Incredibly informative thread...

One I'd better keep a distance from for the sake of my wallet


Already makes me want to go get a MicroAmp and complete the stack!!

(lol, my MicroDAC didn't even ship yet)

Micro Amp rocks, my friend. Afraid you've got some more money to spend....


So anyone care to comment on sound quality of the Micro Stack on batteries compared to the wal wart or desktop power supply?

Tyll, I sent this question to the sales email addy at headroom, but perhaps you know - when is the travel bag for the Micro Stack going to be available??? I'm heading to London in early Nov. and am planning on taking the stack with me.....

Ok, I do have one criticism of the Micro Stack.

I've been testing it out with batteries, sounds great, although still curious to hear if in theory the SQ is better/worse than with a power supply.

But why no off position on the power switch??? With batteries in, the only way to power these units off it to unplug them and then switch to external. What would have been so terrible about adding an off position to the power switch, instead of just external or battery?

I have been following this thread with interest.

Although I have decided on getting a PPX for dedicated home use I have also been toying with the idea of purchasing the Micro Amp and DAC for use in office and at home with laptop and with Ipod. Is the general consensus from Headfiers that the Micro Amp and DAC will significantly improve the sound when listening through a laptop or portable CD Player but that adding a portable amp to an Ipod does not result in huge sonic difference (assuming the portable device can already drive the headphones)?

I would purchase the Micro stack but it would be nice to know if the improvements would not just be realised through the laptop CD player or separate portable CD player but also when using an Ipod out of the house.

One other question - does anyone have any views on how good the Micro DAC is? For example, would it make sense to also add this into my current separates (I have a Marantz CD 63-SE CD Player) when listening at home through the PPX?

Thanks

nspindel, that's an old Headroom tradition going back to the Cosmics and Supremes. Just like you can't turn off a Little at all without unplugging it from the wall. There is a general concensus that at the very worst, there is no harm from leaving SS electronics on all the time, and some consider doing to to result in better sound. You can argue that it's a waste of power, but when it's switched on not doing anything, the current draw is negligable.

On the micro, the internal/external switch is necessary, and is not the same as an on/off switch. To do what you are asking, you would need an extra on/off switch. If you look at the board layout, you'll see there simply isn't room for another switch. The micro can't work properly without something to disable the batteries when the wall supply is plugged in, so the other switch had to go...

Regarding use at the office, yes, the largest improvement will be using the computer to feed the micro DAC -> micro amp. Just off an iPod, you will not be using the micro DAC, however the amp will allow you to use the line out (from the Dock, or an aftermarked accessory) hooked up to the micro amp, and you'll find that it sounds a hell of a lot better than you ever thought it could. I always find that my iPod line out -> whatever small good amp makes a very pleasing bedside system.

Ok Sloth, I'm with you - I guess there's no harm in just leaving it on all the time, that sounds like a plan. But growing up with a father who worked for the electric company, I can still hear him yelling about turning stuff off all these years later I, of course, happily pass the tradition along to my son when he leaves anything on!

Never heard any comments on SQ with batteries vs. power supply. Anyone have any thoughts? I've been doing some battery listening, so far sounds great....

Well I've spent a few hours comparing the Micro w/Desktop to the RSA XP-7 w/AD797, both using the MicroDAC fed from laptop playing redbook CD's, and the first thing that comes to mind is... Damn! The Micro sure is competitive at $300!

Using the DT990 Pro, the XP-7 presented a darker sound with rich bass and refined treble, but with these headphones, the midrange was too recessed. (The HD595 did sound better with it than with the Micro, but I'm stickin' with the DT990.)

The Micro presented a more "exciting" sound, which seemed fuller probably due to a more balanced midrange. There was some sibilance in the higher frequencies (very rarely happened, seemed more sensitive to bad recordings than XP-7), slightly less powerfull bass, but overall I liked it better with the DT990. Really makes me wonder about upgrading to the Desktop amp w/Home module.....

I'm happy with the overall sound quality delivered by the MicroStack. But what kind of improvements will I experience with the Desktop amp w/Home module (and probably PS)?

Having got hold of a Micro with Desktop Module yesterday, I'd strongly recommend you to stick with it - as someone who owns a Desktop with Max modules, I am in no way disappointed by it's sound. In fact, I'm very impressed by what that tiny little amp can do. The Desktop with Home Module doesn't really sound the right way to go for you - it's a solid improvement, but it to me sounds like a tweak (a positive one) of the Desktop module rather than something overwhelmingly better. Don't get me wrong, the Home module is obviously a better module than the Desktop, but the Max is just so much better than that that I can't really recommend it based on my experience. My experience with the Desktop line is that the Desktop and Max modules are the sweet spots. The Desktop has fantastic price/performance and a large percentage of the sound of the Home Module, and the Max is, well just Max!

Edit: technically, I think your micro could actually be upgraded with a Home Module, however it would be unsafe to run it off batteries (they would most likely overheat and melt). You would have yourself a killer micro home amp though...

Sloth, when comparing the Max module to the Desktop module, are the mids recessed at all, or are they unchanged? I really like the bass-mid-treble balance of the Desktop module. Is the sound signature roughly the same (with obvious improvements)? Soundstage difference if any?

I have to re-read your review of the Desktop Max.

The $$$ jump to the Desktop Max w/Max DAC (+PS) is very steep...have to think about this...wallet is gonna cry soon.

rpaul, I just did a little a/b ing with batteries and 'brick' supply, and as I thought might be the case, the micro sounds substantially better off a fresh set of batteries. My best recommendation to you for an upgrade is to get some high capacity 9.6v NiMh rechargeable D cells, and rotate them so you can put a fresh set of batteries in at the beginning of each listening session - it's a bit of a hassle, but to quote headroom's product description for something else, 'oh my gosh, clean sound...!'. The 'brick' is muddy in comparison to the beautiful clarity of the battery sound. I'll try it out later with my DPS and report back, but it's unlikely to be better than fresh batteries.

As a guess, I'd say that the Micro with Desktop Module will sound better off it's 2 9V batteries than the Desktop Portable with Desktop Module will of it's 4D cells, as the Desktop Portable requires a DC-DC converter in the chain to up the 6v to the 15v required by the electronics, whereas as far as I can see in the micro, the 12-18v from the D cells are fed directly to the electronics module. Hence why a Desktop Portable sounds worse off batteries than off the brick, whereas the Micro is the opposite. I may have my wires completely crossed, and Headroom please correct me if I'm spouting rubbish!

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That's a given.
But your rubbish looks about right to me. Except:

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I think you meant to say 9-Volt batteries here.

I'll add to your comments futher above that, given the significant price increase of the Max upgrades, the Home options are still reasonable value for the dollar. We worked pretty hard to make our new products have as similar value/dollar ratio as we could. So, while I think the Max options are killer, I'm not sure I could seriously call it the sweet spot. We may have done too thorough a job of making a well gradated product line at the expense of making it difficult for people to make up thier mind.

Cheers!

I know this has sort of turned into a power supply thread, but the title seemed appropriate.

I was thinking about getting the Micro stack, but I'm having trouble with the idea of spending $600 at once, and since there are two components, I was wondering whether it would be a viable option to just get the Amp first. I have a bithead (regular) right now plugged into my thinkpad laptop at work. I suppose my reason for wanting to upgrade is that my HD600s (stock cable) can sound somewhat muffled. I find that I need to turn the volume up considerably in order to feel otherwise (and I'm not deaf, at least, yet). Would the amp portion most directly address this?

Thanks!

P.S. To the person suggesting putting all lossless files on an iPod, a strong word of caution. If you are using the iPod portably, bear in mind that the larger the files you use, the more often the hard drive has to spin (rather than loading it into memory). When the HDD is spinning, it's going to skip way more often and drain the battery much faster. These are not subtle differences between lossless and 192kbps. Furthermore, if you drop the iPod while the HDD is spinning, the thing's toast.

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I believe the concensus is that the Micro amp will be a definite step up from the BitHead, but you would still need a DAC to augment the amp...unless you use the laptop's lineout (or HP out) to feed the Micro amp until you get the DAC. In that case, I'm not sure what kind of improvement you would notice when using the laptop lineout to feed the Micro amp.

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Aren't the two batteries in series, generating 18v? Or are the batteries each driving one side of the electronics with 9v? I didn't think the electrics could run at that voltage. Or are they in parallel (again, the same question applies)?

Regarding my 'sweet spot' comments, they were made from a very 'head-fi' perspective. The Desktop sounds pretty amazing to me for the entry level module, so it's one end of the spectrum. The Home module, although I'm sure just as great value for money cannot do the amazing thing that a Max module can do - prevent that itching feeling that you could/should have gone one better in the first place. That is a big issue on head-fi, and to me, avoiding that is worth almost as much as the sonic improvement This thread is a rather fine example of our crazyness - he was thinking about upgrading to another product line before the DAC had even arrived...