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(More customer reviews)BEFORE I purchased a Cute Beyond, I talked for over 30 minutes with a tech at Firestone/Audiophile about their "Cute" headphone amps and power supplier. This alone was amazing to me when phone calls and e-mails are so often left unanswered these days. Good people, good service, and good products. Here is the short version of what I learned...
If you want a quiet headphone amp (my first objective), purchase a battery-powered amplifier like their "Cute II Battery" and run it on the batteries. Most noise is caused by the AC-to-DC power conversion so the "Cute II Battery" is essentially silent when running on battery power. It has two 9-volt, rechargeable, and user-replaceable batteries providing nearly perfect silence for about 10 hours per charge.
If you want a fairly-priced, powerful, and responsive amp (my second objective), purchase something like the "Cute Beyond" and be certain that the company also sells an upgraded power supply like our "Supplier" in case you want even less noise from the AC-to-DC conversion. If you are going to drive a low impedance set of headphones, you will most likely need the additional current-delivering capacity of an upgraded power supply. The wall-warts just can't deliver enough smooth power on their own.
Since they spent so much time with me AND the about-$200 market is so small, I ordered the "Cute Beyond" to give it a listen. The improvement over my Adcom PreAmp and Denon Receiver headphone sections was profound, much quieter and much more musical clarity. But I could still hear the noise floor at -104dB. (It is not ego; my hearing was professionally tested after being in an explosion. I can hear a somewhat farther reaching frequency range than most humans, and at much lower volume levels than the vast majority you.)
So, why not give the "Supplier" a chance to lower that floor still further (another -10dB) and provide me with an enhanced clarity, presence, and rich sound stage that only a lot of good, clean, and responsive power can supply. I did not believe their rhetoric, but I had only return postage to worry about because they offered to waive the shipping cost on their end. Cool, a $10 experiment.
My skepticism was shattered within minutes; it washed away in a sea of brilliant, present, and clear sound. Simply amazing, it blew me away. I just lay their grinning. I can still easily hear the noise floor, but at -115db that is my problem, not the equipment. It has now been two skepticism-shattering weeks -- album after album has had revealed subtleties that I never heard before (both good and not-so-good), new instruments that appeared from a former nowhere, and articulate crescendos that were soft and muddy.
My recommendation is their recommendation. Batteries if portability and low noise floor are your drivers. Step into a Cute Beyond if you want more. Step into a Supplier if you want even more. My total cost, including shipping, was $314. I am having a profound musical awakening on my Sennheiser HD-280-Pros with great anticipation for enough cash to reach a pair Denon AH-D5000s. I already have the current and power to drive them; it will be awesome.
[...]
Great listening awaits you.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Audiophile Products Supplier - Silver Power Supply Unit
The standard auto-switching PSU included with your Firestone component is a capable unit and will satisfy the needs of many listeners. The "SUPPLIER" upgrade on the other hand is a cleaner, higher powered unit. 500ma output for the "SUPPLIER" and 200ma for the stock PSU, a whopping 2.5 times more! This provides the reserve power to follow the dynamic swings and crescendos in the music that the stock PSU might not be able to follow. This is a brand new SUPPLIER version, recently redesigned for even cleaner, more consistent power!
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