Gadgetory

welcome back to tech yes City this is dr. ez coming back to you guys today with a review of a headphone amplifier otherwise known as the o2 or objective 2 now this headphone amplifier was designed by a cool guy called NWA AV guy and he essentially made this amplifier because he was sick of all that snake oil and all the going on in the audiophile world and basically what this was meant to be was a reference class headphone amplifier at the best price possible and in other words this is a really high-end headphone amplifier and as touted as being gain on Y which essentially just amplifies whatever is coming into it and it amplifies it crystal-clear but we'll get onto the sound later let's look at the packaging and essentially this is a model by JD s labs there's another manufacturer called Mayflower electronics that make this and this is the model by JD s lab so anyway I'm gonna be reviewing this model I don't know what the mayflower electronics models like but I'm sure it's just as good since it's a reference based design but first off you'll notice when you get this product it comes boxed extremely well JD s labs really pay attention to detail and they pack it in anti-static wrapping as well they also give you a little hint or you know Start Guide which has some good tips on there as well to get this thing going now the build quality this thing build quality this thing is exceptional it feels really sturdy really solid it looks like it could take a fall the the casing is made of steel and it's a nice matte black finish that really feels smooth and good in your hands the honestly everything is located on the front so you've got the power button the volume knob the gain button the in and out and the power or power in all on the front of the headphone amplifier now some people might not like this I honestly don't care and I actually find it pretty convenient since it's for desktop use now this model is also pretty portable but it weighed in about 370 grams on my scale so honestly I don't really see myself porting this thing around too much however with the laptop and if you need reference grade you know sound quality it could be of you so if you need that portable function now one thing that one sort of negative about this is it does take I mean it's a good thing it takes AC voltage but it's also negative in that it's hard to find an adapter I lived in Japan and there was literally only one adapter that I could find for this headphone amplifier it was pretty crazy you know it was an old secondhand modem PC so you got to be careful when you look for a voltage adaptor for this that's gonna be an AC AC adapter and it has to be from 14 to 20 volts vac so it's pretty hard to find an adapter for these but once you find that adapter and you fire this thing up it is really good one thing I'll point before we move on to sound quality too is that the power button feels really good there's a nice subtle red light that goes on as well to let you know that it's on it's really nice and subtle it looks good the jacks feel really solid as well the game buttons nice and firm as well easy to push and the volume knob is nice and stiff and I don't see that moving accidentally by any chance so really good the build quality is top-notch I'd give it a 10 out of 10 for build quality it feels good everything on it works really well let's look at the sound quality now though it comes with a 2 first of all it comes with 2.5 decibel gain which it's recommended to have this off unless you absolutely need it JD s labs by request will also put this up to 6.5 decibel gain if you need it honestly I found though listening to this thing which literally with the knob like 1 maybe 6 of the way up that was the highest I could go any louder it would send any headphone I had here to deafening levels so this thing definitely has so much power at your disposal it's scary it's actually overkill for pretty much anything I've got here now this is the sound quality of this you know people say it's gain on Y and that's exactly true when I tested it out with my co 1 s9 my creative Z direct line out stereo director out and the realtek 1150 I could start to hear differences between all these 3 Dax the realtek 1150 was slightly behind the co 1s 9 and the creative Z the creative Z's line out direct starid line out was phenomenal it was one of the best things I've ever heard this coupled with this was phenomenal really brought the music to life I mean just gave it that little edge however with standard headphones this is one thing I'm gonna point out this phone is intended for high-end headphones it's intended for people who have maybe spent made 5 $500 to $1,000 on headphones and want the best I did use these and mean most the differences came out pretty much only when I used my Fidelio ex ones which are a high-end headphone so any other headphone here for instance my audio Technica's you know the sound quality wasn't all that different it wasn't night and day you know I wouldn't if you have a low-end or you know mid-range headphone say hundred dollar headphones or $50.00 headphones you're not gonna benefit from going out and spending 80 dollars on a sound card and you know 120 dollars on a headphone amplifier so when this sort of this thing it's value for money really starts to appreciate when you're coupling it with high-end gear and for instance you know Fidelio ex ones even and you can start to hear those little soul differences and you're chasing it honestly for me I mean I'm not really an audiophile I think you know an audiophile is someone who has a passion for audio they listen with their music you know their listen to music with their eyes closed it's their passion they love audio for me it's not really my passion I can't really justify spending a hundred and you know twenty dollars on an amplifier and you know 80 dollars on a sound card to get you know that little bit extra that you know that clock that extra clarity that extra detail you know I did I need that money for my own personal use so anyway am I gonna recommend this unit yes I'm you know highly recommend this unit it's a legit product from a legit company that works and it works really well when would I recommend this I would recommend this honestly with high-end headphones it is a high-end amplifier at a great price and it'll do exactly what it says it will do so if you have any questions about this headphone amplifier please leave a comment the comment section below I'll get back to you as soon as I can it's a solid-state amplifier it really doesn't it just really gives you a clean signal it's it's beautiful it is a beautiful unit and at the end of the day it's nice so a really good product from JD s labs I'd imagine the Mayflower lectroid one is just as good so it's legit product at a legit price highly recommend it it's pretty much endgame I soon suited this headphone amplifier and that's what it is really good really good item anyway guys if you enjoyed this review please give it a thumbs up I will be reviewing this Sound Blaster Z next it does have some flaws but anyway we'll get onto that in the next review I hope you guys enjoyed this review and I am gonna go peace out for now bye