Arcam rHEAD Headphone Amplifier - RCA/XLR inputs

As ever, with new audio kit, it takes time living with it to get a feel for its strengths and weaknesses, so these are just a few early impressions.The sound comes across as crisp, clear, tight and can be quite muscular when called for, without any obvious bass bloat or bloom. As such, I'm enjoying the experience, thus far. Anyone interested in this amp might find John Grandberg's review on the InnerFidelity site worth a visit.The item arrived well packaged and on schedule.Update: It’s now approaching 4 months with the rHead and I thought I’d offer a few more impressions of my time with it. Before it arrived, I was listening to Mr Speakers Ether headphones driven by a Graham Slee Solo HP amp, fed by a Chord Qute DAC from a PC running Foobar 2000.As an existing Graham Slee owner, a few months ago I took advantage of their excellent loaner scheme and borrowed the Solo’s ‘big brother’, a Solo ULDE. There were things I liked about this amp but it was maybe a bit too forward for my tastes and in the months that followed I felt I wanted to try something even less forward than the standard Solo.Then I came across the aforementioned Inner Fidelity review, which, in conjunction with a very good deal on offer via Amazon at the time, tempted me to ‘take a punt’ on it. In addition to the changes mentioned above, I began to appreciate a greater feeling of space and less of an ‘in your face’ presentation than with the Solo. I also started to question whether the Qute may be too forward as well. When I got it at first, I felt like I was ‘drowning in sound’ but got used to the presentation. As coincidence would have it, I still have its predecessor, the ARCAM rPAC, so I thought I’d give that a go again. This little DAC cost a fraction of the price of the Qute and would probably be considered less capable and less ‘hi-fi’ than the Qute, but to my ears it sounded more ‘right’ when paired with the rHead. If I were to say less is more that might imply I was hearing less detail, but if truth be told I didn’t feel I was missing anything and what I was hearing was more coherent and less cluttered.So where am I now with the rHead? Overall, the sound is very controlled, assured and unflustered with a good sense of space and perspective. I’m finding it easier place instruments in the soundstage and there’s less of a sense of everything trying to compete for attention at the front of the stage. Personally, I like this although some may not find it as immediate or involving. If I were to make a comparison, the Qute/Solo combo is the equivalent of standing pitch side at a football match, whilst the ARCAMs take me up into the stands, where there’s more sense of space and depth perception. Also, I would now describe the sound as being a bit more organic, less ‘processed’ than before.During the long search for a Solo replacement, in addition the trialling a Solo ULDE, I spent many hours reading reviews and impressions on various hi-fi sites and forums. Whilst doing so, I started to hone in on the Violectric range of head amps but ultimately didn’t feel comfortable spending the sort of money these pieces of kit command. Now I’ve never heard any of these amps, so have no way of knowing how they’d actually sound to me, but the reviews and impressions I read conjured up notions of an effortless, powerful, no frills but ‘musical’ sound that I’m now hearing with the rHead, at a fraction of the price of a Violectric.In summary, I really like this amp. On the face of it, its sound presentation doesn’t come across as ‘flashy’, ‘flowery’, ‘forward’ or ‘romantic’, so therefore may not be to everyone’s tastes, but it gets my feet tapping and my emotions stirring to a greater degree than previously. Maybe I should just describe it as quietly authoritative…it just gets the job done with the minimum of fuss.

first of all i want to thank all the people who answered my question about the beyerdynamic 250ohm.that was really kind from you and i really appreciated it.as you suggested the amp has no problem driving them.i also own a pair of sennheiser hd600 which are 300ohm impedance but strangely i find them less difficult to pilot compared to the beyerdynamic (which are 250ohm), don't know why.i've tried the amp during the last 3 days and i must say i'm really happy with it, i think it is better than my old schiit vali 2 and also schiit magni which cost about the same (vali 2 is exactly the same)i've also tried some other amps in the 200 pound price range and this is better than all.schiit vali 2 could drive my sennheiser pretty good but with the beyerdynamic i had to put the volume at the maximum and still didnt sound too loud.with the arcam i couldnt pass the 3/4 (3 o clock) because it became too loud.shiit vali was also colouring the sound a bit, the arcam is more neutral and transparent, not a night and day difference but still something i can easily tell.i also cannot hear any distortion which is great.what bothered me in the beginning was that this amp was 400 pound when it came out and is now 200 pound, that doesnt seems too fair to the ones that payed 400 pound for it and i think that is not a great choice from the company.i've tried to find some infos about it on the internet but i could not.the amp is also really well built and for the actual price is a steal.one last thing, i basically only own english amplifications for my headphones and my main system (quad from huntingdon and naim from wiltshire..great stuff from the '80 when they where actually manufacturing in the uk and not in china), i've lived in the uk (plymouth) for a couple of years (more than ten years ago..thats why my english skill is slowly turning poor..i'm sorry about it) and i really miss it (apart from the weather of course..i'm italian : )).and english music is the best! i love you guys, thanks for everything!now i'm going to order some black pudding since i really really miss it.i've found something similar here in italy but it is not the same, black pudding is love black pudding is life.wish you all a merry christmas!Francescops: i didnt gave it 5 stars because it's only three days and i still need to test it properly, i will update the review as soon as i make my mind clearer.