Rupert Neve RNHP Precision Headphone Amplifier

Equipment / Electronics / Gear / Accessories Headphone Amps
864

I shared these observations with a few of you, but I figured I would post them in this thread as well…

After 2 weeks with the RNHP, I have noticed that:

The RNHP does mids and vocals better. They sounded rather distant when I A/B with the SP200 and there was no detail or separation, just a wall of sound type of vocals from the SP200.

The bass was better controlled and extended on RNHP. The RNHP may have a slightly more intimate (narrower) soundstage compared to the SP200, but it is a more accurate representation of reality…thus making the SP200’s representation of space sound unnatural.

Imaging and space vertically…forget it…RNHP actually does vertical imaging and does it really well.
The SP200 can’t do vertical imaging, if at all. The soundstage perimeter in conjuction with your ears sounds like you are wearing a 1/2 meter by 5 meter skinny as hell rectangle over your head and ears. Basically, the scale of the soundstage doesn’t accurately reflect the actual shape of the soundstage (horizontally). Things sound out of focus in relation to the space it occupies.

The SP200 also has grainy sounding upper-mids and treble in comparison to the RNHP…much more harsh and, well…forced would be the word that I would use to describe it.

If I were to make an analogy…the SP200 would be the headphone equivalent of the Beyerdynamic DT 770. Powerful, affordable, and sounds great if you haven’t heard anything better. Once you have, you notice everything you have been missing.

If you don’t notice the numerous differences, consider yourself lucky…you should return the RNHP, keep your THX amp and never have to worry about ugrading amplifiers ever again in your life…because if you don’t hear the difference from the SP200 to the RNHP…you unequivocally will not notice a difference on any upgrades further up the scale in price. Keep your THX, be happy, enjoy the music and your wallet being heavier.

The best thing that any THX amp has going for it is price, power, low noise floor, balanced output, and maybe a slightly wider horizontal soundstage in comparison to the RNHP.

6 Likes
865

Good suggestion, thanks. Just checked: only as an import from Hong Kong, China, etc.

Didn’t think to look at that. But given the ADI is acceptable, am more inclined to take that route. Maybe I could throw in just a smidgen of crossfeed too, when no one is looking. Don’t suppose anyone’s heard the new FS version yet?

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866

I did recently, dac wise it’s a slight improvement, but the amp portion got better too, a nice update

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867

Whoa! Wasn’t expecting that! Great news. Makes the pricey-ness more digestible. A DAC is something from which I want the buy-once-and-forget sense that it’s not going to be the bottleneck, even if I upgrade headphones. And if the amp portion can now serve as a no-nonsense, “this is what clean sounds like” option, that’s even better.

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868

But the rnhp does that better lol

869

Doh. I thought the RNHP was more of a characterful thing. I was hoping for something that adds a bit of pixie dust magic, just a hint of larger than life quality as well as competence. That probably doesn’t make any sense…

870

I would argue the rnhp is more neutral than the amp on the adi 2, but whateves lol. It’s pretty natrual, and that doesn’t mean boring, it has the magic but is still accurate

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871

RNHP does have pixie dust, but it’s also trustworthy

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872

Pretty much yeah lol. Only replaced by the new stupid studio amp for me (XHP-7), but now it’s mainly used for listening pleasure lol

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873

Wow. Sounds like I stumbled on some really Gandalfian goodness here. Thanks all!

Will plow through a good chunk of this thread just to get a better feel for the lay of the land. But ADI-2 & RNHP now look to be in my future. (I’ve been stymied for months with some hearing issues that finally are showing hints of improvement. So if that holds up, will be time to hear some of what I’ve been missing. Assuming this isn’t all placebo effect delusions of course, lol…)

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874

You may want to try the ADI-2 first, as the revision has made some improvements.

875

Ironically, the RME ADI-2 DAC is something I want really bad, but it isn’t in the cards financially for me at the moment.

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876

I hear ya’. I’ve been “needing” a dac for a while now, but gotta wait and save.

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877

Thanks – was planning to.

My sympathies. Know what that’s like, big time. Wanna trade your presumably youthful hearing, for my presumably golden years piggy bank? grin.

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878

I am happy with my Enog2 Pro…but an upgrade would allow me to bring the Enog2 to my work audio set-up to replace my Topping D10, so it would basically be a double upgrade.

What makes this even more annoying is that I have a $400 amazon credit from returning my Sivga P-II, but there is nothing in stock because of the Coronavirus.

879

Damn pending pandemic… :unamused:

880

These Android emojis are kind of racist. :face_with_monocle:

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881

I am 39, so I wish I was a youngster (I can still hear up to 18.5 KHz according to my last hearing test). I also could put the RME on credit card…but I learned a long time ago to save up and keep a separate pot of cash for my audio purchases. That way nothing comes into conflict with my wife and my collective financial priorities.

You know she is a keeper if your audio upgrades slow to a crawl, lol. :slight_smile:

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882

I would say the amp in the rme is about equivalent as a slightly better atom amp, so pretty good, but not the same tier of other higher end amps, so as an all in one I don’t think it will let you down :+1:

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883

Envy.

And hopefully you’re a keeper in her eyes too… grin

That comparison really puts it in focus, thanks! (And hopefully, the RME engineers never see this thread, lol.)

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