Oh where, oh where has my slim Arrow gone, oh where, oh where can it be? - Page 9

Does Arrow pair well with PFE? It seems like it's everything I want from a portable amp and the regular version is just within budget if it's truely ideal for me.

That would be great, dfkt. I often reference/cross reference your posts over at ABI. Thanks for all the great info. Big fan! ;-)

I think you're in the same boat as many of us here with regard to pairing the Arrow with efficient IEMs, chrisplusk (welcome aboard - we're breaking out a deck of cards while we wait for shipment ;-) )

FWIW - I talked myself into the HE because of the voltage modulation. Benefit: if your headphones aren't hard to drive, you'll get significantly longer battery life.

The PFE is an extremely easy to please IEM... it even works somewhat with the Minibox-E+, which is among the hissiest and least suited amps for IEMs I've heard. Not only because of the PFE's less problematic 32 Ohm impedance, but also because it's so damn quiet and less sensitive than most other IEMs.

I would be amazed if the PFE didn't work with this presumed quality amp that even voltage-matches.

Thanks for reading my stuff!

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Has anyone used the USB DAC cable that Robert sells? Just curious about the quality of it and how well it works with the Arrow and/or other amps. Was thinking about eventually getting a portable DAC, but don't wanna spend a whole lot of money. $59 seems reasonable to me.

From the Arrow Amp page:

"Headstage Arrow 7C (Standard Version)"

"Headstage Arrow 12HE (High Efficiency)
Now available after more than 2 years of development!"

I assumed that that last line implied that the 12HE is a new improved version of the 7C.

I decided to try the "old" model because I will be using IEMs, and the battery is rechargeable anyways.

The DAC cable (bought mine back when the short one was $40) sounds good for the price, and beats the Behringer UControl UC202 and Creative X-fi Crystalizer USB that were $35 and $70 respectively. It's only slightly below the DACs using PCM2702E Japan, which is the best in the PCM270X series.

Hehe, thanks : )

Well, I realise my PFEs sound OK coming straight from my iAudio 9, but with BBE effects on it seems to take a good bit more effort and it just lacks a lot of warmth/energy without them, though I'd rather not need them. I have a Nuforce Icon Mobile but unlike what it does for the NE-7 it actually holds back a very significant amount of bass from my PFEs and they just don't sound right with either gain setting on it, actually making it a step down from unamped i9. My E5 lets the lower frequencies through but it clips, distorts, and simply sounds cheap.

It seems like I need a stronger performing, more qualitative amp with bassboost for peace of mind (and other features to experience : ) ).

If the Arrow can pick it up where my current amps fell short: make new details appear in my favorite music, make them sound amazing well into the lower frequencies, possibly make using the BBE effects on the i9 optional because of the hardware bassboost, and perhaps even drive my ATH ES7s well (i9 unamped, icon mobile, and e5 don't) then I think I'm sold.

Low ohm IEMs may be easy to drive even without amps, after hearing the difference between unamped i9 and adding the Icon Mobile to power my NE-7s I just got hooked and want to find something that gives a similar improvement to my PFEs. : )

Finally caught up with the whole thread, very interesting! I like all the specs I looked over, seems like a great deal and I’ve enjoyed reading all the owner comments and look forward to reading more, thanks.

I too am very interested in hearing about the hiss issue with low impedance phones as well. I do own a Pico/DAC amp and can say it has a very low noise floor, the only way I hear it is in low gain mode with music paused while the amp is at full volume, using very sensitive iem’s. BTW this really doesn’t affect its performance at normal listening levels as you can’t hear it and it’s not present at all in high gain mode. Although with the price of the Arrow 12HE and knowing how great German engineering is, this sounds fantastic

I have used both generations. and am presently using the new one with the Wolfson 8740 chip. The first generation was good but the new Wolfson is surprisingly better to my ears. It certainly sounds like the Wolfson is a higher db chip as I don't need the volume anywhere near where I ran the BB line-dac. It seems more resolving and certainly brighter than the BB170?)
I compared them and very quickly switched back to the Wolfson and have not looked back. I have not found better SQ for the money.

HPA, how does it compare to PICO DAC or is it comparable at all?

Anyone have an Arrow that notice hiss when using IEM (SE530 or JH13) with it?

Just look at what company it keeps in my post - all low budget DACs. It's decent, but it's no Pico.

HA have you tried the new Gen DAC cable that uses the same chip as the Pico? Granted it is not in an oversampling configuration but some prefer NOS DACs. I think you might be impressed.