NuForce HA-200 Headphone Amplifier Discussions | Drop

NuForce HA-200 Headphone Amplifier

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Aug 27, 2016

decent amp but not powerful enough =\ or I'd buy

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Aug 28, 2016

UzuzuThe new Schiit Jotunheim is more up your alley lol. 5 watts at 32 ohms lol

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Aug 29, 2016

pwnermanHoly god I might just buy one of those. Or the Lyr 2 I've been wanting. I have the money but... OH WHICH ONE!?!

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Aug 29, 2016

UzuzuWell just remember there are really three deciding factors. The biggest of course if the creation of the sound. Do you like solid state or do you want tubes? Also another big factor is that the Lyr is 50 dollars cheaper then the Jotunheim but it's an amp only. You will have to buy a seperate DAC if you go with the Lyr. Third big factor is if you want truly balanced output. The Lyr is single ended only and if you go with anything else in Schiit's lineup to get fully balanced out you are going to have to spend 1700 dollars.
One more thing to note is that if you are using sensitive sound equipment like IEM's tubes might not be the best way to go since tubes inherently add more distortion.

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Jedi

881

Aug 29, 2016

pwnermanI was seriously contemplating the Jotunheim. Would you please expand on your lol on the comment? What are the differences you see in the Jotunheim over the HA200? TIA

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Aug 29, 2016

JediI said lol because the power output is insane. At 32 Ohms max output on the balanced for the Jotunheim is 5 watts. My Oppo HA-1 which is much larger, heavier and has an incredibly large transformer inside of it has a max output on the balanced at 32 Ohms of 3 watts. Not to mention my Oppo costs 1200 retail. Now I'm not saying my Oppo is shit, it has many more features, inputs and the like and power output is never the greatest factor when it comes to value of a product but I was just relating how powerful it is.
As for what the difference between the HA200 and the Jotunheim is I cannot really tell you much outside the specs list and that the HA200 is just an amp while the Jotunheim can have a fully balanced DAC added for an extra hundred. I haven't owned either so it would be irresponsible to make statements. I'm most likely going to buy the Jotunheim to compare but it really looks like a sick device. At the price of 500 for a fully balanced amp/dac combo that is unheard of really.

Jedi

881

Aug 29, 2016

pwnermanYe. After reviewing the Jotunheim on Headfi, the flexibility of that amp is crazy cool. Stacking two HA200s now seems unnecessary and the Schiit seems too tough to beat. Don't get me wrong, the HA200 on here is a steal at this price, only once did I see it on Amazon for the same price but it quickly went up to $299. Thanks for the feedback!

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Aug 29, 2016

JediThat is why I have never really liked this product. First off you need two of them for fully balanced. Even with the Massdrop price you are now at 420ish shipping included. You then need a fully balanced DAC to compliment it which is going to be hundreds of dollars more. So after all that you have all these devices, your two HA200's and your DAC which is all going to cost much more then a single Jotunheim. I just don't see an advantage of these.

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Aug 29, 2016

UzuzuThe Nuforce in balanced mode will put out @ 4W per channel into 32ohms, or 4W per amp since it is a monoblock operation, so that would be 8W total. Schiit doesn't specify if their power per channel or total but it most likely be total, or 2.5W per channel.

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Aug 29, 2016

pwnermanPower wise the Nuforce is tough to beat although the Lyr 2 is just that on paper . It is SE only but my experience with balanced is not all that positive, meaning the differences are negligible. If the Lyr was SS I would have bought that instead of 2 HA-200. The Jotunheim is definitely a game changer with it's price point[ $500 with the DAC option], and it will give a run for it's money for something like the Cavalli Audio LC for half the price.

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Aug 30, 2016

TheHunIf that is true then what I said about my Oppo wouldn't be true since it outputs at 3 watts max per channel.
As for your second comment the only thing people need to remember is that having two of these is pointless if you don't have a truly balanced DAC. For the price I don't see much beating the Jotunheim right now and it isn't like I'm some Schiit fanboy. Also just a note but the LC is never going to be made again according to the company so I really don't think the Jotunheim will be competing with it too often. That and the people who actually have LC's are going to fawn all over it anyway so it doesn't really matter in the end when it comes to that product.

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Aug 30, 2016

pwnermanI'm not sure what is the contradiction is with my comment of the actual power of this amp and your Oppo.
As long as the the DAC has balanced output that is all is needed with it's standard 4V for the Nuforce to shine. All other things will have no real world difference like true balanced architecture of a DAC with multiple chips per channel ETC. I used to own the Liquid Carbon so I speak from experience, one of these would walk all over that easily and yes I'm all too familiar with its rabid fans. The point with the Jotunheim wasn't if it is directly compete with it, but rather it will be available long after the LC is gone for far less and people who lust after the LC should look into these or the Schiit if price/performance is paramount to them.

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Aug 30, 2016

pwnermanI don't care about balanced. Sounds the same for headphones. Jotunheim is also cheaper at 399 if you opt for dac only. I already have a grace m9xx so there is that. Dac covered. Lyr can also go solid state or tube, I planned to do both on it but the tubes just for the hd650, really. like some '68 amperex tubes would be nice in there. But I really don't have to go tube and the specs on that jotunheim are insane for 500 dollars. absolutely insane. It is so tempting

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Aug 30, 2016

TheHunThe lyr is solid state with schiit's LISST tubes, though

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Aug 31, 2016

UzuzuYeah that's true but it wasn't always like that, not until they started to offer the Mojo 2 with the LISST tubes.

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SlowCousinPete

177

Oct 6, 2016

UzuzuBalanced does NOT sound the same. Obviously you're doing something wrong

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