Ever since I browsed around the Headamp site, I’ve been pretty interested this thing. But honestly, I’m curious to know if it would be a real upgrade over a much cheaper THX. It looks and seems very nice… Fully balanced class A, capable of pushing 4 watts at 50 ohms… which is about the same as the 789 and 887 based on AudioScienceReviews tests. And it also pushes the same balanced output into the single-ended output in the front too… so there is no compromise in power there.
Not a lot of info on it though outside of the marketing.
At least according to their marketing… the only real difference should be total power output. So maybe yeah. I’ll be honest, I am bit skeptical about the tangible differences even with the Clear… but it is such a sexy looking little amp. Definitely seems like a nice end-game clean solid-state.
It’s more than the specs lol. Just one of those you gotta hear it things. Since we talked about it before, the clear starts to have a bigger difference with a good amp compared to the elex
Headamp is tempting me with both the full gsx mk2 and mini as well. I’ve been thinking about both lately. I was considering the Chord TT2, and still may be, but either of the headamp options would save me quite a bit of money.
I think the THX amps are a great value for what they do, but for me the limitations of the 789 started to show with the Clears. At first I also thought they were only a minor upgrade from the Elex, and they sounded almost identical off of my CTH and 789 with the Clears being a minor upgrade. I was able to notice a much bigger difference when I a/b’d the Clears and Elex from my zdt jr, sprout, and especially my vintage receiver. The Clears lose that sharpness that some people complain about with Focals and the bass seemed to deepen. I like the way that the Clears sound off any of my sources, but the treble that some gives some people issues seems to mellow a bit on my better amps. I only imagine it would be the same improvement off of the gsx
I just ordered the gs-x mk2. My gs-x mini is an amazing amp. Powers my he6se with great performance. I ordered the 789 a couple of times but the stupid wait always made me cancel. At this point no need for one. Still like to hear it. Whats great about the mini is power at the correct impedance. All the other amps put a claim of 6 watts at 16 ohms well I’ve only seen the one model from Audeze at 15 ohms.
So I personally decided to order the RNHP off Amazon. I’m going to compare that to the THX amps and it’ll be my ‘litmus’ test to see how much actual thought or money I really want to put into more expensive higher end amps aiming for clean output and low output impedance…
So the SPL Phonitor E Headphone Amp seems to be another alternative that seems to be competing in the same price bracket and going for a similar linear/neutral sound.
Does anyone have any experience with the SPL amps and how it compares with the Headamp GS-X amps? I’ve seen a couple listings for the SPL Amp at $1099 as well… which seems like a good price if it’s comparable for to the GSX Mini… but I want to get the ‘right’ amp not just the best deal.
The spl amps are nice. I haven’t heard the e, but I’ve heard the x and the xe. I don’t know if I could compare to the mini though as I don’t remember that well
So comparing the xe, the mk2 had the edge in sound fidelity and driving force, but the xe has more features, and also was a more neutral tone where the mk2 can actually get a bit bright or aggressive at times with some headphones. Overall I ended going with the mk2
It’s really a great amp. It handles all my headphones with no issues. Only complaint I have is for some reason there is hum on my high z with my Verite open and closed. Other then that it’s quite. The amp is not really that tube warmth sound.
