Sennheiser HD 650 for PC = Overkill?
May 29, 2011 at 3:18 PM Post #16 of 23
imho-buy the 650's......the upgrade in performance will make you smile.....then, if you chose to do so, save your money and buy one of the aforementioned DAC's, and smile again. If you buy less then what you consider to be your "top", you will eventually end up buying it eventually anyway, because you won't be satisfied (shoulda, woulda, coulda.......) Buy the 650's if that's what your heart is set on.....and then you can always upgrade the source later on......or the other way around if you chose. But my advise is, don't settle. It invariably end up costing you more money.
 
May 29, 2011 at 3:31 PM Post #17 of 23
I'd say get the E7 and E9. I use that combo to drive a set of HiFiMAN HE-5LE's (which require a lot more to drive than the HD650's), and they sound beautiful, and I use them for gaming as well and they obliterate my past "pre-headfi" gaming audio setups. The E9 is a solid state amp, which is important because it means it will be easily able to drive high impedance cans. My friend's extremely expensive Woo Audio amp that powers his HD650s couldn't even get a quiet volume out of my HE-5LE's, whereas I can't get past 12:00 on my E9 without hurting my ears. The 650's are nice, but if you don't get something like the E7 and E9 it'll just be a waste of money because they won't sound good at all.
 
May 29, 2011 at 11:52 PM Post #18 of 23
Ye get a small amp like E9, it that thing would do the job, although you need to know that HD650 scale great on amps, so you are wasting a lot of its potential but it will sound very nice right out of you sound card. Although I wouldn't bother about the E7, i had it and been left it in box for a while, it's dac just so so, not really bring out more stuff than my laptop sound card. I have a game laptop as a desktop. It's sound card it's unknown to me. I figured your fancy sound card would do the job. So, if you have some money left over you might wanna add it to the amp. Another thing it's that you can use on of the ... uh.... Icon HP, i think that's the model, I forgot the brand name. You can have a used one for like $200 I believe.  
 
Jun 9, 2011 at 1:11 PM Post #20 of 23


Quote:
dzonylan said:
Firstly, thanks for the response, Secondly, I was not planning to buy separate AMP/DAC for my PC for 2 main reasons:
1) Good ones cost A LOT (I'm thinking about the SCHIIT series for example),
2) It's really hard for me to decide which one would suit me the best; as the subject "AMP/DAC for HD650" is just endless (!) and don't bring any answers for me.
 
So, what would you say to me: buy HD650 and it the nearest 6 months save some money for some good stuff (like SCHIIT), or just go for HD 598 (which can be found here where I live for the price of 180$)? [Just for comparison: I have available new HD650 for about 400$]
Click to expand...


If you have $400 to spend you can get a used HD600 or an HD580 (basically the same performance as an HD600 and I'll also have one for sale for less than $180) and a e7/e9 combo or the NFB-12.  Honestly that will sound much better than running it straight out of your sound card.  The e7/e9 is becoming a favorite for people's "starter" dac/amp combo.  I'd honestly spend the extra couple of dollars ($20) and get an Audio GD NFB-12 as it's more powerful than the e9 and has not only one, but two dacs in it that are both better than the one in the e7.  For the price I don't think you can really go wrong with either though.
 
 
 
Jun 10, 2011 at 4:11 AM Post #21 of 23
HD650 + JDS Labs cMoyBB amp. ($59.99) IMO.
 
You have a decent DAC there from the X-fi, and the HD650 is pretty much a no-brainer. I might be biased a bit, because I plan to get the HD650 next; my friend bought it yesterday, sounds so good it's really killing me.
 
Xonar Essence ST/STX is more pricey, it is the price of a DAC+Amp af ter all.
 
Rave testimonials for the AMP:
http://www.jdslabs.com/testimonials.php
 
Excerpt: "Your amps make the grado rs1's, the akg k701, sennheiser hd650, beyerdynamics dt880, and the denon hd2000 sound like dreams."
— e-Mail from jean136yb, owner of the cMoyBB v2.00, v2.01, and v2.02 "
 
Jun 12, 2011 at 12:20 AM Post #22 of 23
Not overkill, but not optimal either.  Buy an STX and you'll have an excellent setup for the money you paid for it.
 
Jun 12, 2011 at 5:27 AM Post #23 of 23


Quote:
briankt said:
imho-buy the 650's......the upgrade in performance will make you smile.....then, if you chose to do so, save your money and buy one of the aforementioned DAC's, and smile again. If you buy less then what you consider to be your "top", you will eventually end up buying it eventually anyway, because you won't be satisfied (shoulda, woulda, coulda.......) Buy the 650's if that's what your heart is set on.....and then you can always upgrade the source later on......or the other way around if you chose. But my advise is, don't settle. It invariably end up costing you more money.
Click to expand...


So true.  I've now aquired SR840's, HD650's, and D5000's....and all I'm thinking right now is when I'll buying HE-500's next.  While the process is fun, would have saved money just going straight to the top.  Of course, then I'll just obsess over stax then.....never ending.
 
 
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