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Taking the plunge into Headphone amp world with my HD650's

post #1 of 10
11/6/11 at 7:14pm
Thread Starter 

Hi All!

 

After some consideration im going to jump into headphone amp world as I'm not satisfied with my current setup which is

A laptop with a Creative X-fi HD USB Soundcard going into a Sherwood RX-2010 Stereo Amp with my HD650's plugged in there.

I have £260/$415 to spare so was looking at the little Dot MKIII however i wasn't sure if i need a DAC or not with the sound card I have.

I already know these HD650's sound amazing but once upon a time they used to give a really nice kick to the bass that you could feel (sort of like the Studio Beats but with way better audio quality)

 

Upon trying to replicate the same setup i once had to get that kick I have failed so any recommendations are welcome, valve and solid state.

 

Thanks

 

 

 

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post #2 of 10
11/9/11 at 1:26am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dreamxtreme View Post

Hi All!

 

After some consideration im going to jump into headphone amp world as I'm not satisfied with my current setup which is

A laptop with a Creative X-fi HD USB Soundcard going into a Sherwood RX-2010 Stereo Amp with my HD650's plugged in there.

I have £260/$415 to spare so was looking at the little Dot MKIII however i wasn't sure if i need a DAC or not with the sound card I have.

I already know these HD650's sound amazing but once upon a time they used to give a really nice kick to the bass that you could feel (sort of like the Studio Beats but with way better audio quality)

 

Upon trying to replicate the same setup i once had to get that kick I have failed so any recommendations are welcome, valve and solid state.

 

Thanks

 

 

 

 

i being a 2 year hd 650 owner agree with the bass kick you're talking about.

 

and creative is decent but i definitely recommend a DAC. the only sound card with a decent dac and also a headphone amp is the asus xonar essense or whatever its called lol.

 

DACs will improve sound by quite a bit, more than you think. but first focus on getting a headphone amp. the little dot is a great choice for the hd 650s
 

 

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post #3 of 10
11/9/11 at 12:14pm

Since you are from the uk then I must recommend this amp (I think he deals uk only)

 

The bass is fantastic for solid state and the seperation with instruments is similar to a powerful tube amp. 

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/high-spec-Mosfet-headphone-amplifier-V2-1-/140620807383?pt=UK_AudioTVElectronics_HomeAudioHiFi_Amplifiers&hash=item20bda73cd7

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post #4 of 10
11/12/11 at 1:22pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dubstep Girl View Post

 

i being a 2 year hd 650 owner agree with the bass kick you're talking about.

 

and creative is decent but i definitely recommend a DAC. the only sound card with a decent dac and also a headphone amp is the asus xonar essense or whatever its called lol.

 

DACs will improve sound by quite a bit, more than you think. but first focus on getting a headphone amp. the little dot is a great choice for the hd 650s
 

 

 

At last someone else who knows the kick im talking about. I find it weird that it used to happen with my old Sherwood Amp RX-1010 with my old Creative X-fi USB sound card (non HD)

Listening to the drums on Foo Fighters - Headwires was something else!. Ive tried all sorts. I lost the RX-1010 when I moved down south so to try and get the kick back I bought what I could which was a RX-2010 and tried that with the non HD X-fi USB Sound card and it did naff all. I have replaced the cable on the HD-650s with the same stock 1. I Hope after all this it doesn't turn out to be the headphones going wrong.

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by LugBug1 View Post

Since you are from the uk then I must recommend this amp (I think he deals uk only)

 

The bass is fantastic for solid state and the seperation with instruments is similar to a powerful tube amp. 

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/high-spec-Mosfet-headphone-amplifier-V2-1-/140620807383?pt=UK_AudioTVElectronics_HomeAudioHiFi_Amplifiers&hash=item20bda73cd7


I went with this as I wasn't too keen on going into Valve land so here's hoping after replacing the amp twice and the sound card that I do get this kick back.

 

Thanks

 

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post #5 of 10
11/12/11 at 3:08pm

I really like that dual power socket design.  I wonder if it makes a big difference in sound.

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post #6 of 10
11/12/11 at 3:55pm
Thread Starter 

O I Forgot to mention I went with the Upgrade option to the AnalogDevices AD8610 OpAmps over the BurrBrown OPA134. Not really sure what it means but I'm assuming It's more power to the headphones ?

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post #7 of 10
11/13/11 at 2:27am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dreamxtreme View Post

 

 

 


I went with this as I wasn't too keen on going into Valve land so here's hoping after replacing the amp twice and the sound card that I do get this kick back.

 

Thanks

 



I think you'll be pleased. There are 2 gain options with this amp so see how you get on with the normal one first which is 6.5 (normal gain to cater for 32 to 300 ohms) then give the higher gain a try if you are solely using the 650's' and this will give them a a lot more voltage at 11.5. the gain is changed by removing the caps as instructed.

 

The dual power design works very well, its basically 2 seperate amplifiers one for each channel. The sound is very tube like, big and warm with great insight and air. It's a shame that he only sells to europe but he only makes these as a hobby whenever he gets time. He enjoys doing it rather than to make money, good for him!

 

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post #8 of 10
11/15/11 at 8:47pm

[ Edited, Didn't read, saw you purchased already :) ]


Edited by volted - 11/15/11 at 8:50pm
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post #9 of 10
11/21/11 at 5:12pm
Thread Starter 

Right so after having it the weekend as it arrived on Friday. Got it plugged in (with all 2 of its mains plugs required!) and thought "this is nice ,could do with some more volume". So I took it down to a friends place who had the allen/hex key type screw required to open it and took out the 2 red jumpers to give me the extra gain. Got back home and put on Sigur Ros - Olsen Olsen and thought WOW ! the clarity is amazing and you can really tell its 1 amp for each channel because before the lower layers of the songs were drowned out by the higher ones now I can hear everything in the songs and even bits I've never noticed. So yes this is thing is amazing!. All I would like now is maybe a little more on the bass for certain songs. I'm waiting on the new PAX X-fi drivers for my sound card so they can add bass/treble control as I think that would be the best option

 

Thanks

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post #10 of 10
11/22/11 at 4:12am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dreamxtreme View Post

Right so after having it the weekend as it arrived on Friday. Got it plugged in (with all 2 of its mains plugs required!) and thought "this is nice ,could do with some more volume". So I took it down to a friends place who had the allen/hex key type screw required to open it and took out the 2 red jumpers to give me the extra gain. Got back home and put on Sigur Ros - Olsen Olsen and thought WOW ! the clarity is amazing and you can really tell its 1 amp for each channel because before the lower layers of the songs were drowned out by the higher ones now I can hear everything in the songs and even bits I've never noticed. So yes this is thing is amazing!. All I would like now is maybe a little more on the bass for certain songs. I'm waiting on the new PAX X-fi drivers for my sound card so they can add bass/treble control as I think that would be the best option

 

Thanks


Good stuff, give it a bit more burn in time and it will only improve, mine did. Its blown away amps that I've paid double and even treble the amount for!  
 

 

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