[NiceCans]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dw6928 /img/forum/go_quote.gif what did you find disagreeable with the amp?

disagreeable? actually nothing

I think it is a matter of "what did I find special?" again, nothing

What can I say, I thought I heard a noticable difference on the first listen. But after a week listening to the Heed I then went back to my Head-Five expecting a huge disappointment. I did not find that to be the case.

I've always thought I had good ears but apparently either I do not, or age has had it's affects on my hearing.
I can hear a difference between my Emu-1212 and my M-Audio Audiophile 24/96. Sometimes I can even seem to tell by the "edges" of the cymbal hits if a file was encoded in flac or mp3.
But between these amps, all I can say definatively is that the Heed goes louder.

If I have to try as hard as I did to hear a difference, then it is not worth close to twice the price to me . . . regardless of how much better anybody else says it sounds

 

[mrarroyo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NiceCans /img/forum/go_quote.gif disagreeable? actually nothing I think it is a matter of "what did I find special?" again, nothing What can I say, I thought I heard a noticable difference on the first listen. But after a week listening to the Heed I then went back to my Head-Five expecting a huge disappointment. I did not find that to be the case. I've always thought I had good ears but apparently either I do not, or age has had it's affects on my hearing. I can hear a difference between my Emu-1212 and my M-Audio Audiophile 24/96. Sometimes I can even seem to tell by the "edges" of the cymbal hits if a file was encoded in flac or mp3. But between these amps, all I can say definatively is that the Heed goes louder. If I have to try as hard as I did to hear a difference, then it is not worth close to twice the price to me . . . regardless of how much better anybody else says it sounds

I realize we all have different ears and at the end of the day your are the only one that can and should make the call on keeping an amp or not. I too compared the Heed CanAmp wiht the HeadFive. IMO there was no comparison, the Heed was more open and it extended way more into the higher frequencies. I also found the soundstage of the Heed to be way wider and deeper. Good luck in your search.

 

[NiceCans]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrarroyo /img/forum/go_quote.gif I realize we all have different ears and at the end of the day your are the only one that can and should make the call on keeping an amp or not. I too compared the Heed CanAmp wiht the HeadFive. IMO there was no comparison, the Heed was more open and it extended way more into the higher frequencies. I also found the soundstage of the Heed to be way wider and deeper. Good luck in your search.

Yup, you and a number of others as well, which is why I expected a very noticable difference. Imagine my surprise when I went back to the Head-Five after a week and did not find it.

I then tried an A-B switch to determine which was better. I balanced the volumes then had someone else plug them into the switch so I did not know which amp was on which side of the switch. This was when I realized that I was really struggling to hear or perceive any real and significant difference.

As I said earlier, perhaps age has cost me some of my upper range hearing (I have played in a rock band as well as working in some noisy factories) so this could explain why I did not detect the "extended way more in the upper frequencies". But then again I also did not find the bass to be stronger/deeper/more impactful than the H-5 either. And as for soundstage, this I did not notice to be different enough to stand out.

So, now I will wander through the halls of Head-Fi wondering why my hearing and brain are so deficient that I cannot perceive these huge difference that everone else claims to hear.

 

[Cankin]

Welcome to Head-fi, ...........(second part does not apply to you)

 

[Atchoum]

Hi there,

I've noticed that after +- 20minutes my beloved CanAmp buzzes (power part), be it connected to headphones or not...I've written to heed and they say it may come from additionnal frequencies on my mains

. If I send the amp back they will switch the transfo with one that does not buzzes.

Does it make sens to you ?

 

[Dexdexter]

Hi Atchoum,

If Heed are offering to swap out the transformer, I would certainly take them up on it.

 

[Atchoum]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dexdexter /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hi Atchoum, If Heed are offering to swap out the transformer, I would certainly take them up on it.

For sure ! I have full trust in them (because of their very very pleasant and responsive customer support) but if the problem comes from my mains how can a transformer swap solve this ? Are there transformers matching different types of mains (beside voltage of course...) ?

Btw I'm tempted to get a brand new one and to keep mine for heavy modding

... Now that I've discovered how great a simple opamp swap can sound (ad711 <=> opa627 in my Yulong MiniDAC)

!

 

[dw6928]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrarroyo /img/forum/go_quote.gif I realize we all have different ears and at the end of the day your are the only one that can and should make the call on keeping an amp or not. I too compared the Heed CanAmp wiht the HeadFive. IMO there was no comparison, the Heed was more open and it extended way more into the higher frequencies. I also found the soundstage of the Heed to be way wider and deeper. Good luck in your search.

I, too, had the Headfive and Heed at the same time and sold the Headfive. Like Miguel, it was no comparison, especially with AKG 701s which were my primary headphone at the time. I use the Heed with a Microdac which is a very good match. Sorry it did not work out but as well all know too well, there are loads of alternatives.
I am sure your hearing is not severely impaired or your would be aware of the loss in everyday life, not just audio's upper registers.

 

[d-cee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by user18 /img/forum/go_quote.gif What's the difference between the metal can and the ceramic DY2000 opamp?

aside from the casing material and cost i'm not sure

i asked eddie wu and he says that the metal version is the best but i heard very slight differences and it seems like the metal version is disagreeable in my setup, seems to pick up some sort of interference/noise

 

[Atchoum]

It may sound weird and thus i'd like to know if you can hear the same improvement in "clarity" that I did when swapping my RCA in from the in to the out plugs.

I did this after looking carefully at the PCB and noticing that the tracks were linked directly to the out plugs, not the in... I also remembered that some pages ago someone noticed that he/she had the in / out reversed on its CanAmp.

I "heard" (that not to say it may just be a placebo effect) a improvement in clarity that may even prevent me from buying a corda opera

!

If some of you can also hear this improvement I thnk I deserve an award for finding the cheapest tweak for the non-soldering people of us

 

[ajsaxin]

has any one compared these two amps .the stello is a very highly rated amp any idea how it compares with the heed.

 

[anadin]

I just got my Heed Canamp this morning.

My only other headphone amp to date was a Musical Fidelity X-canv3.

I got rid of the X-CANv3 because I couldn't take the screeching highs that came out of my HD600's anymore.

After spending money on numerous different valves the SQ still bothered me so I sold it.

I have had the Heed Canamp for about 4 hours now and all I can say is this thing really rocks, the shrill of the x-can has been replaced with lovely mellow sounding highs.

I cant wait for it to burn in if its already sounding this good.

Nearly forgot it looks so nice and I dont need to buy anymore valves.

 

[d-cee]

congrats! modding it makes it even nicer sounding (but voids the excellent 3 year warranty)

 

[mrarroyo]

...I got rid of the X-CANv3 because I couldn't take the screeching highs that came out of my HD600's anymore...

Something was not right with your V3. I have had both a Heed and the V3 side by side, both are very nice but there is something about valves ...

I should mention that my V3 has the full PinkFloyd Mods as well as a Little Pinkie PSU. For valves I am using the Rusian 6H23-EB and the amps is fantastic.

I do hope you enjoy your Heed since IMO it is one heck of a nice sounding unit. Just wanted to provide a bit of a counter view with regards to the V3.

 

[Seba]

A week ago I listened Heed and my Headfive side by side. Conclusion was simple, I traded my Headfive + cash for Heed with a fellow Head-fier and waiting the Heed to arrive in next week.

AKG K701 sounded much better with Heed (especially bass department) and my Sony SA5000's sounded better also. Heed gave the much needed warmth for my Sony's.

I believe that my next step (if there will be a next step) will be balanced gear but I'm quite confident that I will enjoy my Heed for a long time and when I'm not enjoying it, I will mod it to make it better.