Tyll , do you think the total bithead 2006 ..

[boodi]

.. has competitors around ( sound wise ) as an all in one portable / laptop nice sound solution ?

My concerns are mainly about SQ..

what Dac hide inside ?

I just read Jude preliminary review on head-fi and it seems it's nice improvement(sq) over the previous bithead.

[Tyll Hertsens]

The new Air/BitHead uses that 8397 chip as its output amp, that's the one that all the DIYers are happy over these days---it does sound pretty good. The DAC chip is the 2902 USB DAC, it's the chip that is in just about all the USB amp devices around. Competitors? Well, I haven't heard the Meier Portacorda MKIII, but that would be the competitor. I don't know of any other inexpensive, plastic cased, USB capable amps.

[devwild]

I would sure like to know more about the new total bithead's SQ as well... I have several friends who might be interested in buying one, as it's basically the cheapest retail all-in-one solution for laptops. However, I wasn't terribly impressed with the standard version of the previous Bithead SQ wise, on USB power it was actually quite similar to my desktop sound cards. I used it mainly at work, and for flying because it's the least likely amp to bring the attention of the TSA I can't complain, it was Tyll's reward from the headroom tour (thanks!) and I still appreciate it, and got some good use out of it.

Short of getting a chance to hear one myself it would be nice to hear some comparisons to amps I know somewhat - Xin Supermini, HeadRoom Micro, Go-Vibe, Pimeta... because it would be great to have a simple solution like that to suggest to friends on the entry level of headphone insanity, but I want to know its faults as well as its strengths before I make suggestions.

[TheSloth]

I'll compare one for you, that is if someone sends me one! Actually it would be strictly HeadRoom only comparison, but still...

I do sometimes think of getting one again. I'm not sure I've ever had an amp that was as fun and practical as the T. Bithead. This tiny little thing clinging to the back of the computer screen un-noticed. I did find there was a subtle but decent sound improvement using battery power, so I do recommend people use that wherever possible.

[boodi]

The new Air/BitHead uses that 8397 chip as its output amp, that's the one that all the DIYers are happy over these days---it does sound pretty good. The DAC chip is the 2902 USB DAC, it's the chip that is in just about all the USB amp devices around. Competitors? Well, I haven't heard the Meier Portacorda MKIII, but that would be the competitor. I don't know of any other inexpensive, plastic cased, USB capable amps.

do you like it much more over his predecessor ( sq wise ) ?

[Tyll Hertsens]

Yeah, I think it's a substantially better amp.

[boodi]

if I can ask

how can it be anytime there's a new version the changes are so substantial ?

I mean, it's always ( and remains ) a tiny designed very low price higly integrated amp.. ( that's appealing! ) .. anyhow what's substantially change inside ? that can sort out such good new result , that is a significantly better signal behavior - out of a such tiny package - ?

thanks for outing this

[Tyll Hertsens]

The new 8397 is just quite good. I don't really know what else to tell you. I would have said it was a modest improvement if I felt it was, but it seems pretty obviously better to my ears. The old AirHead used a descrete output stage that was pretty old school; it had good bass control but lacked finesse. The new AirHead with 8397 is substantially more articulate and clearer sounding.

[Tyll Hertsens]

Man! Somebody slow down that edit time out.

I'd like to add a couple of thoughts.

how can it be anytime there's a new version the changes are so substantial ?

I don't really think that I've allways said improvements are "substantial". But I wouldn't be doing my job if we worked hard only to get modest gains. I think we got a substantial gain in this case, so that's what I said. These things are hard to nail down; if I said we got a 18.6% improvement in sound quality, you could rightly say, "What the hell are you talking about?!" So, I said substantial because it felt like more than a modest improvement, but less than a dramatic improvement.

Sonically, this latest generation amp is a very significant step up from my now-previous-generation Total AirHead

The only sad faces should be on those with original Total Bitheads, but then they should have had a good several years of sound and should be glad to be able to make a meaningful improvement in their portable sound with the new Total Bithead.

Here's quotes from Jude and Old Pa who use words like "significant" and "meaningful improvement" when comparing the old to new. Sounds right in line with what I'm saying. But, hey, YMMV. Time marches on; better parts become available.

[boodi]

Man! Somebody slow down that edit time out.

I find it quite frustrating too

I hope for a new governor ( less taxes , more rights , blabla and top of this , longer edit time please )

[boodi]

Here's quotes from Jude and Old Pa who use words like "significant" and "meaningful improvement" when comparing the old to new. Sounds right in line with what I'm saying. But, hey, YMMV. Time marches on; better parts become available.

yeah I wasn't sarcastic or ironic , I read jude and old pa' ( in fact I was asking really how can it be )

probably is a combination , better parts united to even slightly better designs or better design approach can really measure even more then substantial improvements on small integrated peripherals

my guess

[Tyll Hertsens]

Well, it's true that it's the cheap products that are hard to build. So, many compromises! But it also means that that is where there is the most room to improve. In this case, it's really that Analog Devices has done a bang-up job with their new part. Joe W. our engineer has been talking to the guy that designed the 8397 and has sent a couple of prototype designs off to him to play with. I think they've been talking about trying to get AD to build a chip with a single part (instead of dual) so he can use a single 8397 as a rail splitter.

Anyway, we didn't really do all that much except incorporate a new part into an existing plastic enclosure. The real work was done by AD---we just made that work available to headphone users as cheap as we could.

[boodi]

disarming humility

are you in a rush for "most honoruable and honest vendor of the year" or what ?

jk , thanks for answring

[Tyll Hertsens]

you in a rush for "most honoruable and honest vendor of the year" or what ?

No. I'm in a rush to make your wallet wail in agony.

(I just had to say something boorish before you got the wrong idea.)