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2007 HeadRoom Portable Desktop Amp - where are the reviews?

post #1 of 40
1/22/08 at 5:02pm
Thread Starter 
I'm not sure if I'm being entirely daft here. I cannot find any detailed reviews of the 2007 headroom portable desktop longest product name portable amp..

I've tried forum posts here, and elsewhere requesting review info, requesting if people have seen, touched it and haven't come up with anything. I'm not sure if the people having been at the trade shows that you no doubt have showed this mysterious product at aren't posting or seeing my requests, but it remains elusive to say the least.

It's a fringe product to be sure, but it would fill my needs rather well. I want to use my HD650, RS1 and K701s on the road with a Korg DSD, DAT, and various 16/44|48 sources, while sometimes being home and using it on my desk(s) with various Mac systems. I like the idea of quality + batteries, a lot. The problem is the only other product like this I can find (amp+dac(toslink/coax SPDIF) is the iBasso linked by a forum member here, and the price difference is well, obvious to say the least. I'm not saying yours is over priced, I'm mearly pointing out the only two products I can find seem to exist at polar opiates of one pricing scale, and while the iBasso has favorable reviews the Headroom product has bubkiss (thats a word right?).

I want to support the Midwest, give me a reason to. Please.

p.s to be frank, you went seemingly "balls out" with all the parts in the portable, yet went with the "home" dac, and didn't make it modular - what gives?

p.s.s my father grew up on a cow farm in duluth - I know terms like " hitch in the giddy-up" do I get some kind of generationally inbreed discount?

thanks in advance.
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post #2 of 40
1/23/08 at 9:15pm
Hello!

The new HeadRoom Desktop Portable unit was released in late 2007 so there's not been much time to amass many outside reviews for that amp as of yet .... The rechargeable lithium batteries in the DP do have some minor limitations in terms of available power rating so we wanted to ensure the best compromise of acceptable battery life vs best possible sound quality performance -- In our estimation, the Home module/Desktop DAC topology proved to be the best possible design.

Cheers,
Jorge
HR Sales/Product Manager
HeadRoom was founded in 1992 & manufactures headphone amps, DACs, and accessories; and sells headphones & related personal audio gear. We offer exceptional products, customer service, & information.
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post #3 of 40
2/9/08 at 3:18am
Will someone with the 2007 HeadRoom Portable Desktop Amp please write up a review? I'm curious of this item as well, but is not ready to plunge down a grand w/o reading some review of it.

One question for JorgeC - can 2007 HeadRoom Portable Desktop Amp act as a DAC only, while the amp part is switched off?

Thanks
MM
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post #4 of 40
2/9/08 at 6:35am

DTP Prototype

We were lucky enough to play with the prototype at our Maritime meet in May 07. I have no idea how close that was to the production model.

Build was typical Headroom-tank like and solid. We did not look inside.

Dual inputs and outputs were convenient, and it drove my 650s and anything else with no effort. I hooked it up to an imod or a PCDP with optical out. And I like having more than a USB for the optical. I work on computers all day, and the last thing I want too do when I get home is use a computer to play music.

Sound was better than my cosmic and any other other battery powered amp (with the exception of my microZOTL) I've ever heard.

I'll confess most of my time was spent playing with a maxed out home, and everything paled before that wonderful monster.

But the DTP is on my list, and I'll be ordering one in the Spring, in plenty of time for summer cigar season!

One personal comment is I don't care for the new generation of bags with the plastic see through cover. I'll be keeping my traveller bag to pack the DTP.
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post #5 of 40
2/9/08 at 9:12am
Quote:
Originally Posted by mmuse View Post
Will someone with the 2007 HeadRoom Portable Desktop Amp please write up a review? I'm curious of this item as well, but is not ready to plunge down a grand w/o reading some review of it.

One question for JorgeC - can 2007 HeadRoom Portable Desktop Amp act as a DAC only, while the amp part is switched off?

Thanks
MM

I'm not Jorge, but if you look on the product page, the Desktop Portable does have a preamp out, although I'm not sure if it disables the headphone out when plugged in.
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post #6 of 40
2/9/08 at 11:41am
Quote:
Originally Posted by mmuse View Post
One question for JorgeC - can 2007 HeadRoom Portable Desktop Amp act as a DAC only, while the amp part is switched off?
As far as I know none of the currently available Headroom products will allow you to access the output of the DAC directly without the headphone amplification circuit in the loop. Not that this is a bad thing, a lot of DACs have some sort of buffer on their output. So in this case you get a variable output DAC with the option of crossfeed. Too many people look at this as a hindrance rather than a feature.
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post #7 of 40
2/9/08 at 12:30pm
I would think of the variable output DAC as a hindrance, feeling the headphone amp will somehow distort the sound bits no matter what, when I plugged the out to another headphone amp. Although if I think of the DAC as a pre-amp, I'm rather okay with the variable out.

Argh~ just can't make up my mind...

mackay maus: what's a "maxed out home"? I'm new to the HeadRoom, and is rather confused by their product lineups...
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post #8 of 40
2/9/08 at 12:52pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mmuse View Post
I would think of the variable output DAC as a hindrance, feeling the headphone amp will somehow distort the sound bits no matter what, when I plugged the out to another headphone amp. Although if I think of the DAC as a pre-amp, I'm rather okay with the variable out.
Just about every DAC is going to have a gain/buffer stage on its output so this really isn't any different. Yes, the signal would be more "pure" if the volume pot wasn't in there but it is what it is. You either want the headphone amp functionality or you don't.

Quote:
mackay maus
Quote:
: what's a "maxed out home"? I'm new to the HeadRoom, and is rather confused by their product lineups...
I know you asked mackay but this is a the home amp:




And maxed out means that it has both MAX electronics modules in it (amp and DAC) and probably a stepped attenuator. I've heard that same amp in balanced form (maxed Home Balanced) and it is indeed sweet sounding.
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post #9 of 40
2/9/08 at 1:23pm
Maxxed out home could also be referring to this amp:


6moons.com - audio reviews: HeadRoom Maxed-Out Home
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post #10 of 40
2/9/08 at 1:41pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by PFKMan23 View Post
Maxxed out home could also be referring to this amp:


6moons.com - audio reviews: HeadRoom Maxed-Out Home
Ahh, true enough it could. Good catch.
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post #11 of 40
2/9/08 at 2:00pm
Another guy hoping for a desktop portable review! I'm considering one of these as my first amp and am anxiously awaiting experienced reviewers' opinions.
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post #12 of 40
2/9/08 at 2:36pm

maxed out home

I'd forgotten about the older maxed out home-the one I was referring to was the current model. It's an amazing amp for the money-basically a Max in the home box as I understand it.

Unfortunately, it's too big to sneak into the house!
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post #13 of 40
2/11/08 at 8:27pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mmuse View Post
One question for JorgeC - can 2007 HeadRoom Portable Desktop Amp act as a DAC only, while the amp part is switched off?
Thanks MM
Hello MM,

The Portable Desktop (or any other HR amp) can NOT de-activate the head-amp stage for "DAC only" operation ... But as Mr.Maher correctly indicated using the unit in this type of 'pass-through' application should still yield good audio results.

Reply anytime if further questions, Mmuse!

Cheers,
Jorge
HR Sales/Product Manager
HeadRoom was founded in 1992 & manufactures headphone amps, DACs, and accessories; and sells headphones & related personal audio gear. We offer exceptional products, customer service, & information.
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post #14 of 40
2/12/08 at 12:54am
I just received my unit today. Moving up from the Micro Stack.
I will try to get more detailed impressions but for now a quick listen made me very happy.
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post #15 of 40
2/22/08 at 12:33pm
schugh - could you post a detailed update of the Portable desktop Amp?

Anyone - just exactly how much of an upgrade is the Desktop line to the Micro line?
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