Ultrasone HFI 580 / DJ1 Review - Page 6

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jolly Listener 

Wow these sound really good, I can't wait to order them. They will be my first pair of high quality headphones. Hey, I would like an amp, would you reccomend one in a novice/low price range. Something cost effective without sacrificing a bunch of quality?

 

In fact my dad has a stereo amp left over from when he used to work for an electronics store back in the 80s. It's a pioneer sa-730 stereo amp with a headphone jack. Does that sound like a good idea? I also have a fender 15G frontman guitar amp haha. Tonnes of amps none for headphones.

 

Great review by the way 

I don't know much about desktop/dedicated amps, espeically ones that aren't really headphone specialized but that SA 730 looks like it could do the trick. compare it to the amps im about to recommend you. your ears andhow u like the sound is best in saying if that amp is good or not

Amps:

FiiO E6 (hands down) $26

Do you have an ipod? if so. grab an FiiO L3 or L9 LOD(none of the others) This will bypass the ipod's internal AMP and give you a straight great digital feed straight fromt he DAC :).

The E6 and L9 costs a total of $~38 while the E6 with L3 costs about ~$34. most get the L9 since that shape is more preferable.

Remember, Audiophile bass is different from consumer bass. You will probably learn tolove the clean, tight, concise bass of the audiophile world from the boom boom boom in the consumer!

Plz note, these take 10+ hours to start sounding good. i was baffled when i first got them at the quality. You might not notice it asthis is ur first pair, but for us audiophiles with other headphones. it's quite audible just how..not that good these are initialy :) 10-~90 hours have a lot of big changes. it goes up and down, up and down :)

Thank you for your reply! it helps a lot :) Thanks for liking my review. You can ask further questions if you want more clarification or something

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jolly Listener 

Those look like the way to go for me. Even if the bigger pioneer amp did work well, its size isnt anywhere near portable haha. As for MP3 players I have a sansa Clip 4 gig and I do most of my listening at my desktop. Great info. 

haha your welcome for the info :) plz note i edited the top note. i don't know why i typed what i typed >_<

The LOD's bypass the AMPLIFIER and jack of the ipod, not the DAC

Quote:

Originally Posted by scottie584 

How do these respond to amping from something like a Fiio e10, or a Cmoybb?

These respond well to good amping. Comming directly from an ipod touch which is already a good source compared to other MP3's it's a big very audible diference

The itouch sounds thin, everything is just crumpled together. The seperation of the lows from everything is decent on the itouch but not mind blowing. The vocals, highs, and background noise are all just jumbled up. AND like i said. Very very thin sounding. Like there's no back to the song or anything. The soundtage is also not that good on the itouch. It's amp is also JUST powerful enough for the HFI 580's in my tastes. Just enough power. It requires me to go to the top of the volume scale to get what i want. and then comes the hiss, noise, clipping, over excursion, and most of all...distortion :/

The E5 makes it sound less thin and seperates better! A/B ing these two together would give you a very small but very comforting and noticable differnce in comfort and evertyhing. the back is slightly now more in place and feels like it's just not escaping everywhere. Is it perfect? No, it still sounds a bit thin but you will enjoy it out of the E5 in the long run much more. I have found frrom reading and from experience that A/B can give you those differences, but the biggest differences come when u spend a day with each. Unamped and then Amped. it's then that the biggest difference comes out. You practically run back to the amp and LOD :)

Edit: I am going to buy the E17 when it comes out so for now im just using the Macbook Pro's standard headphone out which is fantastic already. It has a nice Cirrus Logic DAC and a very good amp(for a computer) that has low hiss, distortion, noise and what not. It doesn't amp to E5 levels but does a better job with how it sounds Tone and music wise :) The "back" of the songs come out much much better using the MBP as opposed to straight ipod jack out and E5, speration is also very good :) and it may just be me, but i swear, the low frequency comming out of the MBP is much better than comming out of the E5, both with the EQ off and teh bass boost EQ on. it doesn't imapct as much as the Bass EQ on but it just...sounds a lot more clear and better and hits slightly lower Hz.

Edit2:Party Rock Anthem in FLAC just confirmed this :) I don't really analyze my Mac's sound, i just listen to it for fun. I only analyze it and cmpare it when somebody asks or something leads to me interested in it...like this questions

Using an E10 would be very good as you are not using the ipod. this lets you use the Wolfson and internal amp of the E10 and not rely on anything :) read mike's review at headfonia. Very good amp/DAC :) the cmoy's i have no experience with but should do a good job as well. Keep in the mind the PA2V2 as a amp to consider though ;)

WOW Thanks to everyone. Ever since i updated with 120 hour burn in, the page views have skyrocketed this week :)

slight but new informative update on review. haven't reached 400 hour burn in yet. just added some additional con's and pro's and more description throughout.

IT's got it deep, but I prefer the not as pronounced but deeper bass of the Q701's at times. Electronic dance and other types of music do not require the super deep bass the Q701 refrences can produce. But the HFI 580 does it extremely well, it gives it a deep bass pronunciation of what an audiophile wants :) 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zulkr9 

I like the way you say HFi-580 in your video bowei :D

Thank you? Am I saying it wrong?

HFI five-eighty? I don't see anything wrong with that? :)

Plus that was just an unboxing. I had 0 seconds of experience with that thing at all as I hadn't even tested them yet.

I need info on the number of views of this thread, ignore this post please