[smodtactical]

Yes of course, thanks for asking. I've been thinking a lot about how to further express my enthusiasm for the Headtrip 2. I don't think my earlier impressions really did it justice. As far as previous dynamic amps, I've owned both versions of Woo Audio's WA22, and a Schiit Ragnarok 2 among others. The sources I'm feeding into my preamp have been pretty constant lately, although I did recently upgrade the SACD player to the next level from the same manufacturer (Yamaha CD S1000 to S2100).

The biggest difference in my system recently would have to be from changing my balanced tube preamp, from the WA22 to the SA3. They're both Woo Audio balanced transformer-coupled tube preamps. Different tubes, and completely different headphone amp sections though. From the perspective of the Headtrip, I'm not sure I can tell a difference; if there is one it's really subtle. But if I switched the WA22 back in I might think differently. I'm still using the stock 300b's in my WA3, but my WA22s were outfitted with premium tubes from years of rolling.

One factor that blows my mind is how I don't want to buy any more dynamic headphones! There are so many new flagships out now, that I wanted to try them all. I bought the Abyss Phi TC first. They were at the top of my list, and are the latest version of the headphones the Headtrip was originally designed to drive. I love them, they are the best I've heard overall so no regrets there. But what I wasn't prepared for was how much it would improve my old standbys, that I planned to sell.

I have a few other 'flagship' (mostly former) dynamic headphones. From one of the first LCD-2 models, to a couple iterations of the HE-6, to the Utopias and the Empyreans, a bass-heavy K1000, and a PS1000. There's also an Edition 8 and a Stellia and I might be forgetting something. Plus a few other non-flagship favorites I haven't been able to let go of yet either. I was planning on selling at least a few of these. But then something happened. I plugged my old headphones into my new amp and holy headtrip batman, this is a whole new ballgame. I love it when a single piece of equipment changes the entire audio equation.

All of my old dynamic headphones, to varying degrees, sound new to me through the Headtrip 2. There's still a few I haven't tried yet. The most mind-blowing so far is the AKG K1000's. I thought I was driving them adequately out of my Rag 2, but I was mistaken. They really sing now, with tight articulated bass that I had no idea they were capable of. The PS1000 really tightened up as well. There were a couple of surprises, like how the Empyreans failed to scale up. This has happened before, when I went from a Mojo to a Hugo 2 with them. But the surprise was how the LCD-2's did scale up, to the point where they were outperforming the Empyreans both technically and musically. I still like the Empyreans quite a bit, they are so easy to listen to and physically comfortable. I may still sell the Empys, but only to make room for Meze's new flagship.

What I like the most about the Headtrip 2 is how relaxed the sound is, while being so technically outstanding. It's not just the bass, but the midrange is more clear and the treble more relaxed. This part is the hardest to describe, but to me the headtrip really does have some liquid, tube-like qualities to it. Magical even. If I hadn't chose to cripple the RCA inputs on mine, I have no doubt that it would still sound great from a competent single-ended source even without a preamp.

Jeff's idea of moving the power supply outboard power supply was a success, as the stated goal of driving Utopias without any noise was achieved. It was actually surpassed, as I didn't notice any noise with Focal's more efficient Stellias either. I suppose the cutoff for noise is somewhere between the Stellias and the Edition 8s. With the latter, I heard a little noise when the music was paused, and just barely with the volume down.

I also had the pleasure of driving some top-notch IEMs, and while there was definitely some noise my Odins sounded better than ever. That was using a thicker than stock all-copper cable, a Bort II 4.4mm cable which may account for the increased depth I noticed to the overall sound, into a generic SPC 4-pin XLR to 4.4mm. Attenuation can be tricky with IEMs, but so far it's manageable. An adapter just arrived, so I can try it with the stock Odin 2.5mm cable. I'll get to that soon.

I would love to see Jeff expand on the idea of an outboard PSU with a larger matching full chassis-width (but not height!) option, made for stacking. Room for all the bells and whistles like tubes, large capacitors and the like. It could be a great upgrade. Maybe it could even take the noise floor down another level for stuff like IEMs. Not a necessary option, but just to see how far the concept can be taken. I have no idea if it would improve the sound, but I'd probably buy one to find out.

Have you had a chance to compare head trip to any other flagship amps or amps in a similar price bracket?

 

[grokit]

Have you had a chance to compare head trip to any other flagship amps or amps in a similar price bracket?

Not directly, no. I had a chance to audition a McIntosh MHA150 a few years ago and while I liked it quite a bit, from memory it didn't compare from either a resolution or musicality standpoint. I've been shopping for a flagship SS headamp for a few years now, and I think the only SS headamp that might sound better than the Headtrip II is the Headtrip II Level II. Ok I'm biased but I wasn't back then.

edit: My previous solid-state flagship headamp was the Cavalli Liquid Lightning. Loved it, but it was electrostatic. Went with the WA22 pre/headamp perfectly. For the more challenging headphones like the HE-6 and K1000, I used the WA22 to drive a variety of solid state speaker amps with varying degrees of success. These ranged the gamut, from pro audio amps to vintage receivers to, more recently, hifi monoblocks. Nothing like good tubes into SS amplification, IMHO.

As an aside, I keep messing up on the roman numerals thing. There should be some mandatory standardization of audio equipment acronyms!

 

[The Piper]

Yes of course, thanks for asking. I've been thinking a lot about how to further express my enthusiasm for the Headtrip II. I don't think my earlier impressions really did it justice. As far as previous dynamic amps, I've owned both versions of Woo Audio's WA22, and a Schiit Ragnarok 2 among others. The sources I'm feeding into my preamp have been pretty constant lately, although I did recently upgrade the SACD player to the next level from the same manufacturer (Yamaha CD S1000 to S2100).

The biggest difference in my system recently would have to be from changing my balanced tube preamp, from the WA22 to the SA3. They're both Woo Audio balanced transformer-coupled tube preamps. Some tubes are different (notably the power tubes are now 300b's), some are the same. Completely different headphone amp sections though. From the perspective of the Headtrip, I'm not sure I can tell a difference; if there is one it's really subtle. If anything, the 300b's are making the SA3 a bit noisier. I'm still using the stock 300b's in my WA3, but my WA22s were outfitted with premium tubes from years of rolling.

One factor that blows my mind is how I don't want to buy any more dynamic headphones! There are so many new flagships out now, that I wanted to try them all. I bought the Abyss Phi TC first. They were at the top of my list, and are the latest version of the headphones the Headtrip was originally designed to drive. I love them, they are the best I've heard overall so no regrets there. But what I wasn't prepared for was how much it would improve my old standbys, that I planned to sell.

I have a few other 'flagship' (mostly former) dynamic headphones. From one of the first LCD-2 models, to a couple iterations of the HE-6, to the Utopias and the Empyreans, a bass-heavy K1000, and a PS1000. There's also an Edition 8 and a Stellia and I might be forgetting something. Plus a few other non-flagship favorites I haven't been able to let go of yet either. I was planning on selling at least a few of these. But then something happened. I plugged my old headphones into my new amp and holy headtrip batman, this is a whole new ballgame. I love it when a single piece of equipment changes the entire audio equation.

All of my old dynamic headphones, to varying degrees, sound new to me through the Headtrip II. There's still a few I haven't tried yet. The most mind-blowing so far is the AKG K1000's. I thought I was driving them adequately out of my Rag 2, but I was mistaken. They really sing now, with tight articulated bass that I had no idea they were capable of. The PS1000 really tightened up as well. There were a couple of surprises, like how the Empyreans failed to scale up. This has happened before, when I went from a Mojo to a Hugo 2 with them. But the surprise was how the LCD-2's did scale up, to the point where they were outperforming the Empyreans both technically and musically. I still like the Empyreans quite a bit, they are so easy to listen to and physically comfortable. I may still sell the Empys, but only to make room for Meze's new flagship.

What I like the most about the Headtrip II is how relaxed the sound is, while being so technically outstanding. It's not just the bass, but the midrange is more clear and the treble more relaxed. This part is the hardest to describe, but to me the headtrip really does have some liquid, tube-like qualities to it. Magical even. If I hadn't chose to cripple the RCA inputs on mine, I have no doubt that it would still sound great from a competent single-ended source even without a preamp.

Jeff's idea of moving the power supply outboard power supply was a success, as the stated goal of driving Utopias without any noise was achieved. It was actually surpassed, as I didn't notice any noise with Focal's more efficient Stellias either. I suppose the cutoff for noise is somewhere between the Stellias and the Edition 8s. With the latter, I heard a little noise when the music was paused, and just barely with the volume down.

I also had the pleasure of driving some top-notch IEMs, and while there was definitely some noise my Odins sounded better than ever when the music was playing. That was using a thicker than stock all-copper cable, a Bort II 4.4mm cable which may account for the increased depth I noticed to the overall sound, into a generic SPC 4-pin XLR to 4.4mm. Attenuation can be tricky with IEMs, but so far it's manageable. An adapter just arrived, so soon I will try it with the stock Odin 2.5mm cable.

I would love to see Jeff expand on the idea of an outboard PSU with a larger matching full chassis-width (but not height!) option, made for stacking. Room for all the bells and whistles like tubes, large capacitors and the like. It could be a great upgrade. Maybe it could even take the noise floor down another level for stuff like IEMs. Not a necessary option, but just to see how far the concept can be taken. I have no idea if it would improve the sound, but I'd probably buy one to find out.

The Hw

Yes of course, thanks for asking. I've been thinking a lot about how to further express my enthusiasm for the Headtrip II. I don't think my earlier impressions really did it justice. As far as previous dynamic amps, I've owned both versions of Woo Audio's WA22, and a Schiit Ragnarok 2 among others. The sources I'm feeding into my preamp have been pretty constant lately, although I did recently upgrade the SACD player to the next level from the same manufacturer (Yamaha CD S1000 to S2100).

The biggest difference in my system recently would have to be from changing my balanced tube preamp, from the WA22 to the SA3. They're both Woo Audio balanced transformer-coupled tube preamps. Some tubes are different (notably the power tubes are now 300b's), some are the same. Completely different headphone amp sections though. From the perspective of the Headtrip, I'm not sure I can tell a difference; if there is one it's really subtle. If anything, the 300b's are making the SA3 a bit noisier. I'm still using the stock 300b's in my WA3, but my WA22s were outfitted with premium tubes from years of rolling.

One factor that blows my mind is how I don't want to buy any more dynamic headphones! There are so many new flagships out now, that I wanted to try them all. I bought the Abyss Phi TC first. They were at the top of my list, and are the latest version of the headphones the Headtrip was originally designed to drive. I love them, they are the best I've heard overall so no regrets there. But what I wasn't prepared for was how much it would improve my old standbys, that I planned to sell.

I have a few other 'flagship' (mostly former) dynamic headphones. From one of the first LCD-2 models, to a couple iterations of the HE-6, to the Utopias and the Empyreans, a bass-heavy K1000, and a PS1000. There's also an Edition 8 and a Stellia and I might be forgetting something. Plus a few other non-flagship favorites I haven't been able to let go of yet either. I was planning on selling at least a few of these. But then something happened. I plugged my old headphones into my new amp and holy headtrip batman, this is a whole new ballgame. I love it when a single piece of equipment changes the entire audio equation.

All of my old dynamic headphones, to varying degrees, sound new to me through the Headtrip II. There's still a few I haven't tried yet. The most mind-blowing so far is the AKG K1000's. I thought I was driving them adequately out of my Rag 2, but I was mistaken. They really sing now, with tight articulated bass that I had no idea they were capable of. The PS1000 really tightened up as well. There were a couple of surprises, like how the Empyreans failed to scale up. This has happened before, when I went from a Mojo to a Hugo 2 with them. But the surprise was how the LCD-2's did scale up, to the point where they were outperforming the Empyreans both technically and musically. I still like the Empyreans quite a bit, they are so easy to listen to and physically comfortable. I may still sell the Empys, but only to make room for Meze's new flagship.

What I like the most about the Headtrip II is how relaxed the sound is, while being so technically outstanding. It's not just the bass, but the midrange is more clear and the treble more relaxed. This part is the hardest to describe, but to me the headtrip really does have some liquid, tube-like qualities to it. Magical even. If I hadn't chose to cripple the RCA inputs on mine, I have no doubt that it would still sound great from a competent single-ended source even without a preamp.

Jeff's idea of moving the power supply outboard power supply was a success, as the stated goal of driving Utopias without any noise was achieved. It was actually surpassed, as I didn't notice any noise with Focal's more efficient Stellias either. I suppose the cutoff for noise is somewhere between the Stellias and the Edition 8s. With the latter, I heard a little noise when the music was paused, and just barely with the volume down.

I also had the pleasure of driving some top-notch IEMs, and while there was definitely some noise my Odins sounded better than ever when the music was playing. That was using a thicker than stock all-copper cable, a Bort II 4.4mm cable which may account for the increased depth I noticed to the overall sound, into a generic SPC 4-pin XLR to 4.4mm. Attenuation can be tricky with IEMs, but so far it's manageable. An adapter just arrived, so soon I will try it with the stock Odin 2.5mm cable.

I would love to see Jeff expand on the idea of an outboard PSU with a larger matching full chassis-width (but not height!) option, made for stacking. Room for all the bells and whistles like tubes, large capacitors and the like. It could be a great upgrade. Maybe it could even take the noise floor down another level for stuff like IEMs. Not a necessary option, but just to see how far the concept can be taken. I have no idea if it would improve the sound, but I'd probably buy one to find out.

The Headtrips are not tubelike per se. They achieve the sound you are endeavoring to describe by removing electronic artifacts or noise. Without the electronic characteristics you are left with a pure musical signal. A musical signal devoid of the typical electronic artifacts that you hear and tolerate in other competing products thinking that is how electronics are supposed to sound. What you are experiencing is not tubelike colorations to cover up these electronic unmusical artifacts but a purity of signal not experienced by many.

 

[grokit]

I give up! Looks like I can't say anything right about this amp.

 

[The Piper]

I give up! Looks like I can't say anything right about this amp.

The point I was trying to make was that most manufacturers would just address the problem of unmusical solid state colorations by adding "tubelike" colorations to cover them or obscure them. I address the problem by reducing the noise that causes the unmusicality that leaves behind a much purer signal that can sound tubelike due to the more liquid sound that is rendered from removing more of the noise.

 

[grokit]

Okay. It seems like I triggered a response by using the term "tubelike".

What I was speaking of is just harmonic distortion. I never meant to imply that meant coloration. As stated in the description of the Wells Commander tube preamp, tubes don't have to sound "vintage" or "old school". They can also be the "epitome of current state-of-the-art, cutting edge music reproduction".

 

[ppbb]

I have also been talking to Jeff about the Cipher DAC. I recently purchased a Headtrip II Level II from him and absolutely love it. It pairs beautifully with my LampizatOr Golden Atlantic TRP 2 and 1266 TC & Susvaras. I need to demo the Cipher before pulling the trigger on purchasing it. I really can't imagine replacing anything in my current chain to make that big of a sonic improvement, but if it does, I'm a buyer.

Jeff is coming to my house next week with amps to demo. I have a Chord TT2/mScaler and am wondering if the Cipher dac is a better match fore the headrtrip II reference amp. Any thoughts?

 

[Bonddam]

I've owned both and prefer Cipher. Chord is good for all in one. The sounds linear with sweet smooth silky highs but no additives. The Cipher has more parts then others on the market. So a bonus is tube rolling which you may like to make Headtrip sound more tubey.

 

[ppbb]

Thanks

 

[JonathanKlein]

Jeff is coming to my house next week with amps to demo. I have a Chord TT2/mScaler and am wondering if the Cipher dac is a better match fore the headrtrip II reference amp. Any thoughts?

I still haven't demoed the Cipher DAC nor paired a Chord with the Headtrip. For me personally, I've hit my endgame with the Lampizator DAC + Headtrip II reference amp.

 

[GryphonGuy]

Yes the Headtrip II is both a brute when it needs to be and a presenter of finesse for want of a better term. Both a brute and sophisticate in one device. Yes endgame is an apt adjective to describe the Headtrip II. Congrats and enjoy.

 

[The Piper]

I still haven't demoed the Cipher DAC nor paired a Chord with the Headtrip. For me personally, I've hit my endgame with the Lampizator DAC + Headtrip II reference amp.

Hello Jonathan-Merry Christmas! It is good to hear from you. It sounds as though you are still enjoying the Headtrip Level II. I know that you are enjoying the Lampizator but I hope that you get the opportunity to hear the Cipher II some day. I hope you have a great 2023.

 

[msq123]

 

[skylinekursk]

does someone can compare HT3 lv1 and lv2?