Dear all,
I just received my BHA-1 2 days ago.
People who know me know that I am not someone given to exaggeration. I am not usually dramatic about situations. I tend to be fairly rational and analytical when it comes to many situations. And my initial listening impression of this headphone amp fresh out-of-the-box: Wow!
Headphones used: Hifiman HE-6 (balanced terminated with a 4-pin XLR using the stock cable)
Source: an inexpensive NAD C542 CD Player
Interconnects: an inexpensive Belden 1505F cable with Canare RCA plugs (singled-ended)
Power cord: stock power cords which come supplied with equipment
Even with the above inexpensive set-up, I was able to have the best sound I have ever experienced from my HE-6.
I am not good with descriptions using hifi speak so please pardon me. I read hifi magazines and have been lurking in hifi forums for years and I still do not know what some of the commonly used jargons mean precisely. So I shall use a very layman approach to describe what I hear: the HE-6/BHA-1 combination allowed me to hear deep into the recordings.
I listen mostly to classical music, from large scale orchestral works to chamber music. Treble was crystal clear (in some orchestral recordings, the sound of the triangle - emerging from the back of the orchestra - lingered on for quite a while). Bass was solid, weighty and tight. Orchestral tuttis were 'big' (for lack of a better word). The soundstage was wide and gave the illusion of it extending well beyond the headphones. Solo piano tones were very beautiful. Recorded solo violins didn't sound shrill at all (and when miked closely enough, I could actually hear into the 'timbre' of the bow coming into contact with the strings - does this make sense?). Mass and solo string pizzicatos were very crisp.
A bit of history....
Before the BHA-1 was officially released, I had some correspondence with James Tanner through E-mail and also through this forum with regard to its expected driving capability for some of the more hard-to-drive headphones. In particular, I was concerned that the BHA-1 would not be powerful enough to drive the HE-6. In fact, I was so certain - although sight unseen, sound unheard - it WOULD NOT be powerful enough to drive the HE-6 that I went ahead to buy the less 'demanding' HE-500 (the second model in Hifiman's planar series) in preparation for the arrival of the (long-overdue) BHA-1.
Well, after my initial listening impressions, I can now breathe easy...(and end up with an additional pair of headphones I don't really need)
(For those interested, I set the BHA-1 to 'high gain' and use single-ended RCA input from my source. Depending on the recording level of the source material, my volume knob positions on the BHA-1 range from 9 o'clock to 11 o'clock. If I turn up my volume knob any more, the music becomes excessively loud and I risk damaging my hearing)
I have learned from this experience that my perception of things is often coloured, and unneeded paranoia caused, by people's impressions as posted on the forums. I pre-judge things too definitvely. I somehow got the impression from hearsay that the BHA-1 would not be able to sufficently drive the HE-6. "HE-6 needs a speaker amp to drive it optimally", so some say. That impression is now thrown out of the window, based on my own experience. The bottom line is, whenever possible - and I understand that it's not always possible or convenient - we should always listen to the gear ourselves and form our own (hopefully not too subjective) opinions.
The HE-6/BHA-1 are a great match.
