[Sorensiim]

I recently got a Fiio E10 and it has made me curious as to what else is out there for driving my IEMs (Westone 3 ATM, UM Merlins incoming) from my laptop at work. I need something small, usb-powered and capable of 24/96 playback. No need for a powerful amp section, but the sound needs to be clean and absolutely free of hiss and noise. The Merlins are 12ohm and their sensitivity is rated at 105db so that seems to rule out the Nuforce uDAC line I believe. The Ibasso D7 looks like the obvious choise, but the Calyx Coffee sure does look good and has the ESS Sabre DAC. The Headamp Pico DAC/AMP looks good, reviews are great but it's 3 times the price of the D7... Is there something awesome out there that just slipped under my radar or should I just order the D7 and be done with it? Budget can stretch up to $300 or so.

 

[underhysteria]

i would go for the coffee calyx.. positive reviews so far

 

[Sorensiim]

Yeah the coffee sure does look good (and I love that name!) but I just stumbled over the HRT Headstreamer last night and exchanged a few emails with the CTO of HRT... I think I might just go with that one, it really sounds like that product was made for me!

 

[tomscy2000]

Subscribed... I'm in the exact same boat as you; my current DAC/Amp is way too high powered for IEMs, they pick up hiss like nothing else.
 
I've been eying the HeadStreamer myself; HRT seems to know what they're doing. Am I right to assume that the HeadStreamer uses the same PCM1793 setup as the MS2? It doesn't seem to have as good of a noise floor as the MS2+, but it's priced very attractively.
 
Then again, the Koreans look like they're doing good things with Calyx.. it's so hard to decide!

 

[Sorensiim]

Quote:

Subscribed... I'm in the exact same boat as you; my current DAC/Amp is way too high powered for IEMs, they pick up hiss like nothing else.
 
I've been eying the HeadStreamer myself; HRT seems to know what they're doing. Am I right to assume that the HeadStreamer uses the same PCM1793 setup as the MS2? It doesn't seem to have as good of a noise floor as the MS2+, but it's priced very attractively.
 
Then again, the Koreans look like they're doing good things with Calyx.. it's so hard to decide!

I should have the HRT Headstreamer here early next week and it's using the same asynchronous USB implementation as the music streamers.
 
I have the Calyx Kong on loan and it is nothing short of useless with IEMs. The lowest volume setting (1 click above silent) is loud with my W3, one more click is too loud. It also sounds like utter crap (pardon my french, but it has to be said) with my IEMs because of an output impedance of no less than 32ohm! It sounds fine with a set of Senn HD215 I borrowed, but with multiarmature IEMs it sounds even worse than the onboard sound card in my laptop. Stay VERY clear of the Calyx Kong! The Calyx Coffee might be fine, as it has an output impedance of >1ohm, but I haven't heard one myself.

 

[tomscy2000]

Quote:

I should have the HRT Headstreamer here early next week and it's using the same asynchronous USB implementation as the music streamers.
 
I have the Calyx Kong on loan and it is nothing short of useless with IEMs. The lowest volume setting (1 click above silent) is loud with my W3, one more click is too loud. It also sounds like utter crap (pardon my french, but it has to be said) with my IEMs because of an output impedance of no less than 32ohm! It sounds fine with a set of Senn HD215 I borrowed, but with multiarmature IEMs it sounds even worse than the onboard sound card in my laptop. Stay VERY clear of the Calyx Kong! The Calyx Coffee might be fine, as it has an output impedance of >1ohm, but I haven't heard one myself.

Nice! Look forward to hearing your impressions. Yeah, that Calyx Kong looks like it's built for full-sized headphones. 32 ohm output impedance is huge. Shouldn't DF be at least 50 to be on the safe side?
 

 

[tomscy2000]

Hmm... the new Audioengine D1 looks interesting too. AK4396 DAC chip, and has S/PDIF input via the ubiquitous CS8416 as well. I'm a bit wary of the 10 ohm output impedance, though. That'll probably not be good with IEMs. It looks beautiful though.
 

 ​

EDIT: Steve Guttenberg tested it out with the UERM (as well as with full-sized), and he didn't like the sound with the UERM ---- most likely that 10 ohm output impedance doing bad things. :-/

 

[Sorensiim]

Anything over 2ohm output impedance will render it useless with IEMs - You'll want it to stay below 1ohm. I'll do a comparison between the Headstreamer, Fiio E10, Ibasso D10 and Calyx Kong once they get here. Would love to try the Ibasso D7 as well...

 

[tomscy2000]

Quote:

Anything over 2ohm output impedance will render it useless with IEMs - You'll want it to stay below 1ohm. I'll do a comparison between the Headstreamer, Fiio E10, Ibasso D10 and Calyx Kong once they get here. Would love to try the Ibasso D7 as well...

 
I wonder how they sound against the Audinst mx1, which is still a 5 ohm output impedance product, but many users seem to like using it with IEMs. I wish I could go listen to the HeadStreamer now, but I have no idea when they'll be available where I live. I just sent HRT an e-mail asking whether they were going to add an improved HeadStreamer product to the line up that has better noise floor, SNR, THD measurements. I doubt it, though.

 

[Yuceka]

Quote:

Anything over 2ohm output impedance will render it useless with IEMs - You'll want it to stay below 1ohm. I'll do a comparison between the Headstreamer, Fiio E10, Ibasso D10 and Calyx Kong once they get here. Would love to try the Ibasso D7 as well...

Have you been able to get the Headstreamer? I can't find any detailed reviews and comparisons of it here. I do own the Calyx Coffee and I love it with my 1964 Ears Quads custom iems. But  I am really curious about the DAC chip and how it sounds in the Headstreamer. Can you chime in? 
 
Thanks. 

 

[Sorensiim]

Quote:

Have you been able to get the Headstreamer? I can't find any detailed reviews and comparisons of it here. I do own the Calyx Coffee and I love it with my 1964 Ears Quads custom iems. But  I am really curious about the DAC chip and how it sounds in the Headstreamer. Can you chime in? 
 
Thanks. 

Yeah I got a HeadStreamer and after a bit of initial trouble getting FooBar2000 to behave properly with asynchronous USB, I have been VERY much enjoying the sound. Very, very detailed without sounding analytical or dry. The presentation is very open and spacious and if I had to use just one word to describe the sound it would be "Clarity". A friend of mine borrowed it yesterday for his Spiral Ears Ref. 5 and he is very much enjoying the sound as well. I in turn borrowed his Ibasso D12 (with TopKit) and it sounds congested and dark compared to the HeadStreamer. It's fine, but not nearly on the same level.

 

[adreamer]

Quote:

I should have the HRT Headstreamer here early next week and it's using the same asynchronous USB implementation as the music streamers.
 
I have the Calyx Kong on loan and it is nothing short of useless with IEMs. The lowest volume setting (1 click above silent) is loud with my W3, one more click is too loud. It also sounds like utter crap (pardon my french, but it has to be said) with my IEMs because of an output impedance of no less than 32ohm! It sounds fine with a set of Senn HD215 I borrowed, but with multiarmature IEMs it sounds even worse than the onboard sound card in my laptop. Stay VERY clear of the Calyx Kong! The Calyx Coffee might be fine, as it has an output impedance of >1ohm, but I haven't heard one myself.

32 ohms?! But calyx coffee's output impedance is less than 0.1 ohms(according to their website anyway)!
 
http://www.calyxaudio.com/cgi/bbs/board.php?bo_table=T_product_eng&prodNo=1&eng=1
 

 

[Sorensiim]

Quote:

32 ohms?! But calyx coffee's output impedance is less than 0.1 ohms(according to their website anyway)!
 
http://www.calyxaudio.com/cgi/bbs/board.php?bo_table=T_product_eng&prodNo=1&eng=1
 

Yep, that's correct. But the Calyx Kong sucks a bag monkey balls.

 

[Yuceka]

Have you tried the Headstreamer with either custom or universal iems? 

 

[Sorensiim]

Have you tried the Headstreamer with either custom or universal iems? 

I'm using it with my Westone 3 universals while waiting for my Unique Melody Merlins to arrive. A friend of mine has borrowed it and he's loving it with his Spiral Ears Ref. 5 customs. We have a local meet next weekend where I'll be able to compare the HeadStreamer with the Ibasso D7 and a bunch of other stuff