THE $15000 TITAN FROM WELLS AUDIO. HEADTRIP III LEVEL II HEADPHONE AMPLIFIER REVIEW.

Simply the best Solid-state headphone amplifier that has come through ConvinceMeAudio for review

DACs used during analysis:
Rockna WaveDream, HoloAudio May KTE, Warwick acoustics Aperio, Questyle CMA Fifteen, Wells Audio groove.

Headphone Amp comparisons:
Spirit, Torino Sigphrid, Zahl HM1, HoloAudio Bliss, 23R, CMA Fifteen.

Headphones used:
Hifiman Susvara, Abyss AB1266TC, Focal utopia, Spirit, Torino, Valkaria, Camerton Audio Binom ER, ZMF Verite Open, RAAL CA-1A.

_____________________________________

Early reviews & the audio lounge private telegram chat:

Reviews:
Mod House Audio Tungsten Review

WARWICK ACOUSTICS APERIO REVIEW

HOLO AUDIO BLISS KTE AMPLIFIER REVIEW

MONOBLOCKING THE BENCHMARK AHB2 POWER AMPLIFIEr. Unleashing Susvara,

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➤ Chapters :
0:00 Chapters
01:00 The Wells Audio Headtrip headphone amp
04:00 The Headtrip III Level II Internals and specs
06:38 Headphones, DACs, & components used with Headtrip
08:20 Wells Audio Headtrip III Level II performance
09:33 Headtrip III Level II overall sound
11:50 Headtrip headphone amp with RAAL CA-1A
15:00 IEMs & sensitive headphones on Headtrip
18:00 Wells Audio Headtrip II Level II FR breakdown
20:10 Conclusion

[carminedesanto]

Looks like a freak’n toaster…but it make beautiful toast!
I’m good with my Bryston BHA-1 headphone amplifier..but this is on a whole other level of existence .
Thank you for showing me a larger universe.

[klaymoon]

$15k? Love to see you drive speakers with it. If it has speaker outputs or a speaker cable adapter, I think it will make the price more justifiable.

[grayfox]

Excellent review as always Koji! Have you listened to the Mass Kobo 465? Everyone is raving about it and it is in the same price range

[aceofspades]

A few other amps at this tier that would likely be competitive or surpass wells:

Aries Cerat Genus Integrated
Riviera AIC-10
Oji Special BDI DC-44B GT
Angstrom Stella SHA20 MK2
Trafomatic Primavera
Viva Egoista 845
2x dual mono Re/Leaf E3 Hybrid dC
Woo WA33 Elite
Crayon CHA-1
Mass Kobo 394 II or 465

The new Burson soloist voyager also looks interesting as well but perhaps would underperform wells and be in bliss tier.

[SKY]

Thank you for great review! I have head trip 3 but not level 2. Can you tell us more about difference between head trip level 2, bliss and hm1? Is there any area where bliss or hm1 better ?

[accsu]

Koji, I am tempted to send you my Hi-Fi Man’s EF1000 and EF1000 DAC (still waiting on its delivery has been 4-5 months wait) for you to play around. But, unfortunately, the shipping would be an arm and leg. The EF1000 come with two medium and medium-large Pelican cases compare to regular luggage size. If I was in the US, they would a bit or a lot cheaper I think. I don’t even know where you are located. Anyway, EF1000 came out “about” the same time as Susvara so it a few years old (mine is still not broken in yet). Would love to know how these two would stack up with this review unit. Same exact price point…. I am sure the review unit may have the edge. What I like about EF1000 is the ability to drive book shelf speakers with speaker terminals on the back (output in class A or class AB). It’s a rare for headphone amp. I don’t think the EF1000DAC has this ability. Anyway, it’s just a wild thought. I don’t think it’s going to happen. Sorry. I am still trying to burn in my unit. Haven’t had the chance to really listen to it.

As usual, awesome review and keep up the great work.

[erickfoss]

Have you tried the woo audio WA234-MONO Headphone Amplifier? I wonder how the two compare. True tube mono block $17k vs SS dual mono 15k

[medardboss]

Hello! When can we expect Riviera AIC-10 headphone amp review? Would you compare it to headtrip?

[rogerhuston]

Wonder how this compares to the 465? The 465 was the first SS I really enjoyed. I also like it can drive IEMs as easily as Tungsten. I bet they are close.

[JMAudioEditions]

for 15K dang! that front plate looks like its all scratched up so easily- I wish they used a different front plate like the one on my Coffman Prautes

[dynamic-audio]

That amp looks like a French fry machine. How horrible haha

[TC-dgpm]

The unit is wobbly? Uneven feet? Like the annoying restaurant tables?

[normie]

Curious how this will stack up against Trafomatic Audio Primavera

[rogerhuston]

I liked the sound of the Bliss over the HM-1, but you can't beat the HM-1 functionality.

[finvarg]

This time he couldn't even screw the left output connector without skew, I can imagine what hell he left inside.

[dzemoski]

Would you like butter with your sound or jam?

[tanyet]

May be well made but doesn’t look like it. Look at the XLR. Just looks messy to me.

[masterazlan]

Wait until i try in on IEM, peoples will say im crazy.. Hmm i bet theres hum frm this big towards iem... Peace!

[bigsamiabs]

I wish I had the space for this. I would sell my HM1 (reference sound) and Bakoon 13R (more rich fun sound) for this.

It would be interesting to see how this compares to the much smaller Kobo 645 sound quality wise. This is absolutely a more powerful amp but I love the Kobos size.

[rogerhuston]

Tungsten is harder to drive than Susvara as you know.