[MoodyDragon]

Sonic frontiers licensed the HeadRoom headphone circuitary for this preamp.... any ideas how it sounds?

Amit

 

[MoodyDragon]

Wow. No idea what I am talking about eh?

 

[GWN]

I've owned both the SF Line 1 and the SF Line 2 SE. Most of my listening was thru a speaker based system when I owned them. They were nice pre-amps with a very good headphone amp. It used OPA2604's and they had licenced Headroom's crossfeed and time delay which could not be switched out. The headphone amp easily compared to a MOH of the same vintage. I don't believe there was any difference in the headphone amp supplied on the Line 1 , 2 or 3.

A search revealed this older thread on the Line 1

http://www5.head-fi.org/forums/showt...onic+Frontiers

 

[LennyPK]

Hi Moody,

Good timing on this post. The HD650's I ordered just came in and I'm using them with the headphone jack on my Linestage 2. Source is a Rega Jupiter CDP. Given that the HD650's are not burned in yet- only about 8 hrs. so far, and running with the stock Senn cable, I am extremely satisfied with the combination, particularly knowing that further improvements are expected - post burn-in and an Equinox cable due in 2 weeks.

I'm new to this forum and fairly new to the headphone experience. I've been lurking here about two months and very thankful for the help from the many knowledgable people that hang out here. Up 'til now all my Hifi investments have been for speaker based components, but now with a new grandchild visiting pretty often I have a need to go the headphone route. With the HD650's I'm blown away how good the music enjoyment is. I would have to spend many more thousands on my speaker system to get a sound as pure and musical.

Anyway, back to Line Stage 2. I knew that the LS2 had a headphone amp with some circuitry from Headroom, but I have little basis of comparison to offer any opinion because the only other headphone amp I ever heard is the Total Airhead (bought this based on opinions from this forum) I use with my portable system - $80 Panasonic portable CDP, Airhead, and Sony MDR-V6 (about 10 years old). The Rega source versus the Panasonic is not a fair comparison.

My real question is since we are ever in pursuit of some higher level of audio ecstacy - should I be happy with the amp in the Line Stage 2 (for now) or consider one of many fine amps discussed on the forum. The comments from the linked thread above about comparison with the MOH is encouraging. Sounds like we have a quality piece in our Line Stage tube pre-amps .

 

[pocketchange]

I'll bring up the dead here w/my first post. 
 
I'm a very happy owner of a SF Line 3 and a well used HD 600 pair NOT looking to change anything or attempting to improve this setup. 
 
Why?  Because after listening to many of the newer headphone amps and cans, I have yet to hear anything that merits upgrading this setup.  I'm sure there is better but at some point in time enough is enough...