventually I was able to get it to work but only while using USB Audio Player Pro app (free demo available from Google Play). It was truly a joyful moment to get it to work with my phone, but results will vary (and might not always work) with different phones and Android OS versions. Considering an expected improved support of USB Audio with the latest Android 5.x (Lollipop), I'm looking forward to test it again once the official updates start to roll out for Note 4 on Verizon (I prefer to stay stock, rather than rooted). But in general, OTG USB feature is not fully supported by DragonFly v1.2.
With Note 4.
After this introduction of design features and functionality, the only remaining question is how does it sound and if it provides any improvement over the HO of laptop/PC? Without even a slight hesitation in my answer - the sound improvement over my laptop headphone output is definitely noticeable. Everything from an improved texture of the bass to a full body of mids and crispier treble shows a big step up from my stock laptop sound. In more details, bass extends down to a warm texture of sub-bass and adds a more aggressive mid- bass punch to drive low end with more authority. Lower mids get thicker with more body and improvement in tonality, especially making both male and female vocals more organic. Upper mids are clear and detailed, but still smooth and warm. Treble gets a better extension, but remains smooth and not offensive for extended listening. Soundstage gets a little bit more airy with improved depth, definitely above average, while width remains just average. Sound remains smooth and balanced, a little more on a warm side but still with plenty of detail retrieval. It's not exactly bright/analytical, but still very detailed with a nice balance across entire spectrum.
Overall, I really enjoyed DragonFly v1.2 USB DAC and actually found it to pair up nicely with many of my neutral and brighter sound sig IEMs/headphones. As I mentioned in my intro, I had a chance to review quite a few different USB DACs, and in general found some subtle audio differences with sound among them being either relatively brighter or darker/smoother and some variations in a level of soundstage width/depth or the amount of power they can pump out. But often a final decision comes down to a difference in extra features and build/design preferences. Nothing is 100% perfect, but some offer more robust compatibility with smart devices while others more features like dedicated volume knob or gain switch. I can't judge improvement of DragonFly v1.0 vs v1.2 since I never tested the original one, but I can tell you with certainty this latest release from AudioQuest really stands out with a smooth/warm-ish and detailed sound signature and a rather unique design which going to capture attention with its compact footprint and clever sample rate dragonfly led indicator. I also think its build quality and size is perfect for traveling, including that really cool leather storage sleeve. Sound improvement is always subjective when comparing to the original HO of your laptop/PC, and you also have to consider a synergy with your particular set of headphones, but I definitely recommend giving DragonFly USB DAC a try to check it out how it works in your setup!

Review of LH Labs GeekOut 450 & 100 USB DAC (Android support) with lots of pics!!!

Review of LH Labs GeekOut 450 & 100 USB DAC (Android support) with lots of pics!!!
This is a Review of LH Labs GeekOut 450 and GeekOut 100 portable High-Res usb DACs. http://marketplace.lhlabs.com/collections/portable-audio, available on amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Geek-Out-IEM-100-Headphone/dp/B00NAJ450Y/ and http://www.amazon.com/Geek-Out-450-Headphone-Amplifier/dp/B00JD0CQ6E/
I thought I was done with my round of portable USB DAC reviews until I got contacted by LH Labs to check out their GeekOut series of portable hi-res DACs. Formed back in 2010 (under Light Harmonics name), LH Labs is well known and highly respected in audiophile world, and I was excited to release my inner-Geek Out-to-play with this new toy! After my recent series of reviews where I looked at half a dozen of different USB DAC models, I came to a conclusion that most of them have a lot of similarities in sound quality, and the biggest difference was mostly in extra features and exterior design details. Don’t get me wrong, they don’t sound exactly the same, but none of them made me go “Wow!” like I experienced it the first time I plugged my headphones into GeekOut 450.
Even so GeekOut was crowdfunded (a very successful campaign), Light Harmonics Lab team is not novice and has a lot of other popular audio products behind their belt. From their famous Da Vinci USB DAC which pushed boundaries of 32bit 384kHz audio resolution to a number of other successful crowdsourcing campaigns with Pulse series DAC/headphone amp and the upcoming GeekWave DAP – they try to appeal to serious audiophile listeners who understand the meaning of high quality audio. The challenge with GeekOut was to encapsulate this high-res performance inside of a small portable USB DAC you can plug into your laptop or desktop and use as an external soundcard on the go. As a result you still have access to a very powerful ESS9018K2M DAC supporting 32b/384kHz sample rate and DSD playback which you can take anywhere with you in a pocket. But the most impressive result – they made this technology portable and affordable to get everyone’s attention, not just hardcore audiophiles. Due to design similarities between different GeekOut flavors, I will go into more details about GO450 and GO100 differences in sound analysis section, while the rest of the review will refer to them as GeekOut (or GO). So, let’s take a closer look at what I have found.
Arrived in a rather small packaging, you know right away you’re dealing with a portable powerhouse while looking at the box suited to fit a pair of sunglasses. It looks like the GO450 packaging had universal intention since there was a picture of GO100, GO450, and GO1000, including corresponding max power specs. GO100 packaging also had GO720 included in the list, quite understandable considering variety of GeekOut versions and logistics to use a common packaging, though each unit comes in a distinctive color where I received GO450 in silver and GO100 in black.
Unboxing GO450/100.
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You are not going to find a large variety of accessories included with this product, only a short usb extension cable and a small storage draw string bag. Since GeekOut plugs directly into usb port of your computer, to prevent interference with other adjacent devices, usb extension cable is very convenient. But after my extensive testing, I actually found it to take an edge off the sound quality making audio a shade darker and a bit narrower in soundstage. I don’t think it’s just a quality of the cable since I also tested and found the same consistent results with GO and DragonTail extension cable. I’m used to dealing with headphone replacement cables for analog audio signal, but when it comes to high res audio and sampling of digital high bit-rate signal, degradation of the digital waveform will have a negative effect on sound quality as well. For the best audio performance results, I would strongly recommend connecting and using GeekOut directly from your computer.
Accessories GO450/100
For a device with an impressive power spec, GeekOut actually has a very small footprint with dimensions of approximately 65mm x 35mm x 12mm (smaller than a deck of cards), and weight of about 35g. The first thing you notice is all aluminum enclosure with aircraft quality T6061 hardening alloy. The build is solid and it looks slick, but the main intent of the aluminum alloy enclosure is for heat dissipation since you can expect its DAC and Class A amplifier to run hot. The rectangular footprint of GO has full size usb connector on one end and dual 3.5mm output on the other end. You can connect headphones to both of these ports and control output volume simultaneously right from your computer. The difference between these ports is one having 0.47 ohm output impedance and the other one with 47 ohm output impedance, mentioned as Line Out in some references though it doesn’t function like a traditional LO set to a fixed max volume. Personally, I had no issues using either of these headphone ports, but expect different output loudness level due to impedance difference. As a matter of fact, for a better volume resolution 47 ohm output works great with higher sensitivity headphones so they don’t get too loud at low volume level.
There are also 7 LEDs on the top of the unit, partitioned in two groups of 4 LEDs (3D, 2x, 4x, 8x) and 3 LEDs (44.1k, 48k, DSD) corresponding to sample rates. Furthermore, there are 2 buttons on the side – a bit loose with not much of tactile response, but still usable. To be honest, I found these LEDs and button control to be a bit confusing, especially reading some old posts from people referencing early firmware functionality where buttons were used for volume control and later where buttons were suppose to change between Time Comprehension Mode (TCM) and Frequency Response Mode (FRM) digital filter modes. There is also mentioning of 3D “Awesomifier” mode which I assume 3D led refers to, though it didn’t lit up for me. The bottom line, 3 LEDs indicating a playback sample rate are straight forward and quite informative. Regarding other 4 LEDs – I wouldn’t even care and just leave it as is. Upon power up the sound is already 3D and sounds “awesomified” to me!
Design details GO450/100
Connection and pair up with a laptop was straight forward, though the first time it’s not a typical plug’n’play and you do need to manually download and install drivers from LH Labs website. The same goes for additional drivers required for Foobar2k setup to play high resolution lossless files. I don’t have too many DSD files in my collection and only use a few with my portable DAPs for testing. Even so I got all the necessary drivers for Foobar2k setup, I still had no luck playing DSD (issue related to my laptop setup), but no issues otherwise with high-res FLACs.
After the initial driver install and setup, GeekOut was recognized instantaneously every time I plugged it in. Also, as expected, unit got rather hot even after a short period of operation. The aluminum case worked great as a heatsink, but you do have to be aware not to touch the case. This also brings me to another very important point regarding usb-cable extension. When GeekOut is plugged into your laptop or computer USB directly, it’s fixed with surface being “air-cooled”. Once you connect it through usb cable, it dangles down and comes in a contact with a surface while being hot. This just reinforces my previous point about trying to use GeekOut connected directly to your computer.
Laptop/PC connection GO450/100
When it comes to Smartphone connection, not too many vendors are willing to list it as a supported feature. It will be challenging to guarantee compatibility of every combination with different hardware setups and OS versions. Another factor to keep in mind, GeekOut USB DAC is very power hungry, drawing close to 0.7A from USB port, and a lot of smartphones won’t be able to support that. With USB OTG connection you bypass internal DAC and go straight with a digital audio over USB. Some less powerful USB DACs support it directly with OTG cable, while others require USB OTG hub with an additional power input to bring in external portable battery. With my Note 4, Verizon pushed Lollipop (Android 5.01) update to my phone the day before I received GeekOut. Even so I was skeptical, I still decided to plug in GeekOut to my phone through a cheap USB OTG adapter, and discovered that IT WORKS!!! There was no need to use any external battery or USB hub, and I was able to play audio from any app. Although I do realize it puts a toll on my phone’s battery while draining it at higher rate, a mere fact that I plugged it into my Note 4 was a miracle to me!!!
Smartphone connection GO450/100
At this point, I covered enough about design and hardware build and pair up with your computer and even smartphone. Plenty of other USB DACs I have reviewed are capable to do this, but NONE can sound as good as GeekOut. Period! It is not a matter of sounding just a little bit better; we are talking about a noticeable difference! I started my sound test with GeekOut 450 since I figured 450mW is plenty of power to cover all of my full size and IEM headphone needs. Turned out it was actually a bit too much power from 0.47 ohm output, so I switched to 47 ohm output which due to higher output impedance has lower output power.
The first thing you notice once you start playing music is soundstage expansion (width/depth) full of airiness and very impressive layering/separation of instruments and vocals with nearly 3D placement. I was impressed with how natural this 3D soundstage felt. I heard some 3D effects in the past and they always felt artificial to my ears, but not in case of GeekOut. A sound was very dynamic, musical, and exciting, with a great extension at both low end and top end of the spectrum. Also, output had quite an impressive black background. Of course, you need a quality pair of headphones to appreciate what GeekOut has to offer, and in my case I'm still rocking a high-res ATH-MSR7 which paired up really well with GO. I didn't even realize MSR7 was capable of such an impressive bass clarity and articulation, with organic full body mids having plenty of revealing details, and extended treble with sparkle of analytical quality without being sibilant or grainy. None of my other audio hardware sources were able to bring out all that in MSR7 before. It was quite an impressive non-fatigue listening experience that was equally engaging from either my ThinkPad laptop or Galaxy Note 4 smartphone.
I know that smartphone support is still "unofficial", but that was the most pleasant surprise to me since in my previous experience with other USB DACs supporting USB OTG the improvement was very marginal. When it comes to my laptop, any "usb stick" sound card will improve the sound. With Galaxy Note 4, Samsung done a pretty good job with a sound quality and in most of my previous reviews I mentioned that improvement was very marginal. Using GeekOut - soundstage improvement really jumped out with my Note 4, and the sound became more dynamic and more exciting. 3D soundstage expansion was especially great since I enjoy watching Netflix on my phone.
All these sound improvements are applicable to GeekOut 100 as well, but GO100 version has another secret weapon under its hood. Beside the obvious reduction in output power down to 100mW (which is still plenty for a lot of headphones), it's actually designed for a more sensitive headphones. So in addition to expanding a dynamic range of volume control where you don't have to blow your ears with volume setting at 5 clicks, you also get a significant background hiss reduction. For example, I'm usually careful with my pair of ATH-IM50 due to higher sensitivity and consequent background hissing. With GO100 I wouldn't say that background hissing was completely gone, but it was noticeable reduced!
I did mention that I found GeekOut sound quality to be better than other USB DACs I reviewed in the past. Of course, such statement is based on a relative comparison, and my own preference, and my specific headphones. YMMV, but without a single doubt in my mind the improvement is definitely there.
FULLA, GO450, GO100, DragonFly, Astrapi, dSp, E10k
I will not go into a detailed comparison of each and every USB DAC, but do want to mention the improvement was consistent with GO sound being more resolving, with a better retrieval of details, being a touch brighter (might not be everyone’s cup of tea if you prefer other DACs like DragonFly or E10k with a warmer/smoother sound sig), definitely more airiness in the sound with a better layering and separation of instruments (FULLA is no slouch in that department, but still can’t reach GO level), and 3D soundstage that stands out above its competition (even Astrapi couldn’t reach the same level of depth). I do have to admit, GO runs hotter than competition and cost more, but improved performance justifies the cost. Also, there are other DACs that integrate with Smartphones (dSp and Astrapi) through USB OTG and will be more appropriate to rubber-band to your phone for a portable use. GO works flawlessly with a smartphone, but I wouldn’t attach it to my phone/case due to overheating. But for a desktop use, turning your Smartphone into a quality DAP capable of playing and streaming high res audio – it works quite well. Just remember to keep your phone battery in check since a drain going to be higher than other “lightweight” USB DACs. Perhaps, usb hub with a separate power input would make sense in this case.
Overall, let me start my Conclusion with: If GeekOut can transform my laptop and smartphone into such high quality audio source - I can’t wait to see and to hear how GeekWave is going to sound!!! Based purely on a sound quality, I found GeekOut to be superior to other USB DACs I’ve tested so far. Also, the flexibility of being able to use it with your laptop/PC/MAC and Smartphone (through USB OTG adapter and with Lollipop update) is priceless. You can pick and choose the exact flavor of GeekOut USB DAC you need based on your power requirements, though in my opinion 450 hits a sweet spot in the middle for most of the full size and IEM headphones designed around “portable use” impedance. If background hissing drives you crazy with your sensitive headphones, GeekOut 100 will be a cure for that headache. Would I say it’s a “must have” product for everybody? Not really, since there are other alternatives that run cooler and have smaller footprint. But if you demand the best sound quality from your portable USB DAC, I can’t think of any other portable USB DAC (relative to what I have tested) that can match its sonic performance.

Review of Vizio SB4051 5.1 Ch sound bar/wireless sub/Bluetooth aptX w/lots of pics!!!

This is a Review of Vizio SB4051 40" 5.1 Channel Sound Bar with wireless subwoofer, satellite speakers, and Bluetooth w/apt-X codec support. http://www.vizio.com/audio/sb4051c0.html, available on amazon : http://www.amazon.com/VIZIO-SB4051-C0-Wireless-Subwoofer-Satellite/dp/B00SMBGP76/
Flat screen TVs have been around for a long time, and with every year they are getting more advanced in functionality and thinner in size. But the problem still remains where a picture quality goes up, while a sound quality goes down. It's all part of a natural evolution with thinner TV frames not being able to accommodate large drivers. Speakers built into TV are just OK to hear what's going on, but they don't do justice to watching the latest Marvel superhero flicks, as an example, denying you a full experience of HD picture with HD sound. Even if you have a decent 5.1 Receiver with a set of 5 Speakers + Subwoofer, dealing with extra components and wires for your rear satellite speakers and subwoofer could be a hassle. Or if you like to throw a party where your TV is a center of home entertainment system, why not use your existing speakers to pair your smartphone or tablet? Didn't realize all of this could be possible in one compact setup with hardly any wire clutter when I got a chance to test the latest Vizio SB4051 Sound Bar 40" 5.1 Channel system. Here is what I found.
My previous experience with surround sound TV speaker setup was using our aging Sony DAV-FC7 dvd/cd changer with a built-in Digital AV Receiver and 5.1 Channel speaker setup where everything was wired. I enjoyed its 5.1 Channel surround sound performance when watching movies, but the pain of running wires and the limited port connection wasn’t ideal. I never got around updating our system until now, so this is my first venture into TV sound bars. Of course I was well aware of Vizio as a budget TV brand, though lately been hearing more about quality of their smart TVs. I was especially curious how their speaker system going to integrate with our 55" Samsung TV considering I usually prefer not to mix'n'match different brands because I'm not a fan of multiple remote controls.
Starting with a packaging, I didn't expect it to arrive in a single box. Considering 40" sound bar speaker, two satellite speakers, and a large subwoofer - Vizio actually managed to pack everything into a very compact box while still providing enough of styrofoam padding to protect everything inside. In my opinion it was nice to see a company putting extra effort into the ergonomics of the packaging with a ton of useful info printed on outside. As a matter of fact, I probably got most of my info about the speaker capability by reading its detailed functionality description, looking through pictures of included cables and available connections, and even studying a pictorial diagram of speaker setup - all that before even opening the box.
Out of the box, you are presented with 4 separate speakers and accessory box with plethora of cables, mounting hardware, remote control, and comprehensive manual. I was impressed with availability of Stereo RCA connection, 3.5mm Stereo connection, RCA Coax connection, Optical Toslink connection, HDMI (ARC) connection, and even USB drive (WAV format only) connection. Included accessories had a pair of RCA cables for satellite speakers, RCA to 3.5mm audio cable, Digital Coax cable, Optical Digital cable, and HDMI cable. All the cables were of relatively high quality with beefy connectors, thick wiring, and durable cable jackets. The most important point - a cable for every available connection was already included, and it's a huge plus!
To accommodate different mounting options Vizio included a number of mounting wall brackets for the sound bar and satellite speakers, wall mount screws, and even a wall mount template for sound bar. To manage excessive satellite speaker cables, they also included cable ties.
Unboxing.
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Starting with speakers you have the main Sound Bar which houses Left Front, Center, and Right Front speakers (dimensions of 40" x 3" x 3", housing three 2.75" full-range drivers), 2 rear satellite surround speakers corresponding to Left Back and Right Back channels (each one with dimensions of 3" x 5.9" x 3", housing 2.5" full-range driver), and a hefty 12.5 lbs Subwoofer speaker (dimensions of 9.7" x 10" x 9.7", housing 6" long throw driver). All speakers have matching details of wrap around black metal mesh grill, rear plastic housing, and high quality thick brushed aluminum plate sides/top (depending on a speaker type). I was actually impressed with a quality of those brushed aluminum pieces with etched Vizio logo - it adds a premium feeling to speakers streamlined design.
The main Sound Bar has 5 buttons with Power, Input, Bluetooth, and +/- Volume controls. Furthermore, on the left side of the bar along the edge behind the grill there is a stack of 12 blue leds which indicate the adjustment level, either if you are changing volume, bass, treble, surround level, etc. Considering you have all your controls under a fingertip with LCD screen remote, there is no need for any display on the bar since it won't be even visible from a distance. I think the use of bright LEDs is very efficient to compliment LCD screen of the remote when you are adjusting levels and have a visual feedback from a bar with a number of lit up leds.
On the back of Sound Bar, you have two cavities with a number of available connection ports. These cavities are just deep enough for a better management of cables, especially if you choose to wall mount the bar. In one opening you have a power cable port and two sets of Auxiliary inputs, 3.5mm or Stereo RCA where you can use the same included 3.5mm to Stereo RCA cable to accommodate either of these connections. The other connection opening has Coax input, Digital Optical Audio In, USB port (WAV playback only), HDMI In port, and HDMI Out (ARC - Audio Return Channel connection supported by newer TVs to send audio over HDMI cable).
When it comes to Subwoofer, you no longer have to worry about running wires to the back of your room since it is wireless with 60ft of clear line of sight range. But you do need to keep in mind that rear Satellite speakers do get attached to Subwoofer with RCA cables. Still, it's a lot easier to manage running wires in the back (in our case, behind the couch) then doing this across the room. Back of the subwoofer has a power switch and a power port, RCA connections for satellite speakers, and LED indicator along with a wireless pairing button. By default subwoofer was already paired up, but if you need to do it again - it's an easy process. Satellite speakers just have a single RCA connection, no power required since they are passive.
Design and Accessories.
Setup with my TV was a breeze. Vizio manual, in addition to a detailed setup walkthrough, also gives you suggestions about which cable/connection will yield the best sound quality. Of course, you are limited by your TV hardware/ports, but I was lucky enough to have a dedicated HDMI ARC port and decided to use that as my primary audio connection. Also, our TV is mounted to the arm attached to a TV table-stand, so it was an easy decision to place the Sound Bar on top of the table surface under the TV. Subwoofer with satellite speakers went behind the couch toward the back of the room.
I was actually happy with a look of a 40" bar relative to 55" TV. I don't think having a wider sound bar in comparison to TV frame would look as good.
Next to TV (55")
With a help of remote's LCD screen, setup and adjustment was easy and very intuitive. Remote has a single line easy to read LCD screen conveniently located at the top with Input/Menu/Power buttons underneath, 4-way control with Enter/Play/Pause in the middle, and Volume +/- with Mute in between below that. Input was the first stop to get to HDMI ARC port selection to enable a sound. Afterwards, I was using Menu for selection of other available controls.
Going through Menu choices is easy by pressing Up/Down arrow to go through available functions, selecting one with Enter button and using Next/Prev buttons to increase/decrease the value with a visual feedback from leds on the bar. There were a lot of functions to fine tune the performance of these speakers. First of all, you have Bluetooth Pairing (to pair up with a smartphone or a tablet). Then you have separate Bass and Treble levels to adjust corresponding low frequency and high frequency content. Center Level adjusts the amount of dialog in the center channel, Surround Level adjust amount of surround sound, and Surround Balance adjust the balance of surround level on each side. Subwoofer level adjusts the level of subwoofer output to control the amount of "boom" without affecting overall bass level. Surround On/Off will switch between virtual surround and 3.1 stereo modes. DTS TruVolume On/Off will enable consistent volume level, and Night Mode On/Off will lower bass frequency so you don't disturb others when listening late at night. Also, AV compensation audio delay could be adjusted from remote, and so does a few other options for TV remote setup, Eco Power Mode setup, Programming remote, or Reset to a factory default setting.
Remote with LCD.
I also enjoyed the idea of being able to use SB4051 Sound Bar as a regular Bluetooth 4.0 wireless speaker which also supports apt-X codec. Though I already have a number of high quality BT speakers at home, those are usually smaller in size and need to be charged up. Here, with TV being already center of our home entertainment, I was able to add another functionality of streaming music from my smartphone or tablet. Pair up was flawless where speaker was recognized and connected to Media Audio without any problem. Keep in mind that it’s not going to work as a speakerphone since there is no built-in mic. Another thing to keep in mind, Sound Bar produces a rich balanced dynamic sound, but addition of subwoofer and satellite speakers is more appropriate for watching movies rather than listening to music where I found a sound to be a bit distracting. For playing your music wirelessly I would suggest turning Subwoofer power off which also disables rear satellite speakers.
Pair up with my Note 4.
Now since I covered design and functionality details, I would like to move on to the most important part of the test – sound evaluation. I was actually surprised, expecting a typical power spec in Watts like you see it with other speakers, but instead found a reference to Sound Pressure Level (SPL) of 102dB with less than 1% THD. It could get confusing with power rating of speakers where some vendors go for a marketing hype with Max power rating instead of the actual RMS power. With SPL rating there is no confusion and it’s more appropriate for loudness level measurement and relative audio level comparison.
In our particular setup at home around the TV we have a disadvantage of open floor plan. There is no acoustically treated wall material or covered windows or enclosed space for audio waves to bounce around. As a result sound usually diffuses quickly, affecting low end to attenuate significantly in quantity. Also, with a built in TV speakers, you can get a “loud” sound but to hear a speech better you need to raise the volume up which results in sound distortion and awful mid-bass thump without much of sub-bass support.
I hate using a “night and day” cliche to describe the improvement in sound quality once we switched to SB4051 Sound Bar, but there is no other way to describe this sound improvement. Since my TV has HDMI ARC and considering Vizio recommended it as the best quality, that’s exactly what I used for the connection. Even without a subwoofer and satellite speakers, you get a very dynamic and rich, front speaker firing sound with a lot of clarity and deep bass texture. A sound was very linear and maintained its quality from the low volume level and all the way up to nearly the max. I think that was the most impressive feature where even at low level I was still able to hear clear and articulate speech without a need to raise a volume up to hear it better.
And speaking of volume control, after the initial setup to select HDMI ARC Input, I put the remote aside and was able to control volume directly with my Samsung TV remote control. I did adjust the bass level for a better balance and color, and also played around with surround sound setting which had a noticeable effect. As a matter of fact, SB4051 is packed with sound enhancement and audio decoding technology, everything from Dolby Digital to DTS Digital Surround, DTS Circle Surround, DTS Studio Sound, and DTS TruVolume. For general TV watching or when my kids watch their favorite YT channels and Netflix shows, rear subwoofer/satellite speakers are not even necessary, or better yet – you can tone it down by adjusting subwoofer level from your remote. But once you are ready for a real movie action, get some popcorn and turn up that subwoofer!!!
As I mentioned before, the only true way to appreciate the impact of this 5.1 Channel system is to play some of your favorite action movies, in my case any of the latest Marvel Comic movies would do the trick! With satellite surround speakers in the back, it really feels like you are in the middle of the action, and it took me a few minutes to realize that a thumb I’m hearing in the back wasn’t coming from a neighbor blasting his car stereo outside, but rather from the subwoofer. This speaker system really creates a home movie theater experience. Now thinking that I don’t even have satellite speakers on stands or subwoofer bass port facing the wall at the optimum angle, and our TV room in the corner of the house with only one solid wall, one larger window and one fully open wall/side - I can only expect sound quality to go up from there if I would have a proper acoustically enclosed setup.
Not sure if it’s applicable to use my usual sound test vocabulary to describe a sound, but you definitely hear a perfect balance of deep sub-bass texture with a punchy mid-bass. warm organic and still very detailed mids which deliver clear full body speech/voices, and smooth and detailed treble – no extra brightness or sibilance, just a smooth detailed sound with an excellent bass layer. Of course, you can’t apply EQ here, but Bass and Treble control was sufficient enough. What I would refer to as “soundstage” is taken care by Surround sound setting, and it was quite convincing.
Summary.
As I often mention, any review is partially an impression about the product and a comparison to other similar products. Unfortunately, my only comparison to other Sound Bars is based on listening to a setup in one of my friend’s house where they have a single sound bar. I know it’s not exactly a proper a/b comparison, but I remember always being impressed with a loud and clear sound, but not so much with a low end performance. In my opinion, a true home theater experience comes from “feeling” that bass, rather than “hearing” it. But nevertheless, I can speak from a firsthand experience that I really enjoyed sound quality, integration with my TV, and sound customization offered by Vizio SB4051. I can’t tell you if this is the best Sound Bar speaker since I don’t have too many other references. But what I can tell you is that I have a number of premium Bluetooth 4.0 speakers in $200-$400 price range where their only functionality is to play music streamed from your smartphone or tablet. Here for the price of under $350 you get not only a rich sounding Bluetooth wireless speaker, but the whole sound system upgrade for your TV with 5.1 Channel support of a separate Sound Bar, active Subwoofer and rear satellite surround speakers. With a level of customization using its LCD remote, you can fine tune the system to your exact liking and use it integrated with any brand of TV. I had a blast using this speaker and can definitely recommend it.

Oppo HA-2 portable USB OTG headphone DAC/amp with lots of pics!!!

This is a Review of Oppo HA-2 portable headphone amplifier and DAC with USB OTG support. http://www.oppodigital.com/headphone-amplifier-ha-2/
I have been preaching in a number of my portable amplifier reviews that many people get these amps for a wrong reason. Instead of using them with high impedance cans (or earbuds), or driving low sensitivity and less efficient headphones, or applying them to extend battery life of your source (lowering source volume while boosting amp) – people want their portable audio setup to look cool with a small amplifier strapped to the back of a DAP or a smartphone. When it comes to Oppo latest HA-2 portable amp – forget about anything I said, and just look for any excuse to use this slick little audio gadget!!!
In my recently published PM-3 review, I referred to these latest Oppo products as a “dynamic duo” because their synergy is fantastic. But it would be a one-trick-pony to use only for that functionality. When you look at HA-2 spec, you can see it’s not only a portable headphone amplifier, but also a high quality ESS Sabre Reference DAC compatible with PCs and MACs, and USB OTG DAC compatible with Android phones, as well as iOS. Plus, in addition to having a high capacity battery for its own internal power up, it can be used as external battery charger for your smartphone. The list of features and technical spec behind it is very impressive, but just like with PM-3 – design details overshadow everything. Now, before anybody jumps into conclusion that I’m shallow when it comes to audio gear, let me go into a more detailed write-up to describe the brains behind this beauty.
Unlike a formally dressed gift box packaging found with PM-3, here Oppo changed its strategy with an eye popping 3D artwork on the front and the side. You also get bold highlights of all the main features, a very detailed spec, and what appears to be a quick start guide describing every port and every supported connection. The “gift box” is still there, but now it’s wrapped in a packaging sleeve with all this info on the cover. I think the idea of such quick-start guide is really interesting where you don’t have to go digging for manuals and can just look it up fast by flipping over the packaging box.
Once the box is out of the sleeve and the cover it off, you can see a tray with leather wrapped HA-2 and a brushed aluminum top with a volume pot. Underneath of this tray you will find documentation and the wall charger with another flap under documentation to reveal included cables. This particular unboxing experience is nothing short of unpacking a… smartphone! You get a smartphone shaped super-slim HA-2, a wall charger and cables – no surprises here since Oppo is also behind a lineup of popular smartphones.
Unboxing.
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Looking closer into the included accessories you will find a wall charger with a heavy duty premium (low gauge wire) cable, a short LO 3.5mm to 3.5mm audio interconnect for an analog audio input from a source, a digital micro-usb to micro-usb OTG short cable for a direct connection to Android phones, a full size usb to lightning connection for iPhone/iPad, and a pair of rubber bands to strap HA-2 to your source. USB OTG cable is great and very convenient to use without a need for OTG adapters, but I wish they would include one with right angle connectors. Just think about it, usb connection is at the bottom while HO is at the top, so when smartphone/HA-2 stack is in your pocket it will be sitting on the cable/connector. Though right angle usb otg cables are available on eBay (just ordered one now), I wish Oppo would offer a shorter version of their own which I’m sure will be a higher quality. Since I have Apple-free household, I didn’t test lightning cable but aware this one doesn’t require a camera kit.
So how about that wall charger and a stiff usb cable? This is a great example of tech collaboration under Oppo umbrella. VOOC rapid charge technology was already introduced in Oppo smartphones where it’s backward compatible to source a typical 5V @2A power or accelerated charging with 5V @5A in devices that support it. Though the industry standard now is leaning more toward Qualcomm QC2.0 for rapid smartphone charging where output voltage switches to 9V or 12V depending on the device, Oppo is pushing their own standard. VOOC rapid charger cuts down time significantly where HA-2 3000 mAh battery gets charged fully in 90min, but HA-2 is still backward compatible to use with any smartphone 5V/2A charger. To support high current, HA-2 usb cable uses low gauge thicker wire and a custom crafted micro-usb connector. The only negative here is once you get spoiled by its fast charging and if something breaks, you have to buy genuine Oppo replacement, since I wouldn’t trust anything else from ebay. But like I said, it’s not a showstopper because it’s backward compatible with any standard charger.
Accessories.
Moving on to a design, I can’t help but to continue using “smartphone” reference in HA-2 description, undeniably with iPhone inspiration. With dimensions of 68 x 137 x 12 mm and at 175g this is definitely in a territory of slim smartphone footprint. The first thing you notice when looking at HA-2 is the leather-wrapped exterior with a neat white stitching around it. Obviously, the leather material is not stitched to a metal, but it creates a premium effect and a feeling of an expensive gear in your hand. You probably going to call me crazy, but I have mixed feelings about the leather. It looks like a million bucks in standalone application, and you don’t have to worry about your DAP rubbing against HA-2 surface, but it also means that you can’t apply Velcro to the back or to apply re-usable 3M double-sided sticky strips. I love the look of HA-2 wrapped in leather, but a part of me wants to feel an even thinner and lighter all brushed aluminum surface of this amp/DAC.
Leather wrap aside, all the controls occupy the top, the bottom, and one open side of this device. At the top you have a shared Line Out and Audio In 3.5mm port, and Headphone Out 3.5mm port. Everything is clearly labeled and has a letter code next to the port (more about it later). In the corner recessed you will find an analog volume potentiometer with a nice turn resistance preventing from accidental volume bump, while still allowing turning it with a swipe of a thumb. As you twist to turn it on, you are greeted with a soft green led light to indicate the power on and to give you some visual of the level in the dark. This knob is part of a dual volume control where the volume in ESS Sabra DAC gets mapped to a digital volume of your device and you can further adjust it with a pot to give you more control.
On a side you have H/L Gain switch, where High gain is capable of driving 300mW into 16 ohm load, while switching to Low gain will be more appropriate for sensitive IEMs. Between gain setting and dual volume control, you have a lot of flexibility to drive nearly every type of headphones. Before I go any further, I have to talk about one feature which I haven't seen anywhere else. Gain switch has a volume mute/fade-in functionality which is simply BRILLIANT!!! How many times have you switched from low to high gain while forgetting to turn down the volume? Here after the switch you get a short sound mute followed by a fade in effect to slightly delay a full blast of high gain power - just enough to give you a few seconds to react by either turning the volume down or ripping those headphones off your head. Hard to imagine nobody else thought of something like this before.
Above gain control you have Bass boost which affects both sub-bass and miss-bass frequencies. This worked great with EL-8C headphones to warm up their sound, but was a bit overwhelming with PM-3, unless you are a certified basshead. Either way, it’s an option to experiment with different headphones. Even so I’m fully Android vested, I do know these Gain and Bass boost sliding switches have a lot of resemblance with iPhone volume/mute button. Above the switches you have a power check button which triggers 4 green led segments (in 25% increments) to show the battery health. If you press and hold it down, it will trigger to lit up the fifth blue led to start charging externally connected device. Battery life is quite impressive with 12+ hours of use as analog amp and almost 7 hours of use as a digital DAC/amp.
The bottom of the device has full size usb port labeled with “A” (for Apple) where you attach cable with lightning connector tip to pair up with your iOS devices, and micro-usb port with “B” label for USB OTG cable for your Android phone pair up or connection to PC/MAC for use as USB DAC. For the reference, Audio In on the top had “C” label, while Line Out has A/B label indicating DAC output from either your smartphone or computer digital audio sources. All this ties up to A/B/C switch located at the bottom which selects functionality and input/output of HA-2. If you want to connect to Apple device, switch to A and connect corresponding cable to A-port. If you want Android or USB DAC functionality – switch it to B-port. If you want a straight analog in/out amplifier – switch it to C. It takes a few minutes to get used to it, and afterwards it becomes second nature.
I just wish there would be an implementation of transport control buttons to Play/Pause and Skip, similar to A200p or E18.
Design.
Once I got familiar with all the ports, controls, switches, I couldn’t wait to pair it up with my Galaxy Note 4. There is no need for any USB OTG adapter to connect to your smartphone; using the included short micro-usb to micro-usb cable is all that needed to connect HA-2. I assume the cable already has internally shorted (pin 4 to pin 5) connection to enable OTG host interface on your phone. As I mentioned before, my only wish here is to have right angle connectors to avoid arching of the cable and making it more uncomfortable when placing in your pocket. Other than that, everything worked flawlessly and I had a dual volume control to adjust from my phone and from HA-2 volume knob.
While you can drive PM-3 from my Galaxy Note 4, there is not enough power to drive it with authority to bring Oppo planar magnetic headphones sound to their full potential. Paired up with HA-2, I found bass to sound more articulate, tighter, especially mid-bass being faster and punchier. Mids sound improved with more clarity and better retrieval of details, and I also noticed an improvement in treble extension with more airiness in sound. Direct connection of PM-3 to Note 4 is convenient since I don’t need to carry an external DAC/amp, but once you hear how much better PM-3 sounds with HA-2 – there is no going back.
Keep in mind, while paired up with your smartphone, HA-2 should be drawing its power from the internal battery rather than your phone. And if your phone is running low on juice you can use HA-2 to charge it up. Just attach full size USB to port A while selecting A-port switch, and hold'n'press Power check button until blue led light turns on - now you are ready to charge your phone!
Smartphone pair-up/charging.
In addition to pair up with a smartphone, HA-2 can also be used as an external usb audio interface with your laptop/PC/MAC. To get it recognized, you do need to install drivers for your machine by visiting and following directions in: http://oppodigital.com/headphone-amplifier-ha-2/headphone-amplifier-HA-2-Support.aspx - keep in mind, only Windows users need to install the driver, while no driver is required to use with MAC and obviously no additional driver requires for iOS or Android. Once drivers are installed, HA-2 was recognized right away BUT it only worked from USB2.0 port of my ThinkPad T430s w/Win7, USB3.0 port wasn’t recognized. I found this limitation with a few other usb DACs I tested in the past, so just want others to be aware of it.
With a digital input, from either your computer USB port or smartphone micro-usb port, sound is being processed through a mobile version of ESS Sabre 32bit Reference ES9018-K2M DAC. This particular DAC is advanced enough to support PCM sampling frequencies of 44.1 kHz to 384 kHz, with a bit depth of 16/24/32-bits, and also DSD sampling frequencies of 2.8224 MHz (DSD64), 5.6448 MHz (DSD128), 11.2896 MHz (DSD256, native mode only). For some people spec numbers don’t mean much and you just care about end results, but in general a support of all these sampling frequencies up to a high level of lossless format means that a sound is not going to be internally down-sampled, keeping the original bit depth resolution and bandwidth of frequency content.
Paired up with my laptop and tested with PM-3, the sound quality improved significantly in comparison to stock HO and built-in audio chip. I experienced a smooth detailed tight sound with an improved dynamics, and also enjoyed the benefit of external volume control accessible right from HA-2. In comparison, GeekOut 450 offered a deeper bass extension, more mid-bass punch, slightly less details in mids, and less treble extension (noticeable in slightly reduced airiness). I was actually a bit surprised that sound quality of GO450 in comparison to HA-2 was a bit less refined and even a touch more veiled when connected to my laptop. With DragonFly, low end was also a bit elevated, while mids came closer to the level of detail retrieval though a bit darker. Actually, DF pair up with my laptop and PM-3 was not bad at all, just smoother and warmer in comparison to HA-2. Last but not least, pair up with FULLA made mid-bass a little more punchier, mids a little darker and smoother, and a little less detailed. Now keep in mind, all of these USB DACs are among my favorites, and comments above are just to describe a relative difference.
Since I already jumped into sound analysis with my comparison above between different USB DACs and with laptop and smartphone, let me step back and talk more about HA-2 sound quality based on its amplifier section without DAC in the loop (audio input driven from Line Out of my DAPs). The spec of HA-2 is very impressive with 1 Vrms audio-in and line-out, low HO output impedance of only 0.5 ohms, and being able to drive headphones up to 300 ohms. Also, output power (per max high gain setting) scales down from 300 mW @ 16 ohm to 220 mW @ 32 ohm and 30 mW @ 300 ohm which was still enough to drive 470 ohm R70x with authority.
In my testing I was using Cayin N6 as a Line Out source and noticed a common thread with different headphones where HA-2 was making sound smoother without any added coloration, just smooth and transparent with a noticeable improvement of detail retrieval. A soundstage width and depth wasn’t significantly affected, just remained average and similar to a source. Also, I wouldn’t call HA-2 having a perfect 100% black background, and I did hear a little bit of hissing with some of my sensitive IEMs.
In my personal experience it’s usually not easy to describe amplifier sound because it’s a function of headphones sound sig and a source driving it. Instead, it makes sense to describe it in a comparison to other amplifiers using the same source and headphone reference. That’s what I would like to do in my description below using N6 as a source and comparing HO vs pair up with Cayin C5 amp, FiiO E12A amp, and HA-2.
With PM-3:
- N6: has less aggressive bass, a bit smoother, clear/detailed mids, treble is moderately extended (thought with some roll off), not as airy.
- N6/C5: excellent pair up, deep articulate bass, more clarity/details in mids, a little more airiness in treble, soundstage gets more 3D with improved width/depth, and also improvement in separation and imaging.
- N6/E12A: very similar improvement as with C5 (more articulate bass, more clarity and better retrieval of details), but soundstage is not as wide/deep as C5.
- N6/HA-2: bass doesn't get deeper, but becomes tighter and more articulate with a better definition. Mids are more detailed but still remain smooth; treble extension improves and becomes a touch more airy. This is a perfect example of transparent sound improvement without changing the original sound and still showing a step up in detail retrieval.
With EL-8C:
- N6: bright mid-forward revealing sound, tight punchy bass without too much slam, bright detailed mids with a touch of metallic sheen, great crunchy airy treble.
- N6/C5: improved sub-bass extension, more punch in the mid-bass, detailed bright thinner mids, more pronounced mid-forward signature, and improved 3D staging.
- N6/E12A: same improvement as C5 minus soundstage expansion.
- N6/HA-2: bass is still tight and punchy and a little smoother, no longer sensing a metallic sheen in upper mids, definitely adds smoothness without taking away details. A bass boost adds more body to a sound, making it more balanced.
I found HA-2 to pair up very nicely with planar magnetic headphones, but it worked well with some other headphones in my collection.
ATH-R70x - smooth detailed transparent sound, drives these 470 ohm open back cans with an authority and I didn’t even have to switch HA-2 to a high gain.
ATH-MSR7 - tightens up the low end, makes upper mids smoother, sound is still detailed but a touch less harsh, a typical HA-2 improvement in making headphones sound smoother.
A83 - improves bass extension, and smoothes out upper mids without losing retrieval of details.
W60/UMPro50 - tightens the bass and improves retrieval of details in upper mids, while sound remains Westone-smooth.
Conclusion.
When it comes to HA-2, I was serious when I said you will be looking for any excuse to use this portable DAC/amp even on occasions when you don’t need an amp! HA-2 offers a unique combination of a fine crafted design with a high quality build, excellent ergonomics of controls including cleverly placed volume pot, and swiss-army knife functionality to use it as USB DAC connected to your PC/MAC or paired up with your iOS/Android phone or used as an external DAC (with Line Out output) or analog standalone portable amplifier. If that is not enough, you can use it as an external battery to charge your smartphone. And to top it all, it actually sounds very good with a smooth transparent detailed signature and plenty of juice to drive even some of the most demanding headphones. One might argue that often people use external amplifier to color/change a sound, and in that regard I found HA-2 to be on a safe side offering more subtle change. Maybe HA-2 is not the best sounding DAC/amp I ever heard (though definitely in the top), but I can safely say it’s the most versatile and the best looking portable DAC/amp I have tested to date.

Ha-2se + ath-msr7
Hello there, I am considering HA-2SE together with ATH-MSR7. Could you recomend this combo? Is volume knob well sensitive with MSR7? Is there any channel imbalance? Did you heard backgroud hiss together MSR7? I am looking for DAC+AMP for MSR7 featuring USB input and either optical in or line in. Thank you for comments. Tomas

likvido said:
Hello there, I am considering HA-2SE together with ATH-MSR7. Could you recomend this combo? Is volume knob well sensitive with MSR7? Is there any channel imbalance? Did you heard backgroud hiss together MSR7? I am looking for DAC+AMP for MSR7 featuring USB input and either optical in or line in. Thank you for comments. Tomas
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MSR7 is not sensitive so shouldn't worry about hissing, and HA2 is pretty quiet to begin with, and volume range should be adequate. Honestly, never came across channel imbalance with full size cans, only IEMs if they are improperly tuned. If I hear, or measure, channel imbalance - they go right back to manufacture for retuning cause that's not a normal behavior.

Though HA-2 can drive ATH-R70x quite loud, but the quality will still be better when drive by those amp with enough voltage and power.
I also using this combination for a week, but after tested the sound using HA-2 Amp and Line out to iFi ican micro se, the different make me pull the trigger.