Graham Slee The Voyager Portable Headphone Amplifier

Description

Well its finally here, nearly 2.5 years in the making, we are now totally certain it has been worth the wait. Featuring all of Graham Slee's knowledge and the know how to apply it, we have a mini (portable) headphone amplifier (battery, USB and plug top powered) that can take any line level source amplify and improve it to give real volume and kick to any headphones or earphones.

With a form the size of an IPod Classic (6th generation) but being thicker, the IPod can sit easily in the front recess of the Voyager, mating together to create a formidable partnership. A number of other "Pod" players also fit. A separately available 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable allows the 'headphone out' of the player to go into the 'line in' giving excellent results and superb volume and bass. However, when you buy a "port to 3.5mm" adapter, bypassing the amp circuits of the Pod player and there inferior digital volume control, this allows the Voyager to really impress. We compared it against newer and older model Solos and we liked greatly what we heard.

The Voyager is light weight, similar in feel to that of a "classic" pod player and comes fitted street-wear contour switch that is designed to improve the tonal range of street-wear headphones. For use with domestic and studio players that use Hi-Fi or studio headphones, the "flat" position is generally more appropriate.

The Voyager can be used in the office taking its input from line-out sources like the 3.5mm jack on many computers. While in use at the desktop, it can be powered by a spare USB cord having a mini AB plug. The Voyager is supplied with an AC adapter that can power it when used at home or in the office. In use so fare we have chargers our G6 IPod 80Gb 4 times for 1 charge of the 200mAh NIMH PP3 9v cell and Its still going.

Hi-Fi and studio quality stereo headphones can be used with the Voyager. When using high impedance headphones at home (typically 300 Ohm types and above), it is best used with high output line-level sources like a CD player, amplifier line/tape out, or the output of a phono preamplifier, if required to reach high volumes. A 3.5 to 6.3mm jack plug adapter may be required for some Hi-Fi or studio headphones. A stereo phono to 3.5mm jack plug, or DIN to 3,5mm jack plug cable may also be required depending on your home equipment.

The Voyager will not drive electrostatic headphones

The Voyager Portable Stereo Headphone Amplifier is a truly portable headphone amplifier. It is small and light enough to fit a shirt pocket! It also has a similar "footprint" to a regular pod player which will stack on top. It connects using a supplied jack-lead and even via a pod player's headphone out, sounds remarkably good, saving the need for an expensive dock connector. It may not have fetching looks, but it more than makes up for it with its sound.

Those who have heard the new Voyager portable headphone amp are amazed with its musical performance. It achieves a powerful bass line - it delivers sweet but uncoloured midrange melodies - the highs are crystal clear. Far beyond the norm, it presents a believable stereo image, and portrays music with the emotion with which it was laid-down. It sets a new standard in portable headphone amplification.

Features:

• Fully Portable Headphone Amplifier - Long Battery Life
• Powerful Sound
• Pod Player Size Match
• Lightweight - 180g
• Street 'Phones Contour-Boost Switch
• USB Powered for Office Desk Top
• AC Adapter for Home Amp Use
• Drives Hi-Fi and Studio Headphones

Features Explained

The powerful sound from the Voyager portable headphone amplifier gives an average (noticeable) 10dB boost in sound pressure level above that of most portable players. The Voyager portable headphone amplifier's fast wideband circuit assures all the sound quality of the source is delivered to the headphones, even when used with high performance sources up to studio standards.

It is fully portable, powered by its own replaceable standard issue 9 volt (MN1604; 6LR61) battery (supplied installed). If left playing into headphones from a continuously looping music source, the battery can last 50 hours or longer. Usually however, battery life will last a number of weeks if the power switch is set to its other positions when not in use, or when being powered by USB connection or by its AC adapter. It does not recharge the battery - a rechargeable 9 volt battery does not have the capacity of a disposable 9 volt battery.

A number of pod type players will sit comfortably on top of the Voyager.

The Voyager is light weight, similar to that of a "classic" pod player.

The street-wear contour switch is designed to improve the tonal range of street-wear headphones. For use from domestic and studio players using Hi-Fi or studio headphones, the "flat" position may be found more appropriate.

The Voyager can be used in the office taking its input from line-out sources like the 3,5mm jack on many computers. While in use at the desk top, it can be powered by a spare USB cord having a mini AB plug.

The Voyager is supplied with an AC adapter that can power it when used at home or in the office

Hi-Fi and studio quality stereo headphones can be used with the Voyager. When using high impedance headphones at home (typically 300 Ohm types and above), it is best used with high output line-level sources like a CD player, amplifier line/tape out, or the output of a phono preamplifier, if required to reach high volumes. A 3,5 to 6,3mm jack plug adapter may be required for some Hi-Fi or studio headphones. A stereo phono to 3,5mm jack plug, or DIN to 3,5mm jack plug cable may also be required depending on your home equipment. It will not drive electrostatic headphones. Headphones of 16 - 600 Ohms impedance can be used.

Inside view of the Voyager headphone amplifier reveals the use of conventional through-hole components with no surface-mount in sight. High-performance audio-grade components can be seen - an Alps potentiometer and Alps signal switches, Jalco jacks, a professional issue battery and clip, plus a number of audio-grade capacitors, sit on a single sided hand assembled solder masked fibreglass printed circuit board. Removing the lid (not recommended) requires care not to break the switches, and because of its single supply partially dc-coupled configuration, "chip-rolling" (DIY tuning) may cause unpredictable results.

Press Reviews

	Trusted Reviews Review "if you want the best, at least in the world of high-end audio, you have to be prepared to pay for it, and this is undeniably there or thereabouts." For the Quality offered the Voyager "sounds like a pretty good deal."     Full Review Date Added: Tuesday 22 June, 2010 RATED: 9/10

Customers Reviews

Average customers review

(10 customer reviews)

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	john kerprich(Date Added: Monday 23 August, 2010) Kowabunga! Been listening for another 3 months, so I probably put another 300hrs of 'burn in time' on my voyager! So that's 1200 hrs. total, and the soundstage has opened up even more, gosh its like a new amp altogether, don't understand it, but this thing sure holds its surprises, i'm listening to it now and all i can say is WOW!!! It's like i've got full sized cans on, finally got my UE TF10's, been using them for about 2 1/2 months, and upgraded my source to to a 7th gen 160gb ipod, and i've been using that for about three weeks. Now out of the blue the sound stage has really changed, opened up by x3 -no kidding! And the sound has gotten fuller and even more rich! i thought it was a fluke and that it was just the recording of a song by Bobby Vinton, but it went to like listening to it in a huge cave, just enormous! that was last night, and then while walking the dog in the park, i started to notice that the same songs that i'd been listening to seemed super engaging and 10x's more enjoyable, as if that could be happening with what i thought was my 'already burnt in' Voyager! But nope, not a fluke at all, 'cuz all the music is now playing even more full and hugely open, like i am sitting in a concert hall listening to them!!! What can i say if you want an awesome amp get Grahams you won't be disapointed!!! The guy must have pixies and elves working in his shop, 'cuz someone is sure working some magic!! Thanks again Graham and Team!!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
	john kerprich(Date Added: Saturday 15 May, 2010) Sweet! This is a must buy, music thereapy -audiophile style. I literally can't stop listening to it, I'm rediscovering music everday! I've had mine for 2 months now, i probably have averaged 10 to 15+ hours a day, so almost 900 hours of 'burn in' time, and oh my goodness, what a sound, awesome mids, highs and lows, and the sound stage is tremendously pleasant, and oooh sooo very easy and soothing to listen to. Many thanks to Graham and his team!!! He's changed my listening days forever, seriously, no really seriously, when i have this on, I'm a happy person again!!! like i said, MUSIC THERAPY!! And thats with a 6th gen ipod, and only as pair of razor morray IEMs, i can't wait till i can afford some professional UE triple fi's, I admit it that the G.S.V's sound will bounce back and forth, from 'what the heck happened', and then back to the heavenly music, BUT I've found that burning Grahams amp in is the key, i'd listen to it with just music playing for about 8 hours during the day, and then plug it in to my pc with a variety of sounds playing for 10 hours at night, white noise, pink noise, water sounds, frequencies, and a running fan noise? That's 5 hours of sounds repeated, now getting it set up right took some trial and error, but alternating between the contour being on and off, 2 nights with the contour off, and 1 night with it on, contour off seemed to open up the sound stage a lot more? Crank the volume all the way up! on Grahams amp, and on the pc's output, and then use a volume controler so you don't blow your headphones out! don't forget to let the amp rest at least 2 hours between sessions of music and sounds, and you'll really enjoy the whole process, and in the end you'll have one burnt in sweet amp, and when you're listening to what heaven sounds like, this old world will never harm or bother you again, grrrr. Get yourself one and welcome to the GS club, again thanks Graham & Team for leaving a beautiful mark on this ol world of ours!!! hugs from your friend John
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
	Ruth Mackie(Date Added: Tuesday 04 May, 2010) Fantastic little amp. I am using it with an iPod Classic and a pair of Klipsch Image X10 in-ear headphones. I'm also taking the sound directly from the iPod dock through a docking connector-to-3.5mm lead, which is critical for the iPod, as it bypasses the not-great inbuilt audio output and puts a cleaner signal into the amp The results are wonderful, even straight out of the box. I sing in a choir and wanted something that could separate out the choral parts from massed voices on a recording so I can learn my own part - the iPod as it comes from Apple just can't cope. The Voyager delivers, and more. One test of a new sound sytem is to see what you can hear in the recording that you didn't know was there on your old system - the Voyager + Klipsch pairing brings out delicate harpsichord and strings from the orchestra and a real depth of sound that I wouldn't have thought the iPod capable of. And that's after only a few hours use! If you feed rubbish into the amp (i.e. a highly compressed file, or sound from a PC/iPod's headphone socket) or use anything less than the best headphones you can afford, you won't appreciate how good it really is. However, even with such a less than ideal set-up, this amp will pull every scrap of information out of whatever signal it is given and deliver it crisply to your headphones. It's so good I have to take it everywhere with the iPod (not a problem, as it's so tiny, about the same size as the iPod but a bit thicker) as the 'bare' iPod now sounds awful in comparison with the fantastic output of the Voyager. If you really want to listen to your music, you owe it to yourself to buy a Voyager. To those reviewers who were disappointed, I would say - look at your source (highly compressed mp3 files? Cheap headphone circuit in the mp3 player supplying garbage to the Voyager?) and your headphones (no point in the Voyager delivering perfection if your headphones can't replicate it in your ears). The Voyager, used with the inputs and outputs it deserves, is unbeatable as a portable amp. Buy it now! By the way, I have no connection at all with Graham Slee or Advanced MP3 players - I just think this is such a fabulous product that I want to share my experience of it with other people who enjoy hearing their music as it was meant to be heard.

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