I got a used pair of standard Clears, but the headband was in bad shape, creaky. I already had a broken pair of the Elex with a bad driver… so I just did a swap of the body with the Clear drivers and ordered the red Pro pads on their own. And swapped over the badge pieces from the Clear body.
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Nice. Looking forward to less recessed mids as well.
Also, I requested a Dragonfly Cobalt for late night listening via iPad/iPhone from my SO/partner. Pretty sure I got it, would that sufficiently drive the Clears?
I think so, it also might make them a bit more fun with the audioquest house sound. The clear doesn’t need power, it does like a quality amp though and scales fairly well
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Sweet! Thanks for always providing sage advice.
I’m glad everyone here is enjoying the RNHP, it’s a pretty special little amp.
Merry Christmas everyone!
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So I’ve spent a bit of time today really getting down and ABing this amp with the 887 for over an hour and it’s pretty close honestly. The 887 might actually be a bit better overall than the SMSL SP200. I agree with Zeos that it’s a ‘hard sell’ overall. The 887 has more power, a better design (gain switch, not stupidly bright LED, RCA passthru) etc… and $100 less, and in some recordings it gets really close where it gets pretty hard to hear the advantages of the RNHP.
RNHP has a better volume indicator though… and a nicer feeling knob.
This testing did cement for me that there is definitely no advantage to balanced input or outputs on the 887 aside from more power. Sound quality might actually worsen marginally from the XLR balanced input… as I actually felt the results were closer when I used RCA on the 887 and xlr on the RNHP… as opposed to vise-versa… or doing balanced input on both. I think the RNHP probably handles the 4 volt load better with it’s more carefully calibrated input impedance. It’s very marginal though and might not really matter. Could potentially be Placebo.
So what are the sound differences? I think it mainly comes down to the difference in dynamics. If I’m honest, it’s not super obvious all the time, even A/Bing it back and forth, but other times it was pretty definitive. There are certain songs you’ll hear some great dynamic range on the RNHP, but then switching to the THX, you’ll lose it by a small, but noticeable margin.
I’d say a couple notches above “Definitely NOT Placebo”.
Turning up the volume on the THX does not fix it either… as I could push the THX to obviously louder volumes, but still get noticeably better dynamics on the RNHP. And I did all kinds of combinations to give the THX amp any sort of advantage… giving it both balanced inputs and outputs… etc. But again, have to stress I am talking about single-digit percentage differences.
In Z’s review he said… “It would be lame to say it (RNHP) sounds more musical…” and stopped short of REALLY declaring anything. And I understand the hesitation, but that is really an apt way to put it IMO. It takes a bit of the sterile, clean-nature of the THX sound and it sounds a touch more lively and not quite as ‘thin’.
It could very well be the RNHP has a touch hair of harmonic distortion that I’m not consciously hearing… or it could be as simple as the incredibly low output impedance letting the headphones produce an ever so slightly more transparent sound.
It could also be the nature of the ‘feed-forward error correction’ approach of the THX versus a more-straight forward clean-circuit design. Or maybe differences in the Op-Amp designs.
I honestly have no idea… They do sound very close in most instances, but the RNHP definitely edges out the THX. There was never a moment the THX sounded better than the RNHP and I’m certain the differences are regular and noticeable enough I could blind test and pick out the RNHP versus the 887 at least 9 out of 10 times… if not 10 out of 10.
My overall conclusion is that if you have the THX amps… especially the 789 or 887 then you are fine for the most part. I’m still going to stick with the RNHP because it still resolves slightly better, especially with the Clears. I would actually recommend sticking with the RCA inputs on the THX amps and not bother with the XLR unless you really have a reason to do so… REALLY need the extra volume gain… etc… which you really shouldn’t. The XLR gets converted to single-ended before it hits the amping circuit anyway.
That is my final take on this for now. =)
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Nice impressions. Very concise.
“Balanced is better” is often over stated and misinformed. Balanced has advantages in long cable runs and noisy environments (ie; stage/studio). SE (Unbalanced RCA and 1/4”) works for most consumer/hifi applications, IMO.
It’s nice to have the option, but it certainly isn’t a necessity. More so for connections between components. High impedance, power hungry headphones would likely be the reason that presents a need for balanced output.
Glad you’re enjoying the RNHP so much. I’m debating on whether or not to order another or hold out and save for a Phonitor. 
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Thanks… updated again with a bit more impressions on what the actual sound differences are. =)
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Hi all! So I have an opportunity to buy the RNHP for 380e. I’ve looking for a amp as i only have the powerdacV2 (i love it but its balanced only).
I believe its a good buy from what i read and being in Europe a 789 or monolith are not available to me. What DAC should i get for it? Does it really need the balanced output for the Neve?
I would be using the DAC for the RNHP and for my Sansui A40 for my KEF Q100 speakers on a desktop. I would like to keep the DAC under 200 or i will start thinking if its just best to get the Topping DX7 pro for 600e instead of the RNHP.
All help and suggestions are very appreciated! (I’m currently a very happy owner of Thieaudio modded Phantoms, I have a AKG712 pro on the way as well). Thanks!
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Hmmm, that’s a pretty good price, but I don’t know if the rnhp is the right fit for you, as you may want more power for your phantoms (the rnhp would drive them just fine but I think they might have more slam on an amp more suited for power)
A smsl su8 is a pretty great dac to look into, sometimes the topping d50s is in the range too
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So i should be looking at the DX7 pro instead? I would lie if i didn’t say that the fact its a Rupert Neve design really pushes me in to the RNHP. I’m a fan of the man’s work. But to get it and not work properly with what i have is silly.
Well, I mean it does power the LCDX pretty well and other planars just fine lol, so you would most likely be fine (it’s a higher quality amp than the topping anyway lol). I do use it as a reference amp for studio, and it powers the final d8000 pro just fine
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I don’t know about the Phantom’s, but it will definitely power the K712’s.
I have a pair of Q701’s and the Neve has plenty of power for them.
Plus, it’s a Neve. 
Definite improvement over the atom in a very noticeable immediately obvious way. Better dynamics, detail, vocals. Sounds very natural. You can not go wrong with this amp.
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this amp is the one that got away for me. got caught up in the THX hype and i really wish i didnt and got this instead. Maybe one day
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Awesome! It is a great little amp.
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Nice, hope to get one myself soon. Also awesome made in the abyss figure!
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Man, I’m about to close a deal to get one of these used.
*I really hope this is my last audio purchase for a while. Lol
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A super nice match with the clear 
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I said that same thing in November.
Ask me how it went.
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