Heed CanAmp MKII - Headphone Amplifier- With XPSU-40 PSU

Many audiophiles use headphones to enjoy their system. While some people are compelled to do so by their living circumstances, others simply prefer cans to loudspeakers. However, some amplifiers either have no headphone output, just as they don't have phone stages, or if they do have one, it is often just a simple IC-based stage. Regrettably, even many outboard amplifiers resort to this simple - and cheap - solution, making it impossible for headphones to perform at their best. Let us introduce the CanAmp, offering a no-compromise solution at a realistic price - in fact, given its technology and manufacturing quality we might even say at a "discount" price.

Headphones can be considered as high quality loudspeakers, but with a much lower power requirement. For this reason, they have distortion levels an order of magnitude lower than conventional speakers, and therefore are capable of showing up amplifier deficiencies more clearly. What's more, headphones are one-way systems, with very few exceptions, and for this reason crossovers do not interfere with sound quality. Consequently, a headphone amplifier must offer the best possible sound quality, even at very low volume levels, whilst working not unlike a real power amplifier.

The CanAmp is a two-stage amplifier. While the first - voltage gain - stage is based on an integrated circuit of the highest audio pedigree, the second - power gain - stage is a single-ended, pure Class-A amplifier. It enables the CanAmp to drive virtually any headphones from 8 ohms up to 600 ohms. As its output power (at 8 ohm) is nearly 1W, the CanAmp could drive even a high-sensitivity loudspeaker!
The unit has no internal wiring, and the signal path is kept to a minimum on its PCB.
Its high-quality, 1 dB-tolerance Blue Alps volume pot goes through a further selection process during manufacturing to achieve an even tighter, 0.5 dB tolerance.

The CanAmp not only has a line-level input but offers a line-level output to boot; it can therefore be connected to the TAPE MONITOR output of an amplifier, leaving the TAPE output free for additional components (MP3, MiniDisc, CDR, etc.). Gold-plated RCA terminals are used, and soldered directly onto the fibreglass PCB.

Measured performance is excellent, the bandwidth going far beyond the audio range in both bass and treble, with low distortion into any normal headphone impedance and plentiful output.

Output level isn’t everything and the Pro-ject will in any case drive even harder, but this amp impressed not least on account of its large audio scale. Indeed, even with quite modest volume-control settings the soun just seemed big and generous, tonally, dynamically and even spatially. Once again, there’s a lot of detail, but the dominant impression is of size.
Funnily enough, this was perhaps more pronounced with some unaccompanied solo vocals than with orchestra or mega-rock, but that just serves to remind one that the human voice can indeed be a very big instrument. Perhaps if you like your music a bit on the polite side this may seem a touch excessive, but we freely confess that we just loved it. Tonality is great too.

Technical Specifications:

Input Sensitivity/Impedance: 200 mV/10 kOhm
Power Output: 900 mW @ 8 Ohm
Signal-to-Noise Ratio: 95dB
Distortion: <0,5% (900 mW/1 kHz)
Frequency Range: 10 Hz - 50 kHz (+/- 0,5dB)

Payment

All items must be paid for within 7 days of the transaction date by one of the following payment methods:

Credit Card (All types accepted)
Paypal
Cheque
Postal Order
Bacs Transfer

If you are unable to make payment within the specified time period please let us know as soon as possible.

Returns

We want you to feel happy with your purchase, so if for any reason you are not, you may send your item(s) back to us within 14 days for a full refund or exchange-free of charge.

Please note, postage costs are non refundable except in the following circumstances:

* the item you receive is different to that ordered.

* OR the item you receive is damaged or faulty.

In the above cases a full refund/exchange will be issued including any additional postage costs incurred by the buyer.*

*Please note, we can only refund up to the minimum postage amount required to send your item(s) back to us. Therefore, we always recommend that items be returned to us using royal mails 2nd class service with recorded delivery for insurance purposes.

All items must be returned to us in their original condition within 14 days of receipt. Please let us know before hand why you are planning on sending an item back to us and remember to include this information in your return. It is also vital that you include your user id & item number so we can deal with your request for a refund or exchange as quickly as possible

All refunds will be issued via your original method of payment and normally take up to 3 working days to process.