[insomniac]

Flirting with the idea of upgrading amps again from my Corda HA-1.

The ones that have piqued my interest are the Headroom Maxed Out Home, the Emmeline HR-2 and the Corda HA-2.

Outside contenders include the Pereaux and the Little More Power Premium.

I currently have the HD580's for phones and the NAD C521BEE as a source in my home rig.

First, how do those top three compare? The HA-2 is a a bit less than the other two. Are the other two in a differenct class?

And will I need to upgrade my source to take advantage of these amps?

My listening preferences range from classical and vocals to pop and hip and hop.

 

[insomniac]

bump for your thoughts

 

[insomniac]

bump to first page

 

[sacd lover]

Whats your goal? More musical enjoyment or something else? If you want musicality and naturalness I would suggest the ppx3. Its less expensive, low maintenance for a tube amp, plus the sound quality of the latest version is atleast a notch or two above the maxed out home. I have lengthy experience with the MOH, as I owned one, and this tube amp clearly sounds better IMO. Unless your dead set on a solid state amp the ppx3 is a must have sonically; especially since its hundreds cheaper than the two most expensive amps your considering and the ppx3 mates exceedingly well with sennheiser headphones. Factor in the amp uses high quality, readily available and inexpensive tubes and the customer service is A+++. I dont see how you can do any better.

 

[insomniac]

sacd lover, thanks for the suggestion and while tube amps do intrigue me, I'm somewhat dead set on solid-state for the time being. Several factors, including maintenance, having to warm up, and space concerns rule out tube amps for the time being. I will be certain to revisit them at some time.

But for now, I'm looking to improve my musical enjoyment. My HA-1 has served me well but I've got a serious case of upgraditis. I'm sure the folks here can certainly relate.

 

[Welly Wu]

I would say you should give the Ray Samuels Emmeline HR-2 most of your focus. It is a great headphone amplifier: it drives plenty of headphones and earphones with authority and you can literally change the sound by swapping out operational amplifiers. Think of it as a sort of mix between a tube amplifier and a solid state design. The separate power supply idea is a great one because you can rest assured that no electrical contaminants degrade the sonic performances of this very fine headphone amplifier. Mr. Samuels is a great guy and he offers the best level of customer service in my experience. If you can wait, then I will write a 2,000 word review on the Emmeline HR-2 in about a month. It will describe the product, sound, and different op-amps along with some tidbits about Mr. Samuels' outstanding customer service and support of our community.

 

[Ticky]

Quote:

Originally Posted by insomniac Flirting with the idea of upgrading amps again from my Corda HA-1. The ones that have piqued my interest are the Headroom Maxed Out Home, the Emmeline HR-2 and the Corda HA-2. Outside contenders include the Pereaux and the Little More Power Premium. I currently have the HD580's for phones and the NAD C521BEE as a source in my home rig. First, how do those top three compare? The HA-2 is a a bit less than the other two. Are the other two in a differenct class? And will I need to upgrade my source to take advantage of these amps? My listening preferences range from classical and vocals to pop and hip and hop.

Hey there Insomniac. This thread reminds me that I should get around to finishing up my review of the HA-2, XP-7 and Headroom Supreme.

But, you probably can't wait that long. So, here's my 2 cents. I spent around 1 week comparing the XP-7, HA-2 to my old Supreme (premium module). After some serious thoughts, I decided to auditionthe HR-2 as well. As you can see from my profile, the HR-2 carried the day for me.

I really think the HR-2 is in a different class from the HA-2, et al. The reason why I couldn't decide betweenthe XP-7 and HA-2 was that I couldn't discern much of an improvement over my old amp. Granted that my source at the time was a bit crappy ($250 AMC PCDP). I could hear differences, but the differences are not one of absolute sonic quality, but rather that of difference sonic signatures. The XP-7 sounded airy and fast, the HA-2 warm, smooth and slightly lean on the bass, while my old Headroom was a balance between the two. But, if I were forced to pick one out of the three as the winner, I would saythe HA-2 came out slightly on top of the XP-7 and Supreme because of HA-2's smoothness and consistency.

That said, the HR-2 is a different beast. I really liked the XP-7's sonic signature, but couldn't live with some of its short comings. (Keep in mind that the XP-7 I auditioned uses the stock op-amp not the AD797). The XP-7 was a bit thin and shrill sounding on some music. So, I gave Todd a call and the HR-2 came in the mail.

Hook up that HR-2 and - smile, smile, smile - its got the same airy and fast characteristics, plus better details, wider soundstage and music just sounded more effortless. The choice was simple.


But, before you run out to order the HR-2, do keep in mind that I liked the HR-2 because of its house sound. The HA-2 has a different sonic signature. However, that said, I do feel that the HA-2 does not pair up too well with hip-hop, hard rock or music that requires lots of attack, bass slam and energy.

 

[insomniac]

Ticky, thanks for the comparison. Exactly what I was looking for. It seems the HR-2 is very well regarded. Thanks for your 2 cents as well, Welly Wu.

Ticky, I'm surprised to hear that your HA-2 wasn't a huge improvement over the Headroom Supreme.

One thing that bothers me about the HR-2 is the lack of a power switch! The way my room is set up, the red light on the HR-2 will bother me at night. And I don't want to unplug it each night. Any users found a way to get around this?

 

[Ticky]

Quote:

Originally Posted by insomniac Ticky, I'm surprised to hear that your HA-2 wasn't a huge improvement over the Headroom Supreme. One thing that bothers me about the HR-2 is the lack of a power switch! The way my room is set up, the red light on the HR-2 will bother me at night. And I don't want to unplug it each night. Any users found a way to get around this?

The Supreme contained a premium module. So, in a sense its a step above the regular $449 Supreme. I can't remember how much I spent on the upgrade; its been some time ago. But, currently I think upgrading the module would cost you around $100. So in a way, the upgraded Supreme and HA-2 are roughly in the same price category.

Secondly, keep in mind that my source might be the limiting factor in the audition. I planned to bring a new amp built to take 220v when I move overseas in the near future. Since a source is bulkier, I decided to put off purchasing a new source until after the move.

That said, the audition taught me that the differences between amps in the same price categories are really subtle and minute. All the amps mentioned are well built, so you wouldn't find one that is a total flop. Coupled with different sonic signatures, it is very hard to tell which amp sounds better on an absolute scale. IMO, the HA-2 comes out on top with some music, the Headroom on others.

The HA-2 is slightly smoother sounding than the Supreme. Some audiophiles might conclude that the HA-2 thus sounds better in absolute terms. But for me, I find that too much smoothness cuts back on the amp's ability to inspire when one listens to hip-hop or rock. So, IMO, smoothness is a relative attribute of sound quality. A less smooth sounding amp is not automatically sonically inferior.

With regards to your HR-2 power question. Perhaps you could simply cut a small piece of black tape and paste it over the the LED. Alternatively, you probably would be plugging the amp into a surge-protector. You could simply turn off the switch there.

 

[john_jcb]

Quote:

Originally Posted by insomniac Ticky, thanks for the comparison. Exactly what I was looking for. It seems the HR-2 is very well regarded. Thanks for your 2 cents as well, Welly Wu. Ticky, I'm surprised to hear that your HA-2 wasn't a huge improvement over the Headroom Supreme. One thing that bothers me about the HR-2 is the lack of a power switch! The way my room is set up, the red light on the HR-2 will bother me at night. And I don't want to unplug it each night. Any users found a way to get around this?

Mine is plugged into a power strip/surge protector. I almost never turn it off, however, if I wanted to it would be simple. I preferred the HR-2 over the HA-2 although the differences were slight. When outfitted with the same op amps the XP-7 and HR-2 are very very close. I got one of the first HR-2's when they were introduced at a Chicago meet and have never regretted the decision.

 

[Geek]

I own a maxed out home + refrence modules + stepped attenuator and can soundly say that it is roughly a sonic equal to the Corda prehead, which I believe is one step up from the corda HA-1.

Really, if you bought a maxed out home you would't be upgrading that much, but rather changing the sonic signature: Corda amps lean towards the bright side of neutral with a very "wide" soundstage while headroom amps lean towards the warm side of neutral with a very "smooth" soundstage that is narrower and more focused.

If you dont want to change the sonic signature you could always get the prehead, that amp is great and is the equal of the MOH(R), in my opinion. I think the max is better by a hair (more details with the smoothness of a headroom amp) but its very expensive to come by.

There are other amps too that I have not heard and thus have no opinion on such as th Emmeline and Gilmore series.

A headroom amp is definitely a worthy purchase though and lots of people (including me) swear by them.

Cheers,
Geek

 

[insomniac]

Ticky and john_jcb, I suppose a surge protector would work. But I would much prefer the switch on the unit itself of course. Can you venture to guess why Ray Samuels would have omitted one? I can't imagine it would be for cost as the amp costs nearly $900 as is.

Geek, thanks for the comparison to the maxed out home. I'm currently auditioning a Little More Power Premium. Some songs, I prefer the Headroom sound and on others, I prefer the Corda sound. Which further confuses matters. I liked the Headroom sound overall but there were times, especially on eighties pop songs, where the vocals felt recessed.

 

[john_jcb]

I would guess it is because the power supply/amp are designed to be powered continiously and not turned off.

 

[rincewind]

just put blu tack on the power LED, this totally negates that as a reason not to like any amp.

PS, I've never heard any of these amps, but thought I'd lend some common sense to the thread

Personally, I turn all my gear off at night, cos I don't like my ceiling to be blue while I'm trying to sleep. Unless the gf is up and I'm trying to go for a particular mooood

 

[gilardino]

I owned an HR-2. I upgraded the powercord to the Elrod EPS Signature 2. Only then will your hear the real capability of this headphone amp. Great synergy.