[WilCox]

I just saw HeadRoom's ad in the September Stereophile announcing their redesigned electronic modules. "The sonic improvements of these modules compared with our previous modules is significant!" according to HeadRoom's website:

http://www.headphone.com/layout.php?...subTopicID=167

Has anyone heard these new modules and can you comment on the sonic differences relative to the "old" modules?

Thanks!

 

[morsel]

Fascinating. HeadRoom is using Intersil buffers and Class A biasing in their new modules. I am flattered. How ironic that the DIY community is gearing up for discrete output. I wonder what opamps they are using in the Premium module nowadays? In any case, congratulations to HeadRoom for their module improvements.

 

[WilCox]

Quote:

Originally Posted by morsel Fascinating. HeadRoom is using Intersil buffers and Class A biasing in their new modules. I am flattered. How ironic that the DIY community is gearing up for discrete output. I wonder what opamps they are using in the Premium module nowadays?

They say they are using the OPA2134 (dual) in the Standard Module and that all modules use the same circuit board. This means that the OPA627 (single) that was previously used in the Premium and Reference modules would not be a drop-in replacement. They do not mention anything about the opamps that they are using in their description of their Premium and Reference Modules.

The OPA627 is a fairly expensive opamp, so I suspect cost reduction was one of the the drivers for the redesign.

 

[Jamey Warren]

The Standard, Premium, and Reference Modules all use the OPA2134 which was chosen for its sonic qualities, not its price. I should probably let comments about the sonic qualities be left to fellow head-fiers.

Cheers,
Jamey

 

[WilCox]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jamey The Standard, Premium, and Reference Modules all use the OPA2134 which was chosen for its sonic qualities, not its price. I should probably let comments about the sonic qualities be left to fellow head-fiers. Cheers, Jamey

Jamey,

How many of the new Premium and Reference modules have you shipped so far? (I'm hoping there's enough out there to get some feedback from fellow Head-Fi members.)

I recently built one of Jim Hagerman's phono stages that uses three OPA2134's. I must say the performance exceeded my expectations of how good an opamp based phono preamp could sound.

I'm looking foward to hearing your new module.

 

[Jamey Warren]

We've been shipping new modules for about a month now. I'm not sure how many that is but if you look on the back of the amplifier you'll see a small white box that has an S,P, or R written on it for Standard, Premium, and Reference. If you see "04" written next to that it's a new module.


Jamey

 

[KShaft]

I heard this module very briefly,(moh-r) but I can tell you the unit sounded excellent.
Unfortunately I can not compare to older models.
clean, tight, fast, sweet, impactful, and full.
Compared to an emmeline hr-2 that I owned, it beats it in all categories, even midrange detail and tonality.
My favorite setup was crossfeed on brightest setting. This worked real well on the less than stellar recordings. It was best left off on reference recordings.

I had to send it back due to the fact I will be leaving for Europe soon. I thought I could get stateside, Ft Benning or Campbell, but no, off to Germany I go...oh darn...

Otherwise I would have sent it back anyway, for a max w/stepped attn.

I think they should make a baby blockhead, instead of two maxes in one chasis, two moh-r's. save $1100, and get very close performance.

k.s.

 

[morsel]

Thanks for the information, Jamey.

 

[tiberian]

i guess this is the 'small change' tyll mentioned few months ago. oh jesus, now things are getting interesting, new prehead, new headroom amps...

 

[elrod-tom]

We had the Blockhead, Max, and MOH with the new reference modules at our Detroit meet.

A number of folks said that they liked what they heard of the new BlockHead, and I spent about 5 days listening to the Max to the exclusion of all else. It seems to me that the highs are significantly improved, but without harshness. The mids are cleaner, and the bass just as resolved as expected. This has the effect of making the amp seem more open, with better soundstaging. It sounds a lot more lively, but without overpowering the listener. It still does what I always liked - the amp just fades into the background, leaving nothing but the music.

In short, it's a nice (and not insignificant) improvement in what I thought were excellent amps to begin with. I like it!!

 

[Welly Wu]

HeadRoom. Max. Stepped Attenuators. 2005. When??

 

[Hirsch]

Right now, amplification seems to be the fastest moving area in headphone listening. I'm overjoyed to see Headroom pushing back to the forefront. I can't wait to hear one of these new modules.

 

[Gord SW Ont]

Per Jamey:
Quote:

... The Standard, Premium, and Reference Modules all use the OPA2134 ...

Am I correct in assuming then that the Max, etc are now using the OPA2134 instead of the OPA627???

 

[Jamey Warren]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gord SW Ont Am I correct in assuming then that the Max, etc are now using the OPA2134 instead of the OPA627???

You got it.

 

[grinch]

interesting choice of opamp. i know it has a past in the diy circuit around here anyway. i see no comment from headroom on changing from a $17 opamp to one that costs $2, other than sound quality, but one has to wonder. headroom's sound was never much to my liking in the past, but i look forward to hearing an amp with a new reference module sometime.

http://tangentsoft.net/audio/opamps.html

and check 5/1/00 in this link:
http://www.headwize.com/projects/sho...2a_add_prj.htm
Quote:

My girlfriend uses the amp with a Panasonic SL-280 and Sennheiser HD-320 headphones. She is very happy with the sound improvement, and the cute headphone amp.