A Headphone Amplifier thread

from my experience, the HL2 / HiCap combo is much better than the headphone amplifier in the DAC V1, and it is the same as in the SN2.

IINVu[quote=“GavinB, post:102, topic:3302”]
Not sure I understand your point here - the Headline functions in the same way for the SN2 and Separates. There’s no remote option for volume under either.
[/quote]

What l mean is that with the SN2 I can control the volume on the headphones using the Naim app and the NDX2 remote. With separates, you would lose that functionality using the Headline because it doesn’t have system automation or remote capabilities, So that is pretty compromised for my use case.

On the topic of remote control, it is extremely common for even new and fairly high end headphone amps to no have remote control.

The Luxman P-750u is about the same cost (a bit more) than a HL2/HCdr, is fantastically well regarded. Has no remote control. After all, you’re gonna be no more than a headphone cable’s length away most of the time.

It is inconvenient if you are sitting away on the sofa with a coffee table between you and the amp, but the majority of headphone users are located pretty close to it, like an easy chair in the corner for their headphone listening etc.

I would not assume the HL2 is missing a remote control because it is an old design. From what I have seen, most pure analogue headphone amps still do not offer this.

If you need remote control and a very decent analogue amp then the Trilogy 933 maybe just what you need.

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Agree, very impressed by the performance of mine. It is remote only-has no front panel control at all for volume.

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Bruce - Your positive impressions of the Shawncan cable tempted me to try out one out. Should be here next week.

tell me what you think.

Fingers crossed!

Hi James
Thank you for the comparison. It is a bit as I feared :slight_smile:
These days my listening habits have dramatically changed. Even though I own over 2k of CD’s (and not forgetting the 7k of LP’s) I find most of my listening is not from my ripped CD’s - but rather from streaming Tidal via ROON to my KDS.
The introduction of DAC capabilities to the WM1Z changed how I use the device. I take it with me to Florida and listen via my Utopia headphones. I exclusively use the 1Z in DAC mode - and never with files loaded to the internal memory or SD cards.
Unfortunately I came away with the same suspicion as you - that the DAC function resulted in a sound a bit flat and with a slight loss of dynamics and excitement.

I may investigate the Brooklyn for use in Florida in place of the 1Z. The Stereophile review on the Bridge version was a good read - and quite informative. At CanJam I had the opportunity to speak with the Brooklyn rep at length and had a complete demonstration of the third party app. Unfortunately the Stereophile review illuminated a problematic issue which was not mentioned at CanJam. There seems to be a bug which limits the size of the external HD which can plug directly into the Bridge. This is an epic fail.

The next thing which I must research is how to inexpensively get ROON working in my second home. I do not spend much time there (only during the winter) and only use an iPad. I do not want to put a MacMini/iMac in to run ROON Core - or a NUC for that matter. I have to see what other alternatives are available. I have seen some run ROON on the Microsoft Surface tablets - however I have been exclusively MAC for 30 years so I am not in the mood to visit the dark side.

Best
Gregg

A demo is your friend. I had the Luxman in house for 10 days and while I loved the look, build quality etc. - ultimately it did not remain.
Your mileage may vary

Gregg

You can only run one Roon Core device at a time. I’m not sure how straightforward it would be to transfer it from one device to another repeatedly. Running it on a laptop you can take with you is probably the easiest option.

Just googled it. It is actually quite easy. The terms of the license are that two copies cannot be run at the SAME time. No problem having Roon core on multiple devices

I’ve never tried transferring an account between devices, but if they are in different locations, can they be kept in sync when you switch from one to the other?

Have you experiences with Atom like headphone amplifier?
Can you give a brief review?

One of these should be shortly landing at my house

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In purple?

Green or purple?:slight_smile:

I use the headphone output of my Atom all the time and it sounds very good, I am going to try a dedicated headphone amp but it will be more out of curiosity as I’m not finding anything lacking in the Atom.

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The matte grey on the right.
I think the Naim God’s would disown me if I went with anything else

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Looks very cool!

I demoed this new HeadAmp GSX Mini at CanJam NY and was extremely impressed.
The HeadAmp boys used it fronting a Brooklyn Bridge DAC which also impressed me tremendously. Look at James N posts here as he liked the Brooklyn so much he purchased one.

The early word on this amp is that it is an absolute world class performer