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Which Amp for Sennheiser HD 650?

post #1 of 6
7/25/11 at 11:02pm
Thread Starter 

I posted this in the Headphones section earlier, probably not the right place for this question, so am reposting it here (sorry admins):

 

Firstly, not sure if i need a portable or full size amp. Because I don't know the price difference. However I've posted its use below to give u an idea what would be best suited for me. Thanks!

 

 

What's the best amp to get for them? Let's go with:

Budget $100:

Budget $200:

Budget $300:

 

Please note:

 

75% use with my PC (Creative Titanium X-Fi Sound card) - Games and Music

25% use with my Onkyo TX-NR709 Receiver - Games and Movies.

0% use with portable audio products (MP3 players, iPad, laptop etc)

 

Thanks again!

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Gear mentioned in this thread:

Sennheiser HD 650 Headphones
post #2 of 6
7/25/11 at 11:38pm

ive done quite a bit of reading and it seems the matrix m-stage for $250 would be a great place to start.

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post #3 of 6
7/26/11 at 12:24am
Please do not recommend gear you haven't heard.

So, what kind of sound are you looking for? The HD-650 is quite sensitive to what it's plugged into. If you want a clean sound with deep, tight bass, solid state is good. Something like the new Dynalo ($300) will give you that.

If you want a rounder, fuller sound without as much bass definition, consider an OTL tube amp. The only sub-$300 tube amp I recommend is the Bottlehead Crack which is $200. Some assembly required, but it's an easy build and of good quality. There are several other good DIY tube amps that can be built under $300, too, but they don't come as a nice kit.

I don't like the cheap tube amps - they cut too many corners. Also, I've seen too many repair threads for them. Can't think of any repair/blown amp threads for the better brands. Or DIY, for that matter.

Solid state costs a lot less to do right than tubes, mostly because good high-voltage transformers are expensive and so is a proper power supply. If you want other goodies, like output transformers, they will add a minimum of $200 to the raw costs. And you don't want the cheap ones.
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post #4 of 6
7/26/11 at 9:35am
Thread Starter 

Awww man that is all so confusing. I don't know what these tubes are and what not. Secondly, what's the difference in full size vs portable amps. We're not talking receivers when we say full sized amps are we? I guess I can go for an all rounded fuller sound rather than having one frequency end (bass) being the focus. Any amps that may cost less than $200 and sound good? 

 

What about headroom amps? Fiios? nuForce? Thanks!

 

 

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post #5 of 6
7/26/11 at 9:37am
Thread Starter 

Also, definitely want an amp that doesn't hiss or the hiss is barely noticeable. 

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post #6 of 6
7/26/11 at 11:38am

Budget $300: Little Dot MK III (~$240 shipped)

 

It's a great amp and powers the HD650 wonderfully.

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Gear mentioned in this thread:

Sennheiser HD 650 Headphones
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