2014 Product of the Year – Overall
OPPO has been producing award-winning disc players for years now, producing components that not only sound the part, but look, feel and are packaged like components costing a lot more. If the HA-1 headphone amplifier had a McIntosh or a Meridan badge on the front panel, you wouldn’t even blink at an $8,500 price tag. It’s an absolute steal at $1,195, including a DAC, streamer and line level preamplifier –– with a headphone amplifier that, by itself, is worth more than the $1,195 asking price.
Coupled with the $1,095 PM-1 planar magnetic headphones that give the competitors a major run for their money, these two components not only give you a world class personal audio system for a tick over two grand, they give you the foundation for a fantastic two-channel hifi system as well – just add your favorite power amplifier and speakers. With fully balanced XLR outputs as well as RCAs, the HA-1 is compatible with everything. And it’s so good, we’d even suggest the HA-1 as a system anchor even if you aren’t a headphone enthusiast. There’s no better building block for a reasonably priced, high performance audio system than the OPPO HA-1.
OPPO HA-1 Headphone Amplifier and PM-1 Headphones