Headstage Lyrix Pro + HD580 = ?

[Huckster]

ah, good to hear the Total version isn't too much farther from the regular I have the lyrix pro usb.

1time, i would recommend at least getting the lyrix pro (one with the 3 switches) because i have the bass boost on the whole time to round out the hd580's, and I have the gain switched to "high" since its a 300ohm headphone. Keep in mind that if you're really on a budget he could probably set the gain higher and sell you a standard lyrix. I dont use the crossfeed much.

If you need the handy usb dac for a laptop or something, then get the lyrix pro usb. I haven't heard the Total, so that's up to you.

Happy listening

[Dobro]

Originally Posted by 1Time

Really? I don't recall reading other findings like this.

Really. With the Lyris I get the same lack of control in the bass, recessed and slightly smeared mid-range, and rolled off treble as I get with my PC's headphone out. Yes the lyris gets plenty loud, but I don't think any 9v battery powered amp will do much for the 580s because the 580s need more voltage to shine. The Lyris may provide some improvements in SQ but they are overshadowed by what the lyris can't do. I'm not saying it's a bad amp its just not designed to handle 300 ohm cans.

[Huckster]

I dont know what you're talking about dobro, most of the higher class port amp use 9v (ray samuels audio larocco), and they can power 300ohms (hd 580 hd600 hd650) sufficiently (not to absolute full potential, but mine sound pretty durn nice + loud).

[synaesthetic]

I have the earlier version of the Headphonia amp (it has a "P to S" switch instead of bass boost) and I can tell it will drive almost anything extremely loudly. Whether or not the loudness will be of good quality is going to depend on the demands of the headphones.

[HeadphoneAddict]

Originally Posted by Dobro

Really. With the Lyris I get the same lack of control in the bass, recessed and slightly smeared mid-range, and rolled off treble as I get with my PC's headphone out. Yes the lyris gets plenty loud, but I don't think any 9v battery powered amp will do much for the 580s because the 580s need more voltage to shine. The Lyris may provide some improvements in SQ but they are overshadowed by what the lyris can't do. I'm not saying it's a bad amp its just not designed to handle 300 ohm cans.

Well, that doesn't match my experience either.

It may not be as good as a desktop amp, but mine doesn't sound anything like you describe. Maybe something is wrong/broken?

[Dobro]

For clarity I'll point out what I'm not saying. I'm not saying that the Lyris is a bad amp, on the contrary its an excellent bang for the buck amp. Nor am I saying the the 580s sound bad out of the Lyris. I think they sound good. I think the HD580s sound good out of my computer's HP out as well (I'm not talking about DAPs). I'm also not saying that the 580s need a desktop amp to sound good. The problem is I don't see that the Lyris offers much if any improvement in SQ over the computer's HP out. If anyone can hear differences in SQ with the Lyris, I'd be very interested to know what I'm missing. If 1time is just looking for greater volume alone the lyris will no doubt do him nicely. If he's looking for improved SQ, he'll probably be disappointed. I really don't see the point of using a portable with a desktop computer and the 580s when even a modest desktop will probably do much better and the HP out is at least almost as good.

Huckster: As I've stated repeatedly, yes, the Lyris provides plenty of volume but I'm not talking about volume, I'm talking about control.

If you don't understand what I'm talking about you might skim through this thread and focus on those post that talk about the roll of voltage and ohms in amplification. ( Please note that the over all thread does not deal directly with the 580s.) There are also many other discussions of this that would explain it better then I could if you care to look for them.

HeadphoneAddict: No nothing is broken. What I'm talking about are not huge "OMG this sounds awful!" types of problems but rather pretty subtle differences. I think the problems I've mentioned are what people are talking about when they say Senns are "dull", "veiled", "boring" , "slow", etc. Like I said not huge, but significant enough that they bugged me. Getting the GLite ameliorated these problems enough to where they don't bug me any more.

[chadbang]

I had this exact combination (lyrix pro + 580s). It got extremely loud. I could never get it past 1 o'clock (slightly past halfway). Lyrix pro packs the most power of the last five amps I've had. Plus, for gaming the bass boost throws out this ultra deep, impactful bass. Subwoofer territory. An excellent gaming amp. I agree with headphoneaddict. One of the best portables out there for a third of the price.

[HeadphoneAddict]

Dobro, are you using the Lyrix DAC? If so, your laptop headphone out out must be very good to drive 300 ohm headphones as well as the Lyrix.

If you are feeding the laptop headphone out into the Lyrix, I can see how it might sound similar, but it should still be slight improvement. But, given a good source (iMod, Apogee mini-dac) the amp section of the Lyrix is pretty darn close to the Pico's.

What I suspect is that you are using the stock headphone cable, and in my review of the stock HD600 cable it limited the ability past a certain level of resolution to discern changes in source and amplifier.

[Dobro]

Originally Posted by HeadphoneAddict

Dobro, are you using the Lyrix DAC? If so, your laptop headphone out out must be very good to drive 300 ohm headphones as well as the Lyrix.

If you are feeding the laptop headphone out into the Lyrix, I can see how it might sound similar, but it should still be slight improvement. But, given a good source (iMod, Apogee mini-dac) the amp section of the Lyrix is pretty darn close to the Pico's.

I have the Lyris pro without a DAC. I use it connected via the line out of my desktop PC (no laptop). In case you where wondering I've tried it powered with a battery and with the power supply Headphonia sells. Same difference.

What I suspect is that you are using the stock headphone cable, and in my review of the stock HD600 cable it limited the ability past a certain level of resolution to discern changes in source and amplifier.

This doesn't add up on two counts. If I couldn't discern changes in source between the Lyris and my headphone-out due to the cable then how could I discern the difference between the Glite and the Lyris using the same cable? Also how come my system sounds so much better with the Glite when the only change is the amps? I find it very hard to believe that Sennheiser would put a cable on their number 2 Headphone and their former flagship that was so bad that it keeps you from hearing differences in sources. It makes no business sense. For the record, I have a 650 cable on my 580's.

Thanks for your concern but I know what the problem is and it was resolved by getting an amp with the voltage and synergy to drive the much closer to their potential.

[HeadphoneAddict]

Originally Posted by HeadphoneAddict

Dobro, are you using the Lyrix DAC? If so, your laptop headphone out out must be very good to drive 300 ohm headphones as well as the Lyrix.

If you are feeding the laptop headphone out into the Lyrix, I can see how it might sound similar, but it should still be slight improvement. But, given a good source (iMod, Apogee mini-dac) the amp section of the Lyrix is pretty darn close to the Pico's.

Originally Posted by Dobro

I have the Lyris pro without a DAC. I use it connected via the line out of my desktop PC (no laptop). In case you where wondering I've tried it powered with a battery and with the power supply Headphonia sells. Same difference.

Originally Posted by HeadphoneAddict

What I suspect is that you are using the stock headphone cable, and in my review of the stock HD600 cable it limited the ability past a certain level of resolution to discern changes in source and amplifier.

Originally Posted by Dobro

This doesn't add up on two counts. If I couldn't discern changes in source between the Lyris and my headphone-out due to the cable then how could I discern the difference between the Glite and the Lyris using the same cable? Also how come my system sounds so much better with the Glite when the only change is the amps? I find it very hard to believe that Sennheiser would put a cable on their number 2 Headphone and their former flagship that was so bad that it keeps you from hearing differences in sources. It makes no business sense. For the record, I have a 650 cable on my 580's.

Thanks for your concern but I know what the problem is and it was resolved by getting an amp with the voltage and synergy to drive the much closer to their potential.

Without all the info about your setup, it was hard for me to see what you were getting at, or experiencing. I assumed you were using a headphone out of the laptop to feed the Lyrix, not a line out from a desktop. My comments about the cable only applied if you were using the USB DAC version, and saying the DAC was no better than Lyrix connected to the headphone out. If the difference was subtle, it is hard to hear with the stock HD600 cable, I know, I've tried.

It appears that you have a good line out of the computer to feed an amp. The old saying "Garbage in, garbage out" doesn't apply here. In my case, the Macbook has NO line out, and the headphone out sounds just like my 5.5G iPod video headphone out. My iPod line out dock sounds better than HP out of my Macbook. But, the Lyrix DAC sounds at least as good as the line out dock, which is about 25% better than headphone out from either iPod or Macbook. So, I couldn't see how your PC and Lyrix could sound the same unless you were amping your headphone out. Sorry for the assumptions.

As for the cables, the HD650 cable is nice, and much better than the HD600 cable. I did a review here: REVIEW: APureSound V3 Silver Cable with Copper Core for Sennheiser vs stock HD600 & HD650 cables

With a good amp I could discern the differences in sound between the cables, but the HD650 cable was well ahead of the HD600 cable, and close enough to being great except for that last bit of transparency and layering found in the $200 cable.

Originally Posted by dobro

What I'm talking about are not huge "OMG this sounds awful!" types of problems but rather pretty subtle differences. I think the problems I've mentioned are what people are talking about when they say Senns are "dull", "veiled", "boring" , "slow", etc. Like I said not huge, but significant enough that they bugged me. Getting the GLite ameliorated these problems enough to where they don't bug me any more.

Somehow I missed this. I agree - most of my desktop amps drive the HD600 better than my portables. But with good portables I didn't have too much to complain about when driving HD600, and I might not have known I needed something better had I not heard something better. When I started my journey into headphone amps, I was blown away by a $99 mint tin amp, and then my iBasso D1 blew that away (in some ways that one does sound like a desktop amp with the right opamps). Etc, etc...

Yet, when I take my HD600 and connect them to my Woo WA6 maxed with metal base GZ34 using an APS V3 cable, then yeah, with portable amps the HD600 is "veiled, dull, boring and slow". Then when I connect the HD600 to the balanced XLR out of my Apogee mini-DAC with an APS V3 balanced cable, that makes the Woo WA6 sound "veiled, dull, boring and slow" with the HD600. At this point the HD600 is almost sounding like a Grado with a big soundstage.

Heck, I thought my Stax were the cat's meow, making my best HD600 setup sound "veiled, dull, boring and slow" till I got my HE60 a week ago - they make the EVERYTHING sound "veiled, dull, boring and slow"