Neither champ nor chump; this headphone amplifier is a mixed bag
Headphone amp | £1389 | whf.cm/EarMenCHamp
EarMen was created as an arm and sister company to respected European manufacturer Auris Audio by its founder Milomir ‘Miki’ Trosic to serve a specific purpose: to enhance portable listening supplying small, affordable, battery-powered and USB DAC/headphone amplifiers. But then, in late 2021, Trosic took the EarMen brand a step further by developing a stack of more serious headphone components for the desktop, the latest of which is the two-box CH-Amp analogue headphone amplifier we have under scrutiny here.
Separate power supply
This is a fully balanced headphone amp with a built-in pre-amplifier and a separate (supplied) linear power-supply unit called the PSU-3.
Not only is the CH-Amp’s circuit board wrapped in aluminium: the casework for its two units are made from it too. Both are 15cm wide and deep, though the power supply is double the height of the amplifier at 6cm. They look very clearly cut from the same design cloth with their impressively solid build and functional chassis. They seem to belong to a previous era, too, thanks to the amplifier’s primitive OLED display and pin buttons, but we are still fond of their mature, ‘traditional hi-fi’ look.
In addition, there are one or two nice touches: the volume dial clicks subtly upon rotation, and even more rewarding is that when you unmute the CH-Amp (by pushing in the volume dial) the volume gradually increases back to the level it was at over a few seconds, rather than just startling your ears. The chunky remote is a nicely weighted thing, too.
This pair is compact enough for a desktop application, but the units also offer a platter of connections that make them fit as a middleman in a headphones-only desktop set-up or a wider hi-fi system. These include both (typical) 6.3mm and (niche) balanced 4.4mm headphone outputs, as well as a gain button that switches between ‘high’ (1.5W into 32 ohms through the 6.3mm, and 3.8W into 32 ohms for balanced) and ‘low’ (260mW into 32 ohms for the 6.3mm and 1W into 32 ohms for balanced) modes. There are also three inputs – two RCAs and a balanced 4.4mm.
That stack may look smart, but we would recommend putting the units side by side on a tabletop as opposed to vertically, if you have space. Do so and the CH-Amp’s sonic presentation sounds more solid and open.
Plentiful positives
We are glad to find that the CH-Amp delivers an even-handed, crisp and precise sound from the off as we plug in an assortment of high-end headphones. Playing Aldous Harling’s Old Peel, it capably surfa
