OPPO HA-2SE Portable DAC/Headphone Amp Review

The HA-2SE keeps the same pleasing design and feature set of the original, but now sports a new DAC chip and a modified gain structure to its amplifier section.

Remember the old line from the wine commercial “We will sell no wine before it’s time?” Originally spoken by Orsen Wells, he could have easily applied that same descriptor to OPPO Digital as they tend to really spend their time honing a new product before releasing it to the world at large. As such, there just isn’t a bunch of frequent turnover in their product lines until something truly, and substantially different is ready for introduction. OPPO will however, from time to time, make an incremental upgrade to an existing product if they feel it’s properly warranted.

They did it with some of their early Blu-Ray players by introducing “Special Edition” models with improved DACs and again with their later Blu-Ray players, adding Darbee video processing. This time around OPPO has released an incremental upgrade to their existing portable DAC/headphone amp. Called the HA-2SE (Special Edition) it features the same classy exterior design of the original HA-2 but with some upgraded internals that OPPO felt were worth the time and investment to implement. Let’s have a gander, shall we?

Secrets Editor-In-Chief John Johnson, Jr reviewed the OPPO HA-2 last year and the HA-2SE has essentially the same identical exterior design and switchgear. I will simply add that I find the design to be extremely attractive and that the HA-2SE feels solid and comfortable to hold in hand. While it is about the same size as a standard iPhone 5 or 6, the HA-2SE is about two thirds the size of my iPhone 6S Plus but the included rubber bands still fit and kept both components securely together.

While the USB Type A input is expressly for the connection of iOS devices, the HA-2SE’s micro USB input allows it to be used as an external DAC for Android devices, laptops, tablets and the like. It also has a 3.5mm stereo Line Out jack to allow you to connect your smartphone or laptop to a home stereo system.

The HA-2SE can also be used as a power bank or external battery to charge your smartphone should the need arise.

The OPPO HA-2SE comes with three short cables for the connection of iOS or Android devices and a rapid charging power adaptor. Charging time is specified at 1.5 hours and runtime with digital sources is rated at 7 hours with a full charge.

I did the majority of my listening with HA-2SE by using it with my iPhone 6s Plus and Onkyo’s HF Player app. I also downloaded the Windows computer driver and used the OPPO along with my Surface Pro 3 tablet and J River Media Center software. I also used a variety of headphones including the HiFiMAN Edition X, Beyerdynamic DT880 Pro and the NuForce Primo 8 IEMs.

The OPPO HA-2SE arrived at my home in a nicely put together package that is typical of other OPPO products that I have experienced and it makes for a good first impression. Once I removed it from the packaging and checked the battery level, I went ahead and plugged the unit into the wall for an electrical topping up. The HA-2SE supports rapid charging and, sure enough, it became fully charged in just under an hour from a level of 1/3rd charge.

As John found with his review of the HA-2, the HA-2SE provides a noticeable improvement in sound quality over using the regular headphone jack of either my iPhone or my Surface tablet, which is not entirely surprising. I listened to a wide selection of music in a variety of file formats and bit depths and each song presented itself more cleanly and with more detail through the OPPO. It’s not a “night and day” sort of difference with easy to drive earphones, but it is there. Details like the decay of acoustic guitar strings and the shimmer of cymbals is where the difference was most obvious to my ears. However, the biggest payoff one will get out of using the HA-2SE is the ability to drive better quality headphones, including some lower sensitivity models that would normally benefit from an amp. This is where those additional details that the handsome little OPPO serves up become much more discernable. My Beyerdynamic DT880 Pro cans (250-ohm model) do not like being powered by my iPhone alone. In this scenario, the sound is flat and lifeless generating barely enough volume when maxed out and they’ll produce almost no bass to speak of. When used with the HA-2SE in the High Gain setting however, the Beyers sound much more enjoyable. They still have an essentially flat signature sound but the details are livelier and the bass is there when called upon. My OPPO PM-3 and HiFiMAN Edition X headphones also played nicely with the HA-2SE, its Low Gain setting being more than sufficient to drive either pair of cans. Switching to IEMs, my NuForce Primo 8s have been known to pick up hiss from certain headphone amplifiers in the past but I am glad to report that this was not the case with the HA-2SE. The Primo 8s served up nary a trace of noise when driven by the HA-2SE. All in all, the OPPO HA-2SE did a great job in bringing out the best qualities of whatever headphone I paired with it.

Using the HA-2SE with my Surface Pro 3 was a simple matter of downloading and installing the Windows driver from OPPO’s website and connecting the HA-2SE, via its Micro USB input, to a standard USB output on my tablet. The driver is not ASIO but it was easily recognized and loaded by J.River Media Center and all my music played without a hitch. DSD tracks, in particular, sounded great and presented no annoying ticks or pops when navigated to and from. It’s a little thing, but I also appreciated having a physical volume control on the HA-2SE when used with my tablet. It’s much easier to control the volume on the fly with it than, say, the on-screen volume control provided by the Emotiva Big Ego for example.

From a functionality standpoint, it is highly convenient to have just one pocketable item that can easily improve the sound of either your smartphone or your laptop; this is especially true while travelling. It’s also a bonus that I can tap the HA-2SE to charge my iPhone in a pinch should the need ever arise. If I had any quibbles with the HA-2SE they would center on the miniature USB to Lightning connection cable. I understand that it is intended to be unobtrusive and is meant to bend when properly connected, but the cable often came loose and broke contact during my use. I eventually switched to an aftermarket 3” Lightning to USB cable from Anker. It was sturdy and long enough to be practical but not unreasonable. Another thing to keep in mind is that if you use headphones with an in-line mic and volume controls, the HA-2SE will render those controls inoperable. If you like the convenience of answering calls on your smartphone in this manner, then you will be out of luck. I don’t know if that is something that OPPO could ever make functional through the HA-2SE but it would be cool if they could.

As I do not have the capability to bench test headphone amplifiers, I’ll just direct you to Editor-In-Chief John Johnson, Jr’s bench test results from his review of the OPPO HA-2.

THE OPPO HS-2SE is a Travelling Audiophile’s Delight.

The OPPO HA-2SE is a veritable “Swiss-Army-Knife” of a device. It easily improves the sound of your smartphone or laptop computer. It will power higher quality headphones that you wouldn’t be able to otherwise use successfully with said devices. You can use it to hook up your mobile devices to a home stereo with improved sound quality, and it’ll even charge your phone if you’re in a pinch and your battery is low. It’s small, it looks stylish, it’s well designed and for $299.00, looks to be a great deal for what it gives you. Audiophiles who don’t want to carry a dedicated DAP would do well to check it out for themselves. For frequent travelers who care about sound, the OPPO HA-2SE could very well be seen as a travelling necessity.