Best Digital Amps

Little Milton, don't get too excited. Some here just like taking pot shots at the HCA-2.

I find it hilarious that many of the amps that are often compared to the HCA-2 are 2 to 3 times more expensive than the HCA-2. And if modding a product means the product wasn't "well-engineered" to begin with, then virtually every component ever discussed here has to be considered poorly engineered because they all get modded searching for better performance. Not to mention the manufacturer mods (upgrades) to their own products, i.e the Spectron I, II, and now III or the Bel Canto 2002.x or xx, xxx. I can't even keep up with all of the Bel Canto changes. I am shocked, in fact, that Spectron and Bel Canto had to come out with so many upgrades to their products since Nealhood annointed them as "well engineered". And the ironic thing is that the HCA-2 upgrades I did to the HCA-2 cost $75 vs. the Spectron and Bel Canto upgrades which cost several hundreds more!

I think you get my point.

Spend $75 in premium parts on a $1,700 amp and I suspect it will compete with any of the amps mentioned here. Oh, and BTW, in its stock form it kicks the crap out of the Bel Canto based on virtually every post I have read comparing the two.

Click on the Review section at AA and read the HCA-2 reviews and the follow-up threads. There is much good information there from posters who have actually done direct comparisons of the HCA-2 to other "well-engineered" amps. Either the balance of the opinions at AA are correct about the HCA-2 or the "drive-by" HCA-2 posters at the 'Gon are correct. Take your pick.

Muralman1 -"The ICE module has greater potential than the TacT and TRI Path modules" What potential?

And how do you compare the Tact which needs no premap or
dac to the eAR which needs both?

Kana, I use my hearing to compare the two. There is no contest, the eAR is decidedly better. In fact, I can think of a lot of tube and solid state amps I would choose over the TacT. Same goes for the EVO.

Fiddler, all mediocre equipment needs is some fiddling, and they turn to gold, right?

The PSA is a cheapo eye opener, showing just what can be done on the cheap with these class D modules. The eAR Enigma sells for a little more than a thousand dollars, and it is a class act, in need of no fiddling.

Muralman1- "I use my hearing to compare the two."

You must have remarkable hearing to filter out/factor in the combined effect of a diferent preamp,dac,and different sytems(no dealer I'm aware handles the all these digital amps and eAR has no dealers), but hey, to each his own.

For a grand, maybe I'll pick on up as a back-up amp.

I look forward to reading the rave review on StereoTimes.

You know the TacT is a system, pre and amp. Knowing the speakers the TacT was playing on intimately, gives me a good clue what they are doing to the overall sound. Several of us heard the Llano 300 and the TacT on the same system. It was a toss up, according to likes and dislikes which one was like better. In the case of the eAR, there is no doubt about it's supremacy over those two amps.

Enjoy the review.