Is there a hole in Headroom's line or is the Bithead all that?
I have enjoyed my basic Airhead for several years, mostly through an iRiver portable cd player Headroom was recommending at the time I bought the amp. But now I've bought an external hard drive and I'm ripping my cds to it. Better source, to be sure, but even though the sonics in my Mac laptop (iBook G4) are very good for a computer and very quiet, I feel compelled to go around them and through a nice dac on my way to my Senn HD580s.
So I'm hanging around here where there seem to be lots of dac/amp combos, with lots of fans, in the $500 range. Meanwhile, my old friends over at Headroom don't seem to have anything between the $140 Total Bithead and $800 worth of Micro Amp & dac stack. Have I got that right?
So here's the question, Headroom: Is that just a gap in your product line, or do you think the Total Bithead holds its own against all those $400/$500 dac/amp combos? I'm willing to pay the price ans seriously considering the Apogee Duet right now. But jeez, I love a bargain.
I haven't personally heard the Micro Portable but the DAC is supposed to be at least on par with the 06 Micro DAC and the Amp section is somewhere between the 06 Micro with the Desktop module and the Home module. It's actually the same electronics as the home module but since it's battery powered it's not as high current as the Non-portable home module units. SQ wise the DAC and Amp circuitry average out to be about the same as an '06 micro stack. Which remarkably also retailed for $600. Although I haven't heard the portable I have heard/owned the 07 Ultra Micro and the 07 Micro Stack. Other opinions floating around are that aside from the mobile series. None of the HR amps are completely night and day differences as far as SQ goes. Everything increasing incrementally is a very incremental increase in SQ. I'm sure that if you got the Micro portable with the DAC you wouldn't be disappointed. Plus there's always the 30-day return policy.
I haven't personally heard the Micro Portable but the DAC is supposed to be at least on par with the 06 Micro DAC and the Amp section is somewhere between the 06 Micro with the Desktop module and the Home module. It's actually the same electronics as the home module but since it's battery powered it's not as high current as the Non-portable home module units. SQ wise the DAC and Amp circuitry average out to be about the same as an '06 micro stack. Which remarkably also retailed for $600. Although I haven't heard the portable I have heard/owned the 07 Ultra Micro and the 07 Micro Stack. Other opinions floating around are that aside from the mobile series. None of the HR amps are completely night and day differences as far as SQ goes. Everything increasing incrementally is a very incremental increase in SQ. I'm sure that if you got the Micro portable with the DAC you wouldn't be disappointed. Plus there's always the 30-day return policy.
What is the sonic impact of the high current AC vs. lower current battery power? I know that it's a lot easier to get really clean, quiet battery power for reasonable $. What else?
Garmentus Vulgaris & Headphoneus Supremus Premier Sponsor HeadRoom
The more products one has, the more holes there are. I'd say there is a hole between the AirHead/BitHead and the Micro Portable, but I'd also say there's a hole that could be filled with Desktop DACS; a few holes for tube amps; a hole for Desktop speaker stands and power amps (about to be filled); and then a few wild but not crazy holes like a desktop cd player or hard drive file player.
Headphoneus Supremus Moderator Prefers "stereo weirdo" to "audiophile"
The Total Bithead is IMHO a decent amp. I get a lot of use out of mine, though it's not the be all and end all of portable sonics, it's worth having especially if you have a need for the USB DAC.
__________________ Since I found the XLR jacks, I'm not nearly so unbalanced as I used to be!!
Five (or so) in heavy rotation:
Elvis Costello - Momofuku | Chet Baker - Chet (SACD) | The La's - S/T (Deluxe Edition) Eli "Paperboy" Reed - Roll With You | Eric Clapton - S/T [Deluxe Edition] | The Knack - Get The Knack Dennis Wilson - Pacific Ocean Blue | Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid | Was Not Was - Boo!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Thumper
If you can't say something nice...don't say nothing at all.
It's about the music...if you ever forget that, it's time to reconsider what you're doing.
what about DVD if a future version of the Desktop Amp will have Dolby Headphone..
Dolby Headphone is a gimmick, I have listened to it at length and the end result is that the sound has been modified to the point of sounding artificial. The rear effects are not convincing in the least. If you want true super real front and back effects with immense soundstage you cannot beat Binaural recordings.
Implementing this will be next to impossible though as the soundtrack needs to be recorded using the Binaural 'Dummyhead' at the source. I cannot see movie makers doing this only for headphone users.
__________________
A census taker once tried to test my headphones, I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti.
Is there a hole in Headroom's line or is the Bithead all that?
Linear Mode
