Audio-Technica AT-BHA100 & AT-DAC100
Sep 23, 2023 at 10:06 PM Post #106 of 152
How much did you pay for that PSU? I use ifi Audio elite on the BHA100.

it has a dual DC power supply using two separate toroidal transformers and mostly made in japan capacitors and parts i,e.noise filter inlet is from TDK, 4 TOSHIBAs high speed power semiconductor etc. i paid around £700. I really like two analogue dc voltage meters with amber led light. It Weighs slightly less than 3 kg and build wait time is 3 months. Cost of single Ifi elite is £299 hence i would have to pay £600 for 12v and 15v, this is slightly more but worth it….
 

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Nov 8, 2023 at 12:03 PM Post #107 of 152
So apparently the AT-BHA100 being discontinued. Was on wait for months with two vendors to get one and never did, just disappointing news. If there is anyone in the thread who is looking to part with theirs send me a PM, although I’m sure this news will make people hold onto theirs tighter lol
 

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Nov 8, 2023 at 12:09 PM Post #108 of 152
So apparently the AT-BHA100 being discontinued. Was on wait for months with two vendors to get one and never did, just disappointing news. If there is anyone in the thread who is looking to part with theirs send me a PM, although I’m sure this news will make people hold onto theirs tighter lol
Wonder why they discontinue this so soon? Easily compete with a GSX-mini and exceeding it with a power supply upgrade.
 
Nov 8, 2023 at 1:32 PM Post #109 of 152
Wonder why they discontinue this so soon? Easily compete with a GSX-mini and exceeding it with a power supply upgrade.

From what one of the vendor reps told me 2-3 months back supposedly they had a supply chain issue securing tubes. AT had a message on their website more supply coming in November which I was holding out hope for but was recently changed to discontinued. It sucks because I managed to get the DAC to go with it so it feels like an orphan (it’s a fine DAC on its own still though).
 
Nov 8, 2023 at 1:56 PM Post #111 of 152
Wonder why they discontinue this so soon? Easily compete with a GSX-mini and exceeding it with a power supply upgrade.

That is really a good point, raised here.
I understand that it is done (most likely) out of hard commercial deliberation, but still... One other amp which I happen to own, as well as it successor have also been discontinued (according to me - a wrong move, as well as in this case with the AT headphone amp), although the company offers a lifetime service and spares.
Still, quite sad.
 
Nov 8, 2023 at 2:05 PM Post #112 of 152
That is really a good point, raised here.
I understand that it is done (most likely) out of hard commercial deliberation, but still... One other amp which I happen to own, as well as it successor have also been discontinued (according to me - a wrong move, as well as in this case with the AT headphone amp), although the company offers a lifetime service and spares.
Still, quite sad.
Yes, very sad and this amp is a steal at the asking price compared to what manufacture are charging now for new amps including portable amps. $3k for a battery operated portable amps….give me a break here! Same can be said for $3k IEM cables.
 
Nov 8, 2023 at 2:53 PM Post #113 of 152
Yes, very sad and this amp is a steal at the asking price compared to what manufacture are charging now for new amps including portable amps. $3k for a battery operated portable amps….give me a break here! Same can be said for $3k IEM cables.

There are stories like that all over the place in the head-fi world...

The amp I finally purchased (way after demoing it) wiped the floor (and the difference was not even subtle) with one "competitor", and then only got discontinued (even its successor got discontinued, which really was a dismal move), while that other amp (its "competitor") is still in production as far as I know.

The difference between these two, that I both demoed at the store, again, was not even subtle, to the point where I wondered how those two can be in the same price bracket.
One of the staff at the store told me, when I asked about it, that my experience was shared among the customers who demoed both of these amps, at that time with a number of headphones, in particular with the HD800. Just for the record, both amps were demoed with a number of other headphones, varying widely in both impedance and sensitivity, and other characteristics.

The sad story behind it is a couple of not so favourable reviews the first product got, which was somehow "understandable", since one other competitor from the same country at the same time got much more favourable reviews, from the same online reviewer, on his website, in one case. Same thing occurred at one point even on fb, and it really looked like a pattern.

What is really sad in all of this as well is the trend of hideously inflated prices during the last several years, all the while stuff like BHA100 or similar gets discontinued.
 
Nov 8, 2023 at 4:27 PM Post #114 of 152
Which amps are we talking about here? Thanks
 
Nov 9, 2023 at 5:03 PM Post #116 of 152
No... a tube hybrid amplifier will not match the distortion measures of a lower priced Topping, for instance, but that's not getting the bigger picture. It's important for people to try for themselves but this reality is less and less common with online shopping for the best deal and spec-checking.

Well, I really cannot see how that "spec checking" is a valid argument for terminating a product (even when it has certain consequences commercially). I cannot either see how a Topping line of products competes there, design- and quality wise.

For each bunch of people who go after that type of "spec-checking", you have got a number of people in the head-fi who know better than that.

Those spec-checking sites, and their measurements have been criticised heavily from the people in the know, for trying to do the things they do in the completely wrong way.

To my ears, this amp coupled with an upgrade PSU is slightly better sound wise and just as dynamic sounding as a GSX-mini and that isn’t easy to do.

@dieblanc343 These, and similar comparisons should absolutely not have been ignored when the decision was made.
 
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Nov 13, 2023 at 4:51 PM Post #119 of 152
I have the AWAS and AWKT so I was looking forward to auditioning them at Axpona and Canjam Chicago (2 or 3 shows ago) but that plan didn’t go through then lost interest I guess. I do still entertain the thought of being to try them out.
 

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