HeadRoom Desktop Amp
Oct 19, 2006 at 7:16 PM Post #2 of 65
I own a Headroom Desktop AMP/DAC (both "desktop" modules) I think it sounds great with a 650 (I use the Zu cable also) The people at Headroom are great to work with, and are recommended well on this board.

If you do a search for Headroom, you will find a lot of threads about their gear, which is present in several levels, from simple portable amp to AMP/DAC combos, to fully balanced solid state amps.
 
Oct 19, 2006 at 9:01 PM Post #3 of 65
I also have a HR Desktop but with Home Amp/Dac modules. I also have the Desktop PSU. I use it every day as a dac and preamp for my powered desk speakers (M-Audio BX5a) and to a lesser extent as a headphone amp/dac because I cannot use headphones most of the time in the office. Anyway, it is a great piece for all of these uses. It is very quiet and has a strong, clean sound. Numerous people used this setup at our meet in Marin last weekend, and it was well-received.

It also drives the HD650s quite well, so that is a good match. The Zu is not among my favorite replacement cables with a solid state amp in particular. The Equinox, the Blue Dragon v.2 and the RnB Grace 5-2 are all good choices, to my ears.

Look for threads started by The Sloth because he has written a lot about the HR amps here.
 
Oct 20, 2006 at 12:15 AM Post #4 of 65
I'm yet another proud and quite happy owner of not one but but two Headroom Desktop amps. One is equipped with the older Desktop module and a Desktop DAC and is powered by the stock power supply. The other one has the 2006 Max module and the stepped volume attenuator, no DAC but is powered by the Desktop Power Supply. I also have a pair of Sennheiser HD650 with Cardas cables which sound absolutely fanastic through the either amp.

As for the reasons Headroom amps don't seem to get discussed musch around here I don't really know. I still consider myself rather new to Head-Fi so all I could offer would be a guess at best. And my best guess would that Headroom is relatively pricey and in general pricey equipement tends not to get discussed as much as equipment which offers more bang for the buck.

Not to say that Headroom equipment is not worth the money, I won't own two Desktop amps, a Micro amp and a Micro DAC if I didn't think so but I'm not a college or grad student nor have I just entered the work force. In fact, I've been at this audio hobby for over 25 years and I've been a Headroom customer since the early 1990s so my situation may be rather atypical for Head-Fier, I just don't know.

And before I get flamed let me add that I've heard several of the other headphone amps out on the market and many of them are quite good but they are just not my cup of tea. Back when I bought my first Headroom portable amp there were not many other portable headphone amps available and through the years Headroom has always treated their returning customers very nicely with discounts on upgrades and trade-ins. Plus if you look hard enough you can find used Headroom amps on eBay, Audiogon or Head-Fi for fairly decent prices. What's not to like?
 
Oct 20, 2006 at 1:07 AM Post #5 of 65
Thanks for your reply everyone.

Hey ralphp@optonline,
I noticed in your profile that you are plugging your digital out from your x-fi card/console to the DAC in your Headroom.

I am curious if you think that improves the sound. I have an x-fi fatal1ty. I was curious how the DAC in the card itself would compare to the DAC in the headroom amps.

I am thinking about the Headroom Desktop for 70% gaming, and 30% music. For gaming it would be obviously hooked up to my computer. For music, i would probably hook it up directly to my stereo receiver (havent really thought it through yet).

One benefit i can see by getting a DAC upgrade in the amp is not having to buy expensive cables to connect the x-fi to the amp. A optical cable is cheap (and i have a few laying around).

Another would be is I could easily hook my sony ES CD player right into the amp on my stereo when i want to listen to music.

I only have enough money for one upgrade on the basic desktop unit with stock power supply. I was thinking either the "Home" amp upgrade or the DAC upgrade.
What is your opinion on this what i should get?

Thanks

Quote:

Originally Posted by ralphp@optonline
I'm yet another proud and quite happy owner of not one but but two Headroom Desktop amps. One is equipped with the older Desktop module and a Desktop DAC and is powered by the stock power supply. The other one has the 2006 Max module and the stepped volume attenuator, no DAC but is powered by the Desktop Power Supply. I also have a pair of Sennheiser HD650 with Cardas cables which sound absolutely fanastic through the either amp.

As for the reasons Headroom amps don't seem to get discussed musch around here I don't really know. I still consider myself rather new to Head-Fi so all I could offer would be a guess at best. And my best guess would that Headroom is relatively pricey and in general pricey equipement tends not to get discussed as much as equipment which offers more bang for the buck.

Not to say that Headroom equipment is not worth the money, I won't own two Desktop amps, a Micro amp and a Micro DAC if I didn't think so but I'm not a college or grad student nor have I just entered the work force. In fact, I've been at this audio hobby for over 25 years and I've been a Headroom customer since the early 1990s so my situation may be rather atypical for Head-Fier, I just don't know.

And before I get flamed let me add that I've heard several of the other headphone amps out on the market and many of them are quite good but they are just not my cup of tea. Back when I bought my first Headroom portable amp there were not many other portable headphone amps available and through the years Headroom has always treated their returning customers very nicely with discounts on upgrades and trade-ins. Plus if you look hard enough you can find used Headroom amps on eBay, Audiogon or Head-Fi for fairly decent prices. What's not to like?



 
Oct 20, 2006 at 9:29 AM Post #7 of 65
If you can afford one upgrade, you say probably the home module, then I would say for only $50 more you are better off stretching this little bit extra and getting both the Home Module, and Home Dac, which you can still run off the standard power supply unit, supplied free with the Desktop.

I'm using this setup at the moment out of my PC's optical out for daily listening to my music, and it's a fantastic combo. you won't be disappointed with the Home Amp and Home Dac running off the standard Brick PSU, I'm not.

You could then buy the Desktop PSU at a later date when you could afford it. TheSloth says that it does improve the sound on the Home Modules and Home Dac, but isn't a necessity for the Desktop Home Modules, and Home Dac, where it is for the Max Modules, and Max Dacs.

It's best to let your new amp and dac burn in 24/7 for 3 to 4 days to settle in, the sound does definitely improve with a bit of burn in.

Best wishes,

Paul.
 
Oct 20, 2006 at 12:53 PM Post #8 of 65
Quote:

Originally Posted by DeadByDawn
Thanks for your reply everyone.

Hey ralphp@optonline,
I noticed in your profile that you are plugging your digital out from your x-fi card/console to the DAC in your Headroom.

I am curious if you think that improves the sound. I have an x-fi fatal1ty. I was curious how the DAC in the card itself would compare to the DAC in the headroom amps.

I am thinking about the Headroom Desktop for 70% gaming, and 30% music. For gaming it would be obviously hooked up to my computer. For music, i would probably hook it up directly to my stereo receiver (havent really thought it through yet).

One benefit i can see by getting a DAC upgrade in the amp is not having to buy expensive cables to connect the x-fi to the amp. A optical cable is cheap (and i have a few laying around).

Another would be is I could easily hook my sony ES CD player right into the amp on my stereo when i want to listen to music.

I only have enough money for one upgrade on the basic desktop unit with stock power supply. I was thinking either the "Home" amp upgrade or the DAC upgrade.
What is your opinion on this what i should get?

Thanks




Without going into too much detail here's what I found to be the case and have previously posted in another thread:

"With the Audigy card versus the Micro DAC it is no contest, as you state, apple and oranges. With the Audigy the sound is echoy, phasy, ringy, hollow, just plain bad. With the Micro DAC the sound is focused, has weight, there is no ringing or echo and everything sounds just fine, quite good in fact. For the record, I'm using the Micro DAC via the USB input.

Now with the X-Fi Xtreme Music card it's a totally different story. There is almost no difference at all between the sound of the analog output of the X-Fi card fed into the analog input of my Headroom Desktop amp versus the digital output of the X-Fi card fed into the digital input of the same Desktop amp (and therefore using the amp's built-in DAC). Now mind you, I have the X-Fi card set for absolutely NO digital processing whatsoever, no CMSS, 24 bit crystalizer, no equalizer, nothing, nada, straight through - if you add even the slightest amount of digital processing you will mess up the sound. I also have the I/O digital output set for 96Khz. Plus I haven't tried this setup with the USB input."

Basically, what I found is that the DAC on the X-Fi card is really quite good and if not the equal of the Desktop DAC at least within a hairbreadth of it.

However there is a fly in the ointment regarding your proposed connection scheme. There is not an optical out on the X-Fi card itself. Perhaps there is one on the breakout console but since I don't have that item I won't know. Otherwise you most certainly could connect as follows and get some pretty fine sounding results:

Digital ouput of X-Fi -> cable (either optical or mono-mini jack to RCA plug) -> Desktop DAC -> headphone out (for headphone listening or -> stereo line out -> stereo RCA cables -> line in on power amp, preamp or receiver.

Please note that the line out on the back of the Desktop amp can be fed directly into a power amp, in other words, the Desktop amp acts as a preamp for these outputs - all front panel switches and the volume knob are all active.

To listen to a CD played on your Sony ES player through the Desktop amp you still have to run a second set of cables from the player (or your preamp/receiver) over to the analog inputs of the Desktop amp.

Everything sounds much more confusing than it actually is and all it would take is a very simple diagram to clear things up, provided that I've managed to totally confuse you and believe me, I've tried
600smile.gif
. Just shoot me a PM and I'll draw one up for you and send it to you as a PDF.
 
Oct 22, 2006 at 12:43 AM Post #9 of 65
Quote:

Originally Posted by ralphp@optonline
Now with the X-Fi Xtreme Music card it's a totally different story. There is almost no difference at all between the sound of the analog output of the X-Fi card fed into the analog input of my Headroom Desktop amp versus the digital output of the X-Fi card fed into the digital input of the same Desktop amp (and therefore using the amp's built-in DAC). Now mind you, I have the X-Fi card set for absolutely NO digital processing whatsoever, no CMSS, 24 bit crystalizer, no equalizer, nothing, nada, straight through - if you add even the slightest amount of digital processing you will mess up the sound. I also have the I/O digital output set for 96Khz. Plus I haven't tried this setup with the USB input."


ralphp -- good to hear the X-Fi's DAC is decent. Thanx for running this test.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ralphp@optonline
Basically, what I found is that the DAC on the X-Fi card is really quite good and if not the equal of the Desktop DAC at least within a hairbreadth of it.


I'd like to get the fully decked out HR Desktop amp + PSU and will probably order the max DAC just so I won't spend the rest of my life wondering if I shouldn't have gone for all the upgrades.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ralphp@optonline
However there is a fly in the ointment regarding your proposed connection scheme. There is not an optical out on the X-Fi card itself. Perhaps there is one on the breakout console but since I don't have that item I won't know.


Yes, there's an optical out on the console, but I haven't tried it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ralphp@optonline
Otherwise you most certainly could connect as follows and get some pretty fine sounding results:

Digital ouput of X-Fi -> cable (either optical or mono-mini jack to RCA plug) -> Desktop DAC -> headphone out (for headphone listening or -> stereo line out -> stereo RCA cables -> line in on power amp, preamp or receiver.

Please note that the line out on the back of the Desktop amp can be fed directly into a power amp, in other words, the Desktop amp acts as a preamp for these outputs - all front panel switches and the volume knob are all active.

To listen to a CD played on your Sony ES player through the Desktop amp you still have to run a second set of cables from the player (or your preamp/receiver) over to the analog inputs of the Desktop amp.

Everything sounds much more confusing than it actually is and all it would take is a very simple diagram to clear things up, provided that I've managed to totally confuse you and believe me, I've tried
600smile.gif
. Just shoot me a PM and I'll draw one up for you and send it to you as a PDF.



Thanks for the details on how an X-Fi and HR Desktop amp plays out, at least in your case. I have a feeling there are a lot of X-Fiers wondering about the next amp upgrade, and the HR Desktop looks like a no-brainer.
 
Oct 22, 2006 at 12:57 AM Post #10 of 65
the fully maxed desktop is pretty good.... i did an A/B with a headroom max, and could not tell the difference. now, yea... a balenced headroom will sound better, but they have not made a balenced desktop yet.

i did consider it for a little while... but, admittedly, the tube sound won me over. if you are a tube fan, then this is a great choice. Also, you might want to look into the new Meier Corda Opera.
 
Oct 22, 2006 at 7:49 AM Post #11 of 65
granodemostasa said:
the fully maxed desktop is pretty good.... i did an A/B with a headroom max, and could not tell the difference. now, yea... a balenced headroom will sound better, but they have not made a balenced desktop yet.

I would have gone full out on the Maxed out Desktop, but unfortunately I couldn't afford the Maxed out version with PSU just yet, so for financial reasons I had to settle on the Home Modules, and Home Dacs without the PSU for now, but the sound is very impressive from my PC Rig.

P.S.. Who ever said sorry about your wallet, should have said sorry about the plastic surgery on your credit card, when it gets the snip with the scissors.
eek.gif
!!!

Best wishes,

Paul.
 
Oct 22, 2006 at 7:59 AM Post #12 of 65
Quote:

Originally Posted by ralphp@optonline
As for the reasons Headroom amps don't seem to get discussed musch around here I don't really know. I still consider myself rather new to Head-Fi so all I could offer would be a guess at best. And my best guess would that Headroom is relatively pricey and in general pricey equipement tends not to get discussed as much as equipment which offers more bang for the buck.


Maybe HeadRoom amp owners are too busy listening to music rather than signing on to talk about gear.
smily_headphones1.gif


On the other hand, they are expensive amps and aren't the sexiest looking amps at their price range, but I'm sure they sound great and the functionalities they offer can't be beat.
 
Oct 22, 2006 at 8:46 AM Post #13 of 65
Quote:

Originally Posted by Dept_of_Alchemy
Maybe HeadRoom amp owners are too busy listening to music rather than signing on to talk about gear.
smily_headphones1.gif


On the other hand, they are expensive amps and aren't the sexiest looking amps at their price range, but I'm sure they sound great and the functionalities they offer can't be beat.



I haven't been too well, that's the main reason why I haven't been posting much.

Headroom amps look a lot nicer than any pictures, they're very solidly built, and should last for many years. The sound is very organic and very real sounding to me.

I know they may be a little expensive to some people, but for what you actually get in terms of the most organic sound you could ever imagine, with the great solid build and component quality, they are a complete bargain.

I'm aiming for a Balanced Max, when I can afford to go balanced.

Best wishes,

Paul.
 
Oct 22, 2006 at 3:59 PM Post #14 of 65
I think perhaps the most important thing I stated when outlining the conditions of my simple A-B X-Fi card versus Desktop amp DAC test and something that many people seem to be missing is the following:

Quote:

Now mind you, I have the X-Fi card set for absolutely NO digital processing whatsoever, no CMSS, 24 bit crystalizer, no equalizer, nothing, nada, straight through - if you add even the slightest amount of digital processing you will mess up the sound.


By do this you level the playing the field, so to speak. The Desktop DAC does not have the ability to add digital processing to the signal, i.e. it's just a straight shot through digital in, analog out. In order to properly compare the DACs one has to turn off all that other nonsense and try to isolate just the actual DAC of the X-Fi card as much as possible. If anyone knows of a better way to do this, please let me and us know.
 
Oct 22, 2006 at 6:18 PM Post #15 of 65
Quote:

Originally Posted by granodemostasa
the fully maxed desktop is pretty good.... i did an A/B with a headroom max, and could not tell the difference. now, yea... a balenced headroom will sound better, but they have not made a balenced desktop yet.

i did consider it for a little while... but, admittedly, the tube sound won me over. if you are a tube fan, then this is a great choice. Also, you might want to look into the new Meier Corda Opera.



On your tip, I just searched & found senn650fan's (7 Oct 06) "Corda Opera- Pics. Who else has reserved one?" That's a mean-looking amp! Like a fortress carved out of a steel brick. I know that Dr. Meier has a great rep, but I tend to be a sucker for the going pop brands like Headroom, AKG, Sennheiser, Cardas, especially when the digits start to roll up on the pricetag. No guts -- no glory.
 

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