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Any interest in measuring a HeadRoom BUDA ( Balanced Ultra Desktop Amp )?

Blur

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I'm hoping to send in my BUDA for review and measurement. It would be really nice to get objective measurements and an outside review done.

Any interest from the rest of the members here?
 

jhaider

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Ditto. I'm curious how the old HeadRoom stuff compares to modern headphone gear.
 
OP
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Blur

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I'll see if Amirm will do it for a tasty beverage of his choice.
 

Hipper

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Yes, I'd be interested too.

I had the Headroom Blockhead, the original balanced headphone amp, although I no longer have it. I've always been curious as to whether having balanced headphones made any difference beyond the theoretical.
 
OP
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Blur

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Let me kindly ask Amirm and let's go from there folks.
 

bigx5murf

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I have an old headroom Cosmo sitting around somewhere
 
OP
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Blur

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Looks like Amirm is on board, yay! Due to the holidays and such my guess it will be a month or more before we see the review, but I cannot wait.

I suspect it will measure well, but have higher distortion compared to amps like the Atom etc.
 
OP
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Blur

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The BUDA is on its way for review. I use it in single ended mode so hopefully we can focus on those measurements.
 
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Great news folks...the BUDA made it to Amirm. I'm sure he's buried in holiday festivities and other reviews so we'll have to wait to see the graphs. Should be a good review as this was HeadRoom's top-end headphone amp. I'll be al little shocked if it measures terribly.
 

NTomokawa

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I once drooled after HeadRoom's BUDA UDAC combo.

Hungering to see some measurements!
 
OP
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I like the sound from it. It definitely has bass authority which is always a sign of a good amp. The output impedance is low and it has 3 gain settings which I wish the SP200 would adopt.

New this amp was $1500 new.

Part of the reason I want it measured is that I'm super happy with the SP200 and knowing it measures well I'm assured my setup is end game. If the BUDA measures worse then I've effectively upgraded already. If it measures on the same level then I can swap back to the BUDA at will knowing it is competent.
 
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OP
Blur

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It’s also dead quiet on all 3 gain settings at any volume level. So they put some work into it. Tyll mentioned the Ultra Desktop amp should measure cleaner as the BUDA essentially has twice the parts in order to achieve true push-pull differential status. I think in the end even Tyll mentioned that balancing a headphone amp was more of a marketing gimmick that included cable upgrades.

More folks now understand the true benefits of going fully balanced which is nice, but in my experience balanced setups almost always sound noisier than single ended. There are just more possibilities for issues. Twice as many solder joints, components, and issues with impedance matching.
 
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Blur

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I think you can find 1 or 2 BUDA’s for sale on the net. One reason Amirm’s analysis will be looked at for sure.
 
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