2007 Micro Amps and Micro DACs - Page 4 - Head-Fi: Covering Headphones, Earphones and Portable Audio

bradman · #46 (**permalink**) 07-26-2007, 03:35 PM

I hope I haven't misunderstood the Sloth; I believe the two new units he mentions are the 2007 Micro Portable and the 2007 Desktop Portable.
Does the 2007 Desktop Portable have a pre amp out? No mention is made of this on the product page. Perhaps it shows up in the photo, but I'm not really good at seeing photos. It'll be great once HR get around to putting up the instruction manuals for the new products. Anyhow, I just want to confirm that the Desktop Portable does indeed have a pre amp out. Also, what kind of connectors does it use (RCA or mini?) and is it a fixed level line out or volume controlled level?

PFKMan23 · #47 (**permalink**) 07-26-2007, 04:36 PM

The Desktop Portable does havea preamp out (as does the new Portable Micro). They are 1/8" outputs. Given that they are a preamp (as opposed to a line level output) out they are variable, dependent on the volume knob. That's what I see and based upon my experience with equipment that's what I would assume to be the case.

TheSloth · #48 (**permalink**) 07-26-2007, 10:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bradman

I hope I haven't misunderstood the Sloth; I believe the two new units he mentions are the 2007 Micro Portable and the 2007 Desktop Portable.
Does the 2007 Desktop Portable have a pre amp out? No mention is made of this on the product page. Perhaps it shows up in the photo, but I'm not really good at seeing photos. It'll be great once HR get around to putting up the instruction manuals for the new products. Anyhow, I just want to confirm that the Desktop Portable does indeed have a pre amp out. Also, what kind of connectors does it use (RCA or mini?) and is it a fixed level line out or volume controlled level?

Yes, they both have preamp out (minijacks) on the rear panel. These are on the exact same circuit as the headphone outputs and therefore controlled by the volume control and source selection in exactly the same way.

Torula Yeast · #49 (**permalink**) 07-27-2007, 09:34 PM

Here's something I'm curious about:

The new Micro with "Home" circuitry sounds faboo, but I don't have a fancy CD player; I do 100% of my listening through my iPod. I love, love, love what my current Micro with Desktop circuitry does for my listening, and am intrigued by the new Micro. But would the new Micro be overkill for my humble setup, and not provide any sort of upgrade in sound that I could appreciate through an iPod?

TheSloth · #50 (**permalink**) 07-28-2007, 11:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Torula Yeast

Here's something I'm curious about:

The new Micro with "Home" circuitry sounds faboo, but I don't have a fancy CD player; I do 100% of my listening through my iPod. I love, love, love what my current Micro with Desktop circuitry does for my listening, and am intrigued by the new Micro. But would the new Micro be overkill for my humble setup, and not provide any sort of upgrade in sound that I could appreciate through an iPod?

Hi there,

Provided that you use the line out from your iPod and a reasonable cable (the relatively inexpensive Cardas mini is just fine), the SQ will scale with the amp electronics, even with your iPod as source. Run the iPod off its internal batteries whilst plaing for best SQ as well. That assumes you are prepared to up the quality of your files to lossless or equiv. It isn't really worth it otherwise.

Also, as you do already have a Micro with DM (what year, 05 or 06 module?), the improvement is unlikely to justify the cost difference unless you have an older module.

Just to make sure you aren't confused, the Micro with the 'home' electronics will not be battery powered, and will only run connected to AC power. So you would be giving up that portability - overall, I'd either go for the Micro Extreme with Max electronics, or keep what you have already.

slwiser · #51 (**permalink**) 07-28-2007, 12:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jamey

Hello Friends,

The new HeadRoom Portable Micro Amp is now available for sale.

Just checking back in...this looks like a winner to me. If it does do 10-20 hours it will be very good. I would guess 10 with DAC and maybe 20 without, right?

trose49 · #52 (**permalink**) 07-28-2007, 12:44 PM

In regard to quality vs battery life....forget battery life if its rechargable.

Always quality first it will kill most head-fiers to know that the amp could sound better than it does, but was "detuned" for batt life!

NO WAY!

mrarroyo · #53 (**permalink**) 07-28-2007, 01:34 PM

What is the gain set at low/med/hi? Can a customer request that the low gain be set at 1 or 2? Thanks.

TheSloth · #54 (**permalink**) 07-28-2007, 01:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by slwiser

Just checking back in...this looks like a winner to me. If it does do 10-20 hours it will be very good. I would guess 10 with DAC and maybe 20 without, right?

That's a very conservative estimate from HR. Real world numbers will be higher than that (10-20 w/DAC, 20-30 w/o DAC).

And mrarroyo, from memory the 'low' gain setting is very low, near unity I believe so I suspect that request is already fulfilled

Torula Yeast · #55 (**permalink**) 07-28-2007, 08:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheSloth

Hi there,

Provided that you use the line out from your iPod and a reasonable cable (the relatively inexpensive Cardas mini is just fine), the SQ will scale with the amp electronics, even with your iPod as source. Run the iPod off its internal batteries whilst plaing for best SQ as well. That assumes you are prepared to up the quality of your files to lossless or equiv. It isn't really worth it otherwise.

Also, as you do already have a Micro with DM (what year, 05 or 06 module?), the improvement is unlikely to justify the cost difference unless you have an older module.

Just to make sure you aren't confused, the Micro with the 'home' electronics will not be battery powered, and will only run connected to AC power. So you would be giving up that portability - overall, I'd either go for the Micro Extreme with Max electronics, or keep what you have already.

Thank you for your input, Sloth. My Micro is an '06, and while I'm not worried about portability, I don't have anywhere near enough computer memory to rip my CD collection at lossless (and, actually, my ears can't appreciate the difference), so I guess I'm sitting pretty unless I want to ante up $700.

mrarroyo · #56 (**permalink**) 07-28-2007, 09:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheSloth

That's a very conservative estimate from HR. Real world numbers will be higher than that (10-20 w/DAC, 20-30 w/o DAC).

And mrarroyo, from memory the 'low' gain setting is very low, near unity I believe so I suspect that request is already fulfilled

Thanks, I listen at very low volumes and the closer to unity the better for me.

TheSloth · #57 (**permalink**) 07-28-2007, 09:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrarroyo

Thanks, I listen at very low volumes and the closer to unity the better for me.

From the stereophile review of the maxed out '05 desktop (gain settings haven't changed):

"The maximum voltage gain at 1kHz depended on the setting of the front-panel gain switch. With this in the central, Low position, the Desktop attenuated the input signal by 8.1dB. With the switch in the bottom, Medium position, the maximum gain was a modest 7.3dB. And in the top, High position, the maximum gain was 18.7dB."

noseallinit · #58 (**permalink**) 07-28-2007, 10:58 PM

low gain is where I usally listen to me Grado's at. it gives me the most field of play with me volume. I also thought the Grado's sounded best at the low gain setting but for some reason lately I have been listening to them on the med gain setting.

noseallinit · #59 (**permalink**) 07-28-2007, 11:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jamey

If you take a look at the Portable Desktop page, you'll see two green batteries mounted on the circuit board. They are both 7.4 batteries, one for the + and one for the - supply. In the Portable Micro, there is only one of those batteries but it is a little different in that it has a center tap (actually there's two cells inside) which essentially provides +/- 3.7V.

so how does this compare in perforamnce with the 9volt supply in the MicroAmp in which yawl suggest in using a higher voltage battery like the PowerEx Maha?

John_H88 · #60 (**permalink**) 08-02-2007, 07:35 PM

I'm really interested in the new Portable Micro with the DAC option. From a review of this thread it seems the DAC is essentially the same as the Micro DAC, so does that mean it has both the PCM2902 and the CS4398 and thus has 24-bit capability? This should give it a theoretical advantage over other portable amp/dac combo's like the Move and the NKK01se that are 16-bit. I take it this is now a preorder item as its available now but not shipping until Sept/Oct?