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Just curious if anyone on here has ever heard of or used the Sound Devices HX-3 headphone amplifier? I am a videographer so I have used their other products and they are built very well and are first class all the way but im just not sure how their amp stacks up to say, a Meta42 or Supreme...

http://www.sounddevices.com/products/hx3master.htm

In the pic pic they have a pair of HD-600s sitting there next to it, interesting...

My dilemma is, I wear cans for about 4-6 hours a day and I dont have a very good setup... I have 7506s running off a mackie mixing board's built in amp. I want to upgrade my work setup and also use it for listening to my music as well. So i need something rather transportable so i can take it with me on a shoot if I need it every once in a while (or a trip with my iPod) but for the most part, it will be in my studio. I just dont know if I should "chance" buying this amp and an X-Feed or go with a meta42...

Most my listening is to 16/48 from my DAT while im working, most my listening for pleasure comes from my Mac G4/iTunes library piped out of a $300 balanced sound card. The nice thing about the HX-3 is I can run a balanced feed right into the amp. I just dont know how good it will sound!

thanks,

Chris

 

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This is the reply I just got from Sound Devices. Are these decent op amps???

"Christopher,

Because we market primarily to high-performance audio-for-video, our stuff usually doesn't show up on the radar screen of audiophile publications and websites. I believe that the HX-3 can stand up to ANY other portable headphone amplifier in terms of audio quality, durability, battery runtime, and value.

The HX-3 has its own implementation of our DC/DC converter (not an off-the-shelf solution). It is very current-efficient and provides clean +/-15 V audio rails. The main gain components are high-speed, temperature-stable 33178 op amps.

Remember, the audio quality of an analog amplifier is not just in component selection, but many additional factors like PC board layout, grounding topology with the mechanicals, and EMI susceptibility. Those factors weigh heavily on the actual performance of a product. Sound Devices knowledge of those factors is why thousands of users worldwide rely on Sound Devices products for their critical-path audio tools. "

 

[Jbucla2005]

It's a great amp. Bright, clean, fast, audiophile-quality and robustly built. I use it for location sound and as a hifi headphone amp when I need to. Can't go wrong with Sound Devices gear.
 
10+ hours battery life on 2 AA's too!

 

[Policar]

I'm surprised there's so little discussion of Sound Devices equipment.

I use a MixPreD as both a DAC and amp with my smaller closer headphones (DT1350).

It's loud. It has a really "aggressive" "dynamic" sound without losing details. I don't have very refined ears, but I would think this set up would appeal to bassheads and rock fans and anyone using difficult-to-drive headphones.