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Due to logistical difficulties, the samples of the Transport 3 and Processor 3 that I measured were not the ones auditioned by Shannon Dickson. Unfortunately, my first sample of the Transport 3 wouldn't play discs, so Sonic Frontiers FedExed a replacement. Except where indicated, measurements were made from the Processor 3's balanced analog outputs.

The Processor 3's output was noninverting from its unbalanced outputs, and from its balanced outputs with pin 2 wired as "hot." The maximum output level was a high 5.82V balanced, 2.9V unbalanced. Its output…

I'll tell you what I'm most intimate with (after K-10, of course): my BlockHead. The HeadRoom BlockHead headphone amplifier, that is, the top-of-the-line, $3888 stepped-attenuator model. (A version with Nobel volume pots sells for a still mighty $3333.) I listen to headphones for hours at a stretch while writing my reviews. The equipment I listen to spoils me to death, and I…

More technical mumbo-jumbo
The BlockHead, HeadRoom will have you know, is the world's first and only commercially available, fully balanced, "double dual-mono, monoblock headphone amplifier." As I've said, the BlockHead's machined aluminum front and rear panels hold together two enclosures that contain the separate left and right audio electronics. Each noninverted and inverted audio…

Don't pass out when you see that the Clou Red cables with XLRs for the BlockHead will set you back $350. Hertsens says the Clou Red and Sennheiser HD 600s are as good as it gets for the BlockHead. As this is a…

My head was almost shuddered off by really deep bass—like the bass on the electro-fusion masterpiece "Domination," from Peace Orchestra (Studio K7/G Stone G CD 004) by Peter Kruder, half of the Viennese DJ-remix-producing team of Kruder & Dorfmeister. The low bass…

Description: Dual-mono, fully balanced, solid-state headphone amplifier. Inputs: 1 pair XLRs. Outputs: 1 pair Neutrik dual ¼" TRS/XLR connectors. The following measurements were taken with a 300 ohm load, equivalent to Sennheiser HD 600 headphones: Maximum voltage gain: 15.5dB. Frequency responses: 20Hz-30kHz, ±0.025dB; 10Hz-100kHz, ±0.2dB. Distortion at 1V RMS in, 2V RMS out (10Hz-22kHz measurement bandwidth): 0.0009% (-101.2dB). Crosstalk: ±105dB, 20Hz-20kHz; ±120dB at 1kHz. Noise: -132dB ref. 1.9V output. Input impedance at 1 kHz: >200k ohms. Output…

Analog source: None.
Digital source: BAT VK-D5SE CD player.
Preamplification: None.
Integrated amplifier: Cary CAD-300-SEI.
Cables: Headphone cord: Clou Red. Interconnect: AudioQuest Amazon. AC: Powersnakes Python, PS Audio Lab.
Accessories: PS Audio P300 Power Plant with MultiWave upgrade, AudioPrism Isobearings and Quietlines, Silent Running VR Series IsoDome, DH Labs Cones and Squares.—Jonathan Scull

We covered the behavior of the HeadRoom Process in some depth in earlier reviews—see my review of the HeadRoom Supreme in January 1994 and Wes Phillips' review of the HeadRoom Max in February 1997. Suffice it to say that this proprietary circuitry adds equalized and time-delayed crosstalk to make the experience of listening to normal amplitude-encoded stereo recordings on headphones less artificial. Fig.1, taken from my Supreme review, shows the Process's different frequency responses when the channels are in phase compared with when they are out of phase.

Even before her first Blue Note disc, 1993's groundbreaking Blue Light 'Til Dawn, Cassandra Wilson was on her way toward revolutionizing the art of jazz singing. Her work with the M-base crew (Steve Coleman, Lonnie Plaxico, etc.) on Verve's JMT label combined funk, hip-hop, rock, and jazz into…

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