One of the biggest complaints of my gamer son who spends almost all of his evenings downstairs in our basement playing Overwatch and Fortnite on his Xbox, is that he needs a better interface between his pair of Audeze Mobius headphones, his console, and the 65-inch OLED HDTV on the wall. He’s the consummate anti-audiophile but he is the first to admit that he needs a better amplifier/DAC for his gaming headset. Schiit Audio have you covered son. And Daddy might even buy one for you for your birthday. The brand new Schiit Audio Hel 2 is a major upgrade from its existing PC gaming headphone amp/DAC.
The Hel 2 adds more inputs and outputs for console users, and now includes a unique A-to-D mic to facilitate call taking on the computer or console while listening to music or gaming.
The Schiit Audio Hel 2 also features the following changes from the original model:
- More power: Hel 2 is now rated at 1200mW into 32 ohms
- The Hel 2 adds an optical input, so you can connect it to any TV with an optical output.
- Built-in UAC2/1 switching, which means it’s now compatible with many gaming consoles like Sony PS4, PS5, and the Nintendo Switch.
- Schiit has decided to use USB-C and moved away from USB-micro
From the Schiit Audio press release:
“We always saw the original Hel as a PC gaming product,” said Jason Stoddard, Schiit’s co-founder. “We worked with gamers, streamers, and podcasters on the original. But it also found two different audiences: office workers, especially home office workers, who loved the clarity for voice and video conferencing, and just plain old music listeners, who liked having a transportable device they could run off USB.”
“The original Hel was really a PC (or Mac) device,” added Stoddard. “Now, it connects to many consoles, almost all smart TVs, monitors that have an optical output, heck, even CD players. With its integrated preamp output, you can connect to powered monitors or power amps, as well as headphones. It may be the one single box you need for virtually all your audio.”
The Schiit Audio Hel 2 uses super-high-quality parts throughout, with construction more befitting a high-end device. Boasting an AK4490 DAC and AK5720 ADC, a custom Alps potentiometer, as well as multiple TI OPA1656 in a completely DC-coupled topology with 0.5% thin-film resistors and film capacitors, the Hel 2 has some serious audiophile credentials. Hel 2 is powered entirely by USB, with an included 2.1A USB power supply. A sophisticated bi-polar rail generator creates Hel 2’s +/-12V rails while switching at 3MHz, far above the audio frequency band. Using the all-new C-Media CM6635 USB receiver, Hel 2 offers exceptional flexibility, including automatic UAC1/UAC2 switching for compatibility with many popular consoles, as well as PC, Mac, iOS, Android, and Linux devices.
The Schiit Audio Hel 2 is available on the website for $199.00.
For more information: Schiit Audio Hel 2 Gaming Headphone Amplifier/DAC
