Can turn your laptop or desktop into a music server that will drive full size headphones such as the Sennheiser HD650s to acceptably loud levels and with great passion. Built well and easy to change batteries. Portable. Can run two sets of headphones at the same time. Easy to set-up and use.
Batteries run down. Not as good as the Micro Amp which retails for only slighty more. Easy to misplace, if you leave it around your cluttered desk at work. Not enough gain for some headphones.
The most affordable method of turning a computer into a high-end music server which can serve as the front-end for a very musical sounding headphone rig. Well-designed and a piece of cake to set-up out of the box. It works well when on a plane and can serve double duty as there are two headphone jacks.
Headroom Total BitHead USB DAC and Headphone Amplifier: Shazam!
Don't be a total butthead and sit on the fence too long. Incredible sonics and value for the money.
As blasé as we have become about the iPod, the truth is that it dropped a neutron bomb on the headphone industry and created a storm of interest in high quality portable media players and accessories. We would not be writing about great products like the Red Wine Audio iMod, Ultimate Ears super-fi 5 Pros, or the Headroom Total Bithead USB DAC and headphone amplifier, if not for the iPod.
With the exception of the die-hard audiophile community, who else would be buying headphone amplifiers if not for the iPod?
Anyone?
Why do you even require a headphone amplifier? Most people are quite happy listening to music with their headphones plugged directly into their iPod or portable digital media player.
I own three headphone amplifiers (two portable), but I still leave them at home when I go to the gym each morning at 5am. If some kind and willing manufacturer out there wants to send me a bag or pouch that I can wear on my person as I lift each morning, I will gladly accept it, review it, and start living with my Headroom amplifier 24-7.
Headphone amplifiers; especially those of the portable kind, take the signal from your iPod or laptop computer, amplify it, and then drive your headphones to the heights of aural ecstasy. Will they turn a crappy pair of headphones into giant killers? No. In some cases, they might even make the flaws that much more audible causing you to rip those sorry suckers off your head and pitch them into the sea, or in front of the subway train.
As you climb the headphone mountain, you will discover that a vast majority of the good models require some form of amplification; harder to drive from an impedance standpoint, and because they deserve to be treated like the special princesses that they are. Would you fill your brand new sports car with 87-octane gasoline? Would you cook using your brand new All-Clad pots and pans on a $9 heating element from Wal-Mart?
Get the idea.
There are two methods of using the Total Bithead.
Using the line-in from a portable digital media player, or running a USB cable from your computer into the USB port.
They both work rather nicely.
If you use the line-in, you will need to insert four AAA batteries behind that funky rubber looking cover. It looks difficult to pull off, but my 6 month-old son did it with his gums, so it really is not that tough to remove. Behind the cover, is a gain switch that will make a huge difference in the sound quality depending on the headphones that you use. I tried five pairs of headphones with the Total BitHead; AKG K 701s, Sennheiser HD650s, Grado SR60s, and the Ultimate Ears super-fi 5 Pros. Each model reacted differently to the setting that I picked.
You should get at least 30-35 hours of use from the AAA batteries.
The cool thing is that you can power the Total BitHead from the USB port on your computer, which saves the batteries inside.
The crossfeed switch makes things that do not sound quite right from a channel separation issue, sound a lot more coherent.
The coolest thing about the Total BitHead?
Two headphone jacks.
Moses, I think we found the Land of Israel.
No need for some cheap-ass splitter with this baby.
Sonically, the Total BitHead does not quite have the inner resolution of a more expensive headphone amplifier such as the Headroom MicroAmp, Naim Headline, or CEC HD53R, but at $199, do you really care?
Two of the other three are not even portable, so the Headroom wins on points.
Of all the headphones I tried, I really loved listening to music or watching movies on my laptop with the Grado SR60s. It just seems like these two products were made for one another.
The mids are smooth, and full of detail. The top end does not shout and make you want to turn the volume down. For 99% of the planet, this combination with their iPod and lossless music files would be a huge mind****.
It would.
Technical Info
Brand: Headroom
Model: Total Bithead
Price: $149.00