EarMen’s new pocket DAC can power even the most demanding headphones



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If you are a high-fidelity fanatic who has recently spent more time outdoors “exercising” in an attempt to avoid our new era of social estrangement, you can also They have begun to regret the lack of truly high-end audio options that nature has to offer.

Most portable players and smartphones don’t have the grunt of wearing the right pair of headphones, but EarMen’s new TR-Amp portable headphone / DAC amp could be the perfect answer.

Not only will it drive almost any hearing aid, or in the ears, on the planet, it will at high volume levels … and for much longer than it is currently supposed to be outdoors.

The EarMen brand comes from the highly respected European manufacturer Auris Audio, and was established to market the company’s high-end portable audio products. The new TR-Amp is the brand’s latest offering, with this palm-sized case providing a battery-powered portable headphone preamp / amplifier / DAC.

This small premium device processes all PCM audio formats up to 32-bit / 384kHz, DSD256 via DoP, native DSD128, and MQA with an ES9038Q2M SABER DAC that uses ESS’s proprietary HyperStream II QUAD architecture and is equipped with the Eliminator of time domain jitter from that company.

EarMen TR-Amp

EarMen TR-Amp has analog volume control for both its line out and dual headphone outputs (Image credit: Auris Audio)

The TR-Amp’s 3,700 mA rechargeable battery has a claimed life of 10 hours, with the headphone amplifier capable of delivering 400mW of power at 16ohms throughout. It is said to be able to handle almost all headphone designs currently available. Charging is done through a dedicated USB-C port, with data delivered through a separate USB-C data port.

The TR-Amp’s amplifier section uses a Texas Instruments TPA6120 IC with current feedback class A / B amplifier architecture to ensure high bandwidth, extremely low noise, and up to 128dB of dynamic range.

“Using a current feedback amplifier means that we can get a response speed high enough to eliminate odd-order distortion anomalies, in addition to delivering current on demand at the output to allow the amplifier to respond quickly and linearly when necessary without distortion. ” Miroslav Milovanovic of EarMen said. “It also means that the frequency response is independent of the gain, allowing the full bandwidth of the amplifier to be used in a wide range of gain settings.”

EarMen TR-Amp

The EarMen TR-Amp output can be switched between direct output and preamp output. (Image credit: Auris Audio)

The volume control is analog for the headphone amp and preamp sections, and the TR-Amp has two headphone outputs that can be used simultaneously. “Play anything from MP3 to MQA, or stream from Tidal or Qubuz, you will always hear beautiful, neutral sound quality,” said Milovanovic. “And no matter what headphones you plug in, you’ll discover that the TR-Amp offers a level of performance that will satisfy even the most demanding audio enthusiast.”

Available directly from EarMen for $ 249 (around £ 200 / AU $ 450), the TR-Amp is designed, produced and assembled in Europe and comes standard with a shielded USB-A to USB-C female adapter.

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