Amp for HD650 and Audeze LCD-2

Phoenix or beta22...

The LCD-2 will present more of a challenge than the HD650's.  I've been finding that they sound better with more headroom to spare.  There's a huge LCD-2 thread, as well as an LCD-2 amp thread.  At the $1K and below pricepoint the usual suspects are Meier Concerto, Burson HA160, Audio-GD Roc SA or Phoenix, and Violectric V181 (the latter of which I've been recently enjoying, and the only one I can comment on and recommend directly). Another I have direct experience with if you were to add more of a budget - the Apex Peak Volcano with the LCD-2 is one of the nicest pairings I've heard in headphone listening.  You could alternatively get an Apex Peak with standard power supply for $1300 and get the Volcano supply (well worth the price of admission IMO) later on.  Any of these should push the HD650 without breaking a sweat. I had a WA6SEM.  Though very sweet on vocals and midrange, it did not handle the extremes very well on the LCD-2.  I initially blamed it on the cans, but discovered in listening to other amps that the WA6SEm was rounding off the extremes, and exaggerating the high-end dip.  There are better choices for those cans IMHO, though it would be fine with your HD650's or some other cans. Rockhopper does sell Beta 22's on occasion.  I'm not sure how his build schedule works. 

hpa loves the DACmini with the lcd2s, though i'm not sure of how it is with the senns. search out some of his posts on the subject. it's dac is supposed to be quite good. you might find it preferable to the apogee.

I do enjoyed how the 650's sounded with the HA-160/D (with dac, preamp) both nice options on your price range. It was a sweet match to my ears. 

Regarding the Audeze, there was a guy from headfonia who wrote a nice review with them. 

Edited by charli3 - 3/25/11 at 4:47pm

Interesting.  Did you get a chance to listen to Joe's LCD-2 with WA6SE at the Bainbridge meet?  Granted...the DAC source was a Weiss DAC 202, but it's interesting that you found attenuation in the upper and lower ends.

 

And...funny enough...my experience in the price range is pretty much jax's.  Well...mostly because I've heard his V181 and I was the next person to get the loaner Peak.  Anyway....both amps are proficient with the LCD-2.  I'd slightly prefer jax's V181 over some of the B22s I've heard, but I haven't heard the two amps out of the same source, so it's hard to really make a judgment call there and it is pretty close for me.

 

Questions I would ask is if you want tubes or solid state and what aspects of music are important to you (i.e. bass, detail, imaging, etc)?

I am using Channel Island Audio VPH2 + VAC1 combo. To my ears it sounds excellent. My source is foobar thru audio gd DI and DAC19. The volume setting under low gain is approximately 1230 to max 1300. I prefer the low gain settings to high gain. I emailed ci audio on the power output and was informed that it is approximately 1w at 50ohms. Anyone else using VPH2? would love to hear your comments. Cheers.

 

Sorry do not agree with this at all. My stock Woo6se does not roll of the extremes at all. Bass is very deep powerful and well controlled while the hf's are extended with only a smidgen recessed compared to other cans but not dark sounding. But thats the character of the phones.

You can easily build a beta22 for under 1k. Parts for a 3 channel build are ~500. Then it's up to you what you want for casework. You could just screw all the boards down to an old plank of wood and pay nothing for a chassis, but with 500 left in the budget you can still do something pretty nice. You may need to DIY though, not sure what the builders charge for them. They also pop up occasionally in the FS section. There was actually one there recently. 

 

BTW I have the Beta22, HD600 and the LCD2 and they sound great together. Although the HD600s have not been getting a ton of head time since I got the LCD2. 

No, I did not hear Joe's rig at Bainbridge. Just to clarify: I did not find attenuation in the upper and lower ends...just the opposite actually, the lack thereof.  Perhaps I wasn't clear(?).  The highs and lows become overly polite and some content is actually MIA.  I'm shamefully still working on compiling my listening notes into a comprehensible review for the APV and I will go into further detail in what I found lacking in the WA6SEm/LCD-2 combo.  I'm hoping to get it up with apologies to Todd by this evening.  Just too much going on lately and too scattered. 
 

I don't know how much may have to do with stock vs SEm version, as well as tube choices (though I rolled through quite a few varieties in making that observation).  When compared to the Apex Peak Volcano or my V181, the difference is quite profound and you could clearly recognize there were aspects of the highs and lows that were very much recessed.  This didn't occur to me at all listening to the same amp via HD800's.  As a reference point, I listen to a lot of acoustic music that is very stark and spacial where highs and lows stand out very distinctly in many cases.  I don't listen to much densely layered music - no rock, electronic, pop, hip-hop, trance, and not much heavy orchestral or opera. In the rare case of listening to music that resembles the latter the falloff did not bother me nearly as much as it just was not as pronounced.  When listening to music where it is very easy to pick out sounds and cues that are isolated in the realms of highs and lows, there was a very distinct and abrupt rolloff causing some aspects of the music to occur, not only overly polite, but sometimes as entirely MIA.  As with any of this, of course, YMMV.

Go for the best, go for the beta22. Your headphones deserve it.