Opinions on Storm B4 Headphone Amplifier

[csleena 0]

I received a Storm 4B Headphone amplifier last week. Unfortunately due to itchy fingers, I tried to open the casing and ended up breaking the connections to the charger. Heady was kind enough to have these connections re-soldered. Thanks again Heady, you are great!

Heady described this headphone amp as "Stylo". I think it looks like the RSA Hornet but a little bigger.

I understand from forummers in Head-fi that this is rated as one of the high end portable headphone amps.

Here is the link to pics and specs of this Storm B4 Headphone amp:-

 

The amp is bought from eBay. You can check this at

http://cgi.ebay.com.sg/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi...54864&rd=1&rd=1

 

There are some chats and specs at Head-fi on this amp at this address:-

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=231001

 

I have burn-in about 30 hours so far and the SQ is very good. I did an A-B test with my Xin Supermacro and IMHO using my AKG701, the Storm is probably better than the Supermacro IV. However, using the ER4S, Supermacro 4 is still the best, but then Xin basically designed his amps around his favourite IEM, which is the ER4S.

 

I believe in synergy between different headphones and amps. For me, it is Supermacro 4 + ER4S. For the AKG701, Storm 4B is better, wider sound stage, warmer and just as clear as SuperMacro 4. The Storm also works well with the Senn600 but it was too bassy for my taste when I tried it with my Senn650. I couldn't try with the Grado RS1 as even at minimum volume, it was too loud.

 

Has anybody else tried this amp and what do you think?

[heady 0]

Thanks CS for the review. The casing is really nice, we diyers can't find such nice cases. Sound wise, I didn't know it wasn't run in and I thought it was a little too bright. But since it isn't run in, that would be normal.

 

The amp is quite well built and the components are ok. But don't try to open this amp too often. The battery and power cables are solid core and quite thin. They snap very easily and that's what happened.