Moon by SimAudio 230HAD DAC / Headphone Amplifier – Black

Here we have a specialist Headphone Amplifier from Canadian company SimAudio. The Moon 230HAD can also be used as a pre-amplifier with an analogue input and variable output on offer. It is in very good condition noting a feint mark on the front of the unit, comes in its original factory packaging, with remote control, manual, mains cable, and of course our standard three month warranty.
SimAudio Say….
Are you passionate about music and desire a unique personal listening experience, yet don’t have the urge to build a “full blown” music system? Are you searching for the perfect desktop solution for a computer based audio system? Do you already own a high-performance music system and have a craving to listen to headphones without making a compromise? What if you already have a MOON system, then this can be the control centre for a secondary system. Or do you simply want to get maximum performance from your reasonably efficient, unbalanced headphones? The possibilities are endless…
The 230HAD Headphone Amplifier is more than capable of doing those tasks, whatever your needs may be. Based heavily on the reference 430HA headphone amp, the 230HAD features a DSD256/32-bit PCM capable Digital to-Analog converter (DAC) that can be used with virtually any digital source such as computer, satellite TV receiver or Blu-Ray player, and offering the same fidelity as your main music system
Ultimately, the 230HAD Headphone Amplifier fills an immense void in the current headphone marketplace, especially when considering its exceptional “price to performance” ratio. Today music lovers need a flexible high quality DAC, capable of both DSD and hi-res PCM. This multi-function product is more about affordable high-performance than minor features.
A headphone amplifier, a DAC and a line-stage preamplifier all housed in one very stylish package. What else could you possibly ask for? And did we mention that the Nēo 230HAD is hand-crafted in Canada and comes with a 10 year warranty?
Features:
Inputs include 1 single-ended on rear-mounted RCA’s and 1 single-ended on 1/8” jack located on the front panel.
Outputs include a ¼” TRS headphone jack, as well as both fixed and variable single-ended line-level RCA stereo pairs.
Fully asynchronous DAC with four (4) digital inputs (S/PDIF x 2, TOSlink x 1 & USB x 1) allowing for use with virtually any digital source; Supports DSD64, DSD128 and DSD256 (USB input only); Supports PCM up to 24-bit/192kHz (all inputs) and 32-bit/384kHz (USB input only).
Pure analogue amplifier using a transconductance circuit.
An oversized power supply using 1 toroidal transformer in conjunction with 8 stages of DC voltage regulation.
Specifications:
Output Power Per Channel @ 600 / 300 / 50 Ω: 100 mW / 200 mW / 1 W
Headphone Impedance: 20 – 600 Ω
Frequency Response: 20 Hz – 20 kHz, ± 0.1 dB
THD @ 1 kHz, 0 dB FS (A-weighted): 0.005%
Intermodulation Distortion: 0.005%
Signal-To-Noise Ratio: 115 dB
Crosstalk: – 80 dB
Input / Output Impedance: 22 kΩ / 1.25 Ω
Dimensions: 178 (W) x 280 (D) x 76 (H) mm
Shipping Weight: 2.8 kg

For a review from Hi-Fi+ magazine please click HERE

For a second opinion from US publication Stereophile please click HERE