RMAA: Burson Fun 24-bit

November 27, 2018 ohm

Disclaimer: Burson sent me Play, Fun, and Bang to review at Headfonia.com as well as document as well as I can hear. Fun is a powerful headphone amp. It starts at 299$ USD. You can find out all about it here: Fun - 2W PC Class A Headphone Amp / Pre Amp.

Relevant links

RMAA: NEXTDRIVE SPECTRA X 24-BIT
RMAA: IMAC PRO 2017 24-BIT
RMAA: SONY ZX300 24-BIT
RMAA: AUDIRECT WHISTLE 24-BIT
RMAA: SONY NW-WM1Z 24-BIT

With a single proviso, Burson’s Play is awesome. With none, Fun is god-like. So god-like is it that it’s got nowhere to go but the top of my 2018 best-of list. Wow. RMAA suggests that its best op-amp set is Vivid, but I most like Classic. I reckon we’ll all have a different take.

RMAA: GloveAudio A1 24-bit

August 30, 2017 ohm

RMAA data preceding articles which rely on them is logical. Except as regards preparing articles for Headfonia, which always catch me up. Apologies. Please read this article in conjunction with and foundation today's Wayback Wednesday on Glove Audio's A1.

RMAA: Vorzüge DUO II 24-bit

January 12, 2017 ohm

Until this moment, until 2017 January 12 around 9PM, want to know what my most recommended portable battery-powered headphone amplifier was? I’ll tell you. It was Vorzüge’s PURE II (both versions). I can get it to eat up an overdriven Chord Mojo signal of 122dB and spit back around 120dB. At stable volumes, it measures between 118-119dB. It is an amazing amp whose load stability, signal to noise ratio, THD, IMD, and dynamic range are matched by almost no one.

RMAA: Linear Tube Audio MZ2-S 24-bit

November 18, 2016 ohm

The Linear Tube Audio MZ2-S, which I originally mistook for the microZOTL2,0, is a brilliant in/out valve amp whose design/performance niggles are minimal. According to Linear Tube Audio, its biggest design niggles: depressed power button, and attenuator noise, have been fixed. I can neither confirm nor deny this.

RMAA: Aune X7s 24-bit

August 8, 2016 ohm

User-adjustable gain, XLR output, phase splitter, TRS 6,3mm jack, pre-amp: what more could you want in an all-in-one desktop headphone amp? A practical answer to this is lower noise. But as this amp isn't marketed at the portable audiophile, it is probably fair to shelve that desire.

RMAA: Arcam MusicBOOST 24-bit

August 2, 2016 ohm

While I've used cases (or makeshift substitutes) since 2007, I've never seriously considered a charging case. I don't need the bulk. And, my Quad Lock fastens to a bicycle like a camera lens to a camera. Amazing.

RMAA: Phatlab Audio PHAntasy 24-bit

April 2, 2016 ohm

Phantasy has the potential to sound very good; spritely, limber, and light. If that’s your schtick, Phantasy may be your fantasy. But it is woefully beset by impedance mismatch issues. Many SET amps exhibit the same issues. For that reason, they usually have one, or perhaps two, headphones to which they are perfectly adapted and marketed. The rest is the luck, or ill-luck, of the draw.

RMAA: ALO Audio Rx 24-bit

November 26, 2015 ohm

My history with the Rx is long. I leaked an original design piccie at TouchMyApps (ALO’s Prescription for good sound: the Rx for portable music). That was 6 years ago. And while I’ve not reviewed every iteration, I’m more than familiar with the lineup. By and large it is excellent.

RMAA: Cypher Labs AlgoRhythm Trio 24-bit

November 10, 2015 ohm

I should also mentioned that my comrade, Lieven, reviewed Trio at Headfonia in July, and that while ohm-image currently isn't sponsor-funded, Headfonia is. And, I write for Headfonia. God bless 'em!

RMAA: JDS Labs The Element 24-bit

September 18, 2015 ohm

There's really no point in publishing 16-bit performance anymore, which JDS Labs's The Element proves like 2+2=4. If you'd like my subjective opinion on it, mosey over to Headfonia: Review: JDS Labs Element – Bravado.