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

bass unresolved

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)

Similar Products Used:

Grado RA1

This product differs from the OBH-11 in several ways. It has 2 outputs instead of the usual one. It has a different (better) circuit and comes with the upgraded power supply standard (the upgrade to the PS makes a dramatic improvement). Every now and then you may add a component to your system that makes you go back and listen to all your recordings all over again. The OBH-11SE is such a product. I use it with a pair of Sennheiser HD-600s, and the differences were not subtle. Detail and bloom was everywhere - this amp virtually gave me a new CD collection. The sense of space was remarkable. I can't recommend it enough. The potentiometer is like silk. And I preferred this amp to (*gasp*) the Headroom Home.

Clean, dynamic and transparent sound.

Slight background hiss. Slightly clinical.

I bought the OBH-11SE after a brief audition with the Musical Fidelity X-Cans. I found the X-Cans sounded overly sterile and lightweight.

I tried the OBH-11SE with the same headphones (Sennheiser HD-545 Reference) and the sound was far more nicely weighted across the frequency range. Bass is fast and tight, if a little dry. Midrange and treble are clear and unfatigueing.

I listen to a wide range of music, including modern jazz, classical, R&B, female/male vocal music and occasionally, rap.

With rap, its a revelation. Deep, earthy bass lines thunder across cleanly, and with real authourity. Jazz bass guitar and plucked double bass sound just gorgeous (I bet you can tell I love bass !). Lots of detail here - you can tell what the musicians are doing. Vocal music is good, but lacks the last ounce of warmth to make the voices sound really seductive. Classical music is captured with all the drama intact.

Overall, the sound can be characterised as being neutral to the point of fraustration. I found I had to kick the volume up a little at the beginning to get it to come to life. I wasn't used to the neutrality at the time. I can listen to it now at more moderate levels.

With no source signal, there is some background hiss. However, it is not noticable at all when playing music - even during quiet sections of classical music.

If you are looking for a well built, good sounding headphone amp that won't break the bank, accept no alternative !

Similar Products Used:

Musical Fidelity X-Cans

Drives any headphones, nice bass and midrange. Fits PERFECT with Grado headphones (which tend to show a little brightness, which is slightly rolled off). It's sort of a solid state amp that sounds almost like a tube. No noise.

Small - heavy interconnects can yank it around.

You can get this unit VERY cheap now, especially used. If you have Grado headphones, GET IT! The Creek OBH-11SE matches them wonderfully. The result is a wonderfully smooth and rich sound, with enjoyable tight bass, great midrange, and smooth upper ranged trebles. No harshness that I was experiencing earlier with my Grado 325 headphones. Works great to smooth out the digital harshness, especially when playing MP3s from my computer. If you have Sennheiser headphones, you should probably look elsewhere - these fit the Grados nicely, but there are better choices for the Sennheiser.

Since it can be found for cheap, just go for the SE version - the power supply is huge, it's bigger than the amp itself! You truly aren't a Grado fan until you get one of these.