Harmonia HP2A

I am not a professional audio reviewer so I am not going to pretend to be. I am just a Joe Shmoe who knows what sounds good and what doesn’t. And this is the first time I feel so content with the sound I am hearing that I can stop looking for the next latest and greatest thing. This is it! This is what the best sounds like!

I use this amp as well as the Harmony DAC with my Meze Elite. This combo is absolute bliss. The sound is so lifelike and organic, transparent and 3 dimensional, punchy and dynamic that I really can’t imagine how music can get any better through a headphone! It made me realize that my previous stack, which I absolutely loved, actually has a digital edge to it that isn’t present on the LAiV stack.

The DAC is supremely musical and the amp is supremely transparent with both having a level of refinement that I have not experienced before. On the Meze Elite, the sub bass is thunderous and clean. The mid bass slaps when called for, while maintaining control and nuance. The midrange is diamond clear with voices on well recorded tracks sounding like the singer is right in front of you in the same room. Nice body and weight is behind each note without sacrificing detail. Treble is nicely extending without ever getting harsh. Everything is presented with a smooth organic quality that comes with a high quality NOS r2r DAC and thanks to the HP2A highly transparent nature, this quality comes through in pristine quality.

All this talk of the sound and I haven’t even talked about the build quality yet! Needless to say, this amp and DAC would be right at home in a home theater setup with components that cost over $10,000. The design is striking, especially in silver. It shines like a beautiful piece of industrial art with the gold accents providing some theatrical quality to its presence. Its three spiked feet design makes the unit appear to be floating from certain angles with the rear defying physics. The screen is easy to read with big attractive text that can be read from a reasonable distance away. The remote is a solid chunk of metal, beautiful and substantial with no rattling from the buttons, which operate with a nice confident inspiring click. The whole package including the unboxing experience is top notch. It makes me wonder how on earth LAiV manages to arrive at the price, when it seems like it should cost more than it does.

In summary, I can’t say enough good things about the amp and Dac. I give this my highest recommendation!

I am enjoying this amp a lot. I've had just over a full week with it and feel I have enough time with it to give my thoughts. I was previously using a Burson Soloist 3XP, which will now turn into my amp or preamp in my office at work.

Headphones used:

- Hifiman Susvara

- Meze Elite

Thoughts:

- Amp sounds great with both easy to drive (Meze Elite) and hard to drive (Hifiman Susvara) headphones.

- To my ear, the HP2A is a bit of a "smoother" sound profile than what I was getting with the Burson.

- To my surprise, I feel the HP2A "woke up" the Meze Elites and made them really enjoyable to listen to. I remember loving them when demoing them at the local audio shop, but never quite got them to feel as full sounding at home with the Burson. They were still good, but the midbass hump was too pronounced, that isn't the case with the HP2A.

- For Susvara, the Burson and HP2A both sound great. Not as much as a noticeable difference with these. I'm completely happy with either amp and both have plenty of power to drive Susvara. For me there is easily an additional 20 - 30 db of headroom left when putting the Susvara to sound levels that are higher than I would ever listen at

- I have the black/gold colorway and the harmony dac and HP2A stack look really great together. When I first ordered the harmony I was concerned with the gold/black combo as it is not my favorite. With just the harmony dac, the color/looks was only OK for me (I didn't love it). With the addition of the HP2A, I think the stack looks really good - the two pieces really complement each other.

- Build quality is great. Feels solid and has a nice heft to it.

- Three feet design is not my favorite. Be careful when plugging in cables - if you push down on a corner, you just might flip the unit upward by mistake - do not do this!

- Overall, I am happy with the purchase and will be keeping the HP2A.

I should have the Mod House Tungsten arriving soon. They will likely be my headphones at work, but they will get a run through the HP2A for sure. These are a challenge for any amplifier, so I am curious to see how the HP2A will do.

What strikes me (and my wife) is the amount of attention focused on the entire customer experience. Details include:

1) Quick and personal correspondence, including pre-purchase technical questions and input on how equipment and set-up would integrate.

2) Beautiful packaging and the documentation is phenomenal. My wife and I were even amused by the "Safety Instructions" which were cleverly written.

3) Shipping, receiving and customer follow-up. Extremely fast (about 4 days - US), and the added bonus of having a LAiV representative touch base to see how things were going (never ever had that with any previous audio purchases).

4) And of course (but not least) the sound quality. Since I've replaced my tube gear, I have been having difficulties finding an appropriate preamp replacement to match the Pass X150.8 that's in my system (especially with high efficiency speakers). We are taken back by the level of sound quality and engagement.Extremely dynamic with excellent detail retrieval. More importantly the level of engagement, emotion and life like perception that my wife and I experienced with the previous tube gear, is back with the addition of the HP2A. This addition has also provided more low end presence and control as well as fleshing out a more realistic recording space (Cowboy Junkies, etc.).

Per the points above, I've never found all these areas fulfilled in one place. I'm locked in as a loyal customer and will definitely be purchasing the Harmony DAC (which was my original goal), as well as paying attention to any future LAiV releases.

Associated gear: Zu Audio Definition Mk.III (integrated sub array) speakers; Pass Labs X150.8, amp; LAiV Harmony HP2A preamp; Eversolo streamer; Zu Audio power and XLR cabling