Excellent bass; superior "presense" in relation to Headroom's Little.

Nuances do not come through as clearly or as prominantly as on Headroom's Little.

As expected from the above fields, I bought this product to compare directly with Headroom's Little. Using Sennheiser HD 600 headphones, a Straightwire Harmony interconnect, and a relatively old Sony 5-CD changer, the results were staggering. With the Creek, I felt as if I were "closer" to the musicians than I did with Headroom's amp and, moreover, enjoyed the deep, yet not over-powering bass. Nine Inch Nails, Phish, and Tool especially showcased the depth of the OBH-11's bass power, though the nuances did not become lost in the mix.

However, this brings up an interesting point. While, personally, I enjoyed the presense and bass response of OBH-11, it did not reveal as many (or as cleary, the) subtleties as did the Little. In addition, the Creek cannot up upgraded as the Little can (although Creek does offer the OBH-11 SE: regulated power supply; two headphone jacks of different impedence; better sound). The Little also boasts a $50 higher price tag than the Creek.

Please audition each amp--in your particular setup-- before accepting my or any other reviewer's advice. Not only can audio set-ups change, but opinions regarding "good" and "bad" sound as well.

Overall, the OBH-11 is a great product at a reasonable price. It allows the music to shine, envelope..... and move.

Similar Products Used:

Headroom Little
Headroom Supreme
Grado RA-1
Creek OBH-11 SE

Nice sound,nice build quality,small footprint

goofy power supply

I like this little amp.This amp and a good set of headphones(Grado sr325 or sennheiser HD600)is your cheapest ticket to an audiophile listening experience.Yeah, you cannot use cheap connects or headphone extensions,they will notably degrade sound quality.It seems to be capable of powering any headphone and sounds good doing so.Has very good bass and nice,clear highs.If you are looking for instant gratification buy this amp.If you have never tried a headphone amp as my fourteen year old daughter had you will be immediately immpressed.She is now saving her money for one of these and a set of Grado sr80 headphones for her room.

Similar Products Used:

Grado ra-1

This $200 piece of equipment has to be one of the best values in audio. Besides being very well constructed, it sounds great. Very undistorted and detailed, dynamic sound with superb highs against an absolutely dead silent background. I also appreciate the stepped volume control with minute gradations in volume increase.
I'm using this unit with the optional regulated power supply. The improvement is noticeable, but very subtle. Depending on associated equipment, the optional power supply might (or might not) improve the sound.

Headphones: Sennheiser HD-600

Detail, detail, detail. Clarity, power and soundstaging can't be matched by headphone output of integrated amp or CD player. Volume control is precise and easy to adjust.

I suspect the soundstage could be wider and deeper through other, more expensive headphone amps.

If you do most of your listening through headphones, as I do, you REALLY need to use a dedicated amp. Since buying the Creek about 14 months ago, I feel as though the reproduction I've gotten through 'phones has been in a different league from what I'd known for 25 years previously. Layers of detail, sonic as well as textural, are uncovered, and the overall presentation is more vivid and palpable--almost 3D on some recordings. It's not a marginal improvement, either, and I figure this amp will stand me in good stead for some time to come, although I'd like to hear the Grado RA-1 at some point.

Similar Products Used:

NAD C540 player, Alpha-Core silver Micro Purls, Grado SR-225s

I took the amp down to my brothers first and hooked it up to his equipment. NAD reciever (10yrs old, can't remember the #). Sounded OK, but too much of the highs, became painfull to listen to after a while even at relatively low vol. His reciever headphone out sounded much warmer and easier to listen to. Thought I'd wasted the money. got back home and hooked it to my Parasound p/sp 1000 pre-amp. Using an Adcom GCD 700 CD player, Sounds a lot warmer, ears not fatigued after a couple of hours listening. Have Sennheiser 480 studio headphones and Sennheiser 580's, both sound great with the amp. Of course u get more detailed reproduction from a dedicated amp and that's the point really. So the $166 was well spent.