Bellari HA540 Headphone Amplifier

Bellari HA540 Headphone Amplifier

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (10 votes, average: 3.50 out of 5)
Bellari HA540 Headphone AmplifierLoading...

And now another headphone amp review. I got Bellari because it’s the only headphone amp out there that uses 12ax7 and thus 5751 tubes. So I was excited that I would be able to use my favorite Telefunken, Mazda or Sylvania GB with it. I got the amp really quickly from Amazon ($3 next day shipping with Prime rules!)

This review is going to be very short… I got the amp, yanked out the Shuguang tube – garbage. The first thing I’ve noticed that power supply was puny – 150ma I believe. I was wondering how that little thing could provide enough power to drive filament and the amp at the same time – but it did. I inserted Mazda 12ax7 with Silver Plates – plug my Sennhisers HD650 – lighted a cigar and turned on an album by Diana Panton. The first thing that I’ve noticed, the sound was quite flat and not much airiness to it. I tried both inputs, but with the same results. But what the hell, I had a good cigar. I continued listening for about 30 more minutes and when the cigar was done, I went to try a different tube – I thought that maybe the amp just doesn’t like Mazda. I plugged in Amperex and discovered that only one channel was working. I plugged back Mazda and then Shuguang, but the amp was dead. 🙁

So a very short review – broken amp (awesome return policy with Amazon) – and a sound that didn’t excite senses even with a fantastic tube.

 

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