Rupert Neve Designs RNHP

If you think that a THX 789 amp or some other amp that is measuring so perfectly can hold a candle to this amp in terms of sonic quality, I would not be so sure at all. This amp gives every bit of detail there is to get from the DAC; but does it with personality and enjoyability. It is not colored by any means but it has an ever so slight warmth and analog sounding touch to it and what it has feels to me as lots of grunt and texture with plenty of punch in the low end. This amp has a lot of power as well, don't be fooled by the specs. Especially if you are feeding it with XLR inputs from a powerful source, I highly doubt you can turn it beyond 12 o'clock. Unless you need an amp that can drive headphones like LCD-4 or some very hard to drive headphones, then I believe this is as close to end game as it gets in terms of transparency and joy combined.

I have Violectric V280 as my main, which is a great amp; but even then I had to have this amp on the side, because it is that good.

I bought this amp as an upgrade to the amp section of RME ADI-2 DAC.
While this section is good for All in One unit, I did not expect to be shocked after adding the RNHP to the chain. If you are a spec believer, well that's fine, but that's not the case here. Forget about numbers and watts. These are just numbers. We are talking for proper drive, effortless sound, complete instrument separation with wider space, punch, rich and vivid midrange.
I am using TIDAL connected to Audirvana Player with a MacBook Pro. USB cable from Audioquest. XLR cables are pro line of Bespeco. Headphones cables are stock.
My headphones are:

Sennheiser HD650: I have a tube OTL headphone amp for this pair and its super addictive but I preferred it with the RNHP and it drove it to the full potential easy. Not much to say for this headphone as its midrange is reference level already and this amp added a vividness without distorting it. A very nice pair! I suppose the HD600 will behave the same but I don't have it here to test.

MrSpeakers Aeon Flow Open gen.1 : This was my least exciting headphone and with RME sounded so relaxed that sometimes I found it super laid back and the reason that I kept it, was to listen to only jazz relaxed tracks. Well this headphone was the surprise with the RNHP. It came to life and I am not hyperbolic at all here. It is so exciting and so resolving, the timbre feels right and all instruments sound as they should and too realistic. This headphone is the reason that proves that watts are numbers. 14ohm and 94db is not easy to drive and many amps found it difficult as a load but the RNHP is not. The biggest surprise here.

Audeze LCD-X : Well RME did already a pretty good job with this headphone alone, of course with EQ settings as this Headphone is so wrong in timbre and tuning, yet resolving and super addictive bass (when add few db to 100hz region of RME EQ). RNHP did improve the mids a bit and relaxed the highs just a touch. Bass had more impact but did not extended to layers so much as the RME amp.

Genre Pairing: This amp loves everything with instruments and vocals. For electronic music only and heavy bass or so, a THX or a good measuring amp with power and drive will do the job (maybe better)

I love warm headphones and the RNHP made them even better. It will not correct a bad headphone but it will give the kiss of life to the already and correctly tuned ones.

This is easily the best upgrade I have ever done after finishing the source and headphone part.

Hope that helps.

When I had to buy a headphone amplifier, I knew that I needed just one output with the maximum of sound quality in the price range I could afford. And I found it!

The design is really simple but it has the elegance you meet only at premium quality products. It seems to be very well constructed with solid materials and you have that feeling every single time you touch that incredible and "heavy" red knob!

I use it mostly during my mixing and mastering procedure with my AKG's K-712 Pro and I am totally satisfied with the result they both
deliver. To be honest, I am excited every time I switch that amp on and plug in my headphones. The sound quality is just incredible with a very neutral and transparent character that allows me to focus on every detail in my mixes.

Even if sometime I upgrade my headphones, I know that I'll always have a reliable amp to drive the new ones. I love that piece of gear and totally recomend it!

Thank you Mr. Neve, thank you Thomann!

This amplifier is incredibly faithful. It made me understand that many times I liked a product for its biases, but this one doesn't lie and is very enjoyable.
We've chosen this one for its balanced input.
Tested with Sennheiser HD800S, Focal Elegia, and others, coupled with Fireface UC or Audioquest Dragonfly Blue.
This heavy red knob feels so good. I may just be disappointed by the strong noises you can have when turning off the amp, or in certain cases when switching inputs.