Joelc87
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2007
- Posts
- 392
- Likes
- 25
So I just got my brand new MicroStack the other day and have been enjoying it every spare minute I've had ever since. I initially purchased an Ultra Micro amp, but then decided that I would have a better sounding setup if I had a standalone DAC. So I exchanged it for the Micro amp and DAC. The added transparency from the DAC is amazing. I have SE530s and even with these the noise floor is almost completely silent. I can hear rooms if that's believable. Some bands you can tell they lay down vocal and instrumental tracks in different rooms because the drums and vocal echo differently. I realize that this isn't the most expensive or "best" headphone rig by far. I do, however think that this is definitely one of the best setups for sub $1,000 and honestly probably just as good as some costing twice as much. Having the Amp and DAC in separate components allows HeadRoom to keep the signals isolated providing better audio quality without having to really up the price cost to keep the signals separate with hyper expensive multilayer boards and the like. Instead they can put all of the money into the individual bits and pieces of the units, which really shows. The top of the line Cirrus DAC chip and wonderful TI Op-amps are an amazing combination together. The Amp is biased into class A too I believe. I doubt this makes a huge difference with low impedance earphones like the shures, but for those with 300 ohm Sennheisers it's nice to know that this amp can completely drive them to their full potential without distorting. Admittedly I haven't done a very wide variety of listening yet so I won't do a full review at this time. Initial impressions though are great. Not as hyper detailed as a Grace m902, but has an amazing warm and musical feel to it. The Grace was designed as a sound engineers tool and so is used to analyze music not necessarily to enjoy it. (although many do) This combo has the typical headroom sound sig. which IMHO sounds detailed and articulate but not like I'm analyzing the music under an electron microscope, more like I'm just watching on my hi-def tv. Crisp and clear but entertaining, just how I like my music to sound.