Amps & DACs
HeadRoom Portable Micro Amp
It's like putting a little listening room in your briefcase. Built like a tank to endure the rigors of the road and replete with rechargeable lithium batteries and a killer headphone amplifier circuit, the Portable Micro Amp delivers an amazing listening experience anywhere in, or above, the world. Features include HeadRoom's world-renown crossfeed for better headphone imaging, 3-position gain control to precisely match any headphone impedance, plus a rear panel volume-controlled output for your powered desktop speakers. The optional built-in digital to analog converter (DAC) stage adds audiophile USB, optical and coaxial digital inputs.
Product Features:
- Have great listening with your favorite headphones any where in the world.
- 15 hours of high-performance listening before recharging batteries.
- Improves headphone imaging with HeadRoom's famous crossfeed circuit.
- Gain switch optimizes amp for headphones of different efficiencies.
- Includes volume controlled pre-amp out for desktop speakers.
- Optional DAC card for USB, optical, and coaxial digital audio inputs.
Applications:
What if you could take your listening room with you? We've been asking, and answering, this question for a full two decades now. Our latest response: the HeadRoom Portable Micro Headphone Amp. This little gem is a very deliberate blend of audiophile quality parts, a road-worthy extruded aluminum & black urethane enclosure, a serious lithium battery/recharging circuit, plus a well-conceived set of travel accessories, all tightly focused on getting you great access to your tunes whether they live on an iPod, laptop, or any other type of portable audio player.
Your player and the Portable Micro Headphone Amp in its standard configuration creates an outstanding personal audio system that provides hours of high-end portable listening pleasure wherever you may roam. Add the optional internal Digital to Analog Converter (DAC; $200 extra) and the Portable Micro will accept optical and coaxial S/PDIF digital inputs, or direct USB input from any computer. You'll be amazed at how good your laptop, MAC or PC can sound when the audio digital-to-analog conversion process is done properly, and outside the noisy electrical environment ever-present inside the hard-drive.
Features
The front panel of the Portable Micro Amp sports (left to right) line input and headphone output 1/8" (3.5mm) mini-jacks, HeadRoom Crossfeed switch and gain switches, volume control, and power switch. The rear panel has the power input jack, charge state indicator LED, and pre-amp output jack in it's standard configuration; the DAC option adds the 3.5mm mini-optical/coaxial digital input jack and a USB mini-B connector.
How it Works
The Portable Micro Amp/DAC couldn't be easier to use, simply plug in a source and headphones, and turn it on. The battery is a two-cell, 7.4VDC, 2200mAh Lithium-Ion rechargeable which runs for about 15 hours, and recharges in about two-to-three hours. The battery is specified to deliver greater than 70% of its rated capacity for greater than 300 charge cycles, and is warranteed for one year. The unit must be returned to HeadRoom for eventual battery replacement. The Portable Micro Amp is meant for mobile listening use so the provided 'power supply' accessory is purely a battery recharging unit, and NOT a true AC-power supply! Do NOT leave the Portable Micro unit plugged-in to AC-power past the time required to fully charge the lithium batteries (about 3hrs) and always operate the amp only while "unplugged" for best battery life and audio performance.
Build
The HeadRoom Micro Amp casing is a custom-manufactured heavy aluminum extrusion and all markings are laser-etched into the jet black anodized finish --- in other words, you could run over this baby with a car and it wouldn't even chip the paint [umm, not recommended! -ed.]. The urethane bezel (that rubber thing surrounding the front & rear amp panels) provides significant protection for the entire enclosure and non-skid security while on your desktop. The bezel has a foot sweep that fits into the groove in the top of the bezel, thus allowing all HeadRoom Micro products to stack conveniently and securely.
All HeadRoom Portable Micro Amps are hand-built in Montana, USA.
Accessories
An external AC charger "wall-wart" [not a true AC power supply!] is included with the Micro Portable Amp/DAC.
*The Portable Micro Amp does NOT include any interconnect cabling. If you are purchasing a Portable Micro Amp with the DAC option and want to use it with your computer, you will need a USB cable. If using the coax/optical input, you will need an Optical Digital Cable along with a Toslink to Mini Adaptor. To hook up your Micro Portable Amp to analog-output sources, you will need a mini-plug 1/8-to-1/8 (3.5mm) interconnect cable. We highly recommend the Cardas 12-inch mini-to-mini interconnect cable ($26). For additional cables and lengths, browse all of our cables.
Specifications:
- Amplifier Group: The Micro Line
- Weight: 12oz (340 grams)
- Dimensions: 4.5"(11.5cm)x 3.5"(9 cm) x 1.5"(3.8cm)
- Frequency Response: 10–50k, ±0.3
- THD at 1V output: <.002
- Input Impedance at 1kHz (ohms): 70k
- Amplifier Type: Portable Amps
Additional Resources:
- Product Manuals
- Portable Micro Amp Manual
- Product Reviews
- Canada HiFi, Shamus Coghlan April 08
- SoundStage!, John Crossett, July 2008
Average Rating
Posted by Talos from Near Seattle on 2010-03-11
Recommend Product: Yes
Pros: Excellent Desktop Amp
Cons: Fair IPOD amp
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Posted by rkov from milwaukee on 2010-02-11
Recommend Product: Yes
Pros: Small, great sound
Cons: A little bit pricey in comparison
Most people will be incredibly impressed by the sound.
Well worth it.
Only con is that as the technology improves through out the industry, there are other amps, cheaper, which are starting to compete with this great product. But, having said that, i think if you're a headroom fan, you will never regret purchasing this product.
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Posted by Yoshi from Oakland, CA on 2010-01-31
Recommend Product: Yes
Pros: Most of the features of the Desktop Amp, Smaller Size
Cons: Battery life goes down really fast
If you are on the go, this looks like an expensive but versatile choice for getting the most from your portable player.
Kudos to Headroom in that I have used my Micro Amp for about 5 years and it still works and sounds great.
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