Hi Doug,
I had them both at the same time. I remember being wey impressed at the punch and clean-ness of the bass with the HCA-2, but in the area of midrange it was no contest. The HCA-2 midrange never sounded quite right to me, somehow on the "synthetic" side, whereas the Stratos Dual Mono had the midrange right. Bass was good enough to keep, so the Stratos it was for me. At the time, I think I was running Proac 2.5 speakers, but the Stratos doesn't dissappoint with Quad 988's or Harbeth Compact 7's.
All the Best, Peter
I had them both at the same time. I remember being wey impressed at the punch and clean-ness of the bass with the HCA-2, but in the area of midrange it was no contest. The HCA-2 midrange never sounded quite right to me, somehow on the "synthetic" side, whereas the Stratos Dual Mono had the midrange right. Bass was good enough to keep, so the Stratos it was for me. At the time, I think I was running Proac 2.5 speakers, but the Stratos doesn't dissappoint with Quad 988's or Harbeth Compact 7's.
All the Best, Peter