[elicohen]

Hi all,

I have a rHead (feeding off a Hugo and powering an Elear) at my desktop.

My concern is it is OK to keep it on overnight.

Even when the volume is turned down (click) to orange, in the morning the unit is very hot.
I also sometimes found that turning the knob back does not bring the sound back.

Powering on and off from the back switch feels hard.

So I am not sure what to do.

Please advise on how to best use this wonderful amp

 

[ProtegeManiac]

I have a rHead (feeding off a Hugo and powering an Elear) at my desktop.

My concern is it is OK to keep it on overnight.

Why? This is an audio amplifier, not a computer with a few hundred grams of copper heat pipes connected to aluminum fins designed by BeQuiet! or Noctua to allow even a workstation or server CPU plus a graphics card with basically the same copper and aluminum over the GPU and sometimes contacting the VRAM and VRM to dissipate heat and just keep running 24/7/365, not to mention that on newer processors they barely pull any power until you run any programs that actually needs processing beyond the OS and background apps.

Even when the volume is turned down (click) to orange, in the morning the unit is very hot.
I also sometimes found that turning the knob back does not bring the sound back.

It runs full Class A. Even without a signal input it basically sucks up around the same amount of power, basically operating like if you were listening.

That gets worse when you don't have any headphone plugged in as the power doesn't go anywhere, so even more of it ends up as waste heat.

Which is why your leaving it running is even more baffling. Even amps that sound louder or better once they warm up, if it's a pure Class A amp like this one, all you need to warm it up is switch it on before you listen. Without a headphone plugged in, you need only around. You can barely just finish taking a shower within that time frame, which is the minimum thing you need to accomplish first after coming home from work or elsewhere, or when you wake up in the morning. Add cooking and/or eating, feeding the dog/cat, plugging in other devices, doing #2 on the toilet...there is just no way you wouldn't have enough time to not get that thing warmed up or have to sit there bored out of your brains waiting for it.

Powering on and off from the back switch feels hard.

So I am not sure what to do.

Please advise on how to best use this wonderful amp

Turn it off. When you wake up, switch it on, take a shower, cook and eat breakfast. It will be warm by the time you plug in your headphones, even if what you count for those activities is more like "turn on shower, drizzle liquid full body soap/shampoo, let flow down, rinse and dry off; nuke a Pop Tart/Cup Noodle; eat Pop Tart/Cup Noodle, throw out packaging and disposable chopsticks."

 

[elicohen]

LOL

You rock, man

But please note this thread (which I failed to see updated before posting here):
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/arc...ear-headphone-amplifier.878089/#post-14203712

Junki said:
"I actually reached out to Arcam with this specific question, and the response was:
There is no recommendation on switching off each night so it is entirely up to you. Turning it off each night will help avoid wear in certain ways but will increase wear on the power switch and many electrical components have a shelf life even when not in use so you may not gain a lot. The only thing we really recommend on this subject is to switch off if the unit will be out of use for an extended period (say > 1 week) like if you go on holiday."

My only reason for not playing with the power rocker on the back is to not wear it out.
(I keep my naim amp and cd on like that).

Regardless - I will follow your advice and will turn it on before playing

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Junki said:
"I actually reached out to Arcam with this specific question, and the response was:
There is no recommendation on switching off each night so it is entirely up to you. Turning it off each night will help avoid wear in certain ways but will increase wear on the power switch and many electrical components have a shelf life even when not in use so you may not gain a lot. The only thing we really recommend on this subject is to switch off if the unit will be out of use for an extended period (say > 1 week) like if you go on holiday."

My only reason for not playing with the power rocker on the back is to not wear it out.
(I keep my naim amp and cd on like that).

You're still not taking two other things into account if you follow that blanket reply. First, you reported the amp is having problemswhen you listen in the morning. That means the heat is affecting it in some way, or that there's something wrong with the switch/potentiometer, and just switching it on and off will add more wear. If it's still under warranty I'd get that checked.

The other is that when manufacturers or other hobbyists give advice like this they never take into account differences in ambient temps, which affects how hot these will get, idle or not. Think of it like how the same problem will play out in a computer forum - two people, identical PCs including the custom cooling on the CPU (and either custom board partner coolers on the GPUs, or something aftermarket), but one lives in a hot climate getting told by the guy who has to shovel snow that his PC doesn't thermal throttle running whatever game or synthetic test with the CPU and GPU set to whatever overclock he has them on. I've seen cases of this in audio with everybody telling everybody you can leave things on, and one guy in Australia came back and almost seared his hand on his NOS DAC. It was hot enough to eventually cook an egg, basically. In my case I came home and the whole room stinks of what electronics smell like when you open the chassis on something that has been running long enough. Except the cover was on and it was the whole room that smelled like that. Even if there was nothing broken in that amp, that's not a normal odor.

 

[buonassi]

Hi all,
.

Even when the volume is turned down (click) to orange, in the morning the unit is very hot.
I also sometimes found that turning the knob back does not bring the sound back.

I too have this problem. It only happens sometimes, and I figured it was because the unit got too hot. So I have been turning the amplifier off at night. It is typically only on from the time I get home until the time I go to bed.