[OceanRanger]

Is there a separate container for the power supply or no?

Yes, it is a pretty small external box.

 

[OceanRanger]

What other amps have you compared the head trip 2 to?

Just the Hugo2, Dragon LIII, and Headtrip II. I’ll post my thoughts, but want to give my new amp time to burn in.

 

[OceanRanger]

There is something about an analog design that I find very appealing. Quality components, connected by quality wire that has been soldered by hand. I like peering inside this thing. I'm only about 3% into burn in....

 

[Bonddam]

No opto volume? Now there's more room.

 

[OceanRanger]

No opto volume? Now there's more room.

He put in a Goldpoint stepped attenuator. It is passive and has a great tactile feel. It has the same knob as is on the Dragon LIII, which is nice and heavy.

 

[grokit]

I'm about done burning in my Headtrip II. I bought the other unit with the outboard power supply. I've been away from it for a couple of weeks because my rack was torn apart while I was checking out my new Woo 3ES electrostatic/preamp. Now I feel like I have the best of all headphone worlds. I've never heard anything better with either dynamic or ortho/planar headphones than the Headtrip II, not even close. While I'm getting to know the 3ES, I'm very excited to have both amps in my chain.

I didn't expect how much better my Utopias would sound plugged in to the Headtrip II. More relaxed sound is the main takeaway. They're more musical as well, without losing any of the Utopia's famously analytical qualities. I also fell in love with my HE-6se V2 for the first time. I never liked them as much as my original 4-screw model, but now I'm really enjoying them. The timing seems better, along with overall musicality. I can't wait to get my 4-screw driver re-attached so I can compare.

I had a similar kind of experience when I plugged my bass-heavy K1000's into the Headtrip II. I had been wondering if they were kind of like the Empyreans, which sound nice but don't really scale up, resolution wise, with quality amplification/sources. But the K1000's surprised me, in a very good way. They really scaled up, in every respect. I should've expected nothing less, in retrospect. Any amplifier that sounds so perfect with my AB-1266 Phi TC's would of course scale up the HE-6 and K1000, as they all share the similarly unusual power requirements that the Headtrip was originally designed to meet. The Utopias new relaxed sound is what really surprised me.

edit: I had Jeff do a modification to my Headtrip II, in that I requested an XLR loop out circuit so I could pass the incoming xlr signal to my 2-channel system. He was extremely accommodating, and didn't charge me for the upgrade. While this mod had the unforeseen impact of crippling the single-ended RCA inputs, It works perfectly for my purposes. The single-ended headphone output works just fine with my balanced sources. I'm extremely happy with my Headtrip II, modification included.

Yes, it is a pretty small external box.

Jeff Wells is fun to talk to, and easy to work with. He explained to me that the outboard power supply was to minimize noise with more efficient dynamic headphones, and (I assume) IEMs. While I obviously haven't checked out the latter yet, with my Focal Utopias the Headtrip II was dead silent. I think Jeff is on to something here, and would probably be a sucker for upgrading to a full-chassis size PSU with an overkill transformer inside if he was to experiment with something like that.

He put in a Goldpoint stepped attenuator. It is passive and has a great tactile feel. It has the same knob as is on the Dragon LIII, which is nice and heavy.

I like the sound of that. I have to say that the standard (edited) volume knob doesn't feel so impressive. But it sounds great. Along with an uber overkill power supply, I would be interested in this upgrade as well. But probably not enough to risk shipping this thing halfway around the world again, unless something's wrong.

And to be perfectly clear, I've never heard anything better in the headphone amp world. Not even close.

The 3ES is also quite impressive, in an entirely different way. Together these two amps are second to none for any headphone, IMHO.

I'm a very Lucky Man (lol). Makes me want to play some ELP !

 

[The Piper]

I'm about done burning in my Headtrip 2. I bought the other unit with the outboard power supply. I've been away from it for a couple of weeks because my rack was torn apart while I was checking out my new Woo 3ES electrostatic/preamp. Now I feel like I have the best of all headphone worlds. I've never heard anything better with either dynamic or ortho/planar headphones than the Headtrip 2, not even close. While I'm getting to know the 3ES, I'm very excited to have both amps in my chain.

I didn't expect how much better my Utopias would sound plugged in to the Headtrip 2. More relaxed sound is the main takeaway. They're more musical as well, without losing any of the Utopia's famously analytical qualities. I also fell in love with my HE-6se V2 for the first time. I never liked them as much as my original 4-screw model, but now I'm really enjoying them. The timing seems better, along with overall musicality. I can't wait to get my 4-screw driver re-attached so I can compare.

I had a similar kind of experience when I plugged my bass-heavy K1000's into the Headtrip 2. I had been wondering if they were kind of like the Empyreans, which sound nice but don't really scale up, resolution wise, with quality amplification/sources. But the K1000's surprised me, in a very good way. They really scaled up, in every respect. I should've expected nothing less, in retrospect. Any amplifier that sounds so perfect with my AB-1266 Phi TC's would of course scale up the HE-6 and K1000, as they all share the similarly unusual power requirements that the Headtrip was originally designed to meet. The Utopias new relaxed sound is what really surprised me.


Jeff Wells is fun to talk to, and easy to work with. He explained to me that the outboard power supply was to minimize noise with more efficient dynamic headphones, and (I assume) IEMs. While I obviously haven't checked out the latter yet, with my Focal Utopias the Headtrip 2 was dead silent. I think Jeff is on to something here, and would probably be a sucker for upgrading to a full-chassis size PSU with an overkill transformer inside if he was to experiment with something like that.


I like the sound of that. I have to say that the standard plastic volume knob is not that impressive. But it sounds fine, most of the time. Along with an uber overkill power supply, I would be interested in this upgrade as well. But probably not enough to risk shipping this thing halfway around the world again, unless something's wrong.

And to be perfectly clear, there is nothing wrong with the standard Headtrip 2. I've never heard anything better in the headphone amp world. Not even close.

The 3ES is also quite impressive, in an entirely different way. Together these two amps are second to none for any headphone, IMHO.

I'm a very Lucky Man (lol). Makes me want to play some ELP !

The Headtrips have always had solid billet aluminum volume knobs. The new style knob has the same weight as the original one so the feel should not be any different. I just like the look and “mushroom” ergonomics of the new knob.

 

[The Piper]

The Headtrips have always had solid billet aluminum volume knobs. The new style knob has the same weight as the original one so the feel should not be any different. I just like the look and “mushroom” ergonomics of the new knob.

As I have said many times many of these state-of-the-art headphones need more really great power to be their best. People are not experiencing what these headphones are truly capable of producing until they have heard them with a truly great powerful headphone amp. Just imagine the remarks on the forums for many of these great headphones if they had the Headtrip experience to compare to their current setups. BTW, the feedback on the experiences with the new outboard power supply Headtrip II with really efficient headphones is very helpful. The idea was to provide the same amazing listening experiences with efficient headphones without the noise. By the feedback it has been a resounding success. Thank you.

 

[grokit]

The Headtrips have always had solid billet aluminum volume knobs.

My mistake, sorry and edited. I assumed it was chromed plastic because of the lightweight feel of the knob. I was so surprised at the (really well done) plastic casework of the Headtrip II, that I must've carried that thought to the volume control when I was forming my initial impressions. I do like the quality of my Goldpoint XLR switch. My issue with the standard volume control is purely about the fact that it sometimes only offers one channel or the other, depending on where the knob is parked, exactly. It's not a problem, in that I can always bump the knob to having both channels sound evenly. It's just weird to me that the knob is able to be parked 'in between' sometimes.

It doesn't affect sound quality one bit. At the same time, I would hope the upgraded Goldpoint volume control doesn't share this particular affliction. I would love to see a picture of the Goldpoint knob. In the photos it looks like the Level 2 has the same knob as the regular Headtrip II. The new knob looks more like it has a chrome coating, in that it has a mirror finish while the older styles look more like typical milled aluminum. Mine does look nicer. I like the mushroom shape, and the new ridges as well.

My initial impressions were a bit of a mess. I've now fixed a few other issues with edits, and have added a new part about the XLR loop out modification you did.

 

[xirxes]

There is something about an analog design that I find very appealing. Quality components, connected by quality wire that has been soldered by hand. I like peering inside this thing. I'm only about 3% into burn in....

Is that a literal piece of electrical tape ripped in half used in the top left/right to hold a wire down?

 

[The Piper]

Is that a literal piece of electrical tape ripped in half used in the top left/right to hold a wire down?

It is there to hold the cap lead from moving. If allowed to move and fatigue it can crack and the amp will fail.

 

[TDinCali]

I'm about done burning in my Headtrip II. I bought the other unit with the outboard power supply. I've been away from it for a couple of weeks because my rack was torn apart while I was checking out my new Woo 3ES electrostatic/preamp. Now I feel like I have the best of all headphone worlds. I've never heard anything better with either dynamic or ortho/planar headphones than the Headtrip II, not even close. While I'm getting to know the 3ES, I'm very excited to have both amps in my chain.

I didn't expect how much better my Utopias would sound plugged in to the Headtrip II. More relaxed sound is the main takeaway. They're more musical as well, without losing any of the Utopia's famously analytical qualities. I also fell in love with my HE-6se V2 for the first time. I never liked them as much as my original 4-screw model, but now I'm really enjoying them. The timing seems better, along with overall musicality. I can't wait to get my 4-screw driver re-attached so I can compare.

I had a similar kind of experience when I plugged my bass-heavy K1000's into the Headtrip II. I had been wondering if they were kind of like the Empyreans, which sound nice but don't really scale up, resolution wise, with quality amplification/sources. But the K1000's surprised me, in a very good way. They really scaled up, in every respect. I should've expected nothing less, in retrospect. Any amplifier that sounds so perfect with my AB-1266 Phi TC's would of course scale up the HE-6 and K1000, as they all share the similarly unusual power requirements that the Headtrip was originally designed to meet. The Utopias new relaxed sound is what really surprised me.

edit: I had Jeff do a modification to my Headtrip II, in that I requested an XLR loop out circuit so I could pass the incoming xlr signal to my 2-channel system. He was extremely accommodating, and didn't charge me for the upgrade. While this mod had the unforeseen impact of crippling the single-ended RCA inputs, It works perfectly for my purposes. The single-ended headphone output works just fine with my balanced sources. I'm extremely happy with my Headtrip II, modification included.

Jeff Wells is fun to talk to, and easy to work with. He explained to me that the outboard power supply was to minimize noise with more efficient dynamic headphones, and (I assume) IEMs. While I obviously haven't checked out the latter yet, with my Focal Utopias the Headtrip II was dead silent. I think Jeff is on to something here, and would probably be a sucker for upgrading to a full-chassis size PSU with an overkill transformer inside if he was to experiment with something like that.


I like the sound of that. I have to say that the standard (edited) volume knob doesn't feel so impressive. But it sounds great. Along with an uber overkill power supply, I would be interested in this upgrade as well. But probably not enough to risk shipping this thing halfway around the world again, unless something's wrong.

And to be perfectly clear, I've never heard anything better in the headphone amp world. Not even close.

The 3ES is also quite impressive, in an entirely different way. Together these two amps are second to none for any headphone, IMHO.

I'm a very Lucky Man (lol). Makes me want to play some ELP !

would you mind sharing more of your experience and thoughts? I’m especially curious about what other amps you’ve heard to compare/contrast assuming the rest of your system was the same.

Thank you.

 

[xirxes]

It is there to hold the cap lead from moving. If allowed to move and fatigue it can crack and the amp will fail.

It appears important to keep that in place, but is there a benefit or requirement to the tape itself vs say a quick drying dab of polyurethane?

 

[The Piper]

It appears important to keep that in place, but is there a benefit or requirement to the tape itself vs say a quick drying dab of polyurethane?

The tape is stronger (Gorilla tape) and can be removed if a repair is necessary.

 

[grokit]

would you mind sharing more of your experience and thoughts? I’m especially curious about what other amps you’ve heard to compare/contrast assuming the rest of your system was the same.

Thank you.

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).

edit: 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.

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, but I've only take notice when using the headamp section (and really only while using my SR-009's, which are my more efficient electrostatic headphones). I'm still using 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 anymore! 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, many 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 (really not a choice; just a seemingly simple option that went sideways) 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 in between.

Jeff's idea of moving the power supply outboard 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 think this means that, with the outboard power supply, the Headtrip II will now drive any full-size headphone without any noticeable noise.

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 cable. 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.