Audiophilepure

I was in awe of the Red October within about five minutes of letting it warm up. Its presentation is exactly what I love, engaging, toe-tapping, fun, and tonally correct. It makes me want to sing along and it makes me smile. It is what HiFi is all about. It engages you and drives you to want to listen more. It has been a while since I have had that experience, and I am happy to have had it again. The Red October is not a cheap headphone amplifier, but when you compare it with other statement amplifiers, not only will you find that it sounds as good if not better, but you will also find that its price tag is actually cheaper then its direct competitors at the same performance level. This is not your first headphone amplifier, it could be, but I personally think you should start smaller. Instead this can easily be your last headphone amplifier, heck, I think it could even be your last speaker amplifier.

It is the first amplifier that I have heard that can actually do both jobs so well that I cannot find a real compromise. Yes you cannot use super-efficient, easy to drive headphones without a little background noise. It is a 6 to 8 watt DHT amp and that is not a reasonable expectation. Yes, you cannot drive lower efficiency speakers to concert levels without compression, once again this is a 6 to 8 watt DHT amp, that is not a reasonable expectation. If you pair this amp with any flagship headphone and a pair of higher efficiency speakers (like Klipsch, Zu, or others) then you really may never buy another amp again.

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