Sony Pha3 Pha-3 Headphone Amp, Black

Sony PHA3 PHA-3 Headphone Amp, Black

• Flexible, Powerful, and pocket-able
• Convenient Analog and Digital connectivity meets powerful digital audio conversion/amplification circuitry
• Supporting up to 384 kHz/32-bit PCM and DSD (2.8/5.6) sources, for immersive and pocket-able Hi-Fi. Frequency response 10–100 kHz
• Compatible with USB Audio, PCM 384 kHz/32-bit, DSD

Buy Now : Sony PHA3 PHA-3 Headphone Amp, Black

Brand : Sony
Category : Electronics,Headphones, Earbuds & Accessories,Amplifiers
Rating : 4
Review Count : 77
SalesRank : 0

Sony PHA3 PHA-3 Headphone Amp, Black

• I use this with a pair of MDR-Z7s, but i\'ve put through AKG 701s, HIFIman Massdrop ver, MDR-1as and many Sennheisers, from 360 pro on up to the 660s. Amazing sound quality. I can\'t understand the use of the battery except for one fact, and this may be genius on the part of Sony: an internal battery will have more control over its discharge than an AC current, especially considering the size of the capacitors in this thing. Gotta keep that energy flow perfectly sped to maximize sound quality and minimize external and internal interference. I bought mine used-like new for 600, with all accessories. Only complaint is battery life; however, it also does charge pretty quickly. 4.5/5
• Superior sound excellence, flexibility, and feature usability. Pairs perfectly with high impedance ER-4S IEM and Sennheiser HD-800.If you are already happy with the apparent volume and sound quality of your current listening experience, a headphone amp (with built-in DAC) such as the PHA-3 is not likely to benefit you. The basic reason for purchasing a headphone amplifier is that most portable devices have trouble driving expensive headphones. There are two effects: the volume is too low, and the sound quality suffers. For most listeners, the soundstage isn\'t as clear and the music seems \"dull.\" When a headphone amplifier is used, the headphones seem to \"wake up\" and volume is normal.However, if you have high quality headphones or in-ear-monitors and value portability (convenient use on travel, or at home around the house), then you should strongly consider the PHA3. There are many fine headphone amplifiers with an integrated DAC, but the PHA-3 is surely one of the best and likely unmatched in flexibility and user features.I am extremely happy with the PHA-3 and highly recommend it for single ended use with the Etymotic ER-4S In-Ear-Monitor (IEM) and I especially recommend pairing it in the balanced mode with the Sennheiser HD-800 headphones - which sound absolutely fantastic on this amp in this configuration. I still use the ER-4S IEM for exercise, airplane flights, and business travel, but I mostly live with the HD-800\'s connected in balanced mode with the PHA-3 when I\'m relaxing to music or writing.PHA-3 Critical Feature Summary:1) Single ended output for regular devices (100mW per channel into 32 Ohms) and balanced (differential) output (320 mW/per channel into 32 Ohms) for specially cabled headphones. I found that for 100 Ohm devices the single ended power sounds wonderful and has plenty of volume.For the HD-800 (300-600 Ohms), single ended power sounded very good and volume was fine for my tastes, but after listening to the higher power balanced output, I strongly prefer it, even if I do not listen at anywhere near maximum volume which I would find painful.Balanced output provides a theoretical 4x (6dB) - Sony shows a 3.2x or 5 dB - increase in the power per channel versus single ended and provides more than enough volume and slew rate performance for high impedance (300-600 Ohm) headphones like the HD800. The HD-800 sound absolutely fantastic when driven in this configuration. This critical feature takes quite a bit of explanation. The key point is that you need the right cable to access this feature. More detail on balanced operation is provided at the end of this review.2) Internal battery - sufficient but you will often operate with the device plugged in and charging while you are listening-- this is direct experience. At the power levels I use while listening, the unit does in fact charge while I am listening.-- note: in balanced mode, (which I recommend), the power available is 4x the power from single ended mode, so sizing an internal battery for extended playback is difficult, no matter how \"efficient\" the amplifier is... Given that limitation, Sony\'s compromise between battery size and convenience seems perfect to me. (Note: balanced mode doubles the voltage going to the headphones. Doubling voltage, yields a 4x power increase at \"high volumes\" over single-ended mode, or in this case battery consumption, because power scales with the square of the voltage).3) small size (about twice as thick as a smart phone and similar in length and width) in a very convenient and attractive form factor. The design of the unit provides audio cord connection protection because the cord jacks are \"recessed\" behind the volume knob and a projecting metal flange. Supplied silicone bands are perfect for attaching phone devices or mp3 players.4) accepts digital inputs from all Apple devices, Windows, Android, Linux, etc.-- Sony licensed from Apple the iOS direct digital interface, so the PHA-3 supports any combination of digital inputs from all Apple iOS devices and the older iPods. I frequently use the PHA-3 with a 160GB iPod Classic when I\'m outside.-- Sony uses a standard micro-USB connector for all Android phones, tablets, Windows, Linux, MacOS, laptops, desktops, and music servers.5) very high standard of digital data format flexibility and analog sound reproduction ... read detailed reviews online if these items are a critical factor in selecting the PHA-3 over other competitors. The sound quality and dynamic range (no-hiss) is stunningly beautiful on the HD-800 and the PHA-3 easily accepts all the most common music data formats. In my case I use Apple products (MacBook Pro Retina, iPod, iPhone, Apple TV Music Server) to manage my music files and all of the various file formats, encoding bit rates, and sample rates in my collection have worked perfectly for me. If you are a DSD or FLAC music format enthusiast, Sony provides a music player that runs on your laptop for DSD files, and there are many laptop players for FLAC. Also, although it takes extra disk space, you can use a lossless converter to store a FLAC file into an iTunes/Apple format.6) Sony has a feature called DSEE HX to improve the sound quality of many digital formats... other reviewers have found this helpful but I find it hard to discern the benefit, so this is not a critical feature to me.7) Cables: The PHA-3 needs at least two micro USB plug to USB Type A cables (one is provided): one for charging while listening, and the other for connecting to your laptop for digital output. I found that a 6 inch 30 pin Apple iPod to USB Type A \"synch\" cable (not just charging cable) was perfect to connect an iPod Classic. Over time, I purchased another 2 micro USB to USB Type A cables to leave around some fixed charging locations. 4 foot flat cables pack nicely into a carry bag.Additional Notes:AN1) headphone impedance:The higher the impedance of a headphone, the harder it is to drive (it takes more voltage to send the same amount of current). Typical earbuds are about 16 Ohms, high quality in-ear-monitors are often 30 to 100 Ohms, and many high quality headphones are 100 to 600 Ohms. There are interesting engineering reasons for this, but basically it is easier to make a better motor with a higher impedance. There is a very nice discussion of this on http://nwavguy.blogspot.com/2011/02/headphone-impedance-explained.htmlAN2) Drive strength and Pairing:The PHA-3 was designed to pair with the Sony MDR-Z7 headphones. Those headphones are 70 Ohms at 1 KHz (mid range). The PHA-3 pairs extremely well with the Etymotic ER-4S (100 Ohm) and also pairs extremely well with the Sennheiser HD-800 (300-600 Ohms) using a balanced cable. It also pairs acceptably well with the HD-800 (lower maximum volume) using single-ended operation, but most audiophiles will want to purchase or make a balanced cable. It is always hard to know, but to my ears, the balanced cable and differential drive of the PHA-3 make the Sennheiser HD-800 really sing. I purchased my balanced cable from customcans.co.uk. I normally listen to the PHA-3 from a MacBook Pro or an iPod Classic so customcans \"default\" 1.5 meter size was perfect for me.AN3) More discussion on balanced outputs and balanced cables for the PHA-3A balanced cable using the Sennheiser connectors and the 3.5mm TRS jacks the PHA-3 requires is easy to make or purchase. I bought a very high quality one from customcans.co.uk. They will also make a balanced cable for any headphone to your specifications. It takes about 1 week for them to ship your order. Note: although I personally do not use a Pono player, the Pono player also uses two 3.5mm TRS jacks for balanced (or differential) output, so any cable that will connect your headphones to a Pono player will also connect to the PHA-3.Balanced output is an incredibly nice feature for this price range and yet Sony has also managed to make this conveniently portable. If you are using the Sony MDR-Z7 headphones, Sony provides the appropriate cable with their headphones and there is nothing else to do. If you want to pair the PHA-3 with the Sennheiser HD-800\'s or another high quality headphone it will take only a little extra effort, but it is well worth it. This feature really influenced me when I made the decision to purchase the PHA-3.All high quality headphones can be cabled for balanced (or differential) output, however the reason it takes a little extra effort - or an additional cable purchase - is because balanced drive is not a headphone industry standard and companies offer various solutions. For example, Sony (and apparently Pono) chose standard 3.5mm jack cables to keep their product small over the large XLR cables in common use in microphones, audio mixing equipment, and some keyboards (my old Roland RD700 has XLR). A good discussion of balanced cabling and some of the advantages is located at http://www.headphone.com/pages/balanced-headphones-guide. If your headphones use connectors on each driver (like the Sennheiser HD800, HD600, HD650, all Audeze, and HiFiMAN planar-magnetic headphones) it is very simple to make or have made a balanced cable (see the end of this review for basic advice).AN4) Why is balanced operation important?To achieve the same sound quality, a differential amplifier system is substantially easier and less costly for a manufacturer to design and package into a tiny, 5 volt or less (4.7V Lithium-ion) USB style battery subsystem, than one single amplifier. The net result is that the PHA-3 has 4 amplifiers ( 2 for each channel), each running on 5 volts or less, instead of 2 \"bigger\" amplifiers running at 10 volts or less.In balanced mode, the signals swing differentially, effectively doubling the voltage delivered to the headphone. Hence, from the same USB style battery subsystem, the power available to drive the headphones is nominally 4x (6dB) the power from single ended mode. This results in more than sufficient volume and slew rate for high impedance headphones like the HD-800. In differential mode, two amplifiers are used instead of one to \"split the effort\" to drive each of the headphone channels (left or right). The positive and negative leads from each (left or right channel) headphone driver coil are independently driven by a separate amplifier. Using two amplifiers per channel doubles the amount of voltage that can be delivered to the headphone driver using the same battery power system. Doubling voltage, yields a 4x power increase because power scales with the square of the voltage.AN5) Note on modifying your own headphones:If your headphones are hard wired, you can modify the cable directly and solder it to your own connectors (like 3.5mm sockets) to make it simple to build a replacement cables for single ended or balanced use. In a 3.5mm TRS jack, the Tip is the \"+\" terminal, the Ring is the \"-\" terminal, and the Sleeve is connected to the electrical shield (often a \"braid\") around the two wires inside the cable. Headset coils or transducers are symmetric devices, so labeling one side \"+\" and the other \"-\" is only important to keep the phases correct. If you make your own cable or connector, it\'s easy to use an ohm-meter to find out which wire is \"+\" and which wire is \"-.\" If the wires are color coded, it\'s very simple. If not, then as you cut each wire, carefully label each end (4 labels) with a piece of tape. Now use the ohm meter to find which wires are connected to the Sleeve of the TRS jack (probably 1/4 inch) on the cable you just cut. These wires are the \"-\" leads and need to be ultimately connected to a 3.5mm \"Ring\" when you are done with your cable. The other wires are the \"+\" wires and will ultimately connect to the \"Tip\" of the 3.5mm jack.
• I\'m not giving the product itself 3 stars per se. Mostly the description, and though not misleading, certainly wasn\'t clear that if you are trying to use the balanced headphone feature with a Non-Sony Hi-Res DAP, it won\'t work, it\'s just an amp at that point. And when using the computer connection, I couldn\'t really tell if the balanced heaphones were balanced or not. Also, my fault for not being knowledgeable enough, but the DSEE only really works with lossy format, not lossless (which I assume most of us are using if we\'re looking at a $1,000 amp). It does have a special attachment for Apple products which I assume balanced headphones will work on, and it has a optical input which I also assume will work, but I didn\'t need it for that. I really wanted the balanced for my Sony MDR-Z7 headphones. I REALLY WANTED TO LIKE THIS. If it wasn\'t $1,000, I might be ok since I was only really able use out of it a desktop headphone amp. But I can get a desktop amp that would serve the same purpose and likely same (or close to same) quality for less.I want to make it clear that the item itself is very solid and well built, and if you are using a Sony Hi-Res DAP, or are an IPhone user, I think this will work for you just fine, and is worth the investment. I Love my MDR-Z7\'s, and usually Sony products are ok by me. I\'m not downplaying the quality of the product, just wanted to make it clear for anyone else looking at this that it may not be quite the thing you\'re looking for.

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