Headstage Arrow 12HE Reviews

The GOOD:

-- Size: very small and pairs well with a J3, iTouch, Sony X-Series, iPod Classic or similar device.

-- Battery life: as said before, simply amazing!

-- Construction: very solid and well built.  Great switches, with a firm feel and nice "click" to them

-- Form Factor: Second to NONE!  All of the inputs, outputs and switches are perfectly placed.

-- Weight: surprisingly very light.  This kind of caught me off guard.

-- Sound: The good stuff...

   1.  Bass: Great (setting "2" can be a little bloated on bass-heavy tracks)

   2.  Mids: Realistic and clear

   3.  Highs:  Also realistic without a hint of shrill or sibilance

   4.  Gain: I primarily use setting "1" for just about everything and setting "2" for my HD600s.  I have no need for setting "3" (which is probably designed for 600 Ohm headphones).  This thing has plenty of oomph.

   5.  Impedance: Aside from when I'm wearing my Grados I keep this setting on "0".  It tends to veil the highs too much for my taste.  I only occasionally put it on setting "1" when wearing my SR225i's.

   6.  Crossfeed: The best implementation of Crossfeed that I have heard so far.  Setting "1" is perfect for long listening sessions when you want to minimize fatigue.  Setting "2" is great for hard-panned music.  Both settings do a great job without significantly altering the sound quality.

The BAD:

-- The volume pot: there is a slight imbalance in the first 10% of the range, but this is common on almost all non-digital volume controls.  Heck, even my NuForce Icon HDP suffers from this.

-- Impedance: this setting is effectively useless because it veils all frequencies above 4,000Hz so much that it isn't worth using (sans Grados).

-- Hiss: With about 10 different headphones in my collection only 3 of them experienced hiss (and subtle at that, so I am being very nitpicky here).  The three that showed a subtle amount of hiss were the UE SuperFi 4, Denon AH-C710 and Sennheiser MXL-570; three headphones that really shouldn't be amped anyway so it's a moot point.  The others have enough resistance to negate any hiss.  

Overall, this amp is a 9 out of 10.  Right now, I can't think of a better portable amp on the market.

First Impression: I had absolutely no idea what to expect with the Headstage Arrow 3G, being that this is my very frist amp, period! Since I've never tested, nor have come to own any amp prior to this once, I feel it's in my favor since my view is entirely unbiased. First off, this thing is TINY! It's extremely slim, equivalent to a stack of 5 credit cards! That's about as portable as anyone could ask for. Accessories included with a mini USB to USB charging cable, and a screw driver in case I ever decide to void my warranty.

There are quite a number of possible configurations, so rather than covering each one individually, I'll combine whichever settings I feel deliver the "best" results, and see what happens (read on).

So what happens when all the individual settings are switched on and applied together? Plain and simple; magic! I can't believe I overlooked this tiny device. I was once told that while our eyes may be small, they are capable of seeing great distances. Similarily, with me, I heavily underestimated the Headstage, and what distances it's capable of taking my listening experience. I don't have anything else to compare it to, being my first ever amp, but it's absolutely euphoric! It wasn't until I came across many tracks where I wished the W4 had a slight bass boost, similar to the lowest setting on the IE8's which I've come to love; it's really all I could ask for with the W4. I was afraid that with even the low setting applied on the Headstage, the W4 wouldn't sound as pleasant, and may sound muddy or even bloated. However, my Headstage was now simply taking up space on my side table for nearly an entire day, and so I decided to experiment. I went back to each track where I had felt the W4 needed that mid-bass boost/sub-bass emphasis, and switched on the low bass setting. Meanwhile, I fooled around with the rest of the settings, until I was content with the sound. The bass hadn't kicked in yet, so while the progressive track was building up to it, I began to notice the sound spectrum widen ever so slightly with low crossfeed applied, and the richer high frequencies with the gain set to low, as well as the overall full spectrum tightness with impedence on low, where all frequencies were suddenly so much more tame. It was significantly noticeable, and the W4 sounded like an entirely different monitor altogether; and that's where the track reached its climax, when the bass hit. Seriously? IE8's who? I'm practically reaching the point where I'd have no trouble declaring the Headstage worth it's weight in gold! The Headstage packs a lot of features, and whatever it's meant to do, it does very very well!

There are plenty of other reviews on the details of this amp. Will just mention features that people may not be aware of and changes to the 4G for those who had more questions about this amp.

Side note, the amp is $299 with shipping and taxes included. I paid extra because they had no stock at the time.

Changes: 

-No more impedance button (useless function as the power draw automatically adjusts to the cans being used)

-Now has treble boost with two settings. 

-Bass boost has been reduced from +9dB and +9dB+9dB on pre-4G models to +3dB and +9dB

-Amp now has double battery life (30 hours for high impedance and 80 hours for low impedance)

Features:

-Super fast charge speeds.

-Has inputs on both sides of the amp, letting you choose which side to connect your device. Great for allowing you to choose what you want to block with an L9 LOD cable, allowing you to put it on top while in your pocket or in the back when running as a line in your home setup.

-Has two output on the same side. Will power two low impedance cans (i.e RS1i and vmoda m80) without any degradation to sound. Share your music and your amp!

-Replaceable battery that is only two screws away

-Automatically draws more or less power depending on headphones (can power an IEM or HD650 without ever increasing the gain setting).

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And the features you probably here about a lot:

-Very long battery life (more so for 4G)

-Very small form factor and very light (is actually portable)

-EQ settings are much much better than software EQ settings and inferior amps. Like the Fiio

-No power button, power is determined by the presence of an input signal. Convenient and saves power.

-Extremely durable and well built, including the feel of all the buttons

-Attractive, minimalistic and well designed

This amp is packing in performance and features and the 4G doesn't have a single implementation that isn't done well as far as I know. The layout of the buttons is intelligent and I doubt anyone will ever regret this purchase if you are looking for a neutral amp with excellent EQ performance. Also performs on par with more expensive and larger amps that aren't nearly as portable or possess even half of these features. 

Great value, highly recommend. 

This little beast of an amp is great. The sound is very neutral, yet full of power. The ability to adjust bass boost, gain, impedance, and crossfeed make it an excellent amp to use with any DAP, including iPod stuff (with their lack of user EQ). Mids are wonderful on this amp, being nicely full, center stage, and very present. 

I can't think of a better option currently for a portable which is so versatile to be able to be used with any DAP. 

I'm looking forward to seeing what Robert is up to next. 

portable and have more option, especially change the button like bass, gain and imp, opamp sounds quality under 12v, nice design for the two headphone output and two input

Headstage Arrow 12HE is an excellent product, offers an unmatched sound quality at a very low price. It is an amplifier that can shape your sound depending on our phones. In terms of portability is one of the best, only beaten by iBasso T-series. I use the Arrow with a TF10, and I tell you it is a great combination. Apart from the waiting time (from May 16 till now) I am totally satisfied with your purchase, 100% recommended!

The Arrow has that plenty of power to drive all headphones, and now the bass roll off disappeared from my Colorfly CK4:)

They have completely right at the headfonia:

The sound almost neutral, the tonal balance leans to the dark side.
More focus on the lower end, and smoothes a bit the gleaming highs.
The rest is characterized by good presence and spacious sound stage.
For me this is not bad at all.

Not taking anything away from the music, just fix things and add some more options too.

The size, functions, design just perfect. Price is unbeatable.

But this is only after a first 1 hour...(My Arrow is a refurbished one)

Maybe the delivery time solved too...