SennFan

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
I bought this amp in order to have a dedicated head amp and bypass the rest of my system. Usually the head sections of many receivers is an after thought and it shows when you plug in a ncie set of headphones. Immediately I noticed a difference through my 600s. Not only did listening fatigue no longer become an issue but the overall soundstage improved and listening at all volumes achieved a certain level of clarity seen on few other head amps. The upgraded Creek brick power supply, although big is neccessary and gives the unit ample power to spare. The two head inputs are nice, but I've never used both simultaneously. However, I have found that one sounds better than the other (2), much more clarity and overall bass response is tighter. Highly recommend, you will not be disappointed.

Strengths:
Ability to drive almost any headphone Clear, dynamic and loud enough for any hearing threshold. 2 inputs (if you need them)

Weaknesses:
Power supply is cumbersome

Similar Products Used:
Sennheiser HD-600s, Cardas cabling

Price Paid:  $250.00 from used online

Summary:
Very happy with this unit. when purchasing it i half thought i would not be able to tell the difference using the amp or just the headphone jack on the source, espeically since i'm not using top of the line headphones (grado SR-80). i was pleasantly surprised that music does indeed sound better through the amp, thought admittedly it matters more on some songs than others. build quality is excellent, i'm very happy with it overall. now i have an excuse to buy better headphones...

Strengths:
sound quality, build quality, has everything you could want.

Weaknesses:
OHB-2 power supply is ENORMOUS but i guess it has to be to get the job done...

Price Paid:  $350.00 from Audio Advisor

Summary:
This is the upgraded/revised B-version (the ones with a B in the serial no) of the OBH 11 SE. Too some bruning in - about 3 days continuous use before the sound opened up with the Grado RS-1. Then tried it with a Sennheiser HD580 and the sound was still great. Did not miss the crossfeed that the Headroom amps had and it cost less!! :-) a

Strengths:
Good detail, nice bass (not bloated), Class A, heafty power supply, tape loop, 2 headphone output to match.›

Weaknesses:
Headphone and RCA jacks could be better.

Similar Products Used:
Headroom Supreme and Homes

Price Paid:  $275.00 from Tape Connection

Summary:
I use the product together with the OBH 1. It came with the amplifier at no extra cost. I had expected it to be delivered with the OBH 2 from the description at Creek homepage but I probably misunderstood what was written there. I use it together with Stax SR-Sigma via a SRD-X box with AC adaptor (no batteries) or Sennheiser RS 85 and tried it, just for fun, with Sony MDR-E818. For reference I used Denon AVR-2700 Phones out. To me both the output from Denon and Creek is satisfactory (I can enjoy both) with a slight advantage to the Creek. It seems to be a bit more spacious and with a little softer sound without getting mushy.

Strengths:
I don’t need to have my main amplifier on to use headphones

Weaknesses:
Pour quality no/off switch (the first lasted around 20 pushes where after I got a replacement amplifier and this lasted around the same number of pushes until it broke. Overcome the problem with a short circuit of the switch, pitty that it was necessary.)

Similar Products Used:
None.

Summary:
Performed A/B comparison between OBH-11SE and Grado RA1 amp and found that the Grado had more bass and better low-end resolution. The Creek had two output jacks for doing A/B testing on two sets of headphones, or for another listener. I thought that this was a nice addition and something other amps don't have. I didn't think the Creek's sound was as clean as the Grado. (Maybe because the Grado uses two 9-volt batteries instead.) The Creek was very capable at driving my Senn HD600 headphones, whereas with the Grado, I did have to turn the volume know up a little more. (But this didn't seem to matter since I didn't get any noticable distortion with the Grado's volume up more. Actually, for my listening level, I had the Creek turned up half-way, but had to turn the Grado up 3/4 of the way to drive the HD600 for a particular song.) After getting used to the Grado amp, the Creek setup was a bit of a turn-off since it was powered with line AC and came with a power supply that was twice the size of the amp itself. However, since the amp also allowed the listener to insert the it between two components (had an "in" and an "out"), this made up for it. The Creek does not lend itself to travelling nearly as well as the battery-powered Grado amp. Lastly, which one looked the best? If a set of RS1 headphones are resting atop the Grado RA1 amp, then the Grado amp looks the best. Otherwise, the Creek looks the best and has a nicer volume control knob and on/off switch.

Overall, the Creek is not a bad amp.

Sound, I'd give it a 3.5 - 4.0
Value, I'd give it a 4.0 since it does more than the Grado (which I'd give a 4.5)

Strengths:
Looks, build quality, two jacks, ability to drive higher-impendance headphone like Senns

Weaknesses:
bass unresolved

Similar Products Used:
Grado RA1