[violeta88]

I decided to purchase my second Total Airhead (I sold my first one) because I was unimpressed with my Corda Move driving my new K701's (it could only power the K701's to moderate volumes without distortion). To be honest, I wasn't expecting much of a difference with the Total Airhead, but since I was on a limited budget, I decided to give the Total Airhead another try. To put it bluntly I'm actually quite impressed with the Total Airhead K701 combo. The Move is a bit more refined at lower volumes, but doesn't hold a candle to the dynamic range that the Total Airhead can produce with the K701 (especially while using the optional wall-wart adaptor, and the Airhead produces enough volume via battery power to provide for a satisfying listening experience. Not that the Move was quiet by any means, but it lacked the extra oomph that the K701's need to produce good bass tones. Best of all, even though the Airhead out of the box is a bit less refined in the mids than the Move, the Move costs 1.5 times as much and the Airhead has a better volume control IMO. It doesn't suffer the so-so tracking that my move has when changing volumes. The Total Airhead offers a good taste of HeadRoom's amps at a price most people can afford and it actually does a decent job of powering the K701's (which is hard to do for a portable amplifier). Good job HeadRoom!

 

[Tyll Hertsens]

Quote:

Originally Posted by violeta88 /img/forum/go_quote.gif The Total Airhead offers a good taste of HeadRoom's amps at a price most people can afford and it actually does a decent job of powering the K701's (which is hard to do for a portable amplifier). Good job HeadRoom!

Actually, one of the best, most balanced, and reflecting of my own opinion of all the Airhead reviews I've ever read. Thanks Voileta!


Glad your liking it; a good product should grow on you, I'm glad the Total AirHead managed the task for you.

 

[warpdriver]

I agree with your assessment. People overlook the Airhead/Bitheads just because they have been around awhile and all the new competition is smaller, rechargeable and have spiffy cases that look like a million bucks, but the HR Total portable amps still do their job quietly and competently for a price that you can't complain about. I don't intend to replace my Bithead any time soon.

 

[silverrain]

I've been posting for years, that the Total Airhead is an "unsung hero" in the headphone-amp world -- a real bargain.

 

[mikeg88]

Quote:

Originally Posted by silverrain /img/forum/go_quote.gif I've been posting for years, that the Total Airhead is an "unsung hero" in the headphone-amp world -- a real bargain.

You know what...silverrain is right in so many ways. I just reloaded ALL my music (god forbid) in ALAC to my MacBook, and it's now rockin' out my BitHead better than ever before. Holy smokes does it sound good! My Parents have a $3k Rotel CD player and Amp, and some Mission floor speakers that are wicked - but I think my BitHead playing ALAC through my shure's can match them for detail...and just overall it sounds not that far behind to say the least. Every time I go back to my iPod or computer speakers, I shudder: all these years I'd been listening away to my tunes with no idea what I was missing.
At least I got it figured out early - I have lots of catching up to do!

Good work HeadRoom.

M

 

[Squirsier]

I've owned the Total Airhead since 2006 and it has served me very well ever since. Right now they are driving Sleek Audio's SA6 earphones from my first gen iPod Shuffle (yeah yeah, birthday's coming, I want a Classic 160

) and it's really essential. I like the crossfeed, tho it is a very subtle effect, but with time you eventually "feel" it.

Besides, the amp actually got rid of most of the hiss from the shuffle as well as the "noise" I get when the shuffle switches from one song to the other. No clue how it did this but hey - won't complain

 

[mikeg88]

Actually - with regard to the subject of this thread - what is everyone's take on the 701's when amped? I've tried them at stores using my bithead - and been surprised. Tons of detail, clarity, soundstage, and super smooth...BUT

...the bottom end? I was hoping for some "bottom end punch..."
is it just my bithead, or maybe my source? Don't get me wrong - it's a very appealing sonic signature, and I like it, but maybe is there more there that I just didn't get to hear because of my setup?

Now, I've heard they're not the most Bass-heavy can, and I suppose the ARE supposed to be a reference phone...but It was like my 32 and 64 Hz on my EQ were turned way down...

is this maybe the notorious K701 break-in time coming into effect?

anyone want to shed some light on this?

 

[sschmeichel]

I have a pair of k701s, and i felt the breakin effect if there was any. When I first got the k701s, they were very bass shy. But after half a year of playing them, the bass extends very deep, very tight, very controlled. It doesn't have the "punch"... that something like the HD600s would have, but enough to make you say "there is bass there"... a bass that doesn't steal the main attraction... but makes its presence felt. The k701s are plugged into an MD-10 DAC. I am sure a nice tube amp would make the bass even better.

 

[JorgeC]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sschmeichel /img/forum/go_quote.gif I have a pair of k701s, and i felt the breakin effect if there was any. When I first got the k701s, they were very bass shy. But after half a year of playing them, the bass extends very deep, very tight, very controlled. It doesn't have the "punch"... that something like the HD600s would have, but enough to make you say "there is bass there"... a bass that doesn't steal the main attraction... but makes its presence felt. The k701s are plugged into an MD-10 DAC. I am sure a nice tube amp would make the bass even better.

Could not agree more!!

I also own a set of k701's which i usually run through a very nice tube stage -- After 'proper' break-in, the k 701's bass response is extremely tight and fully extended to the lowest tone; However, it's not a particularly rich or "punchy" bottom-end presentation when compared to, say, the Senn HD600/HD650 which typically will offer more heft in the bass response, although they can't quite muster the uppermost treble range openness of the k701s imho...

Cheers,
JorgeC.
HR Sales & Product Manager

 

[violeta88]

I wanted to update my original post by saying that even though I have three portable headphone amps now, that for the K701's, the Total Airhead is the cleanest, most dynamic of them, and my collection of portable headphone amps consists of the Corda Move, Shek H1 and the Total Airhead. While the Move has a bit beefier bass, the Airhead is punchy and goes just as deep, especially with the Crossfeed turned on and is more vivid in its soundstaging. The Airhead is consistently cleaner than the Shek, and maintains the lower level clarity of the Shek, while adding a bit of warmth. The Airhead is cleaner to louder volumes than the Shek,yet at the loudest volume the Airhead can reproduce, is as clean as the Shek at lower volume levels. In terms of neutrality, it is a bit warmer than what I would call neutral, but not as warm as the Move, and in terms of overall transparency and resolution of fine detail, it is the best of the three. I have found that the Move is overrated in the transparency category, and isn't as good as the Porta Corda III in terms of transparency. The Airhead comes very close to what I remember of the Porta Corda III, but adds a bit of warmth that the Porta Corda III didn't have. I am still highly impressed that HeadRoom could produce such a high quality amp for $99.

 

[TickTockMan]

Add me to the list of people who are delighted with the Airhead.
I haven't used any other amps to compare it to, but man, is this thing ever smooth and clean sounding. I notice a pretty substantial difference when running my iPod Classic unammped vs. ampped through the Airhead.

Not one penny of buyers remorse here!

 

[Strudel]

I've been enjoying my Bithead greatly for the past year. The urge to upgrade occurs on occasion but I can never justify upgrading when I have zero complaints about the Bithead's sound. It is a must for anyone with a laptop, it breathes so much life into headphones vs. using the horrid integrated audio.

 

[pirate6955]

Quote:

Originally Posted by violeta88 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I wanted to update my original post by saying that even though I have three portable headphone amps now, that for the K701's, the Total Airhead is the cleanest, most dynamic of them, and my collection of portable headphone amps consists of the Corda Move, Shek H1 and the Total Airhead. While the Move has a bit beefier bass, the Airhead is punchy and goes just as deep, especially with the Crossfeed turned on and is more vivid in its soundstaging. The Airhead is consistently cleaner than the Shek, and maintains the lower level clarity of the Shek, while adding a bit of warmth. The Airhead is cleaner to louder volumes than the Shek,yet at the loudest volume the Airhead can reproduce, is as clean as the Shek at lower volume levels. In terms of neutrality, it is a bit warmer than what I would call neutral, but not as warm as the Move, and in terms of overall transparency and resolution of fine detail, it is the best of the three. I have found that the Move is overrated in the transparency category, and isn't as good as the Porta Corda III in terms of transparency. The Airhead comes very close to what I remember of the Porta Corda III, but adds a bit of warmth that the Porta Corda III didn't have. I am still highly impressed that HeadRoom could produce such a high quality amp for $99.

hi. looking at your sig i see you have a cable pro cable, which costs more than your amp. and you have nice headphones to boot. i also notice you use your mac as a source.

so i have a question. do you think the money spent on the cable vs. on the amp gives better sound? i am thinking you could have a bithead for the same money as the panorama cable, and use the included cables to connect to the mac via usb gaining the external dac.

i also have a cable pro line out cable for my ipod. nice cable. for sure.
and i have a bithead too. and i find that using the external dac is a big improvement over my macbook pros audio output.

i have since upgraded to where i could use the optical out on the mac and that made a huge difference also. but this is using the portable micro d/amp.

i like cables too. but i never felt they made a tremendous sonic difference. maybe as the final tweek, but maybe my ears are just too far gone to notice the subtleties , thus my question to you..

thanks for your time man.

 

[violeta88]

hey pirate6955,
Sorry it took me so long to respond to your post, but I haven't been in this particular forum for a while, and I lost track of this thread as well. I'm actually using a Cardas HPI Mini-to-Mini now, with my new Denon AH-D1001's and the Total Airhead. I have found that the Cardas, while not as open as the Panorama, has better midrange when listening to the Denons, and has much more reliable connectors. The connectors on my Panorama oxidized and I can no longer use the cable without having the cable reterminated. Also, the Panoramas connectors were somewhat incompatible with the recessed jacks on my Airhead, so I needed to switch to the Cardas for that reason as well. I had this problem with the Denon's plug as well, so I ended up buying a Cardas mini-to-1/4" adaptor, and plugging the Denon's via a 1/4" to mini plug adaptor. The cardas mini-to-1/4" adaptor is made with the HPI interconnect cable, and it didn't degrade the sound a bit on the Denons. In fact, I think it may sound a smidgeon better with the Cardas adaptor plugged in to the Airhead vs. directly plugging the Denon in to the Airhead. So, in response to your original question, the money I spent on the Panorama wasn't worth it with the Airhead and denons. But when I originally got the Panorama, I was using it with my HD580's with a cardas headphone cable and a Corda Move. It made a big difference there. (That was before the connectors became horribly oxidized though.) In my opinion, as long as one has a GOOD cable, like the Cardas HPI, the person should use any extra money invested in the system to upgrade the source and amp (provided they have headphones they're happy with), then make final tweaks with cable upgrades as a final step. As an example, I am probably going to upgrade to a Portable Micro Amp w/DAC as my next step as I am thrilled with the sound of my Denon AH-D1001's (Thrilled enough that I sold my K701's to get a better amplifier for my speakers.)

Regards,
Eric

 

[JMCIII]

Quote:

Originally Posted by warpdriver /img/forum/go_quote.gif have spiffy cases that look like a million bucks

And cost it too.