S.M.S.L SH-9 Headphone Amplifier THX AAA Technology RCA/XLR Input 6.35MM Balanced Headphone Amplifier

Excellent sonic qualities with massive power to drive any of my headphones, IEMs etc. including power hungry Sennheiser's . The only minor downside is that it gets a little warm under heavy loads but not hot.

Compared to other headphone amps in the same category with AAA tech, XLR inputs, XLR headphone output, and 3 or so watts of output, the SMSL SH-9 is an excellent build, especially with the remote (!!!) and LCD screen. The only thing this is missing is outputs to be used as a preamp, but I did not buy it for preamp use - I wanted the headphone amplification and only that, with high performance. This unit is a top notch performer with clean sound, super channel separation, and plenty of power. I drive a few different headphones with this, but I usually use an Audeze LCD-2 (with Phazor) and this amp is an excellent match. The sound signature is totally neutral and complete at all frequencies, which the LCD-2 needs with it's laid back nature. No extra color needed in the signal - just the pure clean source as desired. My only nitpick is that the volume knob is clicky, but the tech behind the volume adjustments is definitely worth the tradeoff - super accurate and 100% balanced from right to left channels. Highly recommended.

This amplifier is good enough, it plays clear and doesn't add anything to your headphones sound. I know there is better sound out there, but for this price? I only own a sound card (was $150), a home theater amplifier (was $1100) and this amp (was $250), so cant really compare apples to apples. I own a pair of Sennheiser 660s and they sound great on this amplifier, just wish it had a little more bass and/or options on the amp itself. All in all, they sounded better than the sound card and worse than the home theater amp, so take that as you will.

I’ve gone through many headphone amps over the past decades, and this one is the best. I’ve recently compared it to two Topping amps, and it’s superior to both, with wider dynamic range, wider soundstage, and naturalness of sound. It has more than enough power to drive my Focal Stellias. I rarely turn it up past 50 when not in high gain mode.

I bought this based on the specs and reviews, but was also impressed with the THX hardware. However, it’s a piece of junk. It runs so hot that I actually burned my hand changing the volume. And it only sounds decent at high volumes. I admit I have a trained ear playing and listening to classical music all of my life, and this definitely showed it was a lower-end product. It definitely did not live up to my expectations.

I was using the Sybasonic DAC/AMP combo for a while with the SHP9500s but lately I've wanted to upgrade my audio equipment to something a more powerful. Did some research and landed on the Focal Elex as my headphones of choice and wanted a DAC/AMP that could handle the new headphones. Settled on the SH-9 and bought it "Used - Like New". Honestly, it was more like open box. Everything intact, no signs of use and even the remote was still packaged. That Amp itself had exceeded my expectations. I'm still a n00b when it comes to all this HiFi gear but I definitely feel like I got what I paid for. Read/Watch some reviews and decide for yourself but I think you'll really be happy with this too especially if this is a step up from other cheaper entry level equipment.

The design of the volume pot means perfect L-R balance at any setting, just superb!

I bought this headphone amp, trusting the positive reviews, but to those people—what are you thinking? Have you never used a _nice_ headphone amp before? This one fails on so many counts. A good headphone amp has a volume knob that glides like a bird of prey, and gives you a wide range of listening volumes where it sounds lovely. Instead, this one has a volume system based on switching relays, with 100 stops. Every time you turn the knob, it clicks as some relays presumably select which resistors to include in an 8–part resistor ladder, giving accurate digital volume steps. If the clicking as you make larger adjustments bothers you, you can enable "volume mode" where it will let you adjust and then click the relays, instead of adjusting as you go. It also suggests that this improves the service life. That may be ‘accurate’, but who cares about faithfully scaling to 100 precise volume steps? It only makes sense if you treat it as a fixed gain setting that you will basically never adjust. That kind of defeats the purpose of a headphone amp to me. So, one star to volume control. Misses the point. As for the sound quality, I gave it three stars because it's better than no headphone amp. My first day of listening, reminded me of the pleasure of listening to music, that I had given up for other life priorities for many years. I had ordered this one as I accidentally bought a DAC with no headphone amp, it was ready to go, and because of the positive feedback. I was able to enjoy that day with volume on max and the 10dB gain switch disabled, but the DAC I was using has a fine control for volume. It was passable, but when I A/B test it against another heaphone amp in the same price range, an 'ifi Zen CAN, the Zen CAN produces a much nicer sound across a wider range of volumes. I'm not sure what specific quality it is, but my guess is it boils down to an excessive focus on accuracy measurable by instruments and not ears. Especially on busy sections of music where this is a lot of mid–upper treble, it strains me to listen to the harshness of the sound. Bass seems flat. The sound has no warmth to it. Let's also talk about the remote control, which Amazon suggests I rate. Let's leave aside for a moment why a headphone amp even needs a remote control. The user interface and remote control are also garbage. It's a remote which controls several S.M.S.L. units, which means you have a confusing hidden remote control mode. You have to remember that "B" means the headphone amp. "FN" toggles the 10dB gain (Ow! You just made my ears hurt). The "Input Source" button is appropriately labeled and switches from RCA to dual XLR balanced input. There's a navigation that lets you jump around its clunky menu system and adjust such important features as the screen brightness and how long it will show the display before it dims. The other thing about this headphone amp is that the output is either 6.5mm single–ended, or 4–pin XLR. OK sure, there's a 6.5mm to 3.5mm adapter, so most wired headphones will connect via that. But there's no 4.4mm balanced output, so to use that you'll have to either get a dongle (no unibody XLR to 4.4mm adapters exist yet, it seems), or buy a headphone cable with an XLR connector on it. But if you buy a headphone cable with an XLR connector, you can't use that pair of headphones with anything portable, so you'll have to switch cables if you find you want to listen to your favorite cans on the go. To me, this headphone amp is not fit to be a daily driver. It would be OK if your DAC has a good output volume knob, _but_ that's not particularly common. Most sources have a fixed output, that's all. The remote control, screen, XLR connector and relay–based volume control are all mis–features that detract from the joy of owning a headphone amp.

Habe meinen RME ADI-2 mit dem KHV ergänzt und mir gefällt nun die Darstellung der Musik besser. Von den Werten ist der Ausgang vom RME überlegen aber die Insturumente sind eingebundener und der KHV klingt musikalischer. Ob er ohne Equalizing sich auch gut anhört und nicht etwa zu spitz ist, kann ich nicht sagen. Wenn man meckern möchte könnte man ihm eine enge Bühne vorwerfen was mit einer guten Präsenz der Sänger belohnt wird. Der bleibt da! Die Fernbediehnung ist natürlich super bequem. Er klickt hörbar im Gerät bei veränderung der Lautstärke aber das stört nicht - im Gegenteil: Ich mag das irgendwie.

Ottimo prodotto! Quando i Cinesi fanno lo cose davvero bene... Associato al suo dac SU-9 ha un suono meraviglioso. Preciso, gradevole, non stancante, immagine perfetta. Nulla da eccepire. Compratelo a scatola chiusa.

Très bonne amplificateur de casque avec puissance et finesse Télécommande très appréciable Testé avec Sennheiser HD 600 Denon ah d7200 Hifiman Sundara

Some time ago I had an SMSL SP200 and although it sounded clean, it sounded a bit brittle and sibilant, which I hate. I've owned many head'amps ... Darkvoice, Little Dots & a Sabaj D5 which had a fantastic DAC but lacklustre amp. Hence I thought I would give this one a go, glad I did. Super clean and smooth, plenty of power, with enough for hard to drive Planar phones. My Audeze LCD2's are tough to really get going, but this drives them perfectly. Really pleased and will be keeping for a long while!

同じSMSLのSU-1をつなぎ、ノートPC→SU-1→本機（SH-9）→ヘッドホンの構成で聴いています。 ＜良いところ＞ ・有り余るほどパワーがあること 静かな部屋で使っているとはいえ、開放型のDT990PRO-80Ωをつないでも音量は2/100で済んでいます。正直、ヘッドホンでこのアンプの出力を使い切れる気がしません。 ・ノイズレベルが低いこと マルチドライバのカナル型イヤホンから平面駆動型ヘッドホンまで、何をつないでもアンプ由来のノイズは聞こえません。特に低インピーダンス高能率のカナル型イヤホンをつないでもノイズが聞こえないのは素晴らしいです（それが音の良さに直結するわけではないですが。） ・液晶表示があってステータスがわかりやすいこと 入力の種類や音量が表示され、状況を掴みやすいです。また、電源ON⇔OFFの状態がわかりやすいので、電源の切り忘れが減るのもありがたいポイントです。 ちなみに電源ON-OFFはメインボリュームの長押しで行います。最初はどうしたらいいのかわからなくて焦りました。 ＜今一つなところ＞ ・ライン入力のコネクタ間がやや狭いこと 今のところ問題ありませんが、コネクタの太いケーブルだと厳しいかもしれません。 amazonベーシックのラインケーブルを使うと、コネクタの太いところで隙間がほとんどなくなります。 ＜総評＞ それほどお金をかけずにデスクトップのリスニング環境を作るには、個人的にかなり良い製品でした。 少し古い製品ですが、上流次第でまだ伸びしろがあるように感じられ、長い付き合いになりそうです。