rossb Posted December 11, 2023 Posted December 11, 2023 For sale is my EAR HP4 headphone amp. I will probably regret selling this amp, but it gets virtually no use these days, so deserves a better home. The HP4 is a legendary - and rare - headphone amplifier from Tim de Paravicini of EAR. It is regarded as one of the finest headphone amplifiers available at any price, and my experience confirms this. I am the second owner, and have had the HP4 for a number of years now, so I don't know exactly how old it is. The condition is good to very good - probably a 7 or 8 on the Audiogon scale. Please see the photos, which form part of the description. It works perfectly and sounds truly amazing - dynamic, lush and detailed. I am including a complete collection of NOS and current production 6SL7 tubes - many of which are unused - and which should be enough to last a lifetime. Pick up is available or I am happy to post at the buyer's cost and expense. Reviews: Part Time Audiophile There are a few of my friends over at Audio360.org that believe that the HP4 headphone amplifier from E.A.R. represents the pinnacle of headphone amplification — both in design and in execution. It really is hard to disagree. Stylistically, it is by far the most elegant (and compact!) of the flagship headphone amps I’ve had access to, and having it grace my desk even for 5 minutes (much less a couple of months on loan) was enough to make me grin in an unhinged kind of way. The HP4 made me want to touch it, to turn it on, to plug in and get lost. That’s about as much as you can ask for from any component, but the fact that this one actually can take you somewhere else shoots this amp to the very top of the design charts. In short, I’ve heard amps that can do a lot of wonderful things. But I’ve never heard an amp that was clearly better than this offering from E.A.R. Different? Sure. But better? No. And none of those made me want to empty my wallet quiet as thoroughly as this one. It’s a work of art. https://parttimeaudiophile.com/2014/09/26/review-ear-hp4-headphone-amplifier/ Positive Feedback I didn't have a long acquaintance with the HP4, but I can say that I've never listened to one of Timmy DeP's designs without being knocked out…and now I can add the HP4 to the list of his products that really did it for me. The NOS-tubed HP4 really hit the right groove when it came to being both nicely detailed and transparent, without sacrificing musicality. In fact, the convergence of these made for a tonal coolosity and tubeuliciousness that was not to be argued. I listened for many hours while working at my desk, and never got tired of the way that the HP4 rendered the recordings. And that's even when I was patiently enduring PCM 44.1kHz .FLACs, thanks to the outstanding job done by the exaSound PlayPoint/e32/Pardo Power Supply combination. This is one of the six best headphone amps that I've heard here: the Headamp Blue Hawaii, PASS Labs HPA-1, Ayon HA-3, STAX SRN-T8000, Sonoma Acoustics (now Warwick Acoustics) Model One…and now, the E.A.R. HP4. That's great company. Bob Levi definitely called this one right; as a matter of fact, I suspect that the HP4 is already a modern classic, right before our eyes and ears…. So add my voice to the chorus praising the work of Tim de Paravicini. The HP4 is absolutely glorious in every way! https://positive-feedback.com/audio-discourse/e-a-r-hp4-townshend-audio-allegri/ 3 1
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