CES 2017 • Hot Product

THX, best known as the company founded by George Lucas for his cinema technologies, has partnered with Triad Semiconductor to manufacture a headphone-amplifier chip claimed to offer the world’s lowest levels of distortion and noise and at the same time a low power draw.

The new headphone chip incorporates what THX has patented as its AAA technology, which is claimed to reduce distortion in more ways than Julian Hirsch ever imagined, while outputting 2.2 volts into a 300-ohm load. THX also designed a similar chip for a desktop headphone amplifier. Additionally, they have partnered with a manufacturer to release their technology in an iPhone-friendly product that looks remarkably like the Arcam Music Boost.

THX demonstrated prototypes of portable and desktop headphone amplifiers incorporating AAA technology connected to familiar equipment like Benchmark DACs, Oppo and Sennheiser headphones, with a short but intelligent selection of music. Both the portable and desktop units sounded every bit as good as some very expensive competition. With THX’s resources and reputation to drive sales, truly high-end headphone sound may be entering the mainstream.