Hafler, yes hafler, headphone amps

interesting set of features on ha75
http://www.hafler.com/ha75.php

 

I'm actually really impressed by it. I'm sure some of the statements from Producers and Engineers are coaxed with maybe a free amp or discount but the quantity and diversity is pretty impressive! The feature set is also very cool and practical for a broad range of users.

Also, they get more credit because they are part of the Radial Engineering Family, you have a no bullshit approach to their products.

I was looking at an insta try until I saw the price. It will have to wait until the fall most likely. Consider me intrigued though!

 

Interesting. Dynaco gear was the 'Schiit' in its day (my first piece of gear was a hand me down ST-70 amp and PAS-3 pre-amp); good value, enjoyable sound, etc. Hafler passed away in 2003. Does this device have anything to do with him, such as based on his designs, beyond just using the name?

 

No 4-pin XLR headphone output? The traditional audio companies tend not to fully understand the head-fi user experiences. The same is Ayre with its Codex.

 

This thing seems to have more qualities of a guitar amp or pedal then a headphone amp. Even with the choice in tube...

 

Since the amp itself doesn't appear to be balanced, what would be the point of an XLR out, other than convenience?

 

Yet the amp receives balanced inputs in the back. And most users this amp targets at have phones with a convenient and common 4-pin XLR connector. So just for convenience, a 4-pin output should be included. This is something I have noticed about differences in head-fi products made by head-fi dedicated companies and conventional audio companies. The latter tend to omit such a connector. And part of the strengths of the head-fi gear is convenience and user experience against the speaker systems. By the presence or lack of such features, I can often tell who are inside veterans and who are outsiders or newcomers in the head-fi market.

 

@TomNC , good points. My guess is the balanced jacks in the back are a nod to their pro-audio audience, rather then to the audiophile audience. But I agree, if they want to break into the audiophile headphone market, a balanced connector would be nice.

Now, that said, there are many very high end headphone amps without balanced connectors. It's possible only the audiophile headphone enthusiasts use balanced, and most people that gt high end headphones single use single-ended into high end single ended amps sold to them my their local HiFi store.

 

$999 wouldn't sound awful (if it sounds good), but there sits the Mjolnir 2 at $849...

 

I was ready to pull the trigger on this until I saw that it had an output impedance of 22 ohms. What's up with that? They say it works with headphones that are 8 to 400 ohm but really, it will only sound good once you get above 100 ohm cans. It's s hybrid with a SS output so an output z of 22 ohm is unacceptable.

 

I think the whole issue with output impedance gets overblown by most. It's less of an issue with headphones in general compared with speakers, and really only immediately noticeable with headphones that have wobbly impedance curves. Those with impedance humps in the midbass (classic Sennheiser HD6## behaviour) will gain some bloom, which is sometimes desirable. The Bottlehead Crack has a 120ohm output impedance after all. Planars will behave just fine. Now those wonky multi-driver BA iems, that's another story.