Okay I have a 50x2 watt Yamaha Stereo receiver with a Yamaha 5 Disc Changer... Will my receiver be enough to drive the Senn 590... what about the Senn 600... I heard the 590's are easier to drive so I might get those. How is the sound quality without using an headphone amp ?

Right now I'm using a pair of Koss R80's thru my receiver I know it's lo-fi but to my it sounds alright would a HD590 or HD600 be a whole lot better sound wise or just marginally better (without using headphone amp, just my receiver)

Thanks

Mr.T
I used my 580s out of my stereo receiver and it sounded real good at the time. I think the 600s need good amp and real good source but the 580 get by with lesser than.

To drive the 580 or 600, you need a headphone amp that can swing a lot of voltage. They are high impedance phones and they require high voltage but not much current.

If the 600 needs an amp, then the 580 does too. After all, they are using the same drivers.

If your Yamaha receiver is old (like 80's to early 90's), then you have a good chance of having a nice headphone amp built in! I have a Yamaha C-4 preamp on my computer that has a nice discrete headphone amp built in. It's pretty decent.

Phloodpants
HI. Do you owne the senn.580s I think not because I used my stereo receiver for quite a while befor I got the supreme amp. The 580s are knowned to play better on less than equitment over the 600. The 580s are a true joy and can be used on medium equitment with full potentral. I mean not to insult you or disagree with you but one could owne a can befor talking about it. Maby I am wrong. Any way no hard fellings and good luck with your stuff. Phloodpants I checked your pofile and see that you do owne the senn. 600 so I apolagize to you. The 600 drivers are matched to 0.5 and the 580s are matched to 1.50. I find the 580s are easy to drive on most equitment and sound good. of course a better source and a good amp makes them sound a lot better. But the 580s sounded good out of my stereo jack for I know not what better was untill I got the supreme amp and use my cd deck and got 4 good ics to run from my cd deck to stereo amp and stereo amp tape out to my supreme amp. I just am so impressed with the 580s that I think that to get then and use them out of a receiver is a good start. Forgive me for misunderstand you.

These are ecelletn cans wioth delicasy ans warmth and tou should not ahv e problem pushing them with your amplifier/reciver Yamaha. I use mmine with my Luxman and Marantx amplifiwers and they bvlast them loud. Once you upgrade your equipment you should be getting even better results and no need to upgrade your headphones. All Im saying is youll only get a taste of the H600 with your current setup and you wont hear what the other s hear with sofistacated amps but if you want o buy the phoes they shud work with your receiver, you could bring your receiver to the dealer and let them set everything up and you can try thenm oput to see if evrything is OK? Just my two sense...

Mr. T:

I noticed from your other thread that you were asking about cans for rock music and I suggested Grados. If you are not going to be getting a headphone amp anytime soon I would VERY highly suggest that you go with the Grados. I used my SR225's straight from the headphone output of the Yamaha RX-595 receiver I have set up for my computer and the sound was quite acceptable. Grados are lower impedance cans which are much more easily driven than the Senns...listening to both the 225's and the 580's through the Yamaha I like the Grados much better. They might be a shade bright at first but let them burn in and they'll smooth out.

Good luck!
BeeEss

I have used my HD580s with my Yamaha R-8 receiver with great results. I don't find them very underpowered at all, but my Rega Ear does sound a better. I'd go for the HD600s over the HD590s if I were you, and I think the high end Senns are much better than your R80s; to me, the difference was very noticable.

I tried HD580 on Yamaha AX-596 (for sale now) for a few minutes, they are good match. Since some call 580 'dark' and yamaha 'bright'. Headamp will provide you much more details and soundstage.