rHead

The rHead is a standalone headphone amplifier built around a linear Class A design, which avoids crossover distortion. The circuit uses several low-noise power supplies and a fully direct-coupled signal path. Volume is set by an analogue resistive ladder control rather than a standard potentiometer, which avoids channel tracking errors. Protection circuitry guards the unit without affecting the sound.

It is specified to drive headphones from 16 Ω to 600 Ω and delivers 2.0 W into 16 Ω, 1.1 W into 32 Ω and 0.13 W into 300 Ω. Output impedance is below 0.5 Ω. Headphones connect through either a 3.5 mm or a 6.35 mm socket.

Source equipment connects through unbalanced RCA or balanced XLR inputs, which are switchable. The unit runs from a 12 V DC supply and is housed in a compact cast aluminium case. This model is listed as discontinued.