After powering the unit up for the first time I experienced a couple of issues. First, there was no audio out of the passive speaker and the gain level was so high as to hear the noise floor. I checked all of the connection to no avail and then powered down the unit. After powering the DUT back up there were no more issues. I haven't tried BT, only the 3.5mm unbalanced input. Listening to my Classic Rock Station off air I found the sound to be well balanced and the level of gain to be very high, (loud without much input). They sound clean with detail and most certainly have wide dispersion. I don't hang my hat on any speakers without giving them time to break in, which is what I'm doing today, (07-06). One thing to note, after a few hours of playing at a med-low level the powered speaker was very hot at the bottom. Far more so than I would have expected and close to a burn potential to people, (I don't keep my finger on something hot so I'm ok). The plastic may not...
Jul 6, 2023
SOUND "All of a track or two should do the trick, as whether with revealing headphones ... or used as a preamp, the HPA4 simply drops jaws with the sheer impact, openness and vivacity of the way it plays music.""I played a new Channel Classics recording, pianist Anna Fedorova's Four Fantasies [CCS 41318; DSD 256], and was instantly struck by the way it sprang to life, with every element of the playing, and the size of the Steinway in a credible concert-hall acoustic, readily on display.""It was one of those real 'performer in the room' experiences and I was instantly transported back to the time I spent monitoring the recording as it was being made in the Eindhoven Muziekgebouw back in July.""The HPA4 can certainly rock out, it prodigious capability when it comes to output levels meaning it can five as much as your phones can take.""Its beauty is that it sets no limits on your system: any failings audible will need to be looked for elsewhere."- Andrew Everard, Hi-Fi News
Read the entire article in the November 2018 issue (pages 70 - 73)