PS audio hca 2 feedback...

Drubin, tube gear has horrible specs/measurements when compared to solid state but there are alot audiophiles that prefer the tube sound. Engineering a product & applying large amounts of negative feedback (a common practice on cheap gear) results in a product that reguires less attention to circuit design and they always have better specs however they fall short on sound quality. I'm sure when Stereophile evaluated this amp, their conclusions were soley based on sound quality & not lab measurements. Forget the specs/measurements, believe your ears.

I was shocked when I had this amp home. It sounds harsh and muffled. I was not surprised when I read the reviews detailing its poor (measured) performance. The unit is also grossly overpriced given its parts count/quality.

Nightdoggy, my findings & others as well as Stereophile are the dead opposite to yours as you can tell but I recognize the fact that not everyone is going to like the same product (system compatibility). What preamp, power cord, & interconnects did you use with it? The HCA-2 has only two gain stages with the output stage being digital. For that reason you can't expect a big parts count. Besides, the more parts a signal travels through the more it is degraded. When a straight wire with gain is invented that is where I want to be.

Hi I just purchased 2 of these to bi-amp my stereo and I wanted to know if the Ram mods are worth the $795 price tag? Do the mods make the amp sound like a whole new amp or is it a subtle difference?

It's very difficult to convey quantitative sonic differences but let me give it a shot. Prior to the stereophile review I purchased an HCA and my first impression was as Nightdoggy states above, 'harsh' and I might add thin in the bass. An Inmate suggested leaving it on but how long had not yet been determined. I set my player on repeat and left for a two week vacation. Upon returning the difference was indeed like a different amplifier. For the sake of this conversation if I call that a 100% difference then installing the Black Gates seemed like a 30% increase in refinement. I should add that the Black Gates took a very long time to run in and the amount seems to vary a great deal, so be prepared.

Even more refinement came in the way of metal clad VAC, shielded power cable, decoupling the transformer, mass loading the case, and suspending it. The RAM modifications seem to go well beyond my experience with the HCA.

Since you have two amplifiers it would be amazing to have one modded and have a serious comparison.