Pure 'Class A' Headphone Amp and Preamp
Musical Fidelity's M1HPAP builds on years of headphone amplifier expertise to deliver a performance that will transform your music listening. Whatever the source, you'll be seated center stage with musical reproduction that reveals great scale, extension, and detail.
The secret to the M1HPAP's stunning sound quality is its pure 'Class A' amplifier design that is perfectly paired to a high-current, low noise power supply, which gives the M1HPAP the ability to drive any headphone full-throttle without distortion or coloration.
It's a Desktop Preamp, Too
But the M1HPAP isn't 'just' a superior headphone amp. It can also serve as a high quality desktop preamp thanks to its two line-level inputs, USB input, and variable line output. It has two headphone jacks on the front panel and a loop-out facility.
The M1HPAP's second line-level input distinguishes the M1HPAP from its predecessor, the highly acclaimed M1HPA, which offered such top grade performance that Jimmy Hughes in England's Hi-fi Choice magazine noted, "You might have to pay five times the HPA's asking price to significantly better its performance."
"Sophisticated Simplicity"
"The performance benefit of this pure 'Class A' circuitry is terrific whether connected to $80,000 loudspeakers or my pair of Sennheiser HD600 headphones," observes a ComputerAudiophile.com review of the original M1HPA for January 22, 2011. "In addition to the headphone amplifier capability the M1HPA can operate as a very nice preamplifier. Sophisticated simplicity repeatedly comes to mind when using this unit."
Outstanding Technical Performance
Operating in pure Class A, the HPAP's technical performance is outstanding. Distortion is incredibly low at less than .0005% across the band, frequency response is ruler flat, and noise ratio is exceptional. It has very low output impedance below 1 ohm.
A headphone amp's output impedance is a usually ignored but very important measurement. The HPAP's extraordinarily low output impedance means that it can drive any headphone with complete linearity and low distortion. The vast majority of competitive headphone amplifiers cannot do this because they have much higher output impedance.
Onboard 16-bit, 48 kHz DAC
The USB input uses a circuit that's similar to what's onboard the M6i and M6PRE. It accepts CD-resolution data (up to 16-bit, 48 kHz) and is processed by an onboard 16-bit DAC that runs at 8x oversampling. It sounds quite good and is only bettered by a much more sophisticated outboard DAC, such as Musical Fidelity's V-DAC and the company's higher priced DACs.
The high quality USB input is fully compliant with USB 1.1 with full-speed transceivers. The accurate 12-MHz clock source insures low jitter. The 16 bit Delta-Sigma stereo DAC has very low distortion and excellent signal to noise ratio.
According to Musical Fidelity's Antony Michaelson, "We believe that neutrality and complete faithfulness to the original recording is what hi-fi exists for. If you agree with that ideal, then the M1-HPA is for you." | 
