Rupert Neve RNHP Precision Headphone Amplifier

Amir certainly wasn’t impressed with it.

I am sure he wouldn’t care for Grado’s either, if he tested headphones. :grin:

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I’m still trying to understand how and why you would run 4-xbox’s???:thinking:

BTW, love the lift and access cables under the desk idea👏 Brilliant…

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measurements are the menu, but you have to try to find what you like.

I love that you need an Ethernet switch that big just for your desk. Badass.

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How:
Well, for starters I have an 8x8 HDMI matrix as part of my theater setup. That allows me to route any of my sources (which include several consoles) to any screen.

Next, my desk monitors are ViewSonic XG2700s, which have the ability to tile up to four 1080p sources. It took me quite a while to track down any kind of screen that supports multiple displays. Options are slim and can get horribly expensive. In any case, I have 3 of those monitors, so I can display up to 12 sources. I’ve actually run up to 8 Xboxes at once (plus a 9th for Netflix).

Finally, the desk itself is set up for mounting up to 4 consoles (or other devices, potentially). There is a company called HideIt that makes sheet metal mounting brackets for game consoles and other popular electronics (Apple TV, etc.). The basic idea is to mount your console behind a flat screen for a clean, wireless look. Their XBox One mounts have VESA hole patterns, though, so I invented my own under-desk mounting system: an under-cabinet television mount + Vesa quick-release + Hide-it mount allows me to snap any console into place when I need one, or pull it off and fold the TV mount up and out of the way when I don’t:

I managed to run 9 consoles by using all 4 desk-mounted Xboxes plus an umbilicus of 5 HDMI cables from the HDMI matrix (3 XBox 360s and a 5th X1).

Why:

“We Do What We Must, Because We Can” --Aperture Science

The main underlying reason is because I’m a relentless Achievement Hunter, and I play for 100% completion across as many games as possible. I’m currently #1 in Arizona (#41 in US, #124 worldwide) for completed games (100% of achievements unlocked) with 897. I’m also at 99.76% completion across all of my played games:

In the picture above, I was going after the “Seriously” achievement in Gears of War for 10,000 kills in online ranked matches, which is much more efficient to do when you control all 8 players in the match. I farmed 7,000 kills over 3 days while binge-watching the first 2 seasons of Breaking Bad.

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The very first thoughts were: weight is nice, knob is really nice, and I need to cover those LEDs, lol. I happened to have a loose pair of Campfire tips on my desktop, which happen to fit perfectly, so 2 problems solved… :laughing:

I rearranged my audio stack so the RME is driving both the RNHP (XLR) and THX 887 (RCA). It’s nice that I can run 2 sets of headphones and compare back and forth; I think I’m going to leave this setup for a while to do more comparative listening.

The very first thing I heard on the RNHP was a business update (work meeting) about COVID-19, but it was all good news, so good first impression, lol. After that I spent the morning re-listening to a playlist I made recently with a variety of music types. I swapped Focal Clears and ZMF Eikons between the two amps, but mostly this was casual listening.

Impressions from the morning listen were that both Clears and Eikons have a good synergy with the RNHP. Music was very non-fatiguing, which is something both of those headphones do well, anyway. The one thing I learned for certain is that “Negro Y Azul” by Los Cuatros de Sinaloa is one of those rare tracks that does not play so well with ZMF’s house sound; I found the Clears’ rendering cleaner and more natural (there’s some weight to the lower mids / upper bass on the Eikons that hindered the crispness of the higher guitar notes). In general, though, the ZMFs are magic–plenty of tracks were no contest in favor of the Eikons.

I’ve just pulled out both of my pairs of Elegias to attempt the best A-B comparison I can perform. I have Tidal feeding the RME via USB, which is driving both amps as described above. I’m using the balanced out on the 887 (since I expect that is the best internal path on that amp) and the 1/4" on the RNHP. Both of my Elegias have cables terminated in 2.5mm, and I’m using appropriate Eidolic super-short adapters to connect to each amp.

I hope I don’t disappoint, but so far, after adjusting for volume, both of these amps sound identical. Granted, I’ve got very little listening time so far, and no way to account for track selection or listening fatigue, but I’ve done everything I can to eliminate listening memory as a factor, and swapping the two headphones back and forth has yet to reveal anything that I’m certain enough about to make any declarative statements.

Both amps sound clean and very detailed. Both are doing a great job of getting out of the way of the music. Elegias are not the very most detailed of headphones, but they are very good, and having two of them on hand avoids having to guess which sonic qualities might belong to the headphones and which to the amps.

Anyway, more listening ahead. If nothing else, I suppose what I’m hearing so far is not supporting any fears that the measurements on the RNHP should make it subjectively less appealing than THX amps with better measurements.

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I would just give it some time, personally I would just use it exclusively for a few days without using another amp, then go back to your thx and see if there is a difference for you, if not, then it should be easy to sell lol. Doing a/bs initially tends to mess up an acclimation period for me, I personally only ab when I think I have adequate time with both amps

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More time will certainly help. I do plan on using the RNHP more or less exclusively for the next while. I have the RCA input of the RNHP connected to my work laptop chain for meetings and whatnot; if someone calls me I can just swap inputs to take the call. Meanwhile, music feed comes from my personal laptop that’s doing nothing but making my ears happy. :slight_smile:

There are a lot of possible variables to account for yet, like more revealing headphones, varying impedance, listening with fresh ears, etc. It’s too early to declare anything, including that there are no meaningful differences. I just haven’t heard any yet. Figured I’d throw that out as a first impression rather than continue to delay posting anything.

I definitely don’t have any itch to sell this off. It’s charming, fun, and sounds great. It’s got better character than the THX amps, and I really love driving multiple sets of headphones. That alone has opened a new dimension by which to enjoy this hobby, by comparing different cans head-to-head rather than messy cable swaps. Maybe I’ll change my mind when fighting with 2 sets of open-backed cans competing to pollute my listening environment, but for the time being this is a lot better than the old plug-unplug game.

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Ah yeah my main desk setup is all switcher based now, no cable unplugging nonsense

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You’ve seen my desk–audio switcher can’t be too far off for me, either, lol.

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You’re a madman grinder is what you mean! :grin: I sort of like this. It’s sort of like competitive overocking. Why climb the mountain? Because it’s there!!

There must be an official list? It’s not like you can just at a game of pong and call it “completed” right?

I unfortunately canceled my RNHP order because my boss made me feel like I may be out of work because of this virus. Not the end of the world, just gotta hold out a little bit longer. Gotta make sure expensives are taken care of for now.

I’ll be back.

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Hopefully everything will pan out alright, make sure your priorities are in order lol :+1:

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Yeah I’m probably over reacting but it’s alright, I can hold off a little longer just to be sure of everything.

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Better safe than sorry, def not a bad thing to prepare for what might come in the future

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My thoughts exactly. For now, I’ll be living vicariously through all of you RNHP owners here, and scrolling through this thread to torture myself.

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This will all pass soon enough, brother.

Be safe.

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That’s what I used to do, back in the day. I can’t count all the people who have told me that achievements have ruined gaming and I should stop torturing myself with completions and play “for fun.” Thing is, that is my fun.

Back in the NES days I used to keep a list on notebook paper of all the games I’d completed (as measured by watching the credits roll, for the most part). Now the industry has simply formalized a mechanism that I can use to declare victory.

It’s still all ultimately meaningless numbers. The term “achievement” is a misnomer–there’s no guarantee that unlocking one required any kind of accomplishment. Dispassionate analysis is that they’re more like stamps in a passport: I was there, and I did a thing, lol.

Anyway, TrueAchievements is a fan site for other achievement hunters. It has pretty deep and detailed stat tracking. Earlier link was overall pie chart of unlocked achievements. Here’s a list of all the games I’ve played & summary of each:

Recently I’ve been burning through a huge stockpile of fast & easy indie games. Headed for 1000 completions this year.

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Sorry to hear of your situation, but you’re doing the smart thing. Best wishes weathering this storm–at least everyone is in the same boat to some extent. Stay safe and healthy; RNHP and other stuff will be waiting on the other side.

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Appreciate all of you.

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