HD600 unwise for PCDCP ?

Using a PCDP with an amp? It should be fine. Without an amp? Don't bother -- even if it "gets loud enough" it will sound anemic and bass will be very poor.

The HD600 in particular needs serious juice... the HD580 is a little more forgiving, in my experience (but not much).

Hopefully that's simple enough...

Re: HD600 unwise for PCDP ?

Hi,
I've been known to plug my HD600s into my PCDPs from time to time, and a few of them do quite a credible job driving them. But the question is, why do you want to do that? The HD600s are not exactly what I would call portable (not even very transportable, at least nothing I'd go travelling with) , so combining them with a portable player makes only sense if they'd remain stationary but you want/need to save space (even then a compact amp wouldn't hurt that much). In all other situations, go for a decent home setup.

Sorry
The more info you give us, the shorter the answer will be...

I used my HD600s all the time with a Sony D-777 discman and a Sony R900 minidisc. Frankly, it works absolutely fine! The sound is not anemic by an means. Still that good old "rich" Sennheiser sound. Yes, I have had occasion where you hear the bass stutter for a beat when some piece of music is making a really large dynamic demand on the phones (you know, like a loud orchestral kettle drum strike), becuase of lack of power. But 99 percent of the time these portables (and the R900 has a very tiny amp) do fine with the 600s. I don't understand why people say you can't use Senns with portables, unless they are attempting to drive their phones to very loud levels. I listen to either of these set-ups at work and I'm frequently having to lower the levels. At one point I used a Total Airhead and the sound was a bit better (mainly because I liked it's crossfeed) and the sound was more dynamic and powerful. But for normal listening in an office I think you can do without an amp just fine. So my answer is NO it's not dumb to used the HD600s without an amp. Now if you're planning on headbanging or blowing your eardrums out with techno, well, the portable alone might not cut it.(and if that's the case why go with Senn 600? Get some Grados or Sonys).


BUT as PeterR says, the Senn 600s ain't travelling phones! Not only are they big, but with their open air design you don't want to listen to them on the subway or on a bus. Too much noise leaks in. For walking down the street or someplace where there's a lot of ambient noise, there's no point using the 600s.

With portable amp: Something like a META42 will have little problem driving HD600 to an enjoyable level with decent dynamics. With a PCDP (even a "classic" one) I don't think you can expect an audiophile experience but it's good all the same.


Without portable amp: What is the point of using demanding phones without an amp? The HD600 is a demanding phone. Yes, it will work from a Sony Minidisc (I've tried it) but it's dynamic capabilities are severely compromised, even at low volumes.


Does the HD600 travel well?: The HD600 is not really for travel. It feels quite light on the head, but it's quite large and doesn't fold, it's wide open, the frame is tough but the mesh is easily dented and the cable is too long.

Agreed 100%... why would anyone buy a nice pair of cans like the HD600, only to get so little of what they're capable of? There are much cheaper low impedance cans out there with higher sensitivity that do a much better job.

That said, anything's possible I s'pose... if they "work fine" from some given portable headphone jack, more power to the listener. Personally I'm just barely satisfied with the way my Creek OBH-11 drives them, and am in the market for an amp with more 'oomph'.

If you say so...those RS-1 eenclosures stick out pretty far from your head. But hey, maybe the ladies will like it.

That depends. If the driver salutes you with "Welcome aboard, and sorry about your wallet", chances are you'll be ok. With a little luck the seat next to the guy with the CD3000s won't be taken

Ah, I dream about such a world.

I use my Sony D-777 with my HD600s, and they sound pretty good, but not enough volume for the few times that I really want to crank it. My Sony D-25 drives the HD600s with ease. I my opinion this combination is awesome. The hyper-detail of the D-25 matches perfectly with the laid-back nature of the HD600s. All the other players I have tried have trouble driving these phones, although I'm sure there must be a few others that can do it. The early Sonys are battery hogs, but they have strong outputs.

See, this is where you get differences in opinion. These days I'm into protecting my ears so I'll have a long life as an audiophile. I never take my D-777 past 3 on the volume dial!

No, it is not dumb using pcdp with the HD600, temporarly until you get an amp. It will certainly be a few steps up from whatever stock earphones, but I agree with bangraman and fewtch here. Will it be wise spending $200+ and use it without an amp from a pcdp? If you are planning to upgrade later on then go for the HD600. Even a $150 amp will do the HD600 much good.

I am using the HD600 with the Xcan and mostly the vintage sony pcdp D303. The Xcan v1 is no expensive amp but using it instead the headphone out of the D303 and D33 is a totally different experience. Better bass, soundtage and intrumental separation.
I do use the headphone out of the 2 players from time to time, it is enjoyable and not bad but is just in a different league from an amp.
I don't want to generalise modern players but my md sony 707 can not even drive the HD600 to an adequate volume but surprisingly my sony digital pocket radio SRF-M95 can crank up the volume of the HD 600

I usually drive my HD600s directly from the D-25 because I carry it back and forth to work, and I don't want to lug an amp.. I have XCans V2, MG Head and HD83 amps, and they sound a little different in their own ways, but the D-25 headphone output works great with these phones. I also have a Total Airhead, and I think the D-25 direct is much better than this amp. One caution is that with Grados this player sounds too bright to my ears. I also have a D-33 player, and it sounds awful driving the HD600s in my opinion, no guts. Keep in mind that the D-25 and other early Sony players are not very good for true portable use -- short battery life and no skip protection. The D-777 may be the best compromise for portable use and driving HD600s. Of course these phones are not very portable. I agree that it is very dangerous to crank up the volume very often, but once in a while it's fun, and, therefore, I like to have some extra headroom. The D-25 is one of the few PCDPs that have output power to spare.