PS audio hca 2 feedback...

I was shocked when I had this amp home. It sounds harsh and muffled. I was not surprised when I read the reviews detailing its poor (measured) performance. The unit is also grossly overpriced given its parts count/quality.

Nightdoggy, my findings & others as well as Stereophile are the dead opposite to yours as you can tell but I recognize the fact that not everyone is going to like the same product (system compatibility). What preamp, power cord, & interconnects did you use with it? The HCA-2 has only two gain stages with the output stage being digital. For that reason you can't expect a big parts count. Besides, the more parts a signal travels through the more it is degraded. When a straight wire with gain is invented that is where I want to be.

Hi I just purchased 2 of these to bi-amp my stereo and I wanted to know if the Ram mods are worth the $795 price tag? Do the mods make the amp sound like a whole new amp or is it a subtle difference?

It's very difficult to convey quantitative sonic differences but let me give it a shot. Prior to the stereophile review I purchased an HCA and my first impression was as Nightdoggy states above, 'harsh' and I might add thin in the bass. An Inmate suggested leaving it on but how long had not yet been determined. I set my player on repeat and left for a two week vacation. Upon returning the difference was indeed like a different amplifier. For the sake of this conversation if I call that a 100% difference then installing the Black Gates seemed like a 30% increase in refinement. I should add that the Black Gates took a very long time to run in and the amount seems to vary a great deal, so be prepared.

Even more refinement came in the way of metal clad VAC, shielded power cable, decoupling the transformer, mass loading the case, and suspending it. The RAM modifications seem to go well beyond my experience with the HCA.

Since you have two amplifiers it would be amazing to have one modded and have a serious comparison.

I would say the differences in my system were well worth $800. Of course, the better the rest of your system resolves, the more you will hear the differences. With that caveat, I'd say that all of the problems that 10Audio.com groused about in their review of the HCA-2 are dispatched. The amplifier is much more refined now. It's hard to quantify percentage of differences in change, we each attach more importance to various performance parameters. I'd have a hard time going back to a stock version now. Rather than decoupling the transformer, I fabricated a non-magnetic copper and stainless retainer system. It is too easy for the heavy transformer to slide around when pulling the amp in & our of my rack.