Performance

To test the performance of this headphone amplifier with integrated DAC I used both full-sized headphones and in-ears. For reference headphones I used my old and trusty Sennheiser HD 595 with a Soloz Audio Cards cable. The Sennheiser HD 595 are good for reference purposes because it is a great headphone and has a quite good upfront presentation. It is a good compromise between a lot of factors. When it comes to low impedance high efficiency headphones I used a pair of Westone UM2s and Ultimate Ears Super.fi 3 Studios. They are from two different ranges on the performance spectrum.

The low / high gain switch on the BitHead makes it fairly efficient at driving all types of headphones right from ultra sensitive in-ear-monitors to full-sized cans like the Sennheiser HD 595s. This is one of the things that makes this little amp so versatile and adds greatly to its value.

Since the Total BitHead is a dual purpose device I tested it both with my computer loaded with FLAC files as source and tested the amp section of it with my Cowon iAudio i7 DAP.

To begin with I used the DAC with the whole unit being powered from my PC and I was pleasantly surprised by the sound quality. The noise floor was roughly the same as my X-Fi with the BitHead having the edge.

After my first listening session of about one hour I had got a so and so impression of the amp. Being driven off my PC there were some problems with crackling and other nasty artifacts surfacing from time to time. This is due to the fact that the amp and DAC are not being feed with clean direct current. The small pops and crack I heard were a direct consequence of ripple voltage. After switching over to battery powered operation all of those artifacts were gone. The DAC on the unit is really good and the general sound quality was way above that of my X-Fi extreme music. The clarity and definition of all the tones was so much better and the bass was way more controlled and extended further. Also treble detail was a bit better, definitely a noticeable upgrade coming from the X-Fi.

The sound quality of the DAC is amazing. For the price of $149 you get an external DAC that sounds way better than a normal sound card. The better definition and clarity of the bass makes most music shine. Bear in mind that this device does not need a driver. It is recognized right away after you connect it to your PC via USB. Despite the minimal effort, the sound quality is really good. The unit actually comes with some velcro pads so it would be really easy to turn one's laptop into a somewhat more audiophile workstation on the move.

Overall the DAC provides an insane sound quality compared to its relative low cost. Considering its price the sound quality is stellar. The only weak point is that the definition is a bit lacking, sometimes I noticed it on a couple of tracks, but otherwise the sound quality is upright outstanding having the price in mind. Compared to my Marantz CD - 6002 CD player the BitHead lacks definition and does not deliver the same precision in the lower mids and deep tones. The tonal balance of the Total BitHead as a DAC is somewhat warm and smooth at the expense of definition. If you like your sound clean and analytical you should probably consider buying something a bit more expensive, but for the price I doubt that you will be able to get anything that sounds quite as good as the BitHead.

For a music lover on a budget this is musical nirvana. Of course the BitHead is not as good in games as the much more powerful X-Fi sound processor and can in no way be compared. The BitHead is perfect for audiophiles on the move that want a good DAC coupled with a headphone amplifier.

When coupling the BitHead with a good sounding DAP you are in for a big surprise. The amp itself has an extremely low noise floor which means that you will not be able to hear any form of hiss with normal headphones. Using this amp with my Cowon DAP and my Sennheiser HD 595s the bass was really controlled and the amp complimented the headphones nicely at high gain. Initially I had thought that the amp on high gain would drive the HD 595s to extreme volumes even when turned down low, but fortunately for me that did not turn out to be the case. The crossfeed was good on some tracks that were recorded in odd ways, but on the majority of my CDs it had little noticeable effect. It is a good feature to have, but not something I would consider a must on such a device.

I did a lot of A / B testing with and without the amp and I came to the conclusion that the amp helped a lot in the bass department even without messing up the mids or highs. The amp really helped opening up the cans and made the music sound really good. My old headphone amp was a Go-Vibe V6, but the BitHead was much better in terms of general sound quality. The sound while using the BitHead was much more transparent and the mids were so much clearer and more textured. Amping the HD 595s with the BitHead really brought forward the bass. One thing is sure, the BitHead will drive almost any medium impedance can with authority.

Durability

The Total BitHead is an extremely solid piece of kit no doubt about that. The hard plastic shell is close to unbreakable in almost any type of scenario. I cannot fathom how this amp could get destroyed during the course of normal use. It might get scratched in the pocket or something like that, but I cannot see how you could ruin the amp. The sockets are pretty solid although they are only fastened to the PCB and not to the solid plastic shell. In a normal everyday situation your headphone cable jack would probably bend or break before the jack was broken inside the amp.

The one thing that can point my finger at is the volume pot. Although it is of a good quality it will most likely develop a bit of static over time, but that is something you cannot avoid without spending a lot of money on the volume adjuster.