[El Cucuy]

Hi guys, 

It gives me great pleasure to announce that we now carry HiFiMAN at Blackbird Audio Gallery.  I've been pairing the 560's with the Canalot and CanAmp and the 400i's with the CanAmp as well with really great results. 
We're going to dedicate one of our listening rooms at T.H.E. Show, Newport Beach as a headphone centric room where you can have a listen if you bring your own headphones along, to our Heed Headphone amps and the Viva Egoista tube headphone amp as well.
We'll have these HiFiMAN models along with some Ultrasone and Cardas in-ear monitors.  So if you can make it out to the show, please look us up under Blackbird Audio Gallery and/or Profundo, whom we are partnering with for all these shows.

Thanks!

Dan

For those of you who could not make it to the show, here are some photos from our display room at the Newport show:
 
Yours truly on the right with HiFiMAN's Summer Yin and Peter Hoagland
(I've got the new HE-1000's in-hand)

 
A compliment of Heed Audio components. Left to right: The DACtilus, The new Q-PSU power supply (can run two components) and the Heed Canalot with Audeze LCD2 headphones.  The HiFiMAN H.E400i in the background

 
HiFiMAN HE-4001 on the Heed CanAmp.  The CanAmp continues to be a strong choice for many headphones.  The 400i and 560's get along great on it.

 
A new addition to Heed's lineup that can serve as a desktop solution is the new Heed Elixir integrated amp. It has 4 line level inputs and a MM phono input.  I was wrong when I gave out some specifications on it to Tyll Hertsens during my interview for Inner Fidelity but I was running with the info given to me before the show by the importer.  The Elixir has an internal class A headphone amp and the class A/B amp section to drive desktop, stand mount or floor standing speakers puts out 60 wpc into 8 Ohms.  It comes with a remote control too. 1195.00 U.S. list pricing.  It's available in all black or with the silver faceplate (my preference).



 


Oh, what the heck, I'll add this here too:

Here is the Inner Fidelity interview with me.

 

[rimbaud65]

  Hello everyone,
I am a new canamp owner,
I am still looking for a good set of headphones to go with the canamp. I have akg k272´s but I think they aren´t a great combo they are overly bright and lacking in the bass frequencies.
I considered Sennheiser HD650´s but I heared people say those don´t go well with the canamp, what does everyone think about that?
Are there any other good headphones for the Heed canamp? Or is the K701 really the way to go?
I was also looking at ultrasone and hifiman headphones, I am open for all suggestions for headphones that go well with the canamp, my max. budget would be the price of the HD650s though.
Thanks!

Comparing HD600/HD650 with K701 while amping with Heed Canamp I would certainly go with AKG. The synergy is much better in that combo. For HD600/650 I would recommend a nice tube amp.

 

[freak]

Anyone tried this Canamp with AKG K-712 or Beyerdynamic DT-150? Is it still a good match for K-712? They supposedly changed a lot since K-701 times.
How is second version of Canamp diffrent from the first one?

 

[Sonic Defender]

  Anyone tried this Canamp with AKG K-712 or Beyerdynamic DT-150? Is it still a good match for K-712? They supposedly changed a lot since K-701 times.
How is second version of Canamp diffrent from the first one?

Old thread I know, but I just heard a CanAmp with an AKG 7xxx and it was very nice. I would also like to know what the differences are with the second version. I didn't spend much time in this thread, but have the specifications for this amp been posted anywhere? Newer version.

 

[El Cucuy]

The specifications are the same between the original CanAmp and the newer version. The difference between them is that they re-designed the layout of the circuitboard in order to accommodate an IEC socket. The original CanAmp had been fitted with a captive power cable and now you can just plug in after market power cables if you wish to switch out the stock one that comes with it.

 

[439598]

This is a really interesting amp, built a clone of it today and Im shocked how different it sounds to my Objective2. a tad muffled/veiled sounding in comparison but extremely visceral, ''alive'' sound, very detailed imaging and deep soundstage. Im hearing a lot of new details even though there is less high frequency clarity.

Could just be that the O2 doesnt put out enough current to power a pair he400i to their full potential.

Ive only listened to the Heed for an hour or 2 so hoping it crisps up a bit with some burn-in,

 

[eimis]

This is a really interesting amp, built a clone of it today and Im shocked how different it sounds to my Objective2. a tad muffled/veiled sounding in comparison but extremely visceral, ''alive'' sound, very detailed imaging and deep soundstage. Im hearing a lot of new details even though there is less high frequency clarity.

Could just be that the O2 doesnt put out enough current to power a pair he400i to their full potential.

Ive only listened to the Heed for an hour or 2 so hoping it crisps up a bit with some burn-in,

I have the same impressions with my q701. my canamp clone is also way nicer than o2.

 

[439598]

I have the same impressions with my q701. my canamp clone is also way nicer than o2.

have you tried rolling op amps?

 

[Jimmyblues1959]

Wow, I would never have imagined this thread to have lasted as long as it has, having started back in 2006!

I'd like to thank all of you for your support of the Heed Audio CanAmp and also for supporting my business, Blackbird Audio Gallery by ordering your amps from me.

The latest news from Heed Audio is that I will be sharing a display room at T.H.E. Show @ Newport Beach, CA on June 1, 2 and 3, 2012. Our display room will be at the Atrium Hotel, room 230 along with the Heed Audio importer and Alpar Huszti of Heed Audio will also be with us. If you plan on making it out to this event, please do swing by and say hello. I'll look forward to meeting you.

MORE news from Heed Audio is that we've just taken delivery of a new headphone amplifier from them called the Canalot. This amp is fitted with a single RCA jack (S/PDIF) for use if the amp is fitted with Heed's Dactilus v.1.2 card (optional) and is also fitted with one pair of analog inputs and a set of analog outputs in the same "tape loop" fashion as the CanAmp. What really sets the Canalot apart is its use of Heed's already very successful power supply design, the Q-PSU which is a more elaborate design than could be fitted internally. Retail for the amp and power supply is 1200.00. The optional DAC card is 400.00.
Blackbird Audio will continue to support the Head-Fi.org community with full support, a group rate, as we have been on the CanAmps and can also offer to take your CanAmp back as a trade-in against the purchase of the new Canalot. Just contact me directly through our website's email link or here, through private IM and I'll be happy to answer any questions and work up the trade-in value and delivered pricing on a case by case basis (though to be up-front there may be some limitations in areas that have local Heed dealers in them but I can check that for you).

I'll get more detailed information about the Canalot to post here but in the meanwhile, ours is being burned in in preparation for T.H.E. Show, where we hope to have it set up in an active display. Here are a couple of photos I took when it arrived.



(above) the front faceplate on the Canalot has been fitted with two 1/4" Phone jacks, a selector switch to choose between the digital or analog inputs and master volume, which governs output volume to the two headphone jacks equally. You can also just make out the vented area running along the left edge of the Canalot's top. The headphones in the photo are our Ultrasone Edition8's (which sound really very good on the Heed amps).



(above) angled view showing audio inputs/outputs, the power supply DIN connector and the optional DAC card (background) and the rather substantial amp output heat sink (foreground).

Bumping this thread: I recently purchased a Heed Canalot with the Q-PSU power supply. There's not much written about this
headphone amplifier, despite its being a very capable piece of gear. The Q-PSU that was included with my Canalot was
the later version with the regulated power supply and dual power outputs. As far as the dac option with the Canalot is concerned, I believe that the S/PDIF input is standard, however, does not actually include the dactilus 1.2 card. As I understand it, the dac card can be ordered as an option for $400 US at the time the Canalot is purchased new, or added by the user at a later time, and then easily installed by the user in a dedicated slot on the Canalot's motherboard.

The Heed Dactilus can also be purchased as a dedicated dac built into a chassis that matches the Canalot and its Q-PSU power
supply. I believe that the price is around $750 US.