What is the Total AirHead's competition? It seems like a clear winner currently.

[K2Grey]

Many comments on the sound of Mini3 are here, including review of it as being better than RSA Hornet:

http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=165859

It is a headphone amp design employing an opamp with built in buffers (AD8397). The PCB is designed for a specific enclosure and doesn't involve SMD, so it's easier to solder. It includes a built in battery recharger and is designed by amb and morsel, the same people who made the M3.

Currently they are having some problems getting it to work well in a certain situation which is apparently primarily hypothetical and never to be encountered in actual usage.

 

[granodemostasa]

Quote:

Originally Posted by K2Grey Many comments on the sound of Mini3 are here, including review of it as being better than RSA Hornet: http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=165859 It is a headphone amp design employing an opamp with built in buffers (AD8397). The PCB is designed for a specific enclosure and doesn't involve SMD, so it's easier to solder. It includes a built in battery recharger and is designed by amb and morsel, the same people who made the M3. Currently they are having some problems getting it to work well in a certain situation which is apparently primarily hypothetical and never to be encountered in actual usage.

on their headwize thread i mentioned that i tested the Mini cubed with an Ultimate Ears Super fi 5pro and it sounded grainy; apparently they are having issues with that as well, the one i tried had the grain set for the HD600. Wheni first tried it (at the Saratoga meet) i was rather put off and continued looking. After a while i got emersed into the orpheus and my various HD650 configurations (for a while everyone left to eat and Morsel, amb, Strogg and I were left testing things by oursleves). At the end i noticed that they all started getting excited bout that little amplifier...and i was invited to see if i could tell the difference (AB switchbox) between this and that.... according to them it had already beaten every protable amp at the meet and they were now making it compete with the full sized amps. According to one of them they couldn't tell the difference between the mini cubed and the full sized version (keep in mind that there were only four people there and it was dead quiet). I then listened to it against the dynahi and twice i told the difference but it was slight and i probably wouldn't have noticed if i hadn't played marimba for four years and knew exactly how it sounded.

 

[2426]

I guess this is really worth the wait

, does anyone know how much it would cost to commision a DIY'er to build?

 

[PFKMan23]

At this point givne thathe PCBs aren't even out yet, the cost is unknown but I remember the cost of parts being around $50-70, so I figure, maybe around 150 or so...

 

[2426]

How do you guys think the Mini^3 stacks up against, say, a PINT?

 

[theory_87]

wen will Mini^3 be release?

 

[aluren]

Quote:

Originally Posted by K2Grey For what it's worth I'm waiting for the Mini^3 boards to be released. Some pictures, albeit they have no real bearing on the sound: http://headwize.com/ubb/showpost.php...=48670&fpage=7 Supposedly costs about $40, $50 in parts (doesn't include batteries or the Elpac or whatever is going to be used to connect to wall), AD8397 opamp, has a built-in battery recharger.

that was announced in April 04? any updates on it? its been over 2 years, no pun intended...

 

[granodemostasa]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aluren that was announced in April 04? any updates on it? its been over 2 years, no pun intended...

they had a problem with it and amb said they are considering a complete redesign....

 

[Skylab]

I prefered the Meier Porta Corda to the Total Airhead. The Porta Corda is $199.

Of course I think the Xin SuperMacro 3 V6 (the current version is the 4) is even better, but that's $350.