Amps & DACs

Want to bring your personal music listening experience to an entirely new level of sound quality? Simply put a Micro Amp between your music source and your favorite headphones and let the beautiful music flood in. Designed to bring fine audiophile electronics into in an affordable space-saving little amp, the HeadRoom Micro Amp is ready to inhabit any tiny nook on your desktop, nightstand, or any other listening place where you have access to AC power. (For battery-powered mobile listening, please check our HeadRoom Portable Micro Amp.)

Features

Sure, it sounds great driving headphones to glorious heights of musical detail and accuracy, but the HeadRoom Micro Amp is also an 'all-singing, all-dancing' fully-featured headphone amp plus pre-amp. The Micro employs deeply 'Class A'-biased electronics and a discrete-component Walter Jung 'Diamond Buffer'-based amplifier output just as found in our pricier Desktop Amp, but uses 'mini' 1/8" (3.5mm) connectors and smaller controls to fit into these tiny dimensions. The HeadRoom Micro Amp is a true Class-A, DC-coupled amp (no capacitors in the signal path) so you know the sound will drive even the most power-hungry audiophile headphones effortlessly and with total precision. The HeadRoom Micro Amp provides an awesome 3.5mm headphone jack on the front, but it also has a similar 'pre-amp' jack on the rear panel that can double as a volume-controlled input into a power amp, computer speakers on your desktop or to your powered bookshelf speakers. The HeadRoom Micro Amp also features two separate 3.5mm line inputs that are selectable from the front panel for easy switching between your sources (an iPod and a computer, for example). Front panel Gain control switch allows you to adjust the volume ranges to easily control headphones of any impedance and efficiency rating. And, of course, our famous HeadRoom Crossfeed circuit centers the audio image on headphones very subtly and quite carefully.

Build

The Micro is enclosed in an amazingly sturdy and lustrous black anodized aluminum enclosure with urethane bezels (the rubber piece around the front and back panel). The bezels handily act as bumpers protecting the amp, and they allow you to securely stack the Micro Amp and the Micro DAC units together. All HeadRoom Micro Amps are hand-built in Montana, USA.

Accessories

An external AC power-supply 'brick' comes included with the HeadRoom Micro Amp. An upgraded international-use Astrodyne Power Supply is optionally available for audiophiles wanting to fully maximize the audio performance of the Micro Amp. The Astrodyne works anywhere on the planet you can find an outlet [from 100V ~ 240V] so it makes a great accessory for frequent travelers. Plus, the Astrodyne also improves upon the sound quality when compared to the 'stock' power supply.

*The Micro Amp does NOT include any interconnect cabling. To hook up your Micro Amp to a portable audio player, you will need a mini 1/8"-to-1/8" (3.5mm) interconenct cable. We recommend the Cardas 6 inch or 12 inch mini to mini cables. For longer runs, we suggest the Cardas 1 meter or 2 meter versions. If you are using an audio source with RCA outputs, the Straightwire 0.5 meter MusiCable cable will work great, or simply browse all of our cables.

Measurements

The Micro Amp is 1.75" (3.8cm) high, 3.5" (9 cm) wide, and 4.75"(11.5cm) long. It weighs only 8.8oz (250 grams). The HeadRoom Micro Amp is hand-built in Bozeman Montana USA.

WOW, what a combo
Posted by MXM from Newark, Delaware on 2012-03-13

Recommend Product: Yes
Pros: extremely detailed, accurate sound
Cons: very revealing of the limitations of compressed music

I just upgraded from the Total Bithead to the Micro AMP/Micro DAC combination. I use them to drive Etymotic ER4PT headphones and some Acoustic Energy Aego M powered speakers from my computer's USB port. I listen mostly to music ripped to Apple lossless files.

I can say I never was that impressed with the difference the Total Bithead made to the sound. I think it is more important for those with harder to drive headphones. However, this combo absolutely blew me away. I could not believe the improvement in all aspects of the sound. These are phenomenal components. In particular, there is much more detail and texture at all frequencies. The bass is lower and tighter and the highs are much more detailed. The midrange is a little forward but it grabs you with all the detail and texture. Ambiance, imaging and dimensionality are all improved. It is possible to hear the music as spatial layers that were compressed before. Finally, the music has wonderful rhythm and pace. It is hard not to tap your toes. Very analog in this respect but with way more detail and neutrality.

I was very surprised that these also made my relatively inexpensive speakers sound dramatically better as well. WOW all the way around.

I will warn you that the combination of the Etymotic ER4PT's and this AMP/DAC is very revealing of every musical nuance but also every flaw. I can tell the instant one of my 128 kbps MP3 files comes on and it is not pleasant. This combo really reveals the limitations of compressed music. To really see what these components can do, you need to listen to high resolution files or perhaps use less revealing headphones that are more forgiving. For example, the difference is not as obvious on my speakers as it is on the Etymotics. However, on high resolution files of well recorded music, the Etymotic/Headrom combination is glorious.

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Small Container, Big Sound, Huge Value!
Posted by Smilin' Kev from Lake of Egypt, Illinois on 2012-02-13

Recommend Product: Yes
Pros: Musicality; fit-and-finish; flexibility; minimal footprint.
Cons: Teeny-tiny labels on switches and ports.

Despite having carefully considered a wide variety of reviews of the Micro Amp (published here at HeadRoom and elsewhere), I was unprepared for the impact of this palm-sized package of audio dynamite. It makes all of my headphones, from generic earbuds through Etymotic MC3s and Sony MDR-V6s to Shure SRH840s, perform better. It makes my good CD recordings a jaw-dropping listening experience - and it makes marred recordings much more listenable. It offers a generous array of choices and configurations via two inputs, two outputs and three gain levels. And, best of all (in my opinion), it includes a switchable crossfeed circuit that significantly enhances the realism of recorded performances, eliminates any aural/cognitive fatigue that could limit my listening sessions, and makes the soundstage deeper, wider and more realistic.

The Micro Amp does all of its magic without even the slightest bit of calling attention to itself. It simply lets ALL the music come through, much more clearly and powerfully, and it otherwise stays out of the way. What a wonderfully designed and executed product it is! I plan on buying another one to replace a Total Airhead - which is also a truly commendable little amp - that has taken up residence next to the CD player on my nightstand. Like the Airhead, the Micro is small enough (in physical size and in price) that I can install it without automatically tripping the "Audio System Faux Enhancement Purchasing Alarm" that my long-suffering spouse has installed on our premises. I can no longer sneak in any cables that have been tempered in the dark of the moon by a grizzled soothsayer who laces the insulation layers with a secret combination of organic and supernatural substances . . . but the Micro Amp's honest engineering, design and pricing superiority will let it pass through undetected.

The one "improvement" I would make to the Micro Amp is the addition of a complimentary, inexpensive magnifying glass to any package that's being shipped to customers over 60. Even my reading glasses and a bright light wouldn't help me decipher the Lilliputian script on the switches and ports! ;^)

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Excellent
Posted by Chang He from San Antonio on 2011-09-30

Recommend Product: Yes

I bought this to drive soem AKG 702s bought at the same time. Stunning overall, my headphone listening is now higher quality than my speaker system.

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