[Len Moskowitz]

Core Sound's new HeadLine, a portable, battery-powered DAC, headphone amp and source selector, is now shipping!

Have you ever wanted an audiophile quality DAC and headphone amp that's good enough to use as a front end in your home High End AV system but also portable enough to take on the road?

Have you ever been out in the field and needed to monitor an S/PDIF digital audio data stream but didn't have a portable DAC (digital-to-analog converter)?

Have you ever needed to monitor both an analog source and a few digital sources?

Have you ever needed to monitor one source and also to drive another device's Line-level input (like a digital pre-amp)?

HeadLine does it all!

HeadLine is designed for pros but priced for enthusiasts.

HeadLine has three digital inputs (two coaxial and one optical), a pair of Line level inputs, extremely flat and extended frequency response, ridiculously low distortion, incredible power, and sound quality that both audiophiles and audio/video professionals will love. It's extremely rugged and runs on two 9V batteries, external battery pack or an AC wall wart.

HeadLine cleanly drives even hard-to-drive 600 Ohm headphones to very high sound pressure levels. It drives IEMs and consumer 'phones effortlessly.

If you like the Benchmark DAC-1 and the Grace 902 but need a portable, you'll love HeadLine (especially its price: $399).

If you like Headroom's Micro Line Micro Amp/Micro DAC combination but wanted their functions in a single box and at a lower price, you'll love HeadLine.

Learn more about Core Sound's HeadLine here:

http://www.core-sound.com/HeadLine/1.php

Core Sound offers a 30-day trial period on everything we sell.

Core Sound -- serving the Professional Audio, Audiophile and High End Audio enthusiast communities on the Internet since 1990.

 

[boggle]

If someone can provide an impartial review of this things' performance I would be highly appreciative.

 

[Assorted]

Yes that would be great, and a comparison to something around the same price.

 

[blessingx]

A couple more photos showing jacks and scale would be great also.

 

[SiBurning]

I've had one for about a month now. Despite a few kinks, I like it. Sound quality is acceptable overall, and it has an especially nice open quality. It's aggressive, but never harsh or sibilant. Sound is somewhat even across the spectrum, an dit has no bass boost circuit, so bass heads might want to be sure their source does or just use bass heavy cans. Overall, it's enjoyable enough to listen to on my daily commute and at work. Scratch that--it's actually fun to listen to. The case could use some work, especially with inserting batteries, and the hex washer on the headphone jack constantly needs tightening. If you're looking for a portable DAC/Amp, and don't require USB, it's worth an audition.

That's all I want to say right now. I started doing a review, but it's very late, and I spent yesterday at the nyc meet listening to multi-thousand dollar tube and electrostatic systems, and my ears are tired and expecting much more than a portable can deliver. I also need time to sort out my thoughts and evaluate the sound better. I'll try to get a mini review done by next weekend.

 

[boggle]

Thanks SiBurning, sounds like it might be a good deal. On the website they compare this little beast to the Grace 902 and Benchmark DAC-1. I've not heard either of these, if you have the experience could you say how they stack up against such reference points when you get to your review. Thanks again.

PS - what are you using as a source?

 

[SiBurning]

Quote:

Originally Posted by boggle /img/forum/go_quote.gif Thanks SiBurning, sounds like it might be a good deal. On the website they compare this little beast to the Grace 902 and Benchmark DAC-1. I've not heard either of these, if you have the experience could you say how they stack up against such reference points when you get to your review. Thanks again. PS - what are you using as a source?

I only just heard the benchmark for the first time at Saturday's meet. You can read my impressions so you know some of my biases.

This is a silly comparison. The HeadLine ain't no Benchmark. Then again, as I heard one person put it, the Benchmark sucks the life out of the music. The HeadLine only sucks at your fingers a little. Seriously, though...

A portable involves a lot of compromises. It's a waste of effort to improve one characteristic at the expense of another, or beyond what the other parts can handle. I'm sure there's room for some tweaks, but resolution isn't the limiting factor here. What you have is a set of tradeoffs, two of the most important being battery life and size. Those are what keeps portables out of the big leagues.

I think the right comparison against the Benchmark or anything like it is to weigh how much <insert your most important sound characteristics> you're willing to trade for portability. Even comparing the Benchmark with the Cary shows that there are always compromises.

Currently, the Etyotic er4p with p-s adapter is my main can, and the Shure e5 is useful for certain music. I'm getting a set of Beyerdynamic 831 probably tomorrow. Will factor those into the mix. It also makes sense to hook up the HeadLine to the home system and listen on a couple sets of speakers, and then swap out dacs and amps and what not. Not sure yet how small or complete a review It'll be.

 

[boggle]

Again, nice comments - looking forward to more. Thanks.

 

[Len Moskowitz]

Thanks for the thoughtful comments, SiBurning.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SiBurning /img/forum/go_quote.gif This is a silly comparison. The HeadLine ain't no Benchmark. Then again, as I heard one person put it, the Benchmark sucks the life out of the music. The HeadLine only sucks at your fingers a little. Seriously, though...

The compromise for portability is the limited current HeadLine can pull from a pair of 9 Volt batteries. If you run it on a high quality external 12 Volt power supply then the comparison to the Benchmark is no longer silly.

And if you could run the Benchmark on 9 Volt batteries (which you can't), HeadLine would likely come out on top.


One more comment for now: the Etymotic ER-4P and Shure E-5 IEMs are both far from flat (though among the three ER-4 models, the ER-4P sounds the least offensive). HeadLine doesn't hide any of their faults; rather it exposes the non-flatness. To get the best out of HeadLine you'll need to use the best 'phones or IEMs that you can find.

 

[boggle]

Thanks for joining in Len.

What cans have you tested the headline with, in particular any 600 ohms like the pro beyerdynamics?

Regarding your claims about the benchmark et al - forget about the head phone amp for a minute; if we were to compare just the dacs - ie (unbalanced) line out to the same high end amp -> high end speakers - are you saying that the headline will perform on a par with the benchmark at less than half the price? It would be good to get some respected reviewers on board to comment on this - either here or in the press or both (any upcoming reviews Len?).

Suggestion - How about a dedicated rechargeable 12v battery pack with some serious play time (40hrs +). Even if it is the same approx size of the headline I would be interested in this (so long as it is sensibly priced). I don't know much about battery technology, maybe this is easy to rig up yourself - still I would prefer a unit that matches.

 

[Len Moskowitz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by boggle /img/forum/go_quote.gif What cans have you tested the headline with, in particular any 600 ohms like the pro beyerdynamics?

We've tested HeadLine with a wide range of headphones, including the AKG K-240DF 600 Ohm pro headphones. They sound great with HeadLine.

Quote:

Regarding your claims about the benchmark et al - forget about the head phone amp for a minute; if we were to compare just the dacs - ie (unbalanced) line out to the same high end amp -> high end speakers - are you saying that the headline will perform on a par with the benchmark at less than half the price?

Yes.

Quote:

It would be good to get some respected reviewers on board to comment on this - either here or in the press or both (any upcoming reviews Len?).

No, not at the moment, as the consumer audio publications (like Stereophile) usually require the manufacturers to have 6 or more dealers, and we have less than that. We prefer to sell direct to avoid the 50 to 100% mark-up that dealers need.

Quote:

Suggestion - How about a dedicated rechargeable 12v battery pack with some serious play time (40hrs +).

Thanks for the suggestion. We'll follow that up.

HeadLine will run fine with a power supply that can provide between 9 and 16 Volts (nominal), so a standard car/motorcycle Sealed Lead-Acid, NiCad, Li-Ion or NiMH battery pack of the right voltage will do the job.

By the way, we've updated HeadLine's specification page to include its output impedance and distortion at various loudness levels.

http://www.core-sound.com/HeadLine/2.php

 

[boggle]

I'm pretty much sold - this has to be worth a look with a money back 30 day trial!! I look forward to the same size, matching, external power supply (If the Headline is as good as you say Len, I will definitely buy one when and if you get around to releasing it).

I applaud your distribution strategy. The big pro for the consumer is cost - I guess the con for you is that you don't have the marketing machinery to get the brand out there as quickly. When I get mine I will do extensive comparisons to the Benchmark (in an AB set-up) and post my reactions.

Cheers.

PS - the link you posted just seems to have the same graphs that have been there since product release when I click on it. It would be good if you could match the conditions under which stereophile measured the Benchmark here <http://www.stereophile.com/digitalprocessors/886/index4.html> so that a direct comparison could be made. Alternatively if you have access to a burnt in Benchmark, Lavry etc to measure it as you have the Headline for direct and meaningful comparison. I am pretty much already sold but I think this would sell you a lot of units if your specs match up as you say they do. The rational is as follows: not everyone (most don't) understands the technical graphs in isolation but everyone can make a like for like comparison and then get excited about saving 600 smackers!!!

 

[Len Moskowitz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by boggle /img/forum/go_quote.gif (If the Headline is as good as you say Len, I will definitely buy one when and if you get around to releasing it).

HeadLine was released for sale more than a month ago, so it's available now.

 

[boggle]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Len Moskowitz /img/forum/go_quote.gif HeadLine was released for sale more than a month ago, so it's available now.

I was actually refering to the matching battery pack (that you may decide to release in future), I know that the Headline is already available.

No response to my comments about the specs/measurements (in the PS in my last post)?

 

[Len Moskowitz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by boggle /img/forum/go_quote.gif I was actually refering to the matching battery pack (that you may decide to release in future), I know that the Headline is already available.

Oops -- sorry!

Quote:

No response to my comments about the specs/measurements (in the PS in my last post)?

Thanks for the suggestion.

It's a significant effort to duplicate the conditions of someone else's measurements. John Atkinson is pretty thorough in his testing (I give him a great deal of respect for that); he has some test equipment that we don't (e.g., the Miller jitter analyzer -- we use our Audio Precision System Two Cascade 2522), while some of ours is better than his. I'll have a look at the Stereophile article and see if its something we could do without too much trouble.