Luukas,

There are plenty of internal pictures of commercial equipment available on the web, especially with regard to instructions for modifications etc. Also most of the UK Hi-Fi magazines print internal pictures of equipment when they are reviewed.

It seems a very solidly built little amp. Sound quality seems to be fine for £75. I'll connect it up to my Hi-Fi rather than PC soon to compare it to the X-Can V2.

No comments about all the internal and external pictures in my post above?

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Looks like it's basically the same circuit, but with a different layout, opamp and slightly better component quality on the whole.

Greetings from Hannover!

Manfred / lini

Hello AndyT,

did you get to compare the headbox to the X-Can V2??? I'd be very interested in the results, as I'm looking for an amp for MS-2s...
Gilmore Lite, X-Can or Creek OBH-21 are much more expensive and I'd like to know if they are worth the extra money

Regards,
Leo

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Hi Leo,

A lot is going to depend on what you want from your system. I listen mainly to Rock/Metal and find that a more dynamic presentation is more to my taste than a smooth laid back type of sound. My usual choice of headphone is the Grado SR80, I do have an old pair of Sennheiser HD480s as well. The HD480s are normally used for computer games whilst the Grados are used for Hi-Fi and DVD/satellite.

The Pro-ject does very well considering it cost half as much as the X-Can V2. In isolation the sound quality is excellent, right through the frequency range. Also I can't imagine anyone suffering any fatigue from extended listening sessions. My only real criticism is that the soundstage seems a little compressed.

The X-Can V2 provides a more dynamic presentation and seems to have a much wider soundstage than the Pro-ject can create. Bass lines are deeper and easier to follow with the X-Can. Treble is also a little more obvious, this may be considered good or bad depending on how bright the rest of your system is.

The Pro-ject has by far the most usable volume control of the two. The X-Can will be ripping your ears from your head if the volume control goes past the first quarter turn. The Pro-ject on the other hand allows much finer adjustment by using more of the available rotation.

I get the impression that the X-Can has a significant power advantage, though whether this would be used by most owners is debatable.

Build quality for both is very solid, the Pro-ject being smaller seems near indestructible.

Hope this helps.

Anything else you wish to know?

Regards

Andy

Hello Andy,

thanks for the fast and detailed answer!
Well, I do not listen that much to Rock/Metal, with the headphones it's more Jazz, R&B, Lounge... and I prefer a detailed and crystalclear sound with a precise bass (not too much of it!). Soundstage is not that important - otherwise the Alessandro/Grado MS-2 would have been a bad choice

Listening to (very well self-compressed) mp3s through the audio-out of my notebook does sound surprisingly good with the MS-2s - it's not that much worse than using the headphone jack of my Arcam AVR-200 Receiver, which creates a smoother and more balanced sound. That's why I'm thinking about a headphone amp...

I just want to check if I could imagine being happy with the headbox... and reading your impressions I think maybe I should better spend the extra money to get the more dynamic presentation, because that's what I miss with the Arcam. The less precise bass of the headbox confirms that...

Maybe i can find a dealer where I can listen to the headbox, but it's always good to have a first idea of what to look for before auditioning...
Unfortunately I won't find a gilmore lite to compare - that amp seems to be really interesting...

Kind regards
Leo

Hello Leo,

It would be worthwhile listening to the Headbox if you can, I genuinely fee it offers excellent value for money. The difference in sound quality isn't that great and I probably wouldn't have picked up on it without doing back to back tests between the two. The biggest difference is that the X-Can has a wider stereo separation than the Pro-ject.

What source will you be using? MP3 from the laptop or cd player etc?

In my comparisson I was using a TEAC VRDS-8 http://www.hifichoice.co.uk/archive/...rintreview.htm

If your main music source is compressed like MP3 then I'd probably save the money and get the Headbox. Arcam amps tend to be too laid back for my taste, Naim or Krell(if I had the money) are what I prefer. The Headbox would probably sound more dynamic than your Arcam but without losing the smoothness.

Hi Andy,

now I think I'll definitely be looking for a headbox to audition, hopefully the dealer has something nice to compare it to...

Right now my source is an old Yamaha 870 CD-Player, digitally connected (Mogami) with my Arcam AVR 200 - I'm planning on the Arcam DV79 for quite a while now, but did not manage to save enough money yet...

As I do buy my music on original CDs, I do not depend on mp3s - they are great for taking all of your music with you (or for not caring about the music when having a party), but when really listening I always use the CD player.

The Arcam Amp and player combination fits my speakers very well, that's why I bought it right after auditioning and I'm still very happy with it - though it is a very hard job to try to get your amp / speaker system to sound as good as the MS-2 cans! And a headphone amp could help to raise the distance a bit more once again to increase the challange

Regards,
Leo

Which country are you from Leo, it doesnt say in your profile?

...ok, Profile updated

Leo

As three of the four amps you mentioned were European I thought you may be from Europe too. Being an Austrian brand are Pro-ject widely available in Germany?

Edit: Nevermind. I was wrong

/JF

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Yup, but that foremost goes for their turntables. Most dealers will have no problem ordering other Pro-Ject stuff for their customers, though.

leofahrer (<- you driving a tank, btw?): I don't know that particular Arcam receiver, but in general I'd exspect the headphone out on the Arcams to be not too bad. I wouldn't be surprised, if you'd have to invest at least some ~ 350 Euro for something in the Corda HA-1 MkII class for a significant upgrade on headphone sound quality.

Greetings from Hannover!

Manfred / lini

Hi Manfred,

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...yes, that's why I'm quite optimistic to find a headbox for "live testing"
But unfortunately I can only hope for a Grado, Creek or maybe a X-Can (if I'm lucky) to compare...


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...yes! It's really easy to find a parking space with it. And you'll never get a ticket!
Though my Leo came from Italy, had only two wheels and wasn't exactly a tank. I unfortunately had to sell it this summer - too much repair work (and costs) after 66 tkm...

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...that's what I want to check. It's not a stereo-amp I have, it's a surround receiver - so I don't expect them to pay too much attention to the headphone jack. But the receiver does an excelent job at bi-amping the front speakers in combination with a three-channel power amp

Snow white greetings back from Berlin
Leo

What is the difference between Project Head Box and Project Head Box SE??