Headroom Total Bithead Headphone Amp/ DAC initial impressions.

[hermanv]

Just curious, how well does the "crossfeed" circuitry work?

Also curious, how did I get in front of your post?

[RGA]

Okay so I purchassed this unit and it arrived today. This is a headphone amp with a USB slot that bypasses your computers noise inducing crud.

As I am leaving for South Korea for a year I am loading all my cds onto an external Samsung 250 gig hard drive in Lossless format. This Total Bithead serves as a DAC and a headphone amplifier. The unit runs either off the computer's power or via 4 AAA batterries with an expected life of 40 hours. The unit can drive two sets of headphones at the same time. The unit has a crossfeed on off switch which assists in creating a proper out of head stereo image which must be turned off for binaural or mono recordings.

I use Sennheiser HD 600s which require a headphone amplifier as this can is very difficult to drive and will not be powered from portable players by themselves.

Initial impressions so far are very good. - the headhome amp is capable of solid bass response and can play quite loud. The unit has a clipping indicator to tell you when the unit is under distress and it engages rather fast on the computer power so it is advisable to use batterry power. The sound so far leans toward thick and rich which is actually quite pleasing considering that the tizzy and bright is what I was expecting from such an inespensive unit. Obviously I need more time on the unit to give a more competant description. I have a feeling the sound will yield an overall safe balance of slighly warm and less resolute and detailed that some of the better headphone amps but considering that people are likely to use it for MP3 and Computer listening or portable use this is probably a wise overall choice.

So far it's a very nice little unit clear and has a nice pace to it.

The Unit is very small indeed being about the size of an Ipod video player.

The Unit runs $279.00US but I bought it on sale for $199.00.

Don't expect it to compete with an Audio Note DAC or real high end replay but it is a LOT better than running from the computer's internal processing and a necessity if running tough to drive open air cans such as the Senn 580 or 600 and presumably the 650.

Here is the link for further information: I purchased the Total Bithead Clear at the bottom. You gotta like the names of these things
http://www.headphone.com/products/he...e-mobile-line/

[RGA]

Just curious, how well does the "crossfeed" circuitry work?

Also curious, how did I get in front of your post?

Well this forum is goofed up and does quirky things so I don't get it.

The crossfeed switch has been a bit perplexing -- sometimes it makes a very noticeable difference and at others seems to adds ambience. It so far has not created an out of head experience. It adds a sense of depth to Sarah Mclachlan's Angel projecting her a bit further back and adding more ambiance. With the YellowJackets "Wildlife" the drums do sound more like they are coming from the fron than in your head.

I think it sounds better but with the crossfeed on but don't expect miracles -- it still sounds like headphones -- I am so far surpised at how nice it is for the money -- I have been listening straight through since I first posted and there is no fatigue at all -- treble has nice finish and bass is deeper and more solid than my more expensive ASL MG Head. Snare drum is very tight. Tough to complain about for the money.

I would not buy it for the crossfeed though because I don't think it does enough so far to warrant the purchase alone. Though I believe it to sound more organic and richer with the crossfeed on than when off and it seems to apply to everything I'm hearing so far. When off the sound is a little thinner with a bit more sheen.

It reminds a bit of a loudness button but nothing so toxic as that. There is also a bit of added weight.

So far it's a winner. I have not tried it from a cd source yet which may yield interesting results. In fact I am very surprised at the not fatiguing nature of this unit so far given the price. I don;t get the sense that it loses anything to the MG Head. Though it may be just the initial response and when i get time I'll do a head to head comparison (pun alert oops)